Fertility & Pregnancy

New research involving mice, published in the April 2016 issue of The FASEB Journal, suggests that maternal obesity and poor nutrition during pregnancy affects the egg reserves of female offspring. This discovery improves scientific understanding of the long-term, generational, effects of obesity and poor nutrition. This understanding is the first step toward devising … [Read more...]

To better understand the causes of male infertility, a team of Bay Area researchers is exploring the factors, both physiological and biochemical, that differentiate fertile sperm from infertile sperm. At the 58th Annual Biophysical Society Meeting, which takes place Feb. 15-19, 2014, in San Francisco, Calif., the team will present its work to identify and characterize proteins … [Read more...]

A team of researchers at City of Hope has developed a screening assay that can quickly assess up to 1,536 compounds' effect on estrogen activity in the body. The test can also evaluate whether chemicals act as inhibitors of aromatase, an enzyme linked to breast cancer that converts androgen to estrogen. The results verifying this novel screening method -- called AroER … [Read more...]

A reduced risk of cervical lesions among Danish girls and women at the population level is associated with use of a quadrivalent HPV vaccine after only six years, according to a new study published February 19 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Two HPV vaccines are currently available and have proven to be highly effective against HPV16/18-associated cervical … [Read more...]

Patients with HPV-positive squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx (SCCOP) had a longer time to development of distant metastasis (DM) after initial treatment, and had more metastatic sites in more atypical locations compared to HPV-negative patients, according to research presented today at the 2014 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium. Culled from records of … [Read more...]

Nutrition is crucial before, during and after pregnancy to optimize health for both mother and child, according to an updated position paper and a new practice paper from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The Academy's position paper "Nutrition and Lifestyle for a Healthy Pregnancy Outcome" has been published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. An … [Read more...]

Women who are obese before they become pregnant face an increased risk of delivering a very premature baby, according to a new study of nearly 1 million California births. The findings from the Stanford University School of Medicine provide important clues as to what triggers extremely preterm births, specifically those that occur prior to 28 weeks of pregnancy. The … [Read more...]

A Michigan State University study has found that too much of a hormone commonly used during in vitro fertility, or IVF, treatments actually decreases a woman's chances of having a baby. The research, recently published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, is the largest study to analyze more than 650,000 IVF cycles in women nationwide. James Ireland, an MSU professor … [Read more...]

Before women even become pregnant, their biological profile may predict a lower-birthweight baby, a UCLA-led research team reports. Most people have a high level of cortisol -- a hormone the body releases in response to stressful events (and also at other times) -- when they get out of bed in the morning, and that level declines throughout the day. In some people, however, … [Read more...]

Breastfeeding is healthy for baby and for Mom. It has a positive impact on childhood obesity, infections and allergies, is linked to a lower likelihood of mothers getting ovarian or breast cancers later in life and to a more positive maternal-child relationship. Research from the University of Houston Department of Psychology finds, however, there are obstacles to mom and baby … [Read more...]

A major new review published today by the scientific journal Addiction reveals that in studies testing the effectiveness of stop-smoking support for pregnant women, nearly half (43%) of the women who managed to stay off cigarettes during the pregnancy went back to smoking within 6 months of the birth. While not smoking during pregnancy is very important, there is an urgent … [Read more...]

When women in labor are given more time to deliver their baby than current guidelines recommend, their incidence of cesarean delivery drops by 55 percent, say researchers at Thomas Jefferson University. Their study, in the March issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, is the first to formally test what happens when women in the second stage of labor … [Read more...]

Obese pregnant women who adhere to an intensive nutritional and exercise program starting in the first trimester gain less weight in pregnancy and have fewer pregnancy complications compared with peers who receive standard prenatal care, a new study from China finds. The results were presented at the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine … [Read more...]

Researchers at the University of Michigan have identified a potential new approach to fertility preservation for young cancer patients that addresses concerns about beginning cancer treatment immediately and the possibility of reintroducing cancer cells during the fertility preservation process. The work, done in mice, has potential to expand options for girls and women … [Read more...]

