Heavy prenatal alcohol exposure does not always lead to fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS); sometimes it can lead to cognitive and behavioral deficits in the absence of craniofacial features needed to make an FAS diagnosis.
Noonan Syndrome (NS) is a relatively common congenital genetic condition characterized by congenital heart malformation, short stature, learning problems, indentation of the chest, impaired blood clotting, and a characteristic configuration of facial features.
Chronic mild stress in pregnant mothers may increase the risk that their offspring will develop cerebral palsy — a group of neurological disorders marked by physical disability — according to new research in mice. The results may be the first to demonstrate such effects of stress on animals in the womb.
Exposing a developing female sheep fetus to low doses of chemicals commonly present in the environment can disturb the development of the ovary, a scientist told the 23rd Annual Conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology today (Wednesday, July 4). Dr. Paul Fowler, of the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK, said that this research would help to establish the importance of the effect of environmental chemicals for fertility.
The drug most commonly used to arrest preterm labor, magnesium sulfate, is more likely than another common treatment to cause mild to serious side effects in pregnant women, according to a study from researchers at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and Stanford University School of Medicine.
Human sperm cells travel up to 6 meters in their transit from testes to penis, and most of that journey occurs in the epididymis, a tightly coiled tube that primes the cells for their ultimate task: fertilization. In a PNAS paper released this week, researchers report that they have discovered a gene — and related mechanism — essential to the embryonic development of the epididymis.
An international study led by a McMaster researcher aims to determine if a manual procedure to turn breech babies in the uterus can result in fewer births by caesarean section.
A sleep-related breathing disorder among infants and toddlers born prematurely occurs earlier than expected in this population, and at higher rates than among full-term infants, according to a research abstract that will be presented Monday at SLEEP 2007, the 21st Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS).
Embryonic stem cells are unique because they can develop into virtually any kind of tissue type, an attribute called pluripotency. Somatic cell nuclear transfer (?therapeutic cloning?) offers the hope of one day creating customized embryonic stem cells with a patient?s own DNA. Here, an individual?s DNA would be placed into an egg, resulting in a blastocyst that houses a supply of stem cells. But to access these cells, researchers must destroy a viable embryo.
Preterm delivery, and particularly “extreme prematurity” ? defined as less than 32 weeks of gestation ? are major contributors to perinatal sickness and death worldwide.