http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Minimally invasive autopsies, using a combination of MRI scans and other techniques, such as blood tests, can accurately determine the cause of death in fetuses and babies nearly as well as conventional autopsies, according to new research published in The Lancet. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-mri-autopsies-alternative-conventional-techniques.html Other Wed, 15 May 2013 18:30:02 EST news287856721 Pregnant women with mid to high levels of antibodies common in patients with celiac disease are at risk for having babies with reduced fetal weight and birth weight, according to a new study in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association. The antibody tissue transglutaminase (anti-tTG) is most commonly found in patients with celiac disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-pregnant-women-high-celiac-disease.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 29 Apr 2013 18:33:48 EST news286479221 The most common cause of lower respiratory tract infections in infants and young children, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), can be transferred during pregnancy to an unborn baby, according to Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital research published online this week in the journal PLOS ONE. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-transmission-respiratory-viruses-utero.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 18 Apr 2013 17:31:44 EST news285525096 Reanalysis of the World Health Organization's Antenatal Care Trial (WHOACT) shows that there is an increased risk of fetal death at between 32 and 36 weeks for women who have a reduced antenatal care package, finds research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Reproductive Health. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-antenatal.html Health Thu, 11 Apr 2013 20:00:01 EST news284915380 The rate of stillbirths in British Columbia, Canada, increased by 31% over a decade, although the rate of spontaneous stillbirths did not increase, according to a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-stillbirth-significantly-spontaneous.html Health Mon, 08 Apr 2013 12:00:07 EST news284638890 Lawmakers in the southern state of Arkansas passed on Wednesday the most restrictive abortion law in the United States—a near-ban on the procedure from the 12th week of pregnancy onward that is certain to end up in court. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-ark-senate-overrides-veto-week.html Health Wed, 06 Mar 2013 04:31:05 EST news281766661 (Medical Xpress)—People are living longer than ever before, thanks to medical and technological advances. Unfortunately, aging can be associated with a decrease in brain function. This is because, unlike other cells in the body, neurons do not replicate. Neuroscientists in Italy have extended the lives of mouse neurons by injecting them into the brains of longer-lived rats, according to a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This indicates that neuronal lifespan is not predetermined, but depends on conditions in the microenvironment. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-genetic-clock-neuron-longevity.html Neuroscience Wed, 27 Feb 2013 11:20:02 EST news281184771 (HealthDay)—Using real-time images of brain connections developing in late-stage fetuses, scientists say they've been able for the first time to compare the order and strength of these connections. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-brains-fetuses-bridge-regions-images.html Neuroscience Wed, 20 Feb 2013 15:35:21 EST news280596912 In a study to be presented on February 15 at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting, in San Francisco, California, researchers from Tufts Medical Center will present findings showing the effects of maternal obesity on a fetus, specifically in the development of the brain. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-abnormal-brain-fetuses-obese-women.html Obstetrics & gynaecology Mon, 11 Feb 2013 11:20:01 EST news279801596 (AP)—A Catholic hospital on Monday acknowledged it was "morally wrong" for its attorneys to argue in court that a fetus is not a human being under Colorado law. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-apnewsbreak-catholic-hospital-acknowledges-error.html Other Mon, 04 Feb 2013 16:26:36 EST news279217576 (Medical Xpress)—According to the Centers for Disease Control, nearly 3 of every 100 babies in the U.S. are born with a birth defect. Among boys, one of the most common defects is the displacement of the urethral opening in the penis, a condition called hypospadias. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-mouse-mutant-path-birth-defect.html Medical research Wed, 16 Jan 2013 09:42:23 EST news277551737 (AP)—Four sisters who claimed in a lawsuit their breast cancer was caused by synthetic estrogen their mother took during pregnancy in the 1950s have reached a settlement with the drug company Eli Lilly and Co. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-apnewsbreak-settlement-pregnancy-drug.html Medications Wed, 09 Jan 2013 15:39:35 EST news276968360 (AP)—A Costa Rican ban on in-vitro fertilization has been struck down by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in a decision that reproductive health groups said could lead to greater access to abortion and some contraception in other Latin American countries. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-court-costa-rica-in-vitro.html Health Fri, 21 Dec 2012 11:24:13 EST news275311431 (Medical Xpress)—In a new analysis of thousands of US women of childbearing age, Brown University researchers found that most exceeded the median blood level for two or more of three environmental pollutants that could harm brain development of fetuses and babies: lead, mercury, and polychlorinated biphenyls. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-women-multiple-pollutants.html Health Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:34:11 EST news273335639 The 4D scans of 15 healthy fetuses, by Durham and Lancaster Universities, also suggest that yawning is a developmental process which could potentially give doctors another index of a fetus' health. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-fetuses-womb.html Medical research Wed, 21 Nov 2012 17:00:09 EST news272739492 Bisphenol A or BPA is a synthetic chemical widely used in the making of plastic products ranging from bottles and food can linings to toys and water supply lines. When these plastics degrade, BPA is released into the environment and routinely ingested. