A compendium of findings from a study funded by the National Institutes of Health reveals that a child's family life has more influence on a child's development through age four and a half than does a child's experience in child care.
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.
New Report Seeks to Improve Science Education in Grades K through 8
What is the best way to teach kids about science? A new report seeks to help children learn science more effectively by improving the way science is taught in the classroom.
New National Institutes of Health web site for Child Health & Human Development
Need information on reading disability? Want to know how much calcium is in a serving of broccoli? Trying to find out how to apply for a research grant to study spinal cord development in zebrafish? Check out http://www.nichd.nih.gov.
Focus on NICHD International Health Activities (Part 1)
The Institute’s mission to understand and improve the health of children, adults, and families reaches beyond the United States to include communities worldwide. As part of this mission, the NICHD and the Fogarty International Center are pleased to sponsor the 8th Annual Lawton Chiles International Lecture on Maternal and Child Health in the Americas.
Focus on NICHD International Health Activities (Part 2)
Research conducted through the Global Network for Women’s and Children’s Health Research has found that the drug misoprostol provides a safe, convenient, and inexpensive means to prevent postpartum hemorrhage, a major killer of women in developing countries. This finding again highlights that the NICHD’s mission to understand and improve the health of children, adults, and families reaches beyond the United States to include communities worldwide.
On the Road to Better Health in Mississippi
Led by Yvonne T. Maddox, deputy director of the NICHD, a delegation from the NIH as well as state and local officials from Mississippi will convene in Jackson this week for a unique outreach event.
Pursuing the Causes of Preeclampsia
The basic research effort to implicate soluble endoglin (sEng) and soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt-1) in preeclampsia was led by a coauthor of the current paper, S. Ananth Karumanchi, M.D., a nephrologist at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
Zeroing in on preeclampsia
Preeclampsia is a disorder of pregnancy that strikes without warning. The condition results when pregnant women develop high blood pressure and protein in the urine. Preeclampsia is estimated to complicate from 3 to 5 percent of all pregnancies.
Molecules in Blood Foretell Development of Preeclampsia
High levels of two proteins in the blood of pregnant women appear to indicate the subsequent development of preeclampsia, a life-threatening complication of pregnancy, report a team of researchers from the National Institutes of Health and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Overweight in Early Childhood Increases Chances for Obesity at Age 12
Children who are overweight as toddlers or preschoolers are more likely to be overweight or obese in early adolescence, report researchers in a collaborative study by the NIH and several academic institutions.
Story of Discovery: Research to Prevent Brain Damage in Newborns
The journey of hope to improve the lives of infants born with oxygen deprivation has taken 65 years. Loss of oxygen to the brain may result in death or a lifetime of blindness, mental retardation, or cerebral palsy. In October 2005, Seetha Shankaran and her colleagues in the NICHD Neonatal Research Network reported that lowering a newborn’s body temperature a few degrees could reduce the likelihood of death or disability associated with depleted oxygen.
Video: Study Reveals Multiple Factors That Influence Premature Infant Outcomes
Every day, physicians and new parents must struggle with the type of care to provide extremely low birthweight infants, the smallest, most delicate category of preterm infants. These infants are born in the 22nd through the 25th week of pregnancy—far earlier than the 40 weeks of a full term pregnancy. Most die soon after birth. Although some survive and reach adulthood unaffected, others experience some degree of life-long disability.
Membrane Protein in a Lysosome
The images depict a membrane protein in a cellular organelle known as a lysosome. The image on the right shows a conventional fluorescent image of a portion of the lyososome, whereas the image on the left shows the corresponding PALM image in the region outlined.
Study Provides Evidence that Autism Affects Functioning of Entire Brain Previous View Held Autism Limited to Communication, Social Behavior, & Reasoning
A recent study provides evidence that autism affects the functioning of virtually the entire brain, and is not limited to the brain areas involved with social interactions, communication behaviors, and reasoning abilities, as had been previously thought. The study, conducted by scientists in a research network supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), found that autism also affects a broad array of skills and abilities, including those involved with sensory perception, movement, and memory.
New Findings Offer More Complete View Of Breast Cancer Gene Mutations in U.S. Population
A large study funded by the National Institutes of Health today provided the clearest picture yet of the prevalence in the U.S. population of mutations in two genes associated with an increased risk of breast cancer.
New Light Microscope Can View Protein Arrangement in Cell Structures
Researchers at Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Farm Research Campus, the National Institutes of Health, and Florida State University have developed and applied a new light microscopy technique that will allow them to determine the arrangement of proteins that make up the individual organelles, or structures, within a cell.
Interview with Dr. Duane Alexander
Interview with Duane Alexander on the Report on America's Children, 2006.
NICHD Researchers Honored by World Health Organization for Developing Vaccines Against Hemophilus Influenzae
Two scientists at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Develpment (NICHD), John Robbins, MD, and Rachel Schneerson, MD, will receive the World Health Organization Children's Vaccine Initiative Pasteur Award for Recent Contributions in Vaccine Development for the landmark development of a polysaccharide-protein conjugate vaccine for Hemophilus influenzae type b (Hib).
NIH - Study Finds Calcium Does Not Prevent Potentially Fatal Disorder of Pregnancy
Contrary to prevailing medical opinion, taking high doses of calcium during pregnancy does not prevent preeclampsia in women who do not have any risk factors for the disease, according to the largest, most comprehensive clinical trial of its kind to date.
Adolescent Birth Rate Falls to Record Low, Kids' Exposure to Secondhand Smoke Drops Infant Mortality Rate Falls to Former Level, But Birth Rate for Unmarried Women Rises
The federal government's yearly statistical report on the well-being of our Nation's children shows that the adolescent birth rate fell to the lowest level ever recorded.