Women’s Health

Smoking during pregnancy can lead to asthma in grand kids

Researchers have discovered that smoking can have a lasting legacy, and one well-established risk factor for asthma is having a mother who smoked during her pregnancy.

When animal mothers are exposed to nicotine during pregnancy-a proxy for smoking-their grandchildren were also at an increased risk of asthma, even though they were never exposed to nicotine themselves.

Wondering if this dangerous heritage might extend even farther down the family line, Virender K. Rehan and his colleagues at Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed) exposed pregnant rats to nicotine.

They then tested an additional generation-the mothers’ great-grand-rats-for signs of asthma .

Their results suggest that this group of rats is also at an increased risk of this condition, bearing the brunt of nicotine exposure three generations in the past.

The study is published in the American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology, published by the American Physiological Society.

Source: Zee News

Irregular periods could be deadly bomb for teenage girls

While irregular periods are common among teenage girls, researchers have warned that if erratic menstrual cycles persist later into the teen years, girls should see a specialist to determine if they are suffering from Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS).

PCOS is an endocrine disorder that is characterized by an excess of androgens or male hormones in the body. The imbalance of hormones interferes with the growth and release of eggs from the ovaries, which can prevent ovulation and menstruation.

Apart from irregular periods, symptoms associated with PCOS can include weight gain, hair growth on the body and face, thinning of the hair on the head, acne and infertility.

Women with PCOS are at risk for high blood pressure, high cholesterol and endometrial cancer. People with PCOS also tend to become resistant to insulin, which can lead to diabetes.

Suzanne Kavic, MD, division director, Reproductive Endocrinology, Loyola University Health System, said that symptoms associated with this syndrome can be concerning to young girls particularly during the teen years, which is already a stressful time.

However, Kavic said that PCOS can be identified at an early age and begin managing symptoms to alleviate some of the anxiety for these girls.

Treatments for PCOS can include a combination of exercise, diet modifications and medication. Weight loss helps to regulate male hormones and blood sugar levels, which can restore ovulation and menstruation. Birth control pills also may be prescribed to control the menstrual cycle while other hormone therapies can decrease androgen levels and curb symptoms.

The article originally appeared in Zee News

Womb cancer link to diet, exercise and possibly coffee

The risk of womb cancer can be reduced by exercise, diet and possibly drinking coffee, research suggests.

Almost half of cases of womb cancer in the UK – about 3,700 a year – could be prevented through keeping slim and active, a review of data shows.

Researchers at Imperial College, London, say women can reduce their risk with at least 30 minutes of daily exercise and keeping a healthy weight.

The World Cancer Research Fund report also found that coffee may reduce risk.

But experts say there is not yet enough evidence to recommend drinking coffee to protect against the disease.

Endometrial cancer – cancer of the womb lining – is the fourth most common of all cancers in women in the UK.

In the first global analysis since 2007, Imperial College London researchers collated and reviewed scientific research on endometrial cancer, and links with diet, physical activity and body weight.

The study found evidence that about 3,700 cases could be prevented every year if women were active for 38 minutes a day and maintained a healthy body weight.

In the UK only 56% of women follow recommendations to be physically active for at least 30 minutes a day, five days a week, while only 39% have a healthy weight.

Study author Dr Teresa Norat of Imperial College told the BBC: “If you are physically active and if you don’t have excess body weight you can reduce your risk of womb cancer and improve your health in general.”

Karen Sadler, executive director of the World Cancer Research Fund added: “The evidence on coffee is very interesting and is a further indication of the potential link between coffee and the risk of cancer but a lot more work still needs to be done.

“We need to consider the possible effect on other cancers as well as the impact on other health conditions and we are now looking to conduct further research into this issue.”

 

Inducing labor linked with lower C-section rate

Pregnant women who are near their due date or have just passed it can have labor induced with drugs or other medical procedures — or they can simply wait for labor to start on its own.

Sometimes, there is a medical reason to induce labor, such as a woman having gestational diabetes, but in other cases, women undergo elective induction, when labor is induced without a medical reason. Now, a new study suggests that women who elect to induce labor are less likely to wind up having a cesarean section (or C-section) compared with women who give labor a longer chance to begin naturally.

