Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to the Pediatric Seizure Study. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will be given at that time. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host today, Mr. Bob Bock, Press Officer, NICHD.
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.
NIH Outlines Plans for Study of Pediatric Seizure
The scenario unfolds almost every day in the United States. A crowd gathers at a playground, or perhaps on a soccer field. A child has fallen to the ground, gripped by a seizure. Usually, the twitching and jerking stop within a few minutes.
Researchers Discover Gene Crucial for Nerve Cell Insulation
Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have discovered how a defect in a single master gene disrupts the process by which several genes interact to create myelin, a fatty coating that covers nerve cells and increases the speed and reliability of their electrical signals.
Early Child Care Linked to Increases in Vocabulary, Some Problem Behaviors in Fifth & Sixth Grades
The most recent analysis of a long-term NIH-funded study found that children who received higher quality child care before entering kindergarten had better vocabulary scores in the fifth grade than did children who received lower quality care.
Older Mothers More Likely than Younger Mothers to Deliver By Caesarean
Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have found that older mothers with normal, full-term pregnancies-particularly first-time older mothers-were more likely to undergo Caesarean delivery than were younger women with similarly low-risk pregnancies.
Experimental Vaccine Given During Pregnancy Reduces Stillbirths from Common Virus
Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have developed an experimental vaccine that reduces stillbirths among rodents born to mothers infected with cytomegalovirus (CMV)--a common virus that can also cause mental retardation and hearing loss in newborn children who were infected in early fetal life.
Largest-ever Search for Autism Genes Reveals New Clues
The largest search for autism genes to date, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has implicated components of the brain's glutamate chemical messenger system and a previously overlooked site on chromosome 11.
Standard Therapy More Effective Than Diabetes Drug for Achieving Pregnancy in Common Fertility Disorder
Metformin, a drug used to treat diabetes and thought to hold great promise at overcoming the infertility associated with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), is less useful for helping women with the condition achieve pregnancy than is the standard treatment with the infertility drug clomiphene, report researchers in an NIH research network.
Women's Response to Anti-HIV Therapy Improved If Treatment Begins Six Months After Earlier Preventive Regimen
A woman's response to HIV treatment with drug combinations that contain nevirapine is improved if at least six months have passed after she received the drug as a single dose during labor to prevent passing HIV on to her child. (The response to treatment is measured by the reduction of HIV in the blood.)
Hormonal Contraception Does Not Appear to Increase HIV Risk
Using hormonal contraception does not appear to increase women's overall risk of infection with the AIDS virus, report the authors of a large study commissioned by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health.
Drug Prevents PostPartum Hemorrhage in Resource Poor Settings
The drug misoprostol provides a safe, convenient, and inexpensive means to prevent postpartum hemorrhage, a major killer of women in developing countries. The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Missouri, India's Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, and the National Institutes of Health.
Study Provides Evidence that Autism Affects Functioning of Entire Brain Previous View Held Autism Limited to Communication, Social Behavior, & Reasoning
A recent study provides evidence that autism affects the functioning of virtually the entire brain, and is not limited to the brain areas involved with social interactions, communication behaviors, and reasoning abilities, as had been previously thought. The study, conducted by scientists in a research network supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), found that autism also affects a broad array of skills and abilities, including those involved with sensory perception, movement, and memory.
Researchers Gain Insight into Why Brain Areas Fail to Work Together in Autism
Researchers have found in two studies that autism may involve a lack of connections and coordination in separate areas of the brain.
Combined Surgery Reduces Incontinence in Women with Pelvic Organ Prolapse
By performing two surgical procedures during the same operation, researchers in an NIH network reduced by half the incidence of urinary incontinence in women with a condition known as pelvic organ prolapse.
Common Reflux Treatment Linked to Life Threatening Bowel Infection in Premature Infants
Researchers in an NIH network have found that premature infants given a common class of non-prescription drugs used to treat acid reflux are slightly more likely to develop a potentially fatal bowel disorder than are infants who are not treated with the drugs.
NICHD Alerts Parents to Winter SIDS Risk & Updated AAP Recommendations
The number of infants who die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, increases in the cold winter months, according to the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), one of the National Institutes of Health.
Most Behaviors Preceding Major Causes of Preventable Death have Begun by Young Adulthood
By the time they reach early adulthood, a large proportion of American youth have begun the poor practices contributing to three leading causes of preventable death in the United States: smoking, overweight and obesity, and alcohol abuse. This finding is according to an NIH-funded analysis of the most comprehensive survey of adolescent health behavior undertaken to date.
Cold Treatment Protects Against Infant Disability & Death from Oxygen Loss
Lowering infants' body temperature to about 92 degrees Fahrenheit within the first 6 hours of life reduces the chances of disability and death among full term infants who failed to receive enough oxygen or blood to the brain during birth.
Study Casts Doubt on Lung Treatment for Preterm Infants
Contrary to an earlier finding, inhaled nitric oxide therapy (a treatment for lung problems in premature infants) does not reduce the infant's chances for death or further lung problems, according to a study by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health.
Bone Density Appears to Recover After Adolescents Discontinue Injected Contraceptive
Lower bone density appears to recover in adolescent females once they stop using the injected contraceptive depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA), according to a study funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health.