News & Updates

Recently, NICHD Director Alan E. Guttmacher, M.D., appeared on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” along with 3 other NIH Institute Directors. Dr. Guttmacher and his colleagues and provided background on their respective Institutes, reported on new research findings, and took calls from viewers.

On February 28, the NIH observes Rare Disease Day to raise awareness of the approximately 7,000 rare diseases in the United States. The day is an opportunity to recognize how rare diseases affect those who have them, and to emphasize the importance of research to improve diagnosis and treatment.

Nearly half of adolescents who have had HIV since birth may be at increased risk for cardiovascular disease — including heart attack and stroke — later in life, according to a National Institutes of Health network study.

This February marks the 20th anniversary of the results of Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group Protocol 076—the first study to show that drug therapy could reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS. The NICHD and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) co-funded this study.

The NICHD has joined with Spelman College in support of the Wellness Revolution Summit 2014: Power UP! at the college on Thursday, February 6.

More than 30 percent of young males who had sex with other males and who were subsequently enrolled in a government treatment and research network were found to have high levels of HIV, reported researchers from the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

Forty years ago, the Nixon presidency was ending, U.S. troops were coming home from Vietnam, and Kuo-Ping (K.P.) Huang, Ph.D., was starting his career at the NICHD.

The December 2013 NICHD Research Perspectives features research on youth violence. Guests discuss types of violence, environmental and biological risk factors, characteristics of effective interventions, and tips for parents and caregivers to help prevent or stop youth violence.

When the NICHD was founded in 1962, one of its first charges was to improve our understanding of birth defects. Now, more than 50 years later, birth defects research continues to be a core focus of the Institute.

Drivers eat, reach for the phone, text, or otherwise take their eyes off the road about 10 percent of the time they are behind the wheel, according to a study using video technology and in-vehicle sensors.

Having the flu usually means several days of discomfort in the form of coughing, sneezing, stuffy or runny nose, and sore throat. Some people also experience fever, aches and pains, and even vomiting from the flu. But for pregnant women, having the flu can also mean risks to her health, some of them serious, and to the health of her fetus.

An updated screening tool that physicians administer to parents to help determine if a very young child has autism has been shown to be much more accurate than earlier versions at identifying children who could benefit from further evaluation, according to researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health.

An international team of scientists led by National Institutes of Health researchers has traced the likely origin of the enzyme needed to manufacture the hormone melatonin to roughly 500 million years ago.

The National Institutes of Health has selected eight projects to receive support to answer some of the most fundamental problems on traumatic brain injury, including understanding long-term effects of repeated head injuries and improving diagnosis of concussions.

Approximately 17% of Americans ages 2 to 19 are overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Childhood obesity and overweight increase the likelihood of many health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, as well as some serious health conditions that may not appear until later in life, such as stroke and certain cancers.

Smoking tobacco or marijuana, taking prescription painkillers, or using illegal drugs during pregnancy is associated with double or even triple the risk of stillbirth, according to research funded by the National Institutes of Health.

If your health care provider wanted to give you a medication, but you knew that it hadn’t been tested on people within your age group, would you still take it? That’s the dilemma many parents face when trying to care for their children—the majority of drugs given to infants and children have not been tested in these age groups for safety, effectiveness, or dosage.

To expedite research on brain disorders, the National Institutes of Health is shifting from a limited funding role to coordinating a Web-based resource for sharing post-mortem brain tissue. Under a NIH NeuroBioBank initiative, five brain banks will begin collaborating in a tissue sharing network for the neuroscience community.

Dr. Randy Schekman sat down with NICHD to describe his research, talk about the role of NIH in supporting his discoveries, and discuss his plans for the future.