NIH Scientists Offer Explanation for Winter Flu Season Stability of Virus' Membrane at Cold Temperatures May Ease Winter Spread.
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.
Older Mothers More Likely than Younger Mothers to Deliver By Caesarean
Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have found that older mothers with normal, full-term pregnancies-particularly first-time older mothers-were more likely to undergo Caesarean delivery than were younger women with similarly low-risk pregnancies.
Experimental Vaccine Given During Pregnancy Reduces Stillbirths from Common Virus
Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have developed an experimental vaccine that reduces stillbirths among rodents born to mothers infected with cytomegalovirus (CMV)--a common virus that can also cause mental retardation and hearing loss in newborn children who were infected in early fetal life.
Women's Response to Anti-HIV Therapy Improved If Treatment Begins Six Months After Earlier Preventive Regimen
A woman's response to HIV treatment with drug combinations that contain nevirapine is improved if at least six months have passed after she received the drug as a single dose during labor to prevent passing HIV on to her child. (The response to treatment is measured by the reduction of HIV in the blood.)
Hormonal Contraception Does Not Appear to Increase HIV Risk
Using hormonal contraception does not appear to increase women's overall risk of infection with the AIDS virus, report the authors of a large study commissioned by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health.
Technology for Monitoring Fetal Oxygen During Labor Offers No Apparent Benefit
A new technology for measuring blood oxygen levels of a baby during labor--expected to provide information useful for preventing birth complications--offers no apparent benefit, report researchers in a National Institutes of Health research network.
Drug Prevents PostPartum Hemorrhage in Resource Poor Settings
The drug misoprostol provides a safe, convenient, and inexpensive means to prevent postpartum hemorrhage, a major killer of women in developing countries. The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Missouri, India's Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, and the National Institutes of Health.
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.
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.
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.
Combined Surgery Reduces Incontinence in Women with Pelvic Organ Prolapse
By performing two surgical procedures during the same operation, researchers in an NIH network reduced by half the incidence of urinary incontinence in women with a condition known as pelvic organ prolapse.
Male Fat Distribution Pattern & Coronary Risk Profile Linked to X Chromosome
Two risk factors that place males at greater risk for heart disease than women appear to be influenced by genes on the X chromosome, report researchers at the NIH and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. The finding appears in a Research Letter in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Drug Offers Alternative to Surgical Treatment After Miscarriage
A drug first used to reduce the risk of stomach ulcers in people taking certain types of painkillers offers an alternative to surgery after miscarriage, according to a study by researchers at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health and other research institutions.
Abused Women Less Likely to be Married or in Long-Term Relationships
Prevention of abuse would help women foster stable long-Term relationships. Women who experienced physical or sexual abuse in childhood or as adults are less likely to be married or in a stable long-term relationship than are other women, according to a large study of low-income women funded by the federal government.
Substance in Urine Predicts Development of Preeclampsia
A substance found in the urine of pregnant women can be measured to predict the later development of preeclampsia, according to research from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health.
Risks From Labor After Prior Cesarean Delivery Low, Study Reports
The risks from vaginal delivery after a prior Cesarean delivery are low, but are slightly higher than for a repeat Cesarean delivery. This finding is from the largest, most comprehensive study of its kind ever conducted, undertaken by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health.
Labor Takes Longer for Overweight & Obese Women, Study Finds
Pregnant women who are overweight or obese progress through labor more slowly than do normal weight women, according to a study by researchers at the University of North Carolina and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health.
NICHD Study Shows Fibroid Tumors Unlikely to Respond to Conventional Hormone Treatments
A new study suggests that the conventional hormone therapies used to treat fibroid tumors are unlikely to produce much improvement and at best will only temporarily relieve symptoms. However, the study findings also suggest a strategy for developing a new, non-surgical treatment.
Roadmap Initiative to Provide Training for Future Leaders of Clinical Research
An NIH roadmap initiative will provide a total of nearly $8 million in funding to seven institutions that can train researchers in multidisciplinary research-research involving teams of specialists from a variety of disciplines.
Depo Provera Appears to Increase Risk for Chlamydial & Gonococcal Infections
The injectable contraceptive depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) appears to increase a woman's risk of acquiring the sexually transmitted infections chlamydia and gonorrhea by approximately three fold when compared to women not using a hormonal contraceptive, according to a study jointly funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Agency for International Development's Office of Population and Reproductive Health.