Researchers have developed a test to measure the expressive language skills of people with Fragile X syndrome, a genetic disorder that may result in intellectual disability, cognitive impairment and symptoms of autism spectrum disorder. Expressive language refers to the use of words to convey meaning to others. The work was funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, part of the National Institutes of Health.
News
NICHD issues News Releases and Media Advisories to the news media. Spotlight and Research Feature articles explain NICHD research findings and public health issues to the general public. An Item of Interest is a short announcement of relevant information, such as a notable staff change.
Release: NIH-funded research team updates online tool for extremely preterm infant outcomes
A research team funded by the National Institutes of Health has updated an online tool to provide information for clinicians and parents on outcomes for extremely preterm infants. The key change in the update was the incorporation of data from the hospital where the infant was born, which the researchers found was as important as gestational age in determining infant outcome.
Media Advisory: Antioxidant supplements do not improve male fertility, NIH study suggests
Antioxidant supplements do not improve semen quality among men with infertility, according to a new NICHD-supported study.
Media Advisory: NIH-funded effort may help people with intellectual disability participate in clinical studies
The NIH Toolbox Cognitive Battery—an assessment of cognitive functioning for adults and children participating in neuroscience research—can be adapted to people with intellectual disabilities by modifying some test components and making accommodations for the test-takers’ disabilities, according to researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health. The adaptations ensure that the battery can be used to assess the cognitive ability of people with intellectual disabilities who have a mental age of 5 years and above, providing objective measures that could be used in a wide variety of studies.
Item of Interest: Duane Alexander, Former NICHD Director, Dies
Duane Alexander, M.D., a former director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), died on February 16, 2020, from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 79 years old.
Media Advisory: NIH-funded study links natural sugars in breastmilk to early childhood height and weight
Human milk oligosaccharides found in breastmilk may influence a child’s growth from infancy through early childhood, according to an NICHD-supported study.
Item of Interest: Stanley Cohen, Nobel Winner and Longtime NICHD Grantee, Dies
NICHD funded Cohen’s award-winning work on growth factors for most of his career.
Spotlight: A Decade of Human-Animal Interaction (HAI) Research
NICHD marks a 10-year partnership with WALTHAM® PetCare Science Institute, a division of Mars, to support research exploring the impact of interactions between animals and human companions.
Release: Youth with HIV less likely than adults to achieve viral suppression
Despite similar rates of enrollment into medical care, youth with HIV have much lower rates of viral suppression—reducing HIV to undetectable levels—compared to adults, according to an analysis funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Media Advisory: Homicide is a leading cause of pregnancy-associated death in Louisiana
Homicide is a leading cause of death among pregnant and postpartum women in Louisiana, according to an analysis of birth and death records from 2016 and 2017. The study, appearing as a research letter in JAMA Pediatrics, was funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), part of the National Institutes of Health.
Item of Interest: NICHD Partners with Safe Kids Worldwide to Enhance Community-Level Safe Infant Sleep Practices
NICHD has launched a partnership with Safe Kids Worldwide, a global non-profit working to protect kids from preventable injuries through a network of more than 400 coalitions.
Release: NIH’s PregSource research project now available in Spanish
To expand the reach of its crowdsourcing pregnancy research project, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently launched a Spanish version of PregSource®.
Release: Benefits of fetal surgery to repair spina bifida persist through school age, NIH study finds
Children as young as 6 years old who underwent fetal surgery to repair a common birth defect of the spine are more likely to walk independently and have fewer follow-up surgeries, compared to those who had traditional corrective surgery after birth, according to researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Release: Low-dose aspirin may reduce preterm birth risk among first-time mothers
Daily low-dose aspirin, from as early as the sixth week of pregnancy through the 36th week, may lower the risk for preterm birth among first-time mothers, suggests a study funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Release: Pregnancy, breastfeeding may lower risk of early menopause, NIH-funded study suggests
Women who breastfed their infants exclusively for 7 to 12 months may have a significantly lower risk of early menopause than their peers who breastfed their infants for less than a month, according to an analysis funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Spotlight: Selected NICHD Research Advances of 2019
Read about NICHD’s notable research findings and activities from 2019.
Media Advisory: Severity of autism symptoms varies greatly among identical twins
Identical twins with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often experience large differences in symptom severity even though they share the same DNA, according to an analysis funded by the National Institutes of Health. The findings suggest that identifying the causes of this variability may inform the treatment of ASD-related symptoms.
Media Advisory: Many pregnant women with HIV prescribed treatment that does not meet federal guidelines
More than 20% of pregnant women beginning anti-HIV treatment were prescribed an antiretroviral treatment that did not meet federal guidelines for use during pregnancy, according to an analysis funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Spotlight: Healthy Pregnancy for Every Body
NICHD’s new initiative—Pregnancy for Every Body—educates plus-size pregnant women about healthy pregnancy and the importance of working with a healthcare provider to develop a pregnancy plan.
Release: Umbilical cord milking may be linked to higher risk of brain bleeding in preterm infants
Milking the umbilical cord—gently squeezing the cord and pushing the contents into the newborn’s abdomen before clamping the cord—could increase the risk for severe intraventricular hemorrhage, or bleeding into the brain’s fluid-filled cavities, in extremely preterm infants, according to results of a study funded by the National Institutes of Health that was halted for safety concerns.