News & Updates

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.

People who reported in survey that they felt worried, depressed or lonely had a greater chance of being hospitalized after a COVID-19 diagnosis, suggests a study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

New drivers who performed poorly on a computerized driving simulator were more likely to fail their road test, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The findings suggest that the virtual driving assessment—which mimics situations in which new drivers are more likely to crash—can identify drivers lacking the skills to avoid crashes so they can benefit from interventions on how to reduce their crash risk.

Unlike other SARS-CoV-2 variants, the Delta variant can attach to copies of itself, forming larger aggregations, or clumps, of viral particles, suggests a study by scientists at the National Institutes of Health. The researchers theorize that this linking property may have played a role in the ability of the Delta variant to spread more rapidly than all the variants that preceded it.

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

Technique adapted from cancer treatment shows promise in mouse study.