On April 17, 2012, the NICHD Director’s Lecture Series will feature Richard M. Greenwald, Ph.D., and his lecture about Biomechanical Basis of Concussion: Monitoring Head Impact in Sports.
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.
NIH Study Finds Women Spend Longer in Labor Now Than 50 Years Ago
Authors S. Katherine Laughon and Branch Ware were available last week for a news briefing to explain the results of their recent study on changing labor patterns.
NIH Study Finds Women Spend Longer in Labor Now Than 50 Years Ago
Women take longer to give birth today than did women 50 years ago, according to an analysis of nearly 140,000 deliveries conducted by researchers at the National Institutes of Health. The researchers could not identify all of the factors that accounted for the increase, but concluded that the change is likely due to changes in delivery room practice.
Endometriosis Awareness Month & NICHD Research
In 2011, the NICHD-led Endometriosis: Natural History, Diagnosis, and Outcomes (ENDO) study found that 11 percent of a group of women with no symptoms of endometriosis actually had the disorder. If this finding is applied to all the women in the United States, the number of American women with endometriosis would well exceed previous estimates of 5 million.
Video Presentation: Role of Research in Understanding, Preventing, & Treating Birth Defects
Item of Interest: Video Presentation: Role of Research in Understanding, Preventing, and Treating Birth Defects
NIH Brain Imaging Study Finds Evidence of Basis for Caregiving Impulse
Distinct patterns of activity--which may indicate a predisposition to care for infants--appear in the brains of adults who view an image of an infant face--even when the child is not theirs, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and in Germany, Italy, and Japan.
New Report on Iron & Malaria Available
Iron is an essential nutrient for the basic health and functioning of the body. Without iron, oxygen is not delivered efficiently to cells, brain growth and development can be hampered, and the body struggles to maintain a strong immune system. Yet more than 2 billion people worldwide do not get enough iron, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) , making iron deficiency (ID) or iron-deficiency anemia (IDA) the world’s most common forms of malnutrition.
NIH Study Links Childhood Cancer to Developmental Delays in Milestones
Infants and toddlers who have been treated for cancer tend to reach certain developmental milestones later than do their healthy peers, say researchers at the National Institutes of Health and in Italy.
NICHD HIV/AIDS Research & National Women & Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
HIV/AIDS continues to be a serious public health concern. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 290,000 women were living with HIV in the United States in 2008.
NIH Coordinating Group Seeks Comments on Fragile X Research Plan
The NIH Fragile X Research Coordinating Group invites all who are interested to comment on the current National Institutes of Health Research Plan on Fragile X syndrome and associated disorders.
Release of the 2011 Division of Intramural Research (DIR) Annual Report
The newly released 2011 DIR Annual Report reviews the latest basic, clinical, and translational research being pursued by the staff scientists within DIR at the NICHD. Contributing to this effort are 79 tenured and tenure-track investigators and approximately 1,200 administrative and research staff. In 2011, DIR project areas ranged from vaccine development to genomics, from reproduction to regenerative medicine, and from the neurosciences and early human development to biophysics and imaging.
Vitamin D shrinks fibroid tumors in rats
Treatment with vitamin D reduced the size of uterine fibroids in laboratory rats predisposed to developing the benign tumors, reported researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Genomic Medicine Series Provides Convenient Reference on Ethics, Potential of New Field
A recently completed series on medical genomics--the study of how genes interact with each other and with various non-genetic factors--provides a reference for physicians and scientists. The series, appearing in the New England Journal of Medicine, was edited by W. Gregory Feero, M.D., Ph.D., Special Advisor to the Director for Genomic Medicine at the National Human Genome Research Institute and Alan E. Guttmacher, M.D., Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Variation in Brain Development Seen in Infants with Autism
Patterns of brain development in the first two years of life are distinct in children who are later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), according to researchers in a network funded by the National Institutes of Health. The study results show differences in brain structure at 6 months of age, the earliest such structural changes have been recorded in ASDs.
NIH Conference on Phenylketonuria (PKU) Research Advances
Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a rare genetic disorder that prevents the body from breaking down phenylalanine, an amino acid found in many proteins. As a result, phenylalanine can build up in body tissues of those with PKU and lead to intellectual disability.
NIH Study Links High Levels of Cadmium, Lead in Blood to Pregnancy Delay
Higher blood levels of cadmium in females, and higher blood levels of lead in males, delayed pregnancy in couples trying to become pregnant, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other academic research institutions.
Research on Concussions: Keeping Your Head in the Game
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.6 million to 3.8 million sports- and recreation-related concussions occur each year in the United States. Rather than just a bump on the head, a concussion is actually a mild form of traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Hirschfeld Named Director of National Children's Study
Steven Hirschfeld, M.D., Ph.D., has been named Director of the National Children’s Study. He has served as the study's Acting Director since August 2009.
NIH Study Shows Caffeine Consumption Linked to Estrogen Changes
Asian women who consumed an average of 200 milligrams or more of caffeine a day--the equivalent of roughly two cups of coffee--had elevated estrogen levels when compared to women who consumed less, according to a study of reproductive age women by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.
The Long-Lasting Effects of Preterm Birth
A research group funded in part by the NICHD Pregnancy and Perinatology (PP) Branch recently released results from several studies that examined longer-term effects of pain and stress in infants born very preterm.