Pregnancy News and Research

Latest Pregnancy News and Research

Moderate drinking lowers risk of Alzheimer's and cognitive decline

Moderate drinkers often have lower risks of Alzheimer's disease and other cognitive loss, according to researchers who reviewed 44 studies.

30 Dec 2008

Barcode chip enables cheaper, faster blood testing

A new barcode chip developed by a multi-institutional team of investigators promises to revolutionize diagnostic medical testing. In less than 10 minutes and using just a pinprick's worth of blood, the chip can measure the concentrations of dozens of proteins, including those that herald the presence of diseases such as cancer and heart disease.

29 Dec 2008

Trends in sexual behaviors similar for teens who take few health risk and those who take many

Adolescent health risk behaviors often occur together, suggesting that youth involvement with one risk behavior may inform understanding of other risk behaviors, but in a study to examine the association between involvement in non-sexual risk behaviors and trends among sexual behaviors, Mailman School of Public Health researchers found that sexual behaviors vary considerably between those youth engaged in no risk health behaviors and those engaged in multiple health risk behaviors.

22 Dec 2008

Alcohol consumption during pregnancy damages offspring's white matter - brain's connective network

One part of the prenatal brain that may be particularly sensitive to alcohol's effects is white matter, nerve fibers through which information is exchanged between different areas of the central nervous system.

22 Dec 2008

Repeated miscarriages and hormone treatment for infertility increase pre-eclampsia risk

Repeated miscarriages and hormone treatment for infertility give an increased risk of pre-eclampsia among pregnant women.

18 Dec 2008

Smoking during the first trimester of pregnancy linked to oral clefts

Smoking during the first trimester of pregnancy is clearly linked with an increased risk of cleft lip in newborns.

18 Dec 2008

More can be done to prevent lung disease in Southeast-Asian babies

A simple, effective and low-cost method of preventing lung disease - and therefore death - in newborn children is not being practiced widely enough in South-East Asian hospitals, according to a major international study involving the University of Adelaide, Australia.

17 Dec 2008

Schizophrenia and autism may share common origin

Schizophrenia and autism probably share a common origin, hypothesises Dutch researcher Annemie Ploeger following an extensive literature study.

17 Dec 2008

Pregnant women need to avoid caffeine at all cost

A new study published online in The FASEB Journal shows that the equivalent of one dose of caffeine (just two cups of coffee) ingested during pregnancy may be enough to affect fetal heart development and then reduce heart function over the entire lifespan of the child.

16 Dec 2008

Unmarried dads' involvement with child secured during pregnancy

The best chance of "reeling-in" an unmarried father and building the foundations for a stable family life are the critical months of pregnancy, says new research from the University of Maryland.

15 Dec 2008

Roche's new dual-target HIV-1 test approved in Europe

Roche announced today that its innovative dual-target HIV-1 test has received CE Mark certification, allowing it to be sold for clinical use in the European Union. The COBAS AmpliPrep/COBAS TaqMan HIV-1 Test, v2.0 utilizes a unique design to simultaneously amplify and detect two separate regions of the HIV-1 genome.

15 Dec 2008

Zometa (zoledronic acid) shown to enhance chemotherapy in reducing breast tumor size

New data released demonstrates that the addition of Zometa (zoledronic acid) injection to standard chemotherapy before breast cancer surgery reduces the size of breast tumors more effectively than chemotherapy alone in women with early-stage disease.

14 Dec 2008

FC2 female condom recommended for approval

The Female Health Company (NYSE Alternext: FHC) has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Obstetrics and Gynecology Devices Advisory Committee has unanimously voted that the company's second-generation female condom, the FC2 Female Condom, is approvable with a single condition.

14 Dec 2008

Potential new avenue for altering lung development in the embryo - will help premature babies

Scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have identified a potential new avenue for altering lung development in the embryo which may help to improve the outcome for very premature babies.

14 Dec 2008

Comparable data on maternal and infant in Europe available for the first time

Promoting healthy pregnancy and safe childbirth is a goal of all European health care systems.

12 Dec 2008

Scans show immune cells intercepting parasites

Researchers may have identified one of the body's earliest responses to a group of parasites that causes illness in developing nations.

10 Dec 2008

Carrier screening for spinal muscular atrophy should be offered to all couples

Carrier screening for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) - a serious genetic disease affecting approximately 1 in 10,000 infants that causes progressive muscle weakness and death - should be made available to all families, according to a new practice guideline issued by the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG).

10 Dec 2008