News & Updates

NICHD issues Releases and Media Advisories to the news media. Science Updates and Spotlights explain NICHD research findings and public health issues to the general public. An Item of Interest is a short announcement such as an initiative launch or a notable staff change. Director’s Corner posts are monthly updates from the NICHD director.

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NIH Outlines Plans for Study of Pediatric Seizure

The scenario unfolds almost every day in the United States. A crowd gathers at a playground, or perhaps on a soccer field. A child has fallen to the ground, gripped by a seizure. Usually, the twitching and jerking stop within a few minutes.

NIH Study Tracks Brain Development in Some 500 Children Across U.S.

Children appear to approach adult levels of performance on many basic cognitive and motor skills by age 11 or 12, according to a new study coordinated by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

New Spanish Publication Gives Evidence-Based Parenting Guidelines

Just in time for Mother's Day, the National Institutes of Health has released ¿Qué Significa ser Padres? (What Does It Mean To Be Parents?), a free Spanish-language publication geared toward Hispanics who are seeking advice on parenting.

NICHD Co-hosts Conference on Early Child Development Research

The NICHD, the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research (OBSSR), and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the U.S. Department of Education are hosting a three-day conference about the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), from May 8-10, 2007.

Researchers Discover Gene Crucial for Nerve Cell Insulation

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have discovered how a defect in a single master gene disrupts the process by which several genes interact to create myelin, a fatty coating that covers nerve cells and increases the speed and reliability of their electrical signals.

Early Child Care Linked to Increases in Vocabulary, Some Problem Behaviors in Fifth & Sixth Grades

The most recent analysis of a long-term NIH-funded study found that children who received higher quality child care before entering kindergarten had better vocabulary scores in the fifth grade than did children who received lower quality care.

Older Mothers More Likely than Younger Mothers to Deliver By Caesarean

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have found that older mothers with normal, full-term pregnancies-particularly first-time older mothers-were more likely to undergo Caesarean delivery than were younger women with similarly low-risk pregnancies.

National Children's Study Seeks Proposals for New Study Centers

The National Children's Study has issued a request for proposals to award contracts to up to 20 new study centers. These centers will manage operations in up to a total of 30 communities across the United States.

Experimental Vaccine Given During Pregnancy Reduces Stillbirths from Common Virus

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have developed an experimental vaccine that reduces stillbirths among rodents born to mothers infected with cytomegalovirus (CMV)--a common virus that can also cause mental retardation and hearing loss in newborn children who were infected in early fetal life.

Largest-ever Search for Autism Genes Reveals New Clues

The largest search for autism genes to date, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has implicated components of the brain's glutamate chemical messenger system and a previously overlooked site on chromosome 11.

Second Gene Discovered for Recessive Form of Brittle Bone Disease

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions have found a second genetic defect that accounts for previously unexplained forms of osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), a disorder that weakens bones, sometimes results in frequent fractures and is sometimes fatal.

Standard Therapy More Effective Than Diabetes Drug for Achieving Pregnancy in Common Fertility Disorder

Metformin, a drug used to treat diabetes and thought to hold great promise at overcoming the infertility associated with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), is less useful for helping women with the condition achieve pregnancy than is the standard treatment with the infertility drug clomiphene, report researchers in an NIH research network.

Hall of Honor Inductee: Dr. Stanley Cohen

When the Institute celebrated the 40th anniversary of its founding in 2003, director Duane Alexander, M.D., initiated the NICHD Hall of Honor as a way to recognize NICHD-supported scientists whose achievements have been especially noteworthy.

Women's Response to Anti-HIV Therapy Improved If Treatment Begins Six Months After Earlier Preventive Regimen

A woman's response to HIV treatment with drug combinations that contain nevirapine is improved if at least six months have passed after she received the drug as a single dose during labor to prevent passing HIV on to her child. (The response to treatment is measured by the reduction of HIV in the blood.)

Gene Discovered for Form of Brittle Bone Disease

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have discovered that a previously unexplained fatal form of Osteogenesis Imperfecta-a disorder that weakens bones and which may cause frequent fractures-results from a genetic defect in a protein involved in the production of collagen.

Making Malaria History

Malaria—a disease caused by a single-celled parasite—can result in severe headache, high fever, chills, and vomiting. Worldwide, an estimated 300 to 500 million clinical cases of malaria occur each year, and the disease kills more than 1 million children annually.

Malaria Vaccine Prompts Victims' Immune System to Eliminate Parasite From Mosquitoes

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have developed an experimental vaccine that could, theoretically, eliminate malaria from entire geographic regions, by eradicating the malaria parasite from an area's mosquitoes.

Hormonal Contraception Does Not Appear to Increase HIV Risk

Using hormonal contraception does not appear to increase women's overall risk of infection with the AIDS virus, report the authors of a large study commissioned by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health.

Brain's Fear Center Shrinks in Autism's Most Severely Socially-Impaired

The brain's fear hub Likely becomes abnormally small in the most severely socially impaired males with autism spectrum disorders, researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and National Institute on Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) have discovered.

Technology for Monitoring Fetal Oxygen During Labor Offers No Apparent Benefit

A new technology for measuring blood oxygen levels of a baby during labor--expected to provide information useful for preventing birth complications--offers no apparent benefit, report researchers in a National Institutes of Health research network.

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News & Updates