Among women in the study who had previously had a baby, the odds of having a C-section for their current pregnancy were cut by about half in those who underwent elective induction. About 3 percent of these women who were induced wound up having a C-section, while about 7 percent of those who waited for labor to start on its own had the surgery, said study researcher Blair G. Darney, an obstetrics and gynecology researcher Oregon Health & Science University.

Women advised to have babies before turning 35

Experts have suggested that women should aim to have children before turning 35.

During British Science Festival in Newcastle, a panel of doctors said that a woman should aim to start her family before the age of 35, as fertility declines sharply after this point, the Scotsman reported.

Experts warned that many women wrongly believe that procedures such as IVF could prolong fertility, saying that there was no way of reversing declining fertility.

Mary Herbert, professor in reproductive biology at the University of Newcastle, advised all women to think about family planning in the context of not just preventing pregnancy but also in the context of having their babies at a time when they still have their reproductive fitness.

The experts said that women are born with a pool of one to two million eggs that shrinks until, at the menopause, the eggs effectively run out.

However, it was also noted that is not only the number but the quality of eggs that is reduced by the passing years.

 

IVF more successful in women under 35 years of age

http://www.aboutfertility.org/img/posts/ivf-prediction-tests-reducing-some-guess-work-of-fertility-treatments.png

women below the age of 35 can be blessed with a baby if they opt for In Vitro Fertilization.

A new study has revealed that one in two women below the age of 35 can be blessed with a baby if they opt for In Vitro Fertilization.

However, the research by the University of NSW also suggested that the chances of success drop dramatically after five tries, News.com.au reported.

The study, which is the first in the world to track national success rates for IVF, is based on 2011 statistics from 35 centers in Australia and New Zealand.

According to the study`s lead author UNSW Professor Elizabeth Sullivan, although fertility treatment can be useful, it is always best to conceive spontaneously if possible.
It was found that the overall chance for all age groups of delivering a baby is 21 per cent after one cycle of treatment, increasing to 40 per cent by the fifth cycle, but when women aged 35 and older are removed from the statistics, the success rate jumps to more than 50 per cent after five attempts.

Prof Sullivan says although older women have a very low success rate using their own eggs, they usually manage as well as younger women using donor eggs.

The study is to be presented at a Fertility Society of Australia scientific meeting.

Source: http://zeenews.india.com/news/health/health-news/ivf-more-successful-in-women-under-35-years-of-age_23647.html

Women with weak thyroid more likely to have autistic children

A new study has claimed that pregnant women, who are unable to make enough thyroids, are nearly 4 times more likely to produce an autistic child.

More than 4,000 Dutch mothers and their children, have a growing view of autism spectrum disorders. This can be caused by a lack of maternal thyroid hormone, which helps the foetal brain cells during embryo development.

Gustavo Roman, M.D., a neurologist and neuro epidemiologist who directs the Nantz National Alzheimer Center, said that autism is caused by environmental factors in most cases, not by genetics.

The researchers also found that autistic children had more pronounced symptoms if their mothers were severely deficient for T4, also called thyroxine.

Mild T4 deficiencies in mothers produced an insignificant increase in autistic children’s symptoms. The most common cause of thyroid hormone deficiency is a lack of dietary iodine – because both the thyroid hormones, T3 and T4, contain that element.

The present work was based on the Generation R Study, conducted by Erasmus Medical Centre (Rotterdam, Netherlands) doctors and social scientists, in which thousands of pregnant women were voluntarily enrolled between 2002 and 2006.

Blood was withdrawn from the mothers at or around 13 weeks into their pregnancies to measure levels of T4 and two proteins that could indicate the cause of thyroid deficiency.

Six years later, mothers were asked to describe the behavioral and emotional characteristics of their children using a standardized psychology checklist.

Researchers identified 80 “probable autistic children” from a population of 4,039. 159 mothers were identified as being severely T4 deficient (defined as having 5 percent or less of normal T4, but producing a normal amount of thyroid stimulating hormone), and 136 were identified as mildly T4 deficient.

The researchers found a weak association between mild T4 deficiency and the likelihood of producing an autistic child, but a strong association between severe T4 deficiency and autism (3.89 more likely, as compared with mothers with normal thyroid hormone).

 

Inducing labor in women makes the child Autistic

Induced labor leads to autism in children. Among male children, both induced and augmented labor was associated with a 35 percent higher risk of autism.

A study of North Carolina birth records indicates that pregnant women who undergo induced or augmented labors may have an increased risk of a child with autism.

