Birth Defects News and Research

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Economically disadvantaged immigrants of non-English speaking Latinos exposed to harmful air pollution

New research finds that economically disadvantaged immigrant neighborhoods of non-English speaking Latinos are more likely to be exposed to cancer-causing air toxics than comparable communities of any other racial group in the United States.

29 Oct 2015

First primate model can help researchers to study mother-to-fetus CMV infections

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the leading infectious cause of birth defects worldwide, but scientists have been frustrated in their efforts to develop a vaccine to protect against infections.

20 Oct 2015

Researchers successfully convert skin cells into fully functional placenta-generating cells

Regenerative medicine is a new and expanding area that aims to replace lost or damaged cells, tissues or organs in the human body through cellular transplantation. Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are pluripotent cells that are capable of long-term growth, self-renewal, and can give rise to every cell, tissue and organ in the fetus's body.

15 Oct 2015

Drug interactions in placenta may increase risk of birth defects or stunting fetal growth

To date, studies in pregnant women examining transport of drugs across the placenta are rare and inadequate, said Tomo Nabekura, PhD. Such knowledge could be vital to preserving fetal health. In a new laboratory study, Nabekura and colleagues have illuminated a piece of this puzzle, and the results hint that mothers taking new anti-hepatitis C and/or anti-HIV drugs along with anti-hypertensives or non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) could be raising the risk of birth defects or stunting fetal growth, respectively.

15 Oct 2015

Pregnant women with elevated blood-sugar levels more likely to have babies with heart defects

Pregnant women with elevated blood-sugar levels are more likely to have babies with congenital heart defects, even if their blood sugar is below the cutoff for diabetes, according to a new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine and Stanford Children's Health.

12 Oct 2015

Father’s life experiences can affect health, development of both children and grandchildren

If you have diabetes, or cancer or even heart problems, maybe you should blame it on your dad's behaviour or environment. Or even your grandfather's.

9 Oct 2015

WSU biomedical students create therapeutic speech development toy for kids with auditory disabilities

Hearing loss is one of the most common birth defects, with more than 12,000 children in the United States affected each year. Three students in Wichita State University's biomedical engineering program recognized this issue and designed their senior project to create a therapeutic toy to provide early intervention therapy for children with auditory disabilities.

24 Sep 2015

Study explores effectiveness of frontline treatments for couples with unexplained infertility

A breast cancer drug with promise for improving the chance that couples with unexplained infertility can have a baby without increasing their risk of multiple births apparently does not deliver, according to a comparative study.

24 Sep 2015

Innovative detector could expand use of polarized light for drug screening, surveillance

Invention of the first integrated circularly polarized light detector on a silicon chip opens the door for development of small, portable sensors that could expand the use of polarized light for drug screening, surveillance, optical communications and quantum computing, among other potential applications.

23 Sep 2015

Female mice exposed to endocrine disruptors may show decreased metabolism, physical activity in offspring

Endocrine disruptors are contaminants that interfere with endocrine or hormone systems and can cause tumors, birth defects and developmental disorders in mammals. Often, these contaminants are used in a variety of consumer products, such as water bottles, dental composites and resins used to line metal food and beverage containers.

22 Sep 2015

New Penn Medicine research shows vital role of Esrp1 and Esrp2 genes in skin, organ development

Knocking out one or both crucial regulatory genes caused cleft lip, skin barrier defects, and a host of other developmental problems in mice, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, hinting that abnormalities in these molecular pathways could underlie many birth defects that are presently not well understood. The two closely related regulatory genes are active in the normal development of mammals and govern how RNAs produced from the genes are joined to make final versions of the encoded protein, a process called alternative splicing.

16 Sep 2015

Fetuses with enlarged ventricles are not ideal candidates for fetal spina bifida surgery

Fetuses with enlarged ventricles--the fluid-filled cavities inside the brain--may be less likely than other fetuses to benefit from surgery in the womb to treat spina bifida, according to a study co-authored by researchers at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco.

16 Sep 2015

Roflumilast drug could inhibit growth of brain tumor in children

Current drugs may stop working against the most common type of brain tumor in children, medulloblastoma, but the tumor could be targeted in a new way, according to Stanford University scientists.

15 Sep 2015

UCI researchers uncover new underlying factor of seizures

University of California, Irvine researchers with the School of Medicine have identified the mechanism by which valproic acid controls epileptic seizures, and by doing so, also revealed an underlying factor of seizures.

15 Sep 2015

Simple checklist to help parents determine their children’s school environment

Grassroots Environmental Education, a science-based environmental health non-profit organization based in New York, has issued a simple three-point checklist for parents of school-age children to help them determine if their child's school environment is as healthy as it can be.

4 Sep 2015

New NIH grants support research that combines DNA sequence information and electronic medical records

A dozen awards from the National Institutes of Health will support research that incorporates DNA sequence information into electronic medical records. The goal of research conducted by the Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) network is to better understand the genomic basis of disease and to tailor medical care to individual patients based on their genomic differences.

2 Sep 2015

GSA, ASHG and Gruber Foundation announce recipients of 2016 Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award

The Genetics Society of America (GSA), the American Society for Human Genetics (ASHG) and The Gruber Foundation are pleased to announce Maria Barna, PhD, of Stanford University; and Carolyn McBride, PhD, of Princeton University, as the 2016 recipients of the Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award.

2 Sep 2015

Study shows lack of folic acid enrichment in Europe causes foaetal abnormalities

A new international study shows that 5,000 foetuses in Europe annually are affected by spina bifida and other severe defects on the central nervous system. Seventy per cent of these pregnancies are terminated, while increased mortality and serious diseases affect the children who are born. At least half of the cases can be avoided by adding folic acid to staple foods as is already being done in seventy non-European countries.

29 Aug 2015

New book from the March of Dimes details successful program to reduce preterm birth

Details of a program that successfully reduced preterm birth are available for health care professionals in a new book from the March of Dimes.

19 Aug 2015

Johns Hopkins scientists develop novel fish embryo technique to identify potential new treatments for diabetes

In experiments with 500,000 genetically engineered zebrafish embryos, Johns Hopkins scientists report they have developed a potentially better and more accurate way to screen for useful drugs, and they have used it to identify 24 drug candidates that increase the number of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.