News

An independent panel convened this week by the National Institutes of Health has concluded that despite potential advantages of adopting a new diagnostic approach for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), more evidence is needed to ensure that the benefits outweigh the harms. The panel recommended following the current diagnostic approach until further studies are conducted.

A two-year-old child born with HIV infection and treated with antiretroviral drugs beginning in the first days of life no longer has detectable levels of virus using conventional testing despite not taking HIV medication for 10 months, according to findings presented today at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Atlanta.

Trace minerals are minerals that the body needs in very small amounts: too little, or too much, can cause serious health problems. The February 2013 NICHD Research Perspectives featured efforts to better understand the role of iron and copper, two minerals important for human health.

For more than 30 years, a major goal of NICHD has been to reduce MTCT of HIV and other infections. Institute-supported research has identified practices and drug combinations that are very effective in preventing MTCT of HIV. As a result of this research, transmission rates in the United States have dropped to less than 1%.

Children who failed to acquire a basic math skill in first grade scored far behind their peers by seventh grade on a test of the mathematical abilities needed to function in adult life, according to researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health.

The NICHD partnered with the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) to create the Milk Matters with Buddy Brush Coloring Book to teach children the ages of 4 and 8 about the importance of brushing and flossing, calcium, and regular dental care for health teeth and gums.

The January 2013 NICHD Research Perspectives features adolescent health research undertaken by scientists in the institute’s Prevention Research Branch.

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health plan to determine whether elevated blood sugar during pregnancy, a less-severe condition than gestational diabetes, influences later levels of body fat in children and development of diabetes in mothers after giving birth.

A protein known to regulate iron levels in the body has an unexpectedly important role in preventing a form of high blood pressure that affects the lungs, and in stabilizing the concentration of red cells in blood, according to a study in mice by researchers at the National Institutes of Health.

An immune system protein normally found in semen appears to enhance the spread of HIV to tissue from the uterine cervix, according to researchers at the National Institutes of Health.

Is It Worth It?—new videos from the NICHD National Child and Maternal Health Education Program (NCMHEP), explain the benefits of carrying a pregnancy to at least 39 weeks unless there is a medical reason to deliver earlier.

Vesna Kutlesic, Ph.D., became Director of the NICHD’s Office of Global Health on December 30, 2012.

Birth defects affect 1 in 33 babies born in the United States each year and are factors in the cause of 1 in 5 infant deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Both Birth Defects Prevention Month, held in January, and Folic Acid Awareness Week, January 6–12, aim to raise awareness about ways to reduce the risk of birth defects.

A clinical trial to evaluate a drug candidate called cyclodextrin as a possible treatment for Niemann-Pick disease type C1 (NPC), a rare and fatal genetic disease, will start on Wednesday, researchers announced today.

Caroline Signore, M.D., M.P.H., has been named Deputy Director of the Division of Extramural Research (DER), a newly created post, which she will assume January 27.

Researchers at Indiana University recently tested a three-dimensional computerized device to help train children with DCD to perform manual actions.

On December, 13, 2011, the NICHD collaborated with the Foundation for the NIH to host a scientific symposium to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the NCMRR and to provide a forum for discussions of the Center’s history and accomplishments.

This month’s podcast focuses on the research of NICHD’s Laboratory of Comparative Ethology. 

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have identified proteins that allow muscle cells in mice to form from the fusion of the early stage cells that give rise to the muscle cells.

By the time they reached toddlerhood, very preterm infants originally treated with higher oxygen levels continued to show benefits when compared to a group treated with lower oxygen levels, according to a follow-up study by a research network of the National Institutes of Health that confirms earlier network findings, Moreover, infants treated with a respiratory therapy commonly prescribed for adults with obstructive sleep apnea fared as well as those who received the traditional therapy for infant respiratory difficulties, the new study found.