News by Subject Social & Behavior

Specialist antenatal clinics for severely obese mums-to-be can help cut rates of pregnancy complications, research has found. Women who received the specialist care were eight times less likely to have a stillbirth and health experts say the clinic helps them to spot signs of complications sooner.

Paracetamol during pregnancy can inhibit masculinity Paracetamol during pregnancy can inhibit the development of 'male behavior' in mice. New research from the University of Copenhagen shows that it can reduce sex drive and aggressive behavior.

Coronary artery disease may have persisted in human populations because the genes that cause this late-striking disease also contribute to greater numbers of children, reports Dr Sean Byars of The University of Melbourne and Associate Professor Michael Inouye of the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Australia, in a study published June 22, 2017 in PLOS Genetics.

A major new international study has revealed for the first time that some features in a baby's DNA can increase the risk of its mother developing pre-eclampsia -- a potentially dangerous condition in pregnancy.

A new study at the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) and the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech has found a connection between common household chemicals and birth defects.

The new US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) Pregnancy and Lactation Labeling Rule should help healthcare providers better explain to pregnant and breastfeeding patients the benefits and risks of taking a specific medication.

The results of a pharmacokinetic study presented today at the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology 2017 showed no or negligible placental transfer of the anti-TNF drug certolizumab pegol from mothers to infants during pregnancy.

In couples who have not been able to have children, male infertility is the cause in at least half of cases. In 6-10% the cause is a urogenital infection. The risk of irreversible infertility associated with urogenital infections in men should not be underestimated, say Hans-Christian Schuppe and coauthors in a review article in the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2017; 114: 321-7).

In a study of predominantly African-American women -- who have a much higher rate of delivering babies early compared with other racial groups -- researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis showed that a decrease in the diversity of vaginal microbes of pregnant women between the first and second trimesters is associated with preterm birth.