Birth in Biological News

UTMB study identifies women at risk of gaining excessive weight with injectable birth control

GALVESTON, Texas Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have identified women who are likely to gain weight while using depot medroxyprogesterone acetate, more commonly known as Depo-Provera or the birth control shot. These findings dispel the myth that all women who u...

Embryology study offers clues to birth defects

LA JOLLA, Calif., June 9, 2009 -- Gregg Duester, Ph.D., professor of developmental biology at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham), along with Xianling Zhao, Ph.D., and colleagues, have clarified the role that retinoic acid plays in limb development. The study showed that retinoic aci...

Capturing the birth of a synapse

Researchers have identified the locking mechanism that allows some neurons to form synapses to pass along essential information. Mutations of genes that produce a critical cell-adhesion molecule involved in the work were previously linked to autism. The discovery -- captured with fluorescent im...

Babies born to native high-altitude mothers have decreased risk of low birth weight

BETHESDA, Md. (May 18, 2009) Pregnant women who are indigenous to the Andes Mountains deliver more blood and oxygen to their fetuses at high altitude than do women of European descent. The study helps explain why babies of Andean descent born at high altitude weigh more than European babies born a...

Immigrant women may be at higher risk of having a baby with a birth defect

TORONTO, Ont., April 16 2009 Immigrant women are less likely to use folic acid supplements before pregnancy to prevent spina bifida, particularly those who recently immigrated to the country, according to a new study led by a St. Michael's Hospital physician in collaboration with Statistics Canad...

World's top minds to celebrate 'the birth and life of beginnings'

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- For two weeks in March, some of the greatest names in science and the humanities will come to Tallahassee to take part in public discussions on how fundamental discoveries in science, religion, philosophy, history and the arts have shaped our understanding of life and civiliza...

March of Dimes provides $2.7 million in new funding for preterm birth research

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., FEB. 11, 2009 Scientists intend to identify microbes that may cause preterm labor in some women, investigate the role of an enzyme in preventing uterine contractions and an early birth, and look at different groups of women to find genetic and environmental risk factors for pr...

Early whales gave birth on land

Two newly described fossil whales--a pregnant female and a male of the same species--reveal how primitive whales gave birth and provide new insights into how whales made the transition from land to sea. The 47.5 million-year-old fossils, discovered in Pakistan in 2000 and 2004, are described in...

Early whales gave birth on land, fossil find reveals

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Two newly described fossil whales---a pregnant female and a male of the same species--reveal how primitive whales gave birth and provide new insights into how whales made the transition from land to sea. The 47.5 million-year-old fossils, discovered in Pakistan in 2000 and 20...

Scientists uncover evolutionary keys to common birth disorders

Boston-- The work of Forsyth scientist Peter Jezewski, DDS, Ph.D., has revealed that duplication and diversification of protein regions ('modules') within ancient master control genes is key to the understanding of certain birth disorders. Tracing the history of these changes within the proteins ...

Hairspray is linked to common genital birth defect, says study

Women who are exposed to hairspray in the workplace during pregnancy have more than double the risk of having a son with the genital birth defect hypospadias, according to a new study published today in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives . The study is the first to show a significa...

Case Western Reserve University uncovers genetic basis for some birth defects

CLEVELAND November 10, 2008 A multidisciplinary research team at Case Western Reserve University led by Gary Landreth, Ph.D., a professor in the School of Medicine's Department of Neurosciences, has uncovered a common genetic pathway for a number of birth defects that affect the development of th...

Racial disparities in cardiovascular health linked to birth weight, slavery

Evanston, Ill. - October 16, 2008 Two new articles examine the theory of "fetal programming" and their effect on racial health disparities. The studies, published in American Journal of Human Biology, suggest that the higher rates of hypertension and cardiovascular disease present in African Am...

Clue to genetic cause of fatal birth defect

A novel enzyme may play a major role in anencephaly, offering hope for a genetic test or even therapy for the rare fatal birth defect in which the brain fails to develop, according to a study from researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine. The study appears in the...

Analysis of millions of US births shows association between birth defects and preterm birth

MAY 21, 2008, WHITE PLAINS, NY Babies born preterm were more than twice as likely to have major birth defects as full-term infants, according to a new analysis of nearly 7 million U.S. live births published online this week in the Springer journal Maternal and Child Health Journal. Preterm bi...

Deadly genetic disease prevented before birth in zebrafish

By injecting a customized "genetic patch" into early stage fish embryos, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis were able to correct a genetic mutation so the embryos developed normally. The research could lead to the prevention of up to one-fifth of birth defects ...

Immunosuppressant further linked to birth defects

A new study documents malformations seen in an infant born to a kidney transplant recipient who had taken mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), a widely used immunosuppressant available commercially as Cellcept. The findings suggest a specific birth defect pattern particular to this drug, reinforcing its p...

New folic acid seal helps women choose enriched grain foods to help prevent birth defects

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., JAN. 9, 2008 Not enough American women understand that consuming the B vitamin folic acid every day can help prevent serious birth defects, and only 40 percent are taking daily multivitamin supplements containing this essential nutrient beginning before pregnancy, two recent s...

Certain diseases, birth defects may be linked to failure of protein recycling system

CINCINNATI - A group of signaling proteins known as Wnt - which help build the human bodys skin, bone, muscle and other tissues - depend on a complex delivery and recycling system to ensure their transport to tissue-building cell sites, according to a study at Cincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical...

The birth and death of dopamine neurons: A new model for neurodegeneration

The gradual loss of dopamine neurons is a hallmark of many neurodegenerative diseases - Parkinsons Disease chief among them. Stem cell biology and regenerative medicine offer novel therapies for the restoration of dopamine neurons. This week in the online open-access journal PLoS Biology Dr. Raja...

