News & Updates

Two findings from an NIH research network study provide new information on how much oxygen very preterm infants should receive starting on the first day of life and the most effective means to deliver it to them.

Working with mice, a team of researchers has pinpointed the location of bone generating stem cells in the spine, at the ends of shins, and in other bones. The team also has identified factors that control the stem cells' growth. The research was conducted at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

The more obese a woman is when she becomes pregnant, the greater the likelihood that she will give birth to an infant with a congenital heart defect, according to a study conducted by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and the New York state Department of Health.

In 2007, the NICHD, the National Institute on Nursing Research, and other national partner organizations released Continuing Education (CE) Module on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS): A Curriculum for Nurses to help nurses make the most of their important role in health care to reduce the risk for SIDS.

An online version of NIH's continuing education program for nurses about SIDS risk reduction is now available. The Continuing Education Program on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Risk Reduction was developed by NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) in collaboration with national nursing and health organizations.

The rate of stillbirths in rural areas of six developing countries fell more than 30 percent following a basic training program in newborn care for birth attendants, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The study tracked more than 120,000 births.

Text4baby is a free service that delivers evidence-based health information about pregnancy and baby’s first year directly to the cell phones or mobile devices of moms-to-be and new moms.

The brains of infants who die of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) produce low levels of serotonin, a brain chemical that conveys messages between cells and plays a vital role in regulating breathing, heart rate, and sleep, reported researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have identified three principal factors linked to whether caregivers place infants to sleep on their backs. Those three factors are: whether they received a physician's recommendation to place infants only on their backs for sleep, fear that the infant might choke while sleeping on the back, and concerns for an infant's comfort while sleeping on the back.

Studying drugs in pediatric populations is challenging because drugs often affect children differently than they do adults. The scarcity of pediatric studies limits the ability of doctors and scientists to predict drug dosing, safety and efficacy in children. To address this gap, the National Institutes of Health announced today 18 grants to help determine outcome measures and increase the likelihood of success of future trials of treatments for children.

The National Institutes of Health today announced the establishment of a research program to enhance newborn screening, in memory of the son of National Football League Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly.

The National Children's Study (NCS) is a unique epidemiological study of children's environmental health. The largest child health study ever undertaken in the United States, the NCS will longitudinally assess the effects of the chemical, biological, psychosocial-cultural, and physical environments on child health and development, with a special emphasis on gene-environment interaction and gene expression. The NCS will follow women through pregnancy and birth and their children through 21 years of age. Further information about the Study is available at http// www.nationalchildrensstudy.gov.

A National Institutes of Health network study provided the first conclusive evidence that treating pregnant women who have even the mildest form of gestational diabetes can reduce the risk of common birth complications among infants, as well as blood pressure disorders among mothers.

Understanding the changing needs of the nation's children and the conditions they live in can play an important role in helping the country thrive both today and in the future. To create a comprehensive picture of children's lives, the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, of which the NICHD is a member, compiles data on indicators of health and well-being for children and youth and reports its findings every year.

The National Children’s Study, the federal government’s comprehensive study of how genes and the environment interact to affect children’s health, has activated five additional centers to begin recruiting prospective volunteers in five new communities.

With its rolling green hills, rural Duplin County, North Carolina, couldn’t be more different from urban Queens, New York, an ethnically and racially diverse county in the United States.

A study from a National Institutes of Health research network found that an early treatment to prevent severe newborn jaundice in extremely early preterm infants reduced the infants' rate of brain injury, a serious complication of severe jaundice.

The NIH/Jackson Medical Mall health information series will provide residents of the Jackson, Miss., area with informational presentations on diabetes, stroke/hypertension, asthma, and mental health. The health series will also include quarterly continuing medical education (CME) presentations for health care professionals.

Preterm infants born to mothers receiving intravenous magnesium sulfate--a common treatment to delay labor--are less likely to develop cerebral palsy than are preterm infants whose mothers do not receive it, report researchers in a large National Institutes of Health research network.

the late 1980s and early 1990s, changes in the workforce—specifically more women working outside the home—led many families to place their children in non-maternal child care. Policy and social debates were many—some claimed that children were harmed by such care, while others touted its benefits. While the battles raged, it became startlingly clear that little to no scientific research had been conducted on non-maternal child care. Without such data, there could be no real answers to the many questions related to non-maternal child care