A slightly greater number of males than females are born worldwide every year. In recent decades, although there are still more baby boys born than girls, there has been an apparent decline in the ratio of male to female newborns in several industrialized countries, including Canada, Denmark, England, Germany, Japan and the United States.
Growth hormone and associated proteins could be responsible for promoting many types of cancer, including breast and prostate cancer, according to an Australian researcher.
A major international study led by University of Adelaide researchers has confirmed the benefits for premature babies of giving their pregnant mothers repeat doses of corticosteroids.
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found nearly 350 genes related to female fertility. Their research may open the door to much wider study in the poorly understood field of infertility.
New research in primates suggests that infants and children who carry a certain gene variant may be more vulnerable to the ill effects of fetal alcohol exposure.
Women who have their first child before the age of 20 are at a higher risk of chronic diseases and death when they reach middle age, a new study shows.
In today’s world, they serve as unpaid babysitters for their grandchildren instead of watching television — but in far distant times they helped the human population survive.
In a new qualitative clinical study published in the September-October issue of the journal Ambulatory Pediatrics, pediatrician Elizabeth Miller and her research colleagues report that a quarter of the teenage girls interviewed for the study — all of whom had histories of abusive relationships — say their partners were actively trying to get them pregnant. The study, available online today, is the first in the general adolescent health literature to document the role of abusive partners in promoting teen pregnancy.
Scientists in California are reporting an advance toward rapid testing for pre-natal detection of Down syndrome and other birth defects that involve an abnormal number of chromosomes.
Some couples in Israel whose fetus screened positive for Gaucher disease, which can range from being mild and treatable to being a severe disease, decided to have the pregnancy terminated, raising questions concerning the appropriateness of certain types of genetic screenings, according to a study in the September 19 issue of JAMA.