News & Updates

NIH recently released three funding opportunity announcements inviting applications for the Maternal Health Research Centers of Excellence initiative, which will develop and evaluate innovative approaches to reduce pregnancy-related complications and deaths and promote maternal health equity.

The Division of Intramural Research provides fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems through basic, clinical, and population-based research.

The recent shortage of infant formula underscores its importance for the health of children in the United States, making this an opportune time for Dr. Bianchi to reflect on NICHD’s work to advance infant nutrition research.

Among military members and veterans relying on service dogs for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), those whose dogs were rated as less excitable scored lower on PTSD severity, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Those paired with less excitable service dogs also tended to have a closer relationship with the dog, compared to those with more excitable dogs. The authors concluded that pairing service members with less excitable service dogs could potentially lessen their PTSD symptoms.

Learn about an experimental male contracteptive gel called NES/T, which was developed in collaboration with NICHD and the Population Council.

Women with endometriosis may have a higher risk for stroke, suggests a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The analysis of more than 110,000 women found that compared to women without the condition, women who had been diagnosed with endometriosis had a 34% higher risk for stroke. The study authors concluded that physicians should consider counseling patients with endometriosis about their risk for stroke and other cardiovascular conditions.

Under appropriate conditions, protective face coverings can successfully be used during intelligence testing without interfering with the ability to understand the test administrator’s instruction, suggests a small study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Groups of young children scored comparably on a test measuring nonverbal intelligence whether they or the test administrators wore masks. The findings help to allay concerns that face masks may interfere with testing by hiding administrators’ facial expressions.

Compared to pregnant women without a disability, pregnant women with disabilities may have about two and a half times the risk of experiencing intimate partner violence in the year before pregnancy and during pregnancy, suggests a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The study authors conclude that health care providers should be vigilant in screening women with disabilities for intimate partner violence before and during pregnancy and refer them to appropriate information and resources.

Even though they encounter multiple classmates during school each day, primary school children are much more likely to become friends with classmates they sit next to rather than other children in the class, a study funded by the National Institutes of Health suggests. The results imply that by assigning seats, teachers have a disproportionate influence on the friendships their students form.

The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines may offer slightly more protection during pregnancy against SARS-CoV-2, compared to the Jansen/Johnson & Johnson vaccine, suggests a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Vaccination during the first and third trimesters appears to result in higher antibody-stimulated immune responses than vaccination in the second trimester. It also may lead to greater transfer of antibodies from maternal blood to the placenta.

A 30-minute, self-administered online training module can protect adolescents from unhealthy responses to stress and related mental health consequences, suggests research funded in part by NICHD.

In 2020, firearm-related injuries surpassed motor vehicle crashes to become the leading cause of death among children and adolescents in the United States. Dr. Bianchi highlights NICHD-supported research to prevent firearm violence and reduce the related deaths, injuries, and trauma.

Giving the hormone adiponectin to pregnant mice with obesity prevented later life obesity and related health conditions in their offspring, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The findings suggest that adiponectin, a hormone produced by fat cells, could play a role in reducing the lifelong obesity risk of children born to mothers with obesity during pregnancy.

NICHD’s Dr. Claire Le Pichon helps advance understanding of neuron injury and neurodegenerative diseases by embracing new technologies, collaborating with other researchers, and mentoring the next generation of scientists. Read about her career path.

The Safe to Sleep® campaign, a national effort to raise awareness about ways to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and other sleep-related infant deaths, will be updating the campaign’s messages to reflect revised recommendations for safe infant sleep issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The updates ensure that parents and caregivers have the latest information about evidence-based risk-reduction strategies.

The increase in pregnancy complications linked to air pollution exposure could result from the pollutants’ direct effects on the placenta, suggests a study in mice funded by the National Institutes of Health. Placentas of mice exposed to a mixture of common urban air pollutants before and during pregnancy were inflamed and had a loss of blood vessel cells. The study authors say the findings could provide insight into how air pollution might affect pregnancies and lead to strategies for preventing pregnancy complications.

Maternal obesity before pregnancy may increase the risk of asthma in early childhood, suggests a study by the National Institutes of Health. Children born to mothers with obesity were more likely than those born to mothers without obesity to have persistent wheezing, an indication of asthma.

A new method to detect genetic material from the placenta in the blood of pregnant women could potentially identify the risk for gestational, or pregnancy-related, diabetes in the first trimester, suggests a small study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

The placenta supports pregnancy and influences the lifelong health of both mother and child. Yet it is the least understood, and least studied, of all human organs. In a guest post for the NIH Director’s Blog, Dr. Bianchi discusses work from NICHD’s Human Placenta Project to understand how the placenta functions in real time during pregnancy.

Infants who were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at 24 months old had differences in the visual processing areas of the brain that were apparent at 6 months old, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The researchers theorized that disruption in visual processing could interfere with how infants see the world around them, changing how they interact with and learn from caregivers and their environment. These early changes could affect further brain development and play a role in ASD symptoms.