Scoring system developed by NIH-funded researchers standardizes patient data to aid research, surveillance and improvement initiatives.
News
NICHD issues News Releases and Media Advisories to the news media. Spotlight and Research Feature articles explain NICHD research findings and public health issues to the general public. An Item of Interest is a short announcement of relevant information, such as a notable staff change.
Spotlight: Boosting women’s health by supporting menstruation research
NICHD has supported gynecologic and reproductive health research for decades. Learn more about its leading role in menstruation research.
Item of Interest: NICHD fetal growth calculators available to healthcare providers
New tools estimate fetal growth percentiles and velocity, and they account for racial and ethnic variations.
Item of Interest: Biospecimens from National Children’s Study pilot now available
Environmental, biological samples span the period from preconception to early childhood.
Item of Interest: Stanley Cohen, Nobel Winner and Longtime NICHD Grantee, Dies
NICHD funded Cohen’s award-winning work on growth factors for most of his career.
Release: NIH scientists link higher maternal blood pressure to placental gene changes
Gene modifications correspond to blood pressure increases at distinct pregnancy intervals.
Spotlight: Healthy Pregnancy for Every Body
NICHD’s new initiative—Pregnancy for Every Body—educates plus-size pregnant women about healthy pregnancy and the importance of working with a healthcare provider to develop a pregnancy plan.
Science Update: Drug combination may lead to slight bone loss in young adolescent males, NIH-funded analysis suggests
Truvada, a drug combination that reduces the chances of HIV infection in high-risk people may result in small, yet persistent bone loss in younger adolescent males, suggests a study supported by the NICHD. The researchers added, however, that the protection against HIV offered by Truvada far outweighs any possible risks from bone loss.
Science Update: Supportive parenting may offset poverty’s effects on adolescent brain development, NIH-funded study suggests
Supportive parenting may help adolescents avoid brain development issues that have been linked to living in poverty, suggests a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. By age 25, children of supportive parents—those who reason with and encourage their children to consider the consequences of their behavior—had more neural connections in brain regions that regulate learning, memory, and emotional control, compared to peers with less supportive parents.
Science Update: Stress during pregnancy may increase child’s risk of depression in adolescence
Maternal stress during pregnancy may influence fetal brain development in ways that increase the risk of depression by early adolescence, suggests a small study funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Spotlight: Maternal Health Research Advances
NICHD was established more than 50 years ago to help understand maternal health and improve pregnancy outcomes. These selected advances highlight NICHD’s contributions to advancing the health and well-being of pregnant women, mothers, and families everywhere.
Science Update: Girls may comprise up to 90 percent of U.S. teens killed by an intimate partner, NICHD-funded analysis suggests
Approximately 90 percent of teens killed by an intimate partner in the United States are girls, suggests an analysis funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The deaths identified in the study most commonly resulted after the victim either ended or would not enter a romantic relationship with the perpetrator or started a relationship with someone else. The findings provide information for researchers developing interventions to prevent intimate partner homicides among teens.
Science Update: Some preterm infants produce substance that protects against brain injury, NIH-funded study suggests
Some preterm infants produce a protein in response to inflammation that appears to protect them against birth-related brain injury, according to an analysis by researchers funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The substance, known as haptoglobin, is present in umbilical cord blood. Future studies could determine if testing preterm infants for haptoglobin identifies those who would benefit from interventions to prevent brain injury or lessen its effects.
Media Advisory: Gout treatment may help prevent obesity-related type 2 diabetes, suggests small NIH study
The drug colchicine, used to treat the arthritic condition gout, could potentially reduce complications accompanying metabolic syndrome, a combination of high blood pressure, high blood sugar and other conditions that increase the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes, according to researchers at the National Institutes of Health.
Media Advisory: Cryopreservation of immature testicular tissue leads to successful birth in monkeys
Researchers have successfully frozen testicular tissue from monkeys too young to produce sperm and used this tissue to produce a pregnancy resulting in live, healthy offspring. The finding is an early step in the development of a method to store testicular tissue for children before they undergo fertility-destroying treatment for cancer or other disorders. The research team was led by Kyle E. Orwig, Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and was funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), part of the National Institutes of Health.
Media Advisory: Lower costs associated with late-preterm steroid therapy, NIH-funded analysis finds
An analysis of a previous study has found more evidence to support giving the steroid betamethasone to pregnant women at risk of late-preterm delivery (between 34 and 36 weeks of gestation), according to a network funded by the National Institutes of Health. Hospital stays for infants whose mothers received the drug cost less on average, compared to stays for infants whose mothers did not take the drug.
Media Advisory: Inexpensive supplement for women increases infant birth size
For women in resource-poor settings, taking a certain daily nutritional supplement before conception or in early pregnancy may provide enough of a boost to improve growth of the fetus, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Science Update: Genomic sequencing finds that standard screens miss disease risk in 9 percent of newborns
Genomic sequencing identified a higher risk of childhood genetic disorders in 9 percent of newborns who had passed standard screening for these diseases, according to researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health. The findings, from the BabySeq Project, are part of a larger effort to examine whether newborn genomic sequencing is suitable for routine health care.
Spotlight: Flu during pregnancy: Nothing to sneeze at
Health experts recommend the seasonal flu shot for pregnant women.
Science Update: NIH-funded researchers develop intervention to help children avoid dog bites
Video program teaches kids to interpret dogs’ warning signals