Fertility and pregnancy
100% of pregnant women have at least one kind of pesticide in their placenta
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According to a study conducted by the UGR, 100% of pregnant women have at least one kind of pesticide in their placenta
- A doctoral thesis written at the Department of Radiology and Physical Medicine reveals an average presence of eight organochlorine contaminants in the organisms of pregnant women, which are usually ingested by means of food, water and air.
Migraines During Pregnancy Linked to Stroke and Other Vascular Diseases
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Migraines during pregnancy are strongly linked to vascular diseases, such as stroke and heart disease, according to research that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 59th Annual Meeting in Boston, April 28 – May 5, 2007.
Researchers looked at a national database of nearly 17 million women discharged for pregnancy deliveries from 2000-2003. A total of 33,956 of the women were treated for migraines.
Difficult births in obese women due to uterus failure
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Liverpool scientists have uncovered the reason why overweight women have more Caesarean sections; they are at significant risk of their uterus contracting poorly in childbirth
In a study of 4,000 pregnant women, researchers found that almost 1 in 5 overweight women had to undergo an emergency Caesarean Section birth because the muscles in their uterus failed. The research suggests obesity impairs the ability of the uterus to contract sufficiently in order to dilate the cervix and deliver the baby.
The team from the University of Liverpool’s Physiology department found that obese women were 3.5 times more likely to require a Caesarean for slow labour than normal weight women.
Allergic diseases don’t affect fertility in women
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Women with asthma, hay fever or eczema are no less fertile than their peers who don’t suffer from these allergic conditions, UK researchers report. In fact, they may be slightly more likely to have children.
“This is an important finding for women with allergic disease and their clinicians,” Dr. L. J. Tata of the University of Nottingham and colleagues write in their report, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Male births declining in the U.S. and Japan
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Mother Nature has always ensured that male births outnumber female ones, but the gap has been gradually narrowing over the past three decades in the U.S. and Japan, according to a new study.
Researchers suspect the decline in male births can be explained, at least in part, by paternal exposure to environmental toxins, such as certain pesticides, heavy metals, solvents or dioxins—chemical byproducts produced during incineration or the manufacture of other chemicals.
Different Approach Needed to Protect Brains of Premature Babies
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A study of how the brain of a premature infant responds to injury has found vulnerabilities similar to those in the mature brain but also identified at least one significant difference, according to neuroscientists and neonatologists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
In an animal model of brain injury, researchers showed for the first time that parts of the developing brain are vulnerable to damage from glutamate, a nervous system messenger compound. Glutamate is already well-known for its links to injury in the mature brain. But scientists also found damage in the developing brain that could not be linked to glutamate, suggesting that different treatments are needed to prevent brain injury in premature infants.
IVF clinics told to cut down on twins or face sanctions
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IVF clinics could have multiple birth rates capped under plans to cut the number of twins born as a result of fertility treatment.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) said it was considering sanctions for clinics that produce too many multiple births which can put the lives of mothers and babies at risk.
In preeclampsia, researchers identify proteins that cause blood vessel damage
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Proteins released by the placenta may damage blood vessels in women with preeclampsia (PE), according to an abstract presented by Yale School of Medicine researchers at the Society for Gynecologic Investigation Conference March 17 in Reno, Nevada.
In PE, a complication of pregnancy linked to life-threatening increases in high blood pressure after 20 weeks of gestation, it has long been recognized that substances called “microparticles” released by the placenta damage maternal blood vessels. Researchers at Yale, led by Seth Guller, sought to detect whether specific proteins were found in microparticles.
Childhood obesity triggers early puberty
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Childhood obesity in the United States appears to be causing girls to reach puberty at an earlier age, for reasons that are not clear, a study said on Monday.
The report from the University of Michigan’s Mott Children’s Hospital said a multiyear study following a group of 354 girls found that those who were fatter at age 3 and who gained weight during the next three years reached puberty, as defined by breast development, by age 9.
Risk of Birth Complications Varies Between Racial Groups
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Babies born to South Asian women are at a higher risk of perinatal mortality (death before, during or shortly after birth) than babies born to black or white women, concludes a study published online by the BMJ today.
The World Health Organisation defines post-term pregnancy as beyond 41 completed weeks from the first day of the last menstrual period. Post-term pregnancy is associated with increased perinatal mortality, and induction of labour at 41 weeks is often used to help avoid this risk.
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.
Stress-Related Adult Disease May Originate In Fetal Development
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According to a review in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, evidence is mounting that lifelong stress-related conditions such as depression and chronic pain may be linked to fetal growth and timing of delivery.
“During the past decade, a considerable body of evidence has emerged showing that circumstances during the fetal period may have lifelong programming effects on different body functions with a considerable impact on disease susceptibility,” says review author Eero Kajantie.
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.
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.
Lipid plays big role in embryonic development
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A little-known lipid plays a big role in helping us grow from a hollow sphere of stem cells into human beings, researchers have found.
They found that in the first few days of life, ceramide helps stem cells line up to form the primitive ectoderm from which embryonic tissues develop, says Dr. Erhard Bieberich, biochemist at the Medical College of Georgia.