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-bpa-real-threat-metabolized.html Health Thu, 04 Oct 2012 17:00:02 EST news268587274 Habituation refers to the ability of an organism to stop responding to repeated stimulation. A new study has examined the impact of maternal drinking on fetal habituation or learning abilities while still residing in the mother's womb. Results showed that those fetuses exposed to heavy binge drinking required significantly more trials to habituate, and also exhibited a greater variability in test performance. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-maternal-pregnancy-earliest-fetal.html Addiction Fri, 14 Sep 2012 16:00:06 EST news266846452 (Medical Xpress) -- New University of Otago research into two sex hormones released by the testes of male fetuses and boys may help solve the enduring mystery of why autism is much more common in boys than girls. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-reveal-mechanism-male-autism.html Autism spectrum disorders Wed, 15 Aug 2012 10:00:01 EST news264242390 (Medical Xpress) -- Women pregnant with smaller-than-average fetuses may also need to worry about their long-term cardiovascular health risks, according to new research in the American Heart Association’s journal Hypertension. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-women-smaller-than-average-fetuses-heart-problems.html Cardiology Wed, 27 Jun 2012 05:00:04 EST news259991267 Prenatal screening for Down syndrome (DS) is still in need of improvement. Perinatal medicine experts have worked hard to find new biomarkers for screening of DS. Dr. Shi he Shao and his co-investigators, from Jiangsu University and Changzhou Woman and Children Health Hospital, report in the May 2012 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine that they have successfully identified twenty-nine differentially expressed proteins in maternal serum from pregnancies carrying DS fetuses with proteomic approaches. These differential proteins offer the possibility of improving the performance of DS screening in the future. The functional roles of these proteins also possibly have a relationship with the development of DS. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-identification-differential-proteins-maternal-serum.html Medical research Thu, 07 Jun 2012 16:26:42 EST news258305192 Toxoplasmosis, a disease caused by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, is one of the most common parasitic infections in the world. In the U.S. it is estimated that more than 22 percent of the population 12 years and older have been infected with toxoplasma, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-parasites-toxoplasmosis.html Medical research Mon, 21 May 2012 05:21:06 EST news256796430 A Mexican woman is due to give birth to six girls and three boys in May, the local media is reporting. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-mexican-woman-due-birth.html Obstetrics & gynaecology Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:29:28 EST news254755759 (AP) -- Brazil's supreme court has voted to authorize abortions in cases of fetuses with no brains. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-brazil-court-oks-abortions-brainless.html Obstetrics & gynaecology Fri, 13 Apr 2012 04:20:16 EST news253509387 Female mouse fetuses exposed to very high doses of a common industrial chemical that makes plastics more pliable develop significant reproductive alterations and precancerous lesions as they grow up, according to a new toxicology study conducted at Brown University. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-highly-exposed-phthalates-fetuses-female.html Medical research Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:10:46 EST news251122237 A child's cognitive development is not generally impacted by how much weight his or her mother gained during pregnancy, according to a study from Nationwide Children's Hospital. This is the first study to use methods controlling for the widest range of confounding factors when directly examining the association between gestational weight gain and childhood cognition. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-gestational-weight-gain-child-cognitive.html Health Tue, 28 Feb 2012 12:59:31 EST news249656363 Male fetuses of mothers that are exposed to radiation during early pregnancy may have an increased chance of developing testicular cancer, according to a study in mice at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The article was published today in PLoS ONE. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-fetal-exposure-testicular-cancer.html Cancer Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:00:01 EST news248370977 New research by Australian scientists reveals that males who are exposed to high levels of testosterone before birth are twice as likely to experience delays in language development compared to females. The research, published in Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, focused on umbilical cord blood to explore the presence of testosterone when the language-related regions of a fetus' brain are undergoing a critical period of growth. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-prenatal-testosterone-linked-language-male.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 26 Jan 2012 04:17:06 EST news246773797 Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital have identified a potential new cause for unexplained miscarriages in mice. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-unexplained-miscarriages.html Medical research Tue, 01 Nov 2011 11:19:12 EST news239365120 Fetal and neonatal immune thrombocytopenia (FNIT; aka FNAIT) is a condition in which fetuses and newborns have reduced numbers of blood cells known as platelets. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-potential-miscarriage-habitual-abortion.html Medical research Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:15:43 EST news238680933 (Medical Xpress) -- A study by researchers at UC Davis has found that pregnant women with a particular gene variation are more likely to produce auto-antibodies to the brains of their developing fetuses and that the children of these mothers are at greater risk of later being diagnosed with autism. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-genetic-variant-auto-antibodies-linked-autism.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 19 Oct 2011 07:06:34 EST news238226771