Induced labor is the artificial stimulation of childbirth, in which doctor’s prompt uterine contractions to begin before the onset of spontaneous labor.  Labor augmentation involves increasing the strength, duration or frequency of uterine contractions after the start of spontaneous labor.

Using this study and Educational Research databases, researchers from Duke University Medical Center analyzed records from 625,042 live births.  5,500 children were diagnosed as being autistic.

Compared to the mothers whose births were neither induced nor augmented, mothers who had induced or augmented labor or a combination of the two had increased odds of having a child with autism.  Among male children, both induced and augmented labor was associated with a 35 percent higher risk of autism. However, only labor augmentation was associated with an increased risk of autism in female babies, while induced labor showed no correlation in females.

The results of this study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, are highly challenging because of the large size of the study. But the researchers stated in their conclusions, further research need to be done in this area.

“While these results are interesting, further investigation is needed to differentiate among potential explanations of the association including underlying pregnancy conditions requiring the eventual need to induce, the events of labor and delivery associated with induction/augmentation,” the study concluded.

 

Breast Feeding a bliss- world breast feeding day

 

Breast milk is the best and it is acknowledged widely as the best food for babies because this milk contains complete nutrients and helps the infants’ growth, immunity and development. WHO and UNICEF suggests breast milk should be given within one hour of birth and continues up to at least 6 months

‘Colostrums’, the yellowish, sticky breast milk produced at the end of pregnancy, is recommended by World Health Organization (WHO) as the perfect food for the newborn.

However, in these times, mothers, particularly working women’s, don’t urge their newborns to their hectic schedules.

But, many infants do not get possible feeding. According to WHO, only about 38% of infants getting breast feed. But In India, 41% mothers initiate early breastfeeding, reported by NGO.

World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) was first celebrated in 1992 by World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) and it is now followed over 174 countries worldwide and this becomes an annual celebration which is being held from 1st to 7th August every year with the goal to promote breastfeeding.

 

Benefits of breastfeeding:

Studies have proven a number of health benefits such as:

1. Breastfed kids have more immunity and they are resistant to diseases.

 
2. Early initiation of breastfeeding, within one hour of birth, keeps the infant from acquiring infections and reduces newborn mortality. The mortality risk due to diarrhea and other infections can increase infants who are either partially breastfed or not at all breastfed.
 
3. Adults who were breastfed as babies they don’t have a chance of getting overweight /obese.
 
4. Breastfed kids are less likely to life juvenile diabetes, heart disease, multiple sclerosis and cancer before the age of 15.
 
5. Breastfeeding protects against Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the most commonly diagnosed neurobehavioral condition in children and teens.
 
6. Breastfeeding moms are less likely to get osteoporosis later in life; breastfeeding also reduces the risk of ovarian, uterine and breast cancer.
 
7. Breastfeeding helps mothers lose weight gained during pregnancy and can also reduce stress level and risk of postpartum depression.
 
 
8. New research has linked breastfeeding with kids’ intelligence. Breastfeeding has also economic advantages as you do not need to spend money to buy formula. It also helps avoid medical bills later as it helps equip the infant to fight off disease and infection.

Antioxidants do not improve women’s Fertility

Antioxidants taken by woman do not improve fertility or chances of getting pregnant, a Medical News reported.

The researchers from The Cochrane Library, the University of Auckland, New Zealand, discovered that women who took oral antioxidants were no more likely to conceive than those who took a folic acid supplement.

Around a quarter of couples planning a baby are thought to have difficulty conceiving. Women undergoing fertility treatment often take dietary supplements, including antioxidants, to try to increase their chances of becoming pregnant. The researchers analysed data from 28 trials involving a total of 3,548 women attending fertility clinics.

However, many antioxidant supplements taken to improve fertility are unregulated and there is limited evidence on their safety and effects.

The researchers reached their conclusions based on a study of 3,548 women undergoing fertility treatments. A variety of antioxidants were taken by the women studied, including:

  1. OctatronR,
  2. Multiple micronutrients and Fertility Blend
  3. N-acetylcysteine
  4. Melatonin
  5. L-arginine
  6. Vitamin E
  7. Myo-inositol
  8. Vitamin C
  9. Vitamin D and Calcium
  10. Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids

The results show no significant increase in women becoming pregnant when taking antioxidants compared to those taking placebos or being given standard treatment, including folic acid.