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For young women, a low cardiovascular risk profile is associated with lower long-term heart disease

Young women at low risk for coronary heart disease and cardiovascular diseases have a lower long-term death rate from these diseases and all other causes compared with others with higher risk factor levels, according to an article in the October 6 issue of JAMA.

5 Oct 2004

Sexual encounters among patients in UK psychiatric wards are common

Healthcare providers in psychiatric wards are faced with two conflicting ideas when assessing the incidence of sexual activity.

4 Oct 2004

Folic acid can dramatically reduce the incidence of spina bifida and other birth defects

A study, published today in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, shows that the proportion of babies born with neural tube defects in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador dropped by 78% after the Canadian Government directed that folic acid must be added to flour, cornmeal and pasta. The study supports the continuation of this food fortification strategy.

23 Sep 2004

24 per cent of the mothers said the thought of pregnancy again put them off wanting another child

When it comes to having more children, Australian parents need increased personal support as much as they need paid maternity leave and money from the government, according to a study by a PhD researcher at the University of Adelaide, South Australia.

22 Sep 2004

40 percent of women of childbearing age take folic acid

A record 40 percent of American women of childbearing age reported taking a daily multivitamin containing folic acid in 2004, up from 32 percent last year and the highest level since the March of Dimes began surveying women in the 1990s, according to the organization's latest survey, which was published today in Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report.

18 Sep 2004

Spina bifida on the decline in Australia

The number of babies with spina bifida or similar abnormalities has declined by over 40 per cent since 1995, Australia's Minister for Health, Bronwyn Pike, said yesterday.

15 Sep 2004

Pioneering work with human embryonic stem cells could speed up development of new treatments for Parkinson’s and diabetes

Pioneering work with human embryonic stem (hES) cells could speed up the development of new treatments for a range of degenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and diabetes according to Dr Stephen Minger of King’s College London, speaking today at the BA Festival of Science.

8 Sep 2004

Fruit and vegetables eaten before pregnancy lowers risk of leukemia

A new study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, suggests that women who eat more vegetables, fruit and foods containing protein before pregnancy may have a lower risk of having a child who develops leukemia, the most common childhood cancer in the United States.

20 Aug 2004

Research sheds shed light on a common cause of miscarriage in humans

Top poker players know that the face mirrors the brain. Specialists in embryonic development wouldn’t disagree. In fact, because the same clumps of primordial cells mold the final features of both, a close look at a child’s face can often yield clues about less visible problems within the skull

20 Aug 2004

Gene responsible for infertility

A paper describing discoveries about the role of a gene that is important in all animals, plants, and fungi is published in the 20 July 2004 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

23 Jul 2004

Though most adolescent pregnancies are accidental, a substantial number of girls want to get pregnant

As social scientists and health educators grapple with causes of adolescent pregnancy in the United States, some researchers suggest that one component of the problem has been largely ignored.

23 Jul 2004

High levels of anxiety during a woman's pregnancy increases child risk of disease and disorder

The idea that a woman's emotional state during pregnancy affects her unborn child has persisted for centuries and has, in recent years, been supported by science.

16 Jul 2004

More than four out of ten conceptions among young women aged 15 to 17 end in abortion

But the average proportion across England, Scotland and Wales disguises wide variations in the percentage of terminations between areas.

30 Jun 2004

Studies show new massage and physical therapy technique increased pregnancy rates in infertile women

The researchers reported that the Wurn Technique(R) (patent pending) is highly effective at increasing fertility in both natural conception and in vitro fertilization (IVF). The therapy uses neither drugs nor surgery.

29 Jun 2004

Khat plant may create next men’s fertility wonder drug

Now, researchers at the Centre for Reproduction, Endocrinology and Diabetes at King’s College London, UK, have studied the effects of PPAs on mouse and human sperm and found the first evidence that they stimulate the final stage of sperm maturation (capacitation) when sperm develop the ability to fertilize an egg.

28 Jun 2004

Report published on IVF mix-up that led to mixed-race twins being born to a white couple

The Department of Health today published its report into the circumstances surrounding the IVF mix-up that led to mixed-race twins being born to a white couple.

23 Jun 2004

Prediction of the age of menopause and hence a woman's reproductive prime

UK researchers have shown a strong direct relationship between ovarian volume and the number of primordial follicles (eggs) remaining in the ovaries of women of reproductive age.

16 Jun 2004

Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes, or high blood sugar, that only pregnant women get

Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes, or high blood sugar, that only pregnant women get. If a woman is found to have high blood sugar when she's pregnant, but she never had high blood sugar before, she has gestational diabetes.

15 Jun 2004

Folic acid important before pregnancy

Only about 25 per cent of women in many countries voluntarily take folic acid tablets before conception, says a U of T researcher.

22 May 2004

25% of women in many countries voluntarily take folic acid tablets before conception

By taking folic acid before pregnancy or during the first few weeks after conception, women can markedly lower the risk of neural tube defects in their offspring; the defects commonly manifest themselves as a debilitating health condition known as spina bifida. The neural tube is fully developed 22 to 28 days after conception

19 May 2004