Researchers find evidence linking stress caused by the Sept. 11 disaster with low birth weights

Researchers have found evidence of an increase in low birth weights among babies born in and around New York City in the weeks and months after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Writing in the journal Human Reproduction [1], they suggest that stress may have contributed to the effec...

Risk of common vaginal infection linked to preterm birth appears higher for blacks

BOSTON, Aug. 11 Risk of a common vaginal infection linked to preterm birth appears to escalate when even one partner is African-American, according to a University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine study presented today at the 34th annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society for Obstetrics a...

Women with endometriosis need special care during pregnancy to avoid risk of premature birth

Amsterdam, The Netherlands: The largest study to date of endometriosis in pregnant women has found that the condition is a major risk factor for premature birth, the 25th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology heard today (Wednesday July 1). Dr. Henrik Falco...

Pre-pregnancy depressed mood may heighten risk for premature birth

Researchers trying to uncover why premature birth is a growing problem in the United States and one that disproportionately affects black women have found that pre-pregnancy depressive mood appears to be a risk factor in preterm birth among both blacks and whites. Black women, however, have nea...

Flies may reveal evolutionary step to live birth

A species of fruit fly from the Seychelles Islands often lays larvae instead of eggs, UC San Diego biologists have discovered. Clues to how animals switch from laying eggs to live birth may be found in the well-studied species' ecology and genes. The fly is one of a dozen species of Drosophila ...

Pregnant women consuming flaxseed oil have high risk of premature birth

A study has found that the risks of a premature birth quadruple if flaxseed oil is consumed in the last two trimesters of pregnancy. The research was conducted by Professor Anick Brard of the Universit de Montral's Faculty of Pharmacy and the Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center and Master's st...

New study: Preterm birth causes one-third of all infant deaths

Premature birth was the underlying cause of nearly twice as many infant deaths than previously estimated, according to a new analysis by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The analysis, published today in Pediatrics, found that in 2002 preterm birth, birth at less...

Very low birth weight linked to reduced quality of life in pre-school children

Babies with very low birth weights tend to have a much lower quality of life when they are three or four years old, according to a study published in the latest issue of the UK-based Journal of Advanced Nursing. Researchers assessed 118 children who had birth weights of 1500g or less and compare...

Solvent exposure linked to birth defects in babies of male painters

Men who paint for a living may be placing their unborn children at increased risk of birth defects and low birth weight. A study of construction workers in the Netherlands, conducted in part by the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, links low birth weight and birth defects to paternal, a...

First link of oral bacteria and preterm birth found in human

A 37-year-old-mother, who gave birth to a low-weight preemie at 24 weeks, exhibited the first-found link in a human between bacteria found in the mouth and the amniotic fluid of a woman in preterm labor. Using new DNA finger-printing techniques to find bacteria that cannot be cultured and grown ...

US woman gives birth to baby from world's first frozen donor egg bank

(Lexington, Kentucky, USA, 1/2/06) Wendy and Jared Kennedy are thrilled with their New Year baby girl, Avery Lee, born December 31, 2005, at the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky. They are the first couple to deliver a baby from the first commercial donor egg ba...

Ethiopian development raises birth rate

Development projects designed to improve maternal and child welfare in Africa may incur unexpected costs associated with increases in family size if they do not include a component of family planning, according to new research from the University of Bristol into rural communities in Ethiopia. The...

Fruit fly research set to revolutionize study of birth defects

A Queen's University study of fruit flies that may revolutionize the way birth defects are studied has identified the genes affected by a widely-prescribed drug known to cause birth defects. Methotrexate (MTX), a popular cancer-fighting drug also used to treat psoriasis, ectopic pregnancies, rhe...

Micro-molecule plays big role in birth defects

University of Florida researchers have learned how to selectively shut down a flyweight-sized genetic molecule that packs a heavyweight punch, a discovery that may help doctors better understand cancer, birth defects and other health problems. The finding, which will be reported this week in the ...

One hit of crystal meth causes birth defects

A single prenatal dose of methamphetamine ?commonly known as speed ?may be enough to cause long-term neurodevelopmental problems in babies, say University of Toronto researchers. In research published in the August issue of Free Radical Biology and Medicine, U of T pharmacy and pharmacology profe...

Scientists document complex genomic events leading to the birth of new genes

A team of scientists led by Peer Bork, Ph.D., Senior Bioinformatics Scientist at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, report today in the journal Genome Research that they have identified a new primate-specific gene family that spans about 10% of human chromosome 2. Comprised of eight family ...

New supercomputer to reel in answers to some of Earth's problems

...here or chemists watching how atoms tug at each other in a molecule need a different kind of supercomputer than physicists studying questions like the birth of the universe. Chinook's top job is to run NWChem, a computational chemistry program that allows researchers to simulate and predict the chemist...

Life on Earth came from other planets

...journals, Dr. Joseph concludes that innumerable microbes, and their DNA, survived the cataclysm that wrought destruction to the parent star which gave birth to our own. As only life can produce life, then life on Earth also came from life which may have originated on planets which orbited the parent star. ...

Study explains potential failure of oral contraceptives with obese women

.... The findings are of particular importance, researchers noted in their study, because about 30 percent of all adults in the U.S. are obese and the birth control pill is one of the most popular forms of contraception in the nation. "We don't have enough data yet to recommend that physicians change th...

Chemicals in common consumer products may play a role in pre-term births

...e control group who carried to term. They found significantly higher phthalate metabolite levels in the women who delivered prematurely. Premature birth is a significant risk factor for many health problems in childhood that can persist into adulthood, Meeker says. In the United States, premature birth...