News

Findings from a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study indicate that rates of tobacco use during pregnancy, as well as exposure of pregnant women and their young children to secondhand smoke, are significant threats to health in several low and middle-income countries.

An international team of researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has blocked staph infections in mice using a drug previously tested in clinical trials as a cholesterol-lowering agent. The novel approach, described in the February 14 online edition of "Science", could offer a new direction for therapies against a bacterium that's becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics.

A test developed by NIH scientists could greatly extend the survival of infants with Menkes disease, a rare, otherwise fatal disorder of copper metabolism. The test allows for early diagnosis of the condition, when the chance for successful treatment is greatest. Their work is described in the February 7 New England Journal of Medicine.

An extended course of the antiretroviral drug nevirapine (NVP) helps the breastfeeding babies of HIV-infected mothers remain HIV-negative and live longer, according to several new studies presented at the 15th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections held in Boston from February 3-6.

Questions and Answers.

Results of an early study suggest that dairy-free diets and unconventional food preferences could put boys with autism and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at higher than normal risk for thinner, less dense bones when compared to a group of boys the same age who do not have autism.

Research on lifelong disorders, such as Down syndrome, has been a fundamental part of the NICHD’s mission since the Institute was established 45 years ago. To build on this research foundation and coordinate Down syndrome research the NIH created its Working Group on Down Syndrome. Down syndrome is the most common genetic cause of intellectual and developmental disability and occurs in one out of 800 births in the United States.

The National Institutes of Health has developed a research plan to advance understanding of Down syndrome and speed development of new treatments for the condition, the most frequent genetic cause of mild to moderate intellectual disability and associated medical problems. The plan sets research goals for the next 10 years that build upon earlier research advances fostered by the NIH.

Officials from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a collaboration today with the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) to help African American children maintain a healthy weight.

Roberto Romero, M.D., Chief of the NICHD Perinatology Research Branch, has been elected as a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies.

The National Institutes of Health has created a continuing education program designed to help nurses communicate the risk factors for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) to parents and child caregivers. Nurses are a key information resource for new parents and often spend the most time with families in the hospital following the birth of a child.

A Continuing Education Program on SIDS Risk Reduction: Curriculum for Nurses, a new curriculum from the NICHD that was created in collaboration with the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), First Candle, and nearly a dozen national organizations, aims to capitalize on the important role that nurses play by teaching them how to communicate information on sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) with parents and families.

The Public Trust Initiative (PTI), an initiative of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announces the release of a new Request for Applications (RFA) for the Partners in Research program.

The National Children's Study announced today that it awarded contracts in late September to 22 new study centers to manage participant recruitment and data collection in 26 additional communities across the United States. Funding for the new study centers and the study's initial phase is a result of a $69 million appropriation from Congress in fiscal year 2007.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to the National Children's Study Conference Call. At this time all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will be given at that time. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

New online resources stressing the importance of calcium for bone health are now available for middle and high school teachers. The resources are available through the Milk Matters calcium education campaign, sponsored by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health.

Calcium is important throughout life for strong bones and a healthy body, particularly during the ages of 11 to 15, the years of rapid bone growth. But with fewer than one in 10 girls and only one in four boys ages 9 to 13 at or above their adequate intake of calcium, many young people are not getting the calcium they need to build strong bones now and to prevent osteoporosis later in life.

By the time they reached adulthood, graduates of an intensive early childhood education program for poor children showed higher educational attainment, lower rates of serious crime and incarceration, and lower rates of depressive symptoms than did non-participants in the program, reported researchers in a study funded in part by the National Institutes of Health.

Preterm birth, defined as birth before the fetus is at 37 weeks’ gestation, is a major public health priority for the United States and a major research priority for the NICHD.

The National Institutes of Health will intensify its efforts to find the causes of autism and identify new treatments for the disorder, through a new research program.