John Bennet Robbins, M.D., co-developer of a vaccine that has spared thousands of small children from a major cause of death and intellectual disability, has passed away after a long illness. Dr. Robbins was chief of the Laboratory of Developmental and Molecular Immunity at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), before he retired in 2012. He was 86.
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.
Item of Interest: NICHD Neuroscientist R. Douglas Fields Named AAAS Fellow
R. Douglas Fields, Ph.D., chief of NICHD’s section on Nervous System Development and Plasticity has been named a distinguished Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Release: High amounts of screen time begin as early as infancy, NIH study suggests
Children’s average daily time spent watching television or using a computer or mobile device increased from 53 minutes at age 12 months to more than 150 minutes at 3 years, according to an analysis by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.
Release: Living in ethnic enclaves may improve pregnancy outcomes for Asian/Pacific Islanders, NIH study suggests
Among Asian/Pacific Islander women living in the United States, those who reside in ethnic enclaves—areas with a high concentration of residents of a similar ancestry—are less likely to have pregnancy or birth complications than those living in other areas, suggests a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.
Release: Umbilical cord milking may be linked to higher risk of brain bleeding in preterm infants
Milking the umbilical cord—gently squeezing the cord and pushing the contents into the newborn’s abdomen before clamping the cord—could increase the risk for severe intraventricular hemorrhage, or bleeding into the brain’s fluid-filled cavities, in extremely preterm infants, according to results of a study funded by the National Institutes of Health that was halted for safety concerns.
Release: Exposure to HIV drug in the womb may increase risk of microcephaly, developmental delays in children
Children born to women on HIV therapy containing the drug efavirenz were 2 to 2.5 times more likely to have microcephaly, or small head size, compared to children born to women on regimens of other antiretroviral drugs, according to an analysis funded by the National Institutes of Health. The children with microcephaly also had a higher risk for developmental delays, compared to children with normal head size.
Science Update: Positive family relationships in adolescence may reduce depression risk during midlife, NIH-funded study suggests
Adolescents who had a positive relationship with their families were less likely to have depressive symptoms not only in adolescence, but also in midlife, according to an analysis funded by the NICHD.
Item of Interest: Now Available: NIH Research Plan on Fragile X and Associated Conditions
The Trans-NIH Fragile X Coordinating Committee, led by NICHD, recently published the final NIH Strategic Research Plan on FMR1-Associated Conditions.
Media Advisory: NIH-funded study shows placenta imaging method may aid early diagnosis of pregnancy complications
A new imaging technique to track maternal blood flow to the placenta has the potential to help diagnose several common complications in early pregnancy, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Researchers used the technique, referred to as pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling magnetic resonance imaging (pCASL MRI), to identify women with reduced placental blood flow who later developed one or more complications.
Science Update: NIH-funded researchers identify subtle motor differences in Fragile X premutation carriers
Many carriers of the FMR1 premutation—a mutation in the gene associated with the developmental disorder Fragile X syndrome—may have subtle changes in grip strength, fine motor control, and reaction time before other symptoms develop, according to a small study supported in part by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Media Advisory: NIH-funded study suggests acetaminophen exposure in pregnancy linked to higher risk of ADHD, autism
Exposure to acetaminophen in the womb may increase a child’s risk for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder, suggests a study funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality.
Media Advisory: High rates of dementia, Alzheimer’s observed among older people with Down syndrome
A study of Wisconsin Medicaid enrollees with Down syndrome has found that more than half of those ages 55 and older have filed at least three claims for dementia and nearly a third have filed at least three claims for Alzheimer’s disease. The analysis was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality.
Science Update: Mouse X chromosome genes linked to male infertility, NIH-funded study suggests
The mouse X chromosome contains two amplicons—regions in which a single gene is copied multiple times—that appear to control male fertility and offspring sex ratios, an NIH-funded study suggests. The findings could provide insight into male infertility among humans.
Item of Interest: Joint study finds safe infant sleep practices need improvement
A study from federal researchers shows that information about ways to reduce the risk of sleep-related infant deaths is not reaching all caregivers or healthcare providers.
Science Update: High stress level may delay pregnancy in women with prior pregnancy loss, NICHD study suggests
Feeling stressed was linked to lower chances of ovulation, conception, and pregnancy among women who had earlier experienced a pregnancy loss, according to an analysis by researchers at the NICHD.
Science Update: Parents’ early adversity may affect offspring health, NIH-funded animal study suggests
Early life adversity among female baboons is directly linked to lower survival rates for their offspring, suggests an analysis funded by the National Institutes of Health. The study includes 45 years of data from a wild baboon population and overcomes a limitation of analyses of human populations, which have had difficulty distinguishing environmental effects on parents from environmental effects on children.
Media Advisory: High lead levels during pregnancy linked to child obesity, NIH-funded study suggests
Children born to women who have high blood levels of lead are more likely be overweight or obese, compared to those whose mothers have low levels of lead in their blood, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health and Health Resources and Services Administration.
Science Update: Researchers determine function of important Legionnaires’ protein
A protein essential for the survival of the bacterium that causes Legionnaires' disease works by stealing iron from the host cells it infects, according to a study by researchers from the National Institutes of Health and other institutions. Their findings may provide information useful for designing new drug treatments for Legionnaires’ disease.
Science Update: Sleeping position during early and mid pregnancy does not affect risk of complications, NIH-funded study suggests
Sleeping on the back or side through the 30th week of pregnancy does not appear to increase the risk of stillbirth, reduced size at birth, or high blood pressure disorders of pregnancy, suggests an analysis funded by the NICHD.
Release: NICHD strategic plan sets priorities for research on pregnancy, child health and human development
NICHD releases a strategic plan outlining its research priorities for the next 5 years.