Fertility & Pregnancy News

A comparison of Y chromosomes in eight African and eight European men dispels the common notion that the Y's genes are mostly unimportant and that the chromosome is destined to dwindle and disappear. "The Y chromosome has lost 90 percent of the genes it once shared with the X chromosome, and some scientists have speculated that the Y chromosome will disappear in less than 5 … [Read more...]

A new study finds that the epilepsy drug levetiracetam appears not to be associated with thinking, movement and language problems for preschool children born to mothers who took the drug during pregnancy, although the drug valproate was associated with some difficulties in preschoolers. The study is published in the January 8, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical … [Read more...]

A new study from the University of Southampton adds to a growing body of evidence that links a child's early environment before and soon after birth to their chance of becoming obese later in life. Previous studies have identified a number of individual early life 'risk factors' but few have evaluated the size of their combined effects. The new research suggests that having … [Read more...]

Injecting a little anesthetic near a nerve bundle in the neck cut troublesome hot flashes significantly, shows a new randomized, controlled trial published online today in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS). The technique could give women who cannot or prefer not to take hormones or other medications an effective treatment alternative. In … [Read more...]

New research is lighting up yet another reason for women to quit smoking. In a study published online in the journal Menopause, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report the first evidence showing that smoking causes earlier signs of menopause -- in the case of heavy smokers, up to nine years earlier than average -- in white women … [Read more...]

Migraine headaches heat up as women approach menopause, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC), Montefiore Headache Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Vedanta Research. "Women have been telling doctors that their migraine headaches worsen around menopause and now we have proof they were right," says Vincent Martin, MD, … [Read more...]

In a nationwide study, University of Arizona sociologists Christina Diaz and Jeremy E. Fiel found that the negative effect of young motherhood on educational attainment and earnings is not limited to those from disadvantaged backgrounds and actually is most significant among better-off teenagers. Diaz and Fiel analyzed a subset of the Child and Young Adult Cohorts of the … [Read more...]

There is no evidence that water births, where a baby is intentionally born under water in a tub or pool, poses any increased harm to the child, Oregon State University researchers have found. Researchers examined outcome data for more than 6,500 midwife-attended water births in the United States and found that newborns born in water were no more likely to experience low … [Read more...]

Fertility experts in Southampton and the Netherlands have identified a specific genetic pattern in the womb that could predict whether or not IVF treatment is likely to be successful. Study co-lead Professor Nick Macklon, chair in obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Southampton, said the discovery would help clinicians understand why IVF fails repeatedly in some … [Read more...]

Women who take estrogen supplements from before or at the start of menopause and continue with them for a few years have better preserved brain structure, which may reduce the risk of dementia. Globally, one new person is affected by dementia every four seconds. In 2010, 36 million people were estimated to have dementia. Now, findings in a doctoral thesis from the … [Read more...]

Depression in both expectant mothers and fathers increases the risk of premature birth, finds a study published in BJOG: an International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (BJOG). Depression in women during pregnancy is known to be associated with low birth weight and increased risk of premature birth. Maternal stress, such as the death of a loved one, lack of social … [Read more...]

University of Adelaide research has for the first time confirmed that women who eat a poor diet before they become pregnant are around 50% more likely to have a preterm birth than those on a healthy diet. Researchers at the University of Adelaide's Robinson Research Institute investigated the dietary patterns of more than 300 South Australian women to better understand their … [Read more...]

Using paroxetine -- a medication prescribed to treat conditions including depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder -- during the first trimester of pregnancy may increase newborns' risk of congenital malformations and cardiac malformations. That's the conclusion of a recent analysis published in the British Journal of Clinical … [Read more...]

The increase in use of prescribed opioids among women during pregnancy has probably contributed to the rise in neonatal abstinence syndrome, argues Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health, in The BMJ . "The steep increase in the number of opioid prescriptions dispensed in the United States has been associated with … [Read more...]

Researchers at Tohoku University's School of Medicine have found an explanation for the correlation between eating fish during pregnancy, and the health of the baby's brain. Dietary lipid contains fatty acids such as omega-6 and omega-3, which are essential nutrients for many animals and humans. The research group, led by Professor Noriko Osumi, found that a balanced intake … [Read more...]

