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American infants were less likely to be born preterm or of low birthweight, when compared to the previous year, according to the federal government's annual statistical report on the well-being of the nation's children. However, the report also showed economic setbacks for the nation?s children. Children were more likely to live in poverty, and less likely to have at least one parent employed year round, full time.

The world has lost a great leader in the struggle to improve and enhance the lives of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Researchers working for and with support from across the NIH have made significant advances in the understanding of FXS and the associated disorders FXTAS and FXPOI.

Understanding the changing needs of the nation's children and the conditions they live in can play an important role in helping the country thrive both today and in the future. To create a comprehensive picture of children's lives, the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, of which the NICHD is a member, compiles data on indicators of health and well-being for children and youth and reports its findings every year.

Specific variations or mutations in a particular can gene raise a man's risk of familial, or inherited, testicular germ-cell cancer, the most common form of this disease, according to new research by scientists at the National Institutes of Health.

Researchers in the NICHD Section on Endocrinology and Genetics, working with colleagues from the National Cancer Institute, recently identified a gene related to risk for the most common type of testicular cancer.

Women and young girls who experience delays in diagnosing a premature, menopause-like condition face increased risk of low bone density, according to new research by scientists at the National Institutes of Health. A delay in diagnosing the condition, called primary ovarian insufficiency, may make women more susceptible to osteoporosis and fractures later in life, the researchers concluded.

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health have gained a major insight into how the rogue protein responsible for mad cow disease and related neurological illnesses destroys healthy brain tissue.

Women can increase their chances for a healthy pregnancy by eating right, exercising, not smoking, and getting early medical care, says a podcast featuring a National Institutes of Health obstetrician who oversees research on pregnancy and birth.

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health and other institutions have identified in mice two proteins essential for ovulation to take place.

A recent, scheduled interim data and safety review of a clinical study comparing anti-HIV treatment regimens based on either nevirapine (NVP) or ritonavir-boosted lopinavir (LPV/r) has found LPV/r to be more effective than NVP in HIV-infected children who received a single dose of NVP at birth.

The National Children’s Study, the federal government’s comprehensive study of how genes and the environment interact to affect children’s health, has activated five additional centers to begin recruiting prospective volunteers in five new communities.

The pineal gland -- integral to setting the body's sleep and wake cycles -- may be involved in a broad range of bodily functions, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have deciphered a key sequence of events governing whether the stem cells that produce red and white blood cells remain anchored to the bone marrow, or migrate into the circulatory system.

On April 26, 2009, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Declared a Public Health Emergency for H1N1 Flu (previously called swine flu). Communities around the world are on alert and are taking measures to protect people from illness caused by infection with this particular type of influenza virus or flu.

Using a novel genetic technology that covers up genetic errors, researchers funded in part by the National Institutes of Health have developed a successful treatment for dogs with the canine version of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a paralyzing, and ultimately fatal, muscle disease.

The Recovery Act and its goals present many unique opportunities.

Providing very young children with swimming lessons appears to have a protective effect against drowning and does not increase children's risk of drowning, reported researchers at the National Institutes of Health.

Children born to women who have low blood levels of vitamin B12 shortly before and after conception may have an increased risk of a neural tube defect, according to an analysis by researchers at the National Institutes of Health, Trinity College Dublin, and the Health Research Board of Ireland.

Video and transcript of maternal vitamin B12 levels and the risk of neural tube defects