A recent study from SMU psychologist Sarah Kucker and a student she mentored at Oklahoma State University suggests shyness can influence a child's performance in language assessments, depending on the level of social interaction required to complete the test. Shy children tend to be reserved in everyday life, including communicating with others. The study concludes that the … [Read more...]
Fertility & Pregnancy News
Maternal Obesity Predicts Heart Disease Risk Better Than Pregnancy Complications
Pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia and gestational diabetes have recently been associated with a higher risk of developing heart disease later in life. But a new Northwestern Medicine study has found obesity before or during pregnancy is the actual root cause of future cardiovascular disease. Prior to this study, scientists were unsure which factor -- obesity or … [Read more...]
Women with PCOS on Keto Diet may see Improvements in Fertility
The ketogenic (keto) diet may lower testosterone levels in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), according to a new paper published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society. PCOS is the most common hormone disorder in women, affecting 7-10% of women of childbearing age. It can cause infertility and raises the risk of developing diabetes, obesity and other metabolic … [Read more...]
Eating for two? Leave weight advice to the experts during pregnancy
The meta-analysis of almost 35,000 participants across 99 studies published in JAMA Network Open found that interventions from allied health professionals such as dietitians were the most beneficial for controlling gestational weight gain (GWG). Spanning 30 years of international evidence, the research team including maternal health expert Professor Shakila Thangaratinam … [Read more...]
How Caregiver Speech Shapes Infant Brain
The researchers used MRI and audio recordings to demonstrate that caregiver speech is associated with infant brain development in ways that improve long-term language progress. Dr. Meghan Swanson, assistant professor of psychology in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, is corresponding author of the study, which was published online April 11 and in the June print … [Read more...]
Married People Who Cheat don’t Often Regret it
Married people who have affairs find them highly satisfying, express little remorse and believe the cheating didn't hurt their otherwise healthy marriages, finds a new report on the psychology of infidelity. The extensive survey of people using Ashley Madison, a website for facilitating extramarital affairs, challenges widely held notions about infidelity, particularly about … [Read more...]
COVID-19 Vaccines Aren’t Strongly Linked to Menstrual Changes, Study Says
While the COVID-19 vaccines have made a dramatic difference in controlling the pandemic, researchers are still learning about the ways that the shots may affect people’s health. One of those questions centers around how the vaccines might impact menstrual cycles. Reports of women experiencing changes in their cycles—either in the intensity and frequency of bleeding, or the … [Read more...]
Preterm Birth Linked to Chemicals Found in the Vagina, Study Finds
The study of 232 pregnant women found that a handful of non-biological chemicals previously found in cosmetics and hygiene products are strongly associated with preterm birth. "Our findings suggest that we need to look more closely at whether common environmental exposures are in fact causing preterm births and, if so, where these exposures are coming from," says study … [Read more...]
Brain Organoids Reveal in Detail the Harms of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure
The consequences of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) are reflected in the different diagnoses that emerge under the umbrella of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. At one end of the spectrum, growth deficits and physical differences define fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), but in most cases, irreversible brain damage leads to behavior and learning challenges even without a physical … [Read more...]
Prenatal Acetaminophen use Linked to Sleep, Attention Problems in Preschoolers
Acetaminophen use during pregnancy is associated with sleep and behavior problems consistent with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a study by Penn State College of Medicine researchers. Acetaminophen is a common drug used to treat a variety of issues, including fever, infection, muscle pain, headache, migraine, colds and allergies. Traditionally, … [Read more...]
Antibiotics Given in Infancy May have Adverse Impact on Adult Gut Health.
Preterm and low birth weight babies are routinely given antibiotics to prevent, not just treat, infections, which they have a high risk of developing. A new study, published in The Journal of Physiology has found that early life exposure to antibiotics in neonatal mice has long-lasting effects on their microbiota, enteric nervous system, and gut function. This could mean that … [Read more...]
Problems Persist for Kids Exposed to Cannabis in the Womb
Children who were exposed to cannabis in the womb continue to show elevated rates of symptoms of psychopathology -- depression, anxiety and other psychiatric conditions -- even as, at ages 11 and 12, they head toward adolescence, according to research from the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences' BRAIN Lab, led by Ryan Bogdan, associate professor in Arts & … [Read more...]
Body Posture Affects How Oral Drugs Absorbed by Stomach
A common, economic, and easy method of administering drugs is orally, by swallowing a pill or capsule. But oral administration is the most complex way for the human body to absorb an active pharmaceutical ingredient, because the bioavailability of the drug in the gastrointestinal tract depends on the medication's ingredients and the stomach's dynamic physiological … [Read more...]
Taking Vitamin D during Pregnancy Could Lower The Risk of Eczema in Babies
Taking Vitamin D supplements during pregnancy could substantially reduce the chances of babies up to a year old suffering from atopic eczema, according to a new study by University of Southampton researchers. The research, published in the British Journal of Dermatology, revealed that babies had a lower risk of developing atopic eczema in their first year if their mothers … [Read more...]
Air Pollution Linked to Adverse Outcomes in Pregnancy
A new study in mice by UCLA scientists reveals how exposure to traffic-related air pollutants causes cellular changes in the placenta that can lead to pregnancy complications and affect the health of both mother and offspring. The researchers found that the cellular changes caused by chronic exposure to air pollutants were related to immune activation by foreign substances … [Read more...]
