News

NIH-funded study explains how intravenous immune globulin helps children with rare COVID condition.

Drs. Diana W. Bianchi and Bill Riley co-write a blog for Children’s Health Day on October 4, 2021.

Findings from NICHD-supported study may aid special education classes across the country.

No serious adverse events were reported by 180 breastfeeding women receiving either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, either among themselves or in their infants, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. For the mothers, adverse events included muscle and body aches, fever and vomiting, pain, redness, swelling, or itching at the injection site.

NIH-supported program reduces maternal deaths, complications in rural Guatemalan communities.

NICHD Director Dr. Diana W. Bianchi explains how menstruation provides insights into overall health status and encourages clinical researchers to routinely collect menstrual cycle data.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, American children may have adopted a range of behaviors that increase their risk for obesity, an NIH-funded study suggests. Compared to before the pandemic, children 7- to 12-years old increased their sedentary behavior, screen time, and food intake, while reducing their level of physical activity and adopting a later sleep schedule—all behaviors that increase obesity risk.

NIH has awarded one-year supplemental grants to five institutions to explore potential links between COVID-19 vaccination and menstrual changes.

Working-age immigrant men—particularly Latinos—were more likely to die of COVID-19 than their native-born counterparts, according to a study of Minnesota death records funded by the National Institutes of Health. Because COVID-19 data on immigration status is not collected on a national level, the findings provide insights into how COVID-19 mortality trends differ between U.S.- and foreign-born residents.

NICHD-led research illuminates a factor affecting the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to infect human cells. The findings suggest a potential strategy for developing COVID-19 treatments.

NICHD Director Dr. Diana W. Bianchi discusses NIH efforts to generate robust scientific data to inform policies to return children to the classroom safely and equitably during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

A panel of experts convened by NICHD has recommended standardized criteria to define infection of the placenta with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Their recommendations aim to help streamline research on SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy and ultimately optimize clinical care.

The National Institutes of Health is funding five additional projects to identify ways of safely returning students and staff to in-person school in areas with vulnerable and underserved populations. The awards are the second installment of the Safe Return to School Diagnostic Testing Initiative, launched earlier this year as part of the NIH Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) program. The new awards will provide up to $15 million over two years for five projects in California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nebraska and Florida. The 8 initial awards, totaling $33 million over two years, were made in April 2021.

The experimental drug TEMPOL may be a promising oral antiviral treatment for COVID-19, suggests a study by researchers at NIH.

Trophoblasts—the outermost fetal cells of the placenta—may be able to contain SARS-CoV-2 and prevent it from spreading to the fetus even though these cells appear to be susceptible to infection by the virus, a study by NIH-funded researchers suggests. Further research into how trophoblasts might contain the virus could lead to ways to prevent COVID-19 in children and adults. The findings may also lead to insights on why fetuses are only rarely infected with SARS-CoV-2.

Preliminary data from NICHD-funded researchers provides caregiver-reported information on how children and teens fared during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The National Institutes of Health is awarding up to $33 million over two years to fund projects at 10 institutions across eight states to build evidence on safely returning students, teachers and support staff to in-person school in areas with vulnerable and underserved populations.

Looking back and looking ahead. NICHD Director Dr. Diana W. Bianchi joins other leaders across NIH in reflecting on the work of the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) program and discussing plans for the future.

Current vaccines to prevent COVID-19 are highly effective in producing antibodies in pregnant people, resulting in more antibodies than what is generated from a natural SARS-CoV-2 virus infection, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Moreover, antibodies produced after vaccination are present in breastmilk and travel across the placenta, indicating that vaccination during pregnancy will also confer immunity to newborns.

For many COVID-19 patients, full recovery remains elusive even long after they should feel “better.” NIH recently announced research opportunities to understand COVID-19 long haulers, who have what researchers now refer to as Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC). NICHD joins these opportunities while remaining focused on PASC patients within our audiences of interest—pregnant and lactating people, children, and those with disabilities.