News

An NIH scientist whose landmark collaborations led to a major advance in understanding a potentially fatal disorder of pregnancy has passed away.

Taking vitamin C and E supplements starting in early pregnancy does not reduce the risk for the hypertensive disorders and their complications that occur during pregnancy, according to a study by a National Institutes of Health research network.

Women who experience preeclampsia, a serious complication of pregnancy, may have an increased risk for reduced thyroid functioning later in life, report a team of researchers from the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

The basic research effort to implicate soluble endoglin (sEng) and soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt-1) in preeclampsia was led by a coauthor of the current paper, S. Ananth Karumanchi, M.D., a nephrologist at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

Preeclampsia is a disorder of pregnancy that strikes without warning. The condition results when pregnant women develop high blood pressure and protein in the urine. Preeclampsia is estimated to complicate from 3 to 5 percent of all pregnancies.

High levels of two proteins in the blood of pregnant women appear to indicate the subsequent development of preeclampsia, a life-threatening complication of pregnancy, report a team of researchers from the National Institutes of Health and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Contrary to prevailing medical opinion, taking high doses of calcium during pregnancy does not prevent preeclampsia in women who do not have any risk factors for the disease, according to the largest, most comprehensive clinical trial of its kind to date.

A substance found in the urine of pregnant women can be measured to predict the later development of preeclampsia, according to research from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health.

Abnormal levels of two molecules found in the blood appear to predict the development of preeclampsia, a life-threatening complication of pregnancy, according to a study by researchers at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston.

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have discovered how an embryo initially attaches to the wall of the uterus-what appears to be one of the earliest steps needed to establish a successful pregnancy.

A new mathematical analysis of a previous study shows that calcium supplements do not prevent preeclampsia in women at low risk for the condition. Preeclampsia is a dangerous, sometimes fatal, disorder of pregnancy that often strikes without warning.

Women with preeclampsia, a potentially fatal complication of pregnancy, appear to have an imbalance of two key chemical compounds that control blood pressure, according to a study by researchers at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) published in the July 28 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Having high blood pressure for at least four years before getting pregnant increases a woman's chances of developing the dangerous condition known as preeclampsia, according to a study published in the September 3 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

A team of investigators has discovered that preeclampsia--a life threatening complication of pregnancy--results from a failure of the placenta to invade the wall of the uterus and to appropriately mimic the tissue which lines blood vessels. The finding has important implications for the diagnosis and treatment of this sudden, mysterious, and potentially fatal disorder of pregnancy.