Diabetes helps explain obesity-birth defect link

2010-02-22T08:15:01Z

&lt;div&gt;&lt;p&gt;NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - While some research has suggested that obese women have an increased risk of having a baby with a birth defect, a new study shows that diabetes may at least partly account for the link.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Studies on whether obesity raises the odds of birth anomalies such as spina bifida, cleft palate and heart defects hav...

A frail King Tut died from malaria, broken leg

2010-02-22T09:16:35Z

<div id="subtitle">DNA studies reveal a frail King Tut who died at 19 from a broken leg complicated by malaria</div><div><p>Egypt's most famous pharaoh, King Tutankhamun, was a frail boy who suffered from a cleft palate and club foot. He died of complications from a broken leg exacerbated by malaria and his parents were most likely brot...

Weed killer atrazine may be linked to birth defect

2010-02-22T10:45:33Z

<div><p>NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Living near farms that use the weed killer atrazine may up the risk of a rare birth defect, according to a study presented this past Friday at the annual meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine in Chicago.&l...

Toxic Town

2010-02-05T11:31:03Z

Daria Hernandez holds her twenty-month-old son, Ivan at her home Wednesday February, 3, 2010 in Kettleman City, Calif. Ivan has suffered through two surgeries to repair a cleft palate and his mother believes it is a birth defect because they live three miles downwind from the biggest hazardous waste landfill west of the

Folic acid in late pregnancy tied to child asthma

2010-02-23T00:34:49Z

<div><p>NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Young children whose mothers took folic acid supplements in late pregnancy may have an increased risk of developing asthma, a new study hints.</p><p>The findings, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, appear to be the first to link m...

No link seen between acetaminophen, birth defects

2010-02-23T12:57:41Z

<div><p>NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - New study findings offer reassurance to pregnant women that acetaminophen does not appear to raise the risk of birth defects.</p><p>Acetaminophen is the active ingredient in Tylenol and certain other painkillers, and is often found in over-the-counter cold and flu remedies. Taken as directed, ac...

Folic acid may help prevent fetal heart defects

2010-02-23T18:28:18Z

<div><p>NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Here's another reason for pregnant women to take folic acid supplements: they help prevent fetal heart malformations, new research from the Netherlands suggests.</p><p>"Given the relatively high prevalence of congenital heart defects worldwide, our findings are important for public healt...

More birth defects seen with assisted reproduction

2010-02-24T03:14:30Z

<div><p>NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new study has found a higher rate of birth defects among babies conceived by assisted reproduction compared to babies conceived naturally.</p><p>In the study, almost 3 percent of infants conceived with assisted reproduction were diagnosed with a major birth defect, compared to less than 2 percent of babies conceived naturally, FALLUJA, IRAQ - NOVEMBER 12: Mariam Yasir, age 6 years old, who suffers from a birth defect is held by her mother on November 12, 2009 in the city of Falluja west of Baghdad, Iraq. Birth defects have soared in Fallujah, which was the site of two major battles between the Reuters Health) - Some of the antibiotics used to treat urinary tract infections during pregnancy may increase the risk of several birth defects if a woman uses them early in pregnancy, a new study in the Archives of Pediatrics &amp; Adolescent Medicine shows.</p><p>Researchers found an increased risk for two classes of antibiotics: sulfonamide (exam...

Study ties common antibiotics with birth defects

2010-02-24T10:57:57Z

<div id="subtitle">Study links some antibiotics with birth defects; others appear safe for fetus</div><div><p>Researchers studying antibiotics in pregnancy have found a surprising link between common drugs used to treat urinary infections and birth defects. Reassuringly, the most-used antibiotics in early pregnancy — penicillins — appear to be the safest.</p><p>Bacterial infections themselves can cause problems f...

Maine girl with 'mermaid syndrome' dies at 10

2010-02-24T14:58:56Z

<div id="subtitle">Shiloh Pepin, girl born with rare condition called 'mermaid syndrome,' dies in Maine at age 10</div><div><p>Shiloh Pepin, a girl who was born with fused legs, a rare condition often called "mermaid syndrome," and gained a wide following on the Internet and national television, has died. She was 10.</p><p&...

Iowa doctor who perfected clubfoot treatment dies

2010-02-24T17:02:08Z

<div id="subtitle">Iowa doctor who developed nonsurgical treatment for clubfoot, practiced it for decades dies</div><div><p>A University of Iowa doctor who perfected a nonsurgical treatment for curing clubfoot in infants has died.</p><p>University of Iowa spokesman Tom Moore says GlaxoSmithKline to pay $2.5 million to a woman whose son was born with serious heart defects after she took the antidepressant Paxil during her pregnancy.</p><p>The closely watched verdict handed down Tuesday in Philadelphia was the first of...

Overweight mothers linked to infant heart defects

2010-02-24T23:56:59Z

<div><p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Women who are overweight or obese when they get pregnant are more likely to give birth to children with congenital heart defects, according to a U.S. government study released on Thursday.</p><p>The study, conducted by the Reuters Health) - If you take antidepressants such as fluoxetine (marketed as Prozac) early in your pregnancy, you may be doubling the risk that your newborn will be born with a heart defect, according to a new study.</p><p>However, the vast majority of children born to women who take such antidepressants - known a...

Anti-epileptic drugs during pregnancy risky

2010-02-25T04:17:48Z

<div><p>NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - New research suggests that it is largely the drugs used to treat epilepsy and not the condition itself that increase the risk of adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes.</p><p>"Epilepsy is the most common maternal neurologic disorder requiring medical treatment during pregnancy," Dr. Gyri Veiby

Birth defects rise in parts of China: state media

2010-02-25T07:11:38Z

<div><p>The number of newborns with birth defects in many parts of China is rising rapidly as women have children later in life and environmental pollution takes its toll, state media reported on Tuesday.</p><p>In Beijing, the rate of physical abnormalities -- such as congenital heart defects or cleft lips -- last year was 170 per 10,000 births, nearly t...

Birth defects on the rise in Beijing

2010-02-25T07:19:37Z

<div><p>The number of birth defects in China's capital has almost doubled in the last decade, the city's health bureau said.</p><p>There were 170 birth defects per every 10,000 births in Beijing last year, compared with 90 per 10,000 in 1997, it said.</p><p>Ren Aiguo, head of the reproductive health institute at

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