There are indications that unborn children who are exposed to severe stress levels, have an increased risk of becoming overweight or developing obesity as adults. This is shown by a new registry study from Aarhus University. The researchers have previously shown that severe stress experienced by pregnant women can lead to weight problems for children between 10 and 13 years; … [Read more...]

Doctors are seeing a rise in the number of parents requesting so-called 'vaginal seeding' for babies born by caesarean section, according to an editorial in the BMJ. The practice, which is also known as microbirthing, involves taking a swab from the mother's vagina and wiping this over the baby's mouth, eyes, face and skin shortly after birth by caesarean section. The … [Read more...]

Vaginal delivery is associated with approximately twofold increase in the risk of stress urinary incontinence compared to caesarean section. However, avoiding one case of at least moderate stress incontinence would require about a dozen caesarean sections, according to an extensive meta-analysis conducted by the Clinical Urology and Epidemiology (CLUE) Working Group. Stress … [Read more...]

Women who are deficient in vitamin D in the first 26 weeks of their pregnancy may be at risk of developing severe preeclampsia, a potentially life-threatening disorder diagnosed by an increase in blood pressure and protein in the urine, according to research by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. In one of the largest studies to date, researchers … [Read more...]

Children are likely to have stronger muscles if their mothers had a higher level of vitamin D in their body during pregnancy, according to new research from the Medical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit (MRC LEU) at the University of Southampton. Low vitamin D status has been linked to reduced muscle strength in adults and children, but little is known about how … [Read more...]

In nature, animals face a broad range of temperatures, and at times the heat can become taxing. When it becomes too hot to survive, some animals can simply migrate to more favorable climates, but what if you are a mere embryo confined within an egg and cannot escape the heat? High temperatures can cause proteins within the embryo to become denatured -- an unraveling that … [Read more...]

Obese mothers are more likely to have children with metabolic disorders such as diabetes compared with thin mothers, but the underlying molecular and cellular reasons for this effect have been unclear. A study published by Cell Press on January 23rd in the journal Cell reveals that the offspring of mouse mothers on a high-fat diet are predisposed to obesity and diabetes because … [Read more...]

Researchers at UPM and UWO have shown that performing supervised moderate-intensity exercise during pregnancy can prevent gestational hypertension in pregnant women and overweight in newborns. A team of researchers from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and University of Western Ontario (Canada) has carried out a randomized clinical trial with healthy pregnant women in three … [Read more...]

Bacteria that live in the gut interact with dietary components to affect health and wellness. In a study published February 18 in Cell, a team led by Jeffrey Gordon at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis now finds key components in breast milk that promote healthy infant growth and how interactions with the gut bacteria drive this process. Childhood … [Read more...]

Tobacco smoking by pregnant women has long been viewed as a public health risk because of smoking's adverse effects on the development of a fetus. Smoking during pregnancy is linked to numerous negative outcomes, including low birth weight, sudden infant death syndrome, and increased risk for attention deficit disorder, conduct disorder, and nicotine use in offspring. … [Read more...]

For most women, expecting a baby brings intense joy --and a fair amount of worry. But what about women who have lived through something awful enough to cause post-traumatic stress disorder? Contrary to what researchers expected, a new study shows that pregnancy may actually reduce their PTSD symptoms. Or at the least, it won't cause a flare-up. The news isn't all good, … [Read more...]

A new study finds that the epilepsy drug levetiracetam appears not to be associated with thinking, movement and language problems for preschool children born to mothers who took the drug during pregnancy, although the drug valproate was associated with some difficulties in preschoolers. The study is published in the January 8, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical … [Read more...]

Children born to obese women with diabetes are more than four times as likely to be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder than children of healthy weight mothers without diabetes, new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research suggests. The findings, to be published Jan. 29 in the journal Pediatrics, highlight what has become a leading theory about autism, … [Read more...]

Calcium and vitamin D supplements after menopause can improve women's cholesterol profiles. And much of that effect is tied to raising vitamin D levels, finds a new study from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) just published online in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS). Whether calcium or vitamin D can indeed improve cholesterol levels … [Read more...]