Study shows protective benefits of DHA taken during pregnancy – If pregnant women take daily 400 mg of DHA during pregnancy are more likely to deliver healthier infants, and babies fall sick less and for short duration. Babies are more healthier in their infancy period.
Fetal surgery, pioneered at UCSF, is more effective than operating after birth – Thirty years ago, the first human fetal surgery was performed at the University of California, San Francisco. Now, a randomized controlled trial has proven definitively that fetal surgery can help certain patients before birth.
Indoor Coal Use Associated With Possible Impairment of Early Childhood Growth – Children raised in homes using indoor coal for cooking or heating appear to be about a half-inch shorter at age 36 months than those in households using other fuel sources.
Research strengthens evidence of link between paracetamol use in pregnancy and childhood asthma – Evidence suggesting that the risk of childhood asthma associated with prenatal paracetamol exposure may depend on antioxidant genes in the mother has been found by a team of UK scientists.
Immune responses during pregnancy linked to schizophrenia among offspring – Infections like the flu are common occurrences during pregnancy, and research has shown that children born to mothers who suffered from flu, viruses and other infections during pregnancy have about a 1.5 to 7 times increased risk for schizophrenia.
Melinda Gates Calls for Global Action to Save Women?s and Children?s Lives – Melinda Gates urged global leaders to make women’s and children’s health a top priority, and announced that the Gates Foundation will invest $1.5 billion over the next five years to support maternal and child health, family planning, and nutrition programs in developing countries.
Vitamin C and E supplements do not reduce risk for blood pressure disorders of pregnancy – Taking vitamin C and E supplements starting in early pregnancy does not reduce the risk for the hypertensive disorders and their complications that occur during pregnancy, according to a study by a National Institutes of Health research network.
Autism’s earliest symptoms not evident in children under 6 months — Condition is characterized by a slow decline rather than an abrupt loss of skills, study says – A study of the development of autism in infants, comparing the behavior of the siblings of children diagnosed with autism to that of babies developing normally, has found that the nascent symptoms of the condition – a lack of shared eye contact, smiling and communicative babbling – are not present at 6 months, but emerge gradually and only become apparent during the latter part of the first year of life.
US birth weights on the decline — U.S. infants are getting smaller – Birth weights in US have declined during the past 15 years, revealed by researchers at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute’s Department of Population Medicine.
Each pound at birth lowers risk of developing TB — Just one more pound may help a newborn avoid tuberculosis later in life. – Researchers at the University of Michigan looked at how much protection additional birth weight added against developing the disease years later. They found that every 1.1 pounds of birth weight decreases the risk of developing tuberculosis later by 46 percent among identical twins.