Hypertensive Pregnancy Disorders Linked to Future Cardiac Events
Women who experienced complications related to developing high blood pressure, or hypertension, during pregnancy had a 63% increased risk for developing cardiovascular disease later in life, according to research funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health. While hypertensive pregnancy complications previously … [Read more...]
Family Size May Influence Cognitive Functioning in Later Life
Until now fertility has not received much attention as a potential predictor of late-life cognition compared with other factors, such as education or occupation. The findings are published in the journal Demography. "Understanding the factors that contribute to optimal late-life cognition is essential for ensuring successful aging at the individual and societal levels -- … [Read more...]
Review of Pre-Eclampsia Care
Pre-eclampsia is a condition that affects up to 4% of women during pregnancy, and up to 8% of women during their lifetime. It includes high blood pressure (hypertension) and damage to a number of her body's organ systems, and remains one of the two main causes of death for pregnant and recently-pregnant women worldwide -- about 46,000 young women a year. Up to half a million … [Read more...]
Antibiotic and Antiretroviral Drug Effects on Breast Milk
Infants carry a vast assemblage of bacteria, viruses and fungi in their guts. Combined, these microbes make up a complex ecology known as the gut microbiome, which plays a major role in health and disease throughout life. The initial source of these billions of microbes is the mother's breast milk. In a new study, Efrem Lim and his colleagues use next-generation sequencing … [Read more...]
Permanent Birth Control Methods for Women Have up to Six Percent Failure Rates
Hysteroscopic sterilization, a nonincisional procedure, was found to be as effective as minimally invasive laparoscopic sterilization in preventing pregnancy, but both methods had higher than expected failure rates, according to a new study led by an investigator at Weill Cornell Medicine. The comparative study, published April 12 in Fertility and Sterility, found that both … [Read more...]
First get your heart in shape then get pregnant
This Valentine's Day, a new Northwestern Medicine study shines a spotlight on an important but often overlooked matter of the heart -- optimizing one's cardiovascular health before getting pregnant. More than one in two young women between the ages of 20 and 44 who gave birth in the United States in 2019 had poor heart health before becoming pregnant, the study found. Poor … [Read more...]
Vaccinated Women Pass COVID-19 Antibodies to Breastfeeding Babies, Study Finds
Women vaccinated against COVID-19 transfer SARS-CoV-2 antibodies to their breastfed infants, potentially giving their babies passive immunity against the coronavirus, according to University of Massachusetts Amherst research. The study, published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, measured the immune response to the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine in both breast milk and the … [Read more...]
Infants with low-risk Deliveries should not Need Antibiotics at Birth, Study Suggests
Infants born via uncomplicated cesarean delivery, without labor or membrane rupture before delivery and no concern for infection, should not need antibiotics at birth, according to a study by researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). The findings, which were published today in Pediatrics, could help clinicians tailor the use of early antibiotics in newborns. … [Read more...]
COVID-19 linked to Complications During Pregnancy, Study Finds
Women who have Covid-19 towards the end of their pregnancy are vulnerable to birth-related complications. They are more likely to have complications than those who get Covid-19 in the earlier stages of pregnancy or who haven't had Covid-19 at all. The findings show that preterm births, stillbirths and newborn deaths are more common among women who have the virus 28 … [Read more...]
Normal 6-Month Outcomes in Babies of Women With COVID-19 During Pregnancy
Babies born to women who had COVID-19 during pregnancy showed reassuring patterns of growth and development at 6-month follow-up, according to a study from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and Northwestern Medicine in partnership with Erie Family Health Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) that serves a diverse and low-income patient … [Read more...]
Breast milk of marijuana users does not hurt short-term health of early premature infants
Legalization of marijuana has been associated with increased use in women of childbearing age. Since tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), one of the active ingredients in marijuana, passes through breast milk, many neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) restrict the use of breast milk from THC-positive women because the effects on early preterm infants are unknown. However, science has … [Read more...]
Scientists map brain circuit that drives activity in fertile females
Scientists have known for a century that female animals become more active just as they are about to ovulate, a behavior that evolved to enhance their chances of mating when they are fertile. Now, a team at UC San Francisco has identified the specific neurons and signaling pathway that make sexually receptive females of many species run around at this critical time. The … [Read more...]
Is Your Child a Fussy Eater?
Whether it's an exclusive appetite for 'white' foods or an all-out refusal on veggies, when you have a fussy eater on your hands, mealtime can be more than a challenge. While picky eating is all part of the norm for developing toddlers, when it extends into school years, it takes a toll on all involved, children and parents alike. Now, new research from USC, the … [Read more...]
New Evidence that Fetal Membranes can Repair Themselves After Injury
Scientists from Queen Mary University of London and UCL have shown that fetal membranes are able to heal after injury in a new study published today in Scientific Reports. The integrity of the fetal membranes that surround the baby in the womb during pregnancy is vital for normal development. But fetal membranes can become damaged as a result of infection, bleeding, or after … [Read more...]
Obstructive Sleep Apnea is Common in Kids and may Impact Blood Pressure, Heart Health
Obstructive sleep apnea, a form of sleep-disordered breathing, is common in children and adolescents and may be associated with elevated blood pressure and changes in heart structure, according to a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association, published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association. A scientific statement is an expert analysis of … [Read more...]
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