Pregnancy
Study Sheds Light on Risks of Being a Second Twin
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A nine year study published on bmj.com today has concluded that being a second born twin confers a small increased risk of suffering fatal complications during birth.
For twins born preterm (before 36 weeks), there was no difference in overall death rates between the first and second. This is because the background rate of death is already high for both, due to the effects of prematurity.
Experimental vaccine given during pregnancy reduces stillbirths from common virus
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Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have developed an experimental vaccine that reduces stillbirths among rodents born to mothers infected with cytomegalovirus (CMV) - a common virus that can also cause mental retardation and hearing loss in newborn children who were infected in early fetal life.
Estimates place the number of U.S. children born with CMV each year at about 40,000, and there is no vaccine or treatment for pregnant women who have the infection. In a 2000 report, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences listed as a top priority the development of a vaccine to prevent cytomegalovirus during pregnancy.
Pregnancy hormone increases nerve cells’ insulation, restores damage
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A hormone produced during pregnancy spontaneously increases myelin, which enhances signaling within the nervous system, and helps repair damage in the brain and spinal cord, according to new animal research.
The findings, published in the February 21 Journal of Neuroscience, indicate that the hormone prolactin promotes an increase in myelin production and may have a use in treating multiple sclerosis (MS).
When pregnant mom eats fish, kids do better
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Children of mothers who ate more fish and other seafood while pregnant are smarter and have better developmental skills than kids of women who ate less or none, researchers said on Thursday in findings they called surprising.
The study, sure to be controversial, sought to assess whether it is wise, as some experts and the U.S. government have recommended, for pregnant women to limit their seafood intake to avoid mercury, a toxin that can harm the nervous system of developing fetuses.
IVF babies at higher risk of birth defects
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Babies conceived through fertility treatments have higher rates of birth defects, but the overall risk is so small that it should not keep couples from having children this way, doctors say.
The news comes from a study of more than 61,000 births in Canada, the largest of its kind ever conducted in North America.
Down’s syndrome test eliminates miscarriage risk
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A new non-invasive test that examines fetal DNA can pick up genetic abnormalities such as Down’s syndrome and, unlike more intrusive tests that may raise the risk of miscarriage, the new diagnostic tool developed by the US company Ravgen poses no threat to the mother or fetus.
The test uses fetal DNA extracted from blood samples taken from the mother to screen for chromosomal abnormalities, researchers explained. In a preliminary study of 60 pregnant women reported online by The Lancet medical journal the test produced promising results.
Bleeding in infant brain common in vaginal births
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About one quarter of infants delivered in vaginally have a small amount of bleeding in their brains, while none delivered by Caesarean section do, according to the results of a study published Tuesday.
But the researchers, at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, said it was premature to view these “surprising” findings as an endorsement of C-sections. Plus this study was relatively small.
Heart drug may improve preterm labor outcomes
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Treatment with transdermal nitroglycerin can prolong pregnancy in women who go into labor prematurely and its use seems to reduce illness in the newborn, a study shows.
While a number of drugs called tocolytics that block uterine contractions can prolong pregnancy, “none have been shown to improve neonatal outcomes,” lead author Dr. Graeme N. Smith, from the Kingston General Hospital in Canada, told Reuters Health.
Oldest woman to give birth may have deceived clinic
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The oldest woman ever to give birth deceived doctors to get the fertility treatment that let her have twins at age 67 last month, a Sunday newspaper said.
Carmela Bousada, who gave birth to twins Christian and Pau on December 29, convinced a Los Angeles clinic she was 55, the cut-off age for their in-vitro fertilization program, the News of the World said.
“They didn’t ask for my age or my passport. I may look tired now but before the births I did look slim and a lot younger,” the newspaper quoted Bousada as saying in an interview.
Taste for salt can begin at birth
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Some people with a penchant for salty snacks may have been born with it, a new study suggests.
In a study of 41 children and teenagers who’d been born prematurely, researchers found that those who’d had low sodium levels in their blood at birth had a particular fondness for salty food.
In tests where the children could choose from salty or sweet snacks, those born with low sodium levels reached for a salty snack more often. They also consumed substantially more sodium each day, based on interviews with children and their parents.
Quitting Smoking May Be Harder If Mom Smoked During Pregnancy
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Quitting smoking may be more difficult for individuals whose mothers smoked during pregnancy, according to animal research conducted by Duke University Medical Center researchers.
Prenatal exposure to nicotine is known to alter areas of the brain critical to learning, memory and reward. Scientists at the Duke Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research have discovered that these alterations may program the brain for relapse to nicotine addiction. Rodents exposed to nicotine before birth self administer more of the drug after periods of abstinence than those that had not been exposed.
Birth defects big cause of infant death
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Birth defects, including heart problems, rather than illnesses associated with premature births are a leading cause of death in very young babies in the United States, according to a report issued on Thursday.
Birth defects, such as a heart condition called pulmonary valve stenosis, are also the most common reason babies are hospitalized, said study researchers, from the University of Arkansas, who examined data on babies under 10 days old.
Prenatal infection may up leukemia risk in child
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A mother who contracts influenza, pneumonia, or a sexually transmitted disease around the time of pregnancy appears to be at increased risk of having a child that will develop leukemia, new research shows.
These observations “suggest that maternal infection might contribute to the develop of childhood leukemia, which has been postulated to have an infectious origin,” Dr. Marilyn L. Kwan, from the Division of Research at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California told Reuters Health.
Prenatal antidepressants seem not to affect child
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The use of antidepressant drugs during pregnancy does not appear to have a significant effect on the behavior of the child, Canadian and Korean researchers report in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
Dr. Tim F. Oberlander of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver and colleagues compared behaviors of 22 children who were prenatally exposed to a selective serotonin uptake inhibitor (SSRI), one of a relatively new class of antidepressant drugs including Prozac and Zoloft, along with 14 unexposed children.
Counseling may cut risk of drinking in pregnancy
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Women who drink often and fail to use reliable birth control are at high risk of drinking during pregnancy. But a new study suggests that just a few counseling sessions can reduce those odds.
Researchers found that five brief counseling sessions helped high-risk women to both reduce their drinking and start using effective birth control.
