News

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.

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.

Dietary supplements containing zinc and folic acid—marketed as a treatment for male infertility—do not appear to improve pregnancy rates, sperm counts or sperm function, according to a study conducted by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), part of the National Institutes of Health.

Read about NICHD’s notable research findings and activities from 2019.

NICHD Director Dr. Diana Bianchi looks back at 2019 and NICHD’s many amazing accomplishments.

Pregnant women exposed to persistent organic pollutants, or POPs, had slightly smaller fetuses than women who haven’t been exposed to these chemicals, according to an analysis of ultrasound scans by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

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.

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.

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.

Nano-sized vesicles released by certain bacteria that inhabit the vagina may protect against HIV infection, suggests a study of human cells and tissues by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and the University of Bologna, Italy. Known as extracellular vesicles, these bubble-like particles are produced by many kinds of cells and are thought to transport molecules from one cell to another.

John Bennet Robbins, M.D., co-developer of a vaccine that has spared thousands of small children from a major cause of death and intellectual disability, has passed away after a long illness. Dr. Robbins was chief of the Laboratory of Developmental and Molecular Immunity at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), before he retired in 2012. He was 86.

R. Douglas Fields, Ph.D., chief of NICHD’s section on Nervous System Development and Plasticity has been named a distinguished Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Children’s average daily time spent watching television or using a computer or mobile device increased from 53 minutes at age 12 months to more than 150 minutes at 3 years, according to an analysis by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

Among Asian/Pacific Islander women living in the United States, those who reside in ethnic enclaves—areas with a high concentration of residents of a similar ancestry—are less likely to have pregnancy or birth complications than those living in other areas, suggests a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

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.

Children born to women on HIV therapy containing the drug efavirenz were 2 to 2.5 times more likely to have microcephaly, or small head size, compared to children born to women on regimens of other antiretroviral drugs, according to an analysis funded by the National Institutes of Health. The children with microcephaly also had a higher risk for developmental delays, compared to children with normal head size.

Adolescents who had a positive relationship with their families were less likely to have depressive symptoms not only in adolescence, but also in midlife, according to an analysis funded by the NICHD.

The Trans-NIH Fragile X Coordinating Committee, led by NICHD, recently published the final NIH Strategic Research Plan on FMR1-Associated Conditions.

A new imaging technique to track maternal blood flow to the placenta has the potential to help diagnose several common complications in early pregnancy, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Researchers used the technique, referred to as pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling magnetic resonance imaging (pCASL MRI), to identify women with reduced placental blood flow who later developed one or more complications.