Pregnancy News and Research

Latest Pregnancy News and Research

Mother's dental hygiene may help reduce incidence of unknown complications in pregnancy

Bacteria from a mother's mouth can be transmitted through the blood and amniotic fluid in the womb to her unborn child.

30 Mar 2009

New York Times examines challenges faced by a Minneapolis hospital that treats many Somali, Hispanic patients

The New York Times on Sunday profiled the Hennepin County Medical Center, a Minneapolis-based hospital that "offers an extraordinary vantage point on the ways immigrants are testing the American medical establishment."

30 Mar 2009

Time of conception linked to birth defects in U.S.

A study published in the April 2009 issue of the medical journal Acta Paediatrica is the first to report that birth defect rates in the United States were highest for women conceiving in the spring and summer. The researchers also found that this period of increase risk correlated with increased levels of pesticides in surface water across the United States.

30 Mar 2009

Corthera's Relaxin in acute heart failure shows promising results

Corthera Inc. has announced that results from Pre-RELAX-AHF, the Phase II portion of a Phase II/III multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled international study, demonstrated promising efficacy and safety for relaxin, the company's investigational drug for treatment of acute heart failure (AHF).

30 Mar 2009

Childhood obesity may begin in early infancy

As childhood obesity continues its thirty-year advance from occasional curiosity to cultural epidemic, health care providers are struggling to find out why-and the reasons are many. Increasingly sedentary environments for both adults and children, as well as cheap and ubiquitous processed foods no doubt play a role, but researchers are finding more evidence that the first clues for childhood obesity may begin as far back as early infancy.

30 Mar 2009

Pregnant women who smoke, urged to give up before 15-week 'deadline'

Women who stop smoking before week 15 of pregnancy cut their risk of spontaneous premature birth and having small babies to the same as non-smokers, according to research published on bmj.com.

29 Mar 2009

Genetic variations may determine lung function and susceptibility to maternal smoking

A tiny variation within a single gene can determine not only how quickly and well lungs grow and function in children and adolescents, but how susceptible those children will be to exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke, even in utero, according to researchers from the University of Southern California.

29 Mar 2009

Single embryo transfer is the cheapest and most effective strategy for assisted reproduction

Transferring single embryos to women's wombs over several assisted reproduction cycles that use both fresh and frozen embryos is more effective and cheaper than transferring two or more embryos at one time, according to data from the world's longest running series of patients who choose to have only one embryo implanted per cycle - elective single embryo transfer (eSET).

24 Mar 2009

Link discovered between anesthesia exposure and learning disabilities in children

Mayo Clinic researchers have found that children who require multiple surgeries under anesthesia during their first three years of life are at higher risk of developing learning disabilities later.

24 Mar 2009

A new method for assessing women’s eggs could enhance IVF success

Many couples who have trouble conceiving a child have turned to a process known as in vitro fertilization.

23 Mar 2009

Kansas House Committee approves bill that would require HIV testing among pregnant women

The Kansas House Committee on Health and Human Services last week approved a bill (S.B. 147) that would require doctors to test pregnant women and some infants for HIV, the Kansas Health Institute News reports.

23 Mar 2009

Fetal alcohol syndrome testing expands

Improved technology, partnerships and collaboration across two provinces have allowed Queen's University scientists to dramatically expand the use of eye-movement tests that help identify and assess children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).

20 Mar 2009

Study tracks increasing use of CT on pregnant women

Researchers have found that over a 10-year period radiologic exams on pregnant women have more than doubled, according to a study published in the online edition of Radiology.

17 Mar 2009

Medical costs for one premature baby could cover a dozen healthy births

The medical costs that businesses pay to care for one premature baby for a year could cover the costs for nearly a dozen healthy, full-term infants, according to new statistics from the March of Dimes.

17 Mar 2009

HPV vaccine may prevent preterm births

Chronic human papilloma virus (HPV)-infections can lead to cellular changes in the cervix that can be a pre-stage to cervical cancer.

17 Mar 2009

FDA approves FC2 female condom

The Female Health Company on Wednesday announced that FDA has approved its FC2 Female Condom to help prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections such as HIV, the AP/Forbes reports.

16 Mar 2009

AMP-activated protein kinase essential contributor to brain growth

An enzyme researchers have studied for years because of its potential connections to cancer, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and stroke, appears to have yet another major role to play: helping create and maintain the brain.

12 Mar 2009

Estrogen activates critical lung genes to improve lung function following preterm birth

Estrogen may be a new postnatal therapy to improve lung function and other outcomes in preterm infants, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found in an animal study.

12 Mar 2009

AMP-activated protein kinase is unexpected contributor to brain growth

12 Mar 2009

Estrogen may be a new postnatal therapy to improve lung function and other outcomes in preterm infants

"Ironically, a hormone that has received great attention as a potential means to optimize the health of older women may be a beneficial treatment for humans during the earliest stages of life," said Dr. Philip Shaul, professor of pediatrics at UT Southwestern and the study's senior author.

12 Mar 2009