News

Over the past year, NICHD contributed to numerous scientific advances and key initiatives.

A program to teach preschoolers pre-reading, social, and thinking skills appears to have benefits through third grade, particularly in executive functioning—the mental skills that include planning, paying attention, organizing, and remembering details.

Mental illness associated with early childhood adversity may be passed from generation to generation, according to a study of adults whose parents evacuated Finland as children during World War II.

NICHD's Dr. Donna Mazloomdoost, program director for the Pelvic Floor Disorders Network, explains problems of the pelvic floor, which affect as many as 1 in 3 women in the U.S.

Dr. Carmen Zorrilla, who leads NICHD’s Zika in Infants and Pregnancy (ZIP) study in Puerto Rico, reports on how Hurricane Maria affected the Island’s largest hospital in San Juan.

Exposure to common air pollutants, such as ozone and fine particles, may increase the risk of early pregnancy loss, according to an NIH study.

Obesity during pregnancy—independent of its health consequences such as diabetes—may account for the higher risk of giving birth to an atypically large infant.

The deadliest malaria parasite needs two proteins to infect red blood cells and exit the cells after it multiplies, a finding that may provide researchers with potential new targets for drug development.

Infant cries activate specific brain regions related to movement and speech, according to an NICHD-led study of mothers in 11 countries.

A woman’s weight gain in the second trimester of a twin pregnancy is most closely associated with fetal growth and the size of the babies at the time of birth, according to a prospective study by researchers at the NICHD.

A monthly high dose of vitamin D3 may prevent the loss of bone density often experienced by people taking the anti-HIV drug tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF).

Women who have had gestational diabetes may be able to reduce or even eliminate their risk for cardiovascular disease by following a healthy lifestyle in the years after giving birth, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health.

Tests that estimate ovarian reserve, or the number of a woman’s remaining eggs, before menopause, do not appear to predict short-term chances of conception, according to a National Institutes of Health-funded study of women with no history of infertility.

The pores created by malaria parasites to exit red blood cells are promising targets for drugs such as heparin, according to an NICHD study.

NIH is funding a new study to evaluate treatment options for newborns with opioid withdrawal syndrome, a condition caused by exposure to opioids during pregnancy.

The gene responsible for food-triggered Cushing syndrome has been identified by an international team that includes researchers from NICHD.

NICHD’s Pauline Mendola examines whether air pollution and extreme temperature increase the risk of stillbirth.

The National Institutes of Health has awarded nine research grants totaling nearly $100 million over the next five years for the Autism Centers of Excellence (ACE), a program that supports large research projects aimed at understanding and developing interventions for autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Virginia mother Jana Monaco describes how newborn screening changed her family's life. Her experience and advocacy helped change the course of knowledge for future generations.

Daily doses of beneficial bacteria, or probiotics, reduced the rate of sepsis—a life-threatening infection of the bloodstream—among newborns in India by 40 percent, according to researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health.