High levels of vitamin D are linked to improved fertility and reproductive success, a study of wild sheep has found. The study, carried out on a remote Hebridean island, adds to growing evidence that vitamin D -- known as the sunshine vitamin -- is associated with reproductive health. Experts hope that further studies will help to determine the relevance of the results … [Read more...]

Women who eat more potatoes before pregnancy may have higher rates of gestational diabetes--the form that occurs during pregnancy--compared to women who consume fewer potatoes, suggests a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study. The researchers propose that substituting potatoes with other vegetables, legumes or whole grains may help lower gestational diabetes risk. The … [Read more...]

A research group at the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine has been using a rat model to see how maternal intake of above-requirement vitamins (A, D, E, and K) impact offspring's brain development and behaviour. Some of their findings were published today in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism. Much … [Read more...]

Caring for an infant is challenging for any mother -- but especially so for women with postnatal depression, which may lead to adverse effects on child outcomes. Current evidence on postnatal depression and parenting -- including preliminary data on the role of the hormone oxytocin -- is reviewed in the January/February issue of Harvard Review of Psychiatry. The journal is … [Read more...]

Children are likely to have stronger muscles if their mothers had a higher level of vitamin D in their body during pregnancy, according to new research from the Medical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit (MRC LEU) at the University of Southampton. Low vitamin D status has been linked to reduced muscle strength in adults and children, but little is known about how … [Read more...]

A team of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has found that moderate to severe hot flashes continue, on average, for nearly five years after menopause, and more than a third of women experience moderate/severe hot flashes for 10 years or more after menopause. Current guidelines recommend that hormone therapy, the primary medical … [Read more...]

A new study by McGill University will examine whether vaccinating only one partner in a couple against the human papillomavirus (HPV) can help prevent transmission of HPV to the unvaccinated partner. The study -- called TRAP-HPV, an acronym for Transmission Reduction And Prevention with HPV vaccination -- is a randomized placebo-controlled double-blind trial involving 500 … [Read more...]

The risk of experiencing an oxygen deficit at birth (birth asphyxia) increases for babies born to women who are overweight or obese, according to a study by Swedish and US researchers published in this week's PLOS Medicine. These findings are important given the high prevalence of overweight and obesity worldwide, and suggest that preventing women of reproductive age from … [Read more...]

Periodontal disease is a common condition that has been associated with heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. Previous research has found links between periodontal disease and oral, esophageal, head and neck, pancreatic, and lung cancers, so the researchers wanted to see if there was any relationship with breast cancer. Jo L. Freudenheim, PhD, and colleagues monitored 73,737 … [Read more...]

A new study of women's experiences of delay in labor has revealed that many moms-to-be are prepared to abandon their antenatal plans for how they wanted their labors and births to be. Researchers from the Universities of Leicester and Birmingham found that women were willing to let go their ideal of choice when unanticipated complications occurred. Published in the … [Read more...]

Children are likely to have stronger muscles if their mothers had a higher level of vitamin D in their body during pregnancy, according to new research from the Medical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit (MRC LEU) at the University of Southampton. Low vitamin D status has been linked to reduced muscle strength in adults and children, but little is known about how … [Read more...]

Group prenatal care can substantially improve health outcomes for both mothers and their infants, a new study led by the Yale School of Public Health has found. The paper was published online Dec. 21 in The American Journal of Public Health. Women who received group -- rather than individual -- prenatal care were 33% less likely to have infants who were small for … [Read more...]

Zinc levels in breast milk may be able to serve as an indicator of breast function during lactation, according to Penn State health researchers. In previous studies, Shannon L. Kelleher and colleagues found that the protein ZnT2 is critical for secreting zinc into breast milk, and women who have mutations in the gene that encodes ZnT2 have substantially lower milk zinc … [Read more...]

Although in vitro fertilization (IVF) is often limited to 3 or 4 treatment cycles, new research shows the effectiveness of extending the number of IVF cycles beyond this number, according to a study in the December 22/29 issue of JAMA. In vitro fertilization is commonly stopped after 3 or 4 unsuccessful embryo transfers, with 3 unsuccessful transfers labeled "repeat … [Read more...]

Poor-quality sleep during the third trimester of pregnancy can increase the odds of weight gain and metabolic abnormalities in offspring once they reach adulthood, according to a new study published online May 8, 2014, in the journal Diabetes. The researchers linked the excess weight and changes in metabolism to epigenetic modifications that reduce expression of the gene for … [Read more...]