Tag: Pregnancy and Childbirth

Life-threatening birth complication rate increasing across US racial, ethnic groups: Analysis suggests need for more research to identify causes

Racial and ethnic disparities in severe maternal morbidity — life-threatening maternal complications associated with childbirth — have persisted and increased at high rates among U.S. women, according to an analysis of nearly 20 years of California hospital records funded by the National Institutes of Health. Known risk factors for these complications — such as blood

Breastmilk sugars differ in pregnant women on probiotics

The complex sugars found in human breastmilk, long believed to be fixed in their composition, may change in women who are taking probiotics, according to new research from the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC). The finding, published in a research letter in JAMA Pediatrics, upends what scientists thought of human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) —

Studies highlight lasting effects of early life stress on the genome, gut, and brain: Understanding targets of childhood stress suggests new strategies for intervention

Excessive stress during fetal development or early childhood can have long-term consequences for the brain, from increasing the likelihood of brain disorders and affecting an individual’s response to stress as an adult to changing the nutrients a mother may pass on to her babies in the womb. The new research suggests novel approaches to combat

Making mice a tiny bit more human to study preterm birth: Research enhances ability to study biology of persistent public health problem

Preterm birth remains a global epidemic linked to a lifetime of potential health complications. It also is difficult to study in living creatures — especially the uniquely precise biology of preterm birth in humans. Researchers report in PLoS Biology successfully inserting just enough human DNA into transgenic laboratory mice that it allowed the team to

Bariatric surgery linked to safer childbirth for the mother

Obese mothers who lose weight through bariatric surgery can have safer deliveries. The positive effects are many, including fewer caesarean sections, infections, tears and haemorrhages, and fewer cases of post-term delivery or uterine inertia. This according to an observational study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in PLOS Medicine. Today, more than one

First evidence that soot from polluted air is reaching placenta

Evidence of tiny particles of carbon, typically created by burning fossil fuels, has been found in placentas for the first time, in new research presented today (Sunday) at the European Respiratory Society International Congress. Previous research has indicated links between pregnant mothers’ exposure to air pollution and premature birth, low birth weight, infant mortality and

For women undergoing IVF, is fresh or frozen embryo transfer best? Some women benefit from a fresh embryo transfer while others benefit from delay

The world’s first baby born via in-vitro fertilization turned 40 years old this summer. Still, after four decades, IVF is a relatively new field with ongoing debate on how to get the best results for families who have placed their hopes — and often their personal savings — into fertility treatment. IVF experts disagree about

Lipid droplets play crucial roles beyond fat storage

Lipid droplets: they were long thought of merely as the formless blobs of fat out of which spare tires and muffin tops were made. But these days, they’re “a really hot area of research,” says Michael Welte, professor and chair of biology at the University of Rochester. That’s in part because lipid droplets have been

Electricity sparks neuronal diversity during brain development: Bioelectrical potential is driving force for stem cells to generate different types of neurons during embryogenesis

The cerebral cortex is a highly developed brain region, which allows intellectual functions such as conscious perception, anticipation of events and language. These functions are mediated by specific sets of neuronal circuits. To understand how these circuits emerge during development, researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, in collaboration with an American team, investigated

Partnership problems and not career planning mainly explain why women are freezing their eggs: Fertility clinics urged to make patient-centred care for single women ‘a high priority’

Contrary to common suggestion, women are opting to freeze their eggs not to pursue education or careers but for reasons “mostly revolving around women’s lack of stable partnerships with men committed to marriage and parenting.” This is the conclusion of the largest qualitative study so far in elective egg freezing; 150 subjects from four IVF

Patients don’t mind if doctors sport tattoos or piercings: Visible body art has no discernible impact on perceived professionalism or competence

Patients don’t mind if their emergency care doctors sport tattoos or piercings, or both, suggests an observational study published online in Emergency Medicine Journal. Evidence of visible body art seems to have no discernible impact on what they think of their doctor’s professionalism or competence, the findings show. Previous research on patient attitudes towards doctors’

Genes, environment and schizophrenia: New study finds the placenta is the missing link: Placenta may also hold the key to why developmental brain disorders are more common in males

Hiding in plain sight, new research shines a spotlight on the placenta’s critical role in the nature versus nurture debate and how it confers risk for schizophrenia and likely other neurodevelopmental disorders including ADHD, autism, and Tourette syndrome. This new scientific frontier, with far-reaching implications for maternal and child health, creates the possibility that scientists