http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090521141208.htm
A new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers found that participants who drank for a week from polycarbonate bottles — the popular, hard-plastic drinking bottles and baby bottles — showed a two-thirds increase in their urine of the chemical bisphenol A (BPA). Exposure to BPA, used in the manufacture of polycarbonate and other plastics, has been shown to interfere with reproductive development in animals and has been linked with cardiovascular disease and diabetes in humans.
The study is the first to show that drinking from polycarbonate bottles increased the level of urinary BPA, and thus suggests that drinking containers made with BPA release the chemical into the liquid that people drink in sufficient amounts to increase the level of BPA excreted in human urine.
The latest research, published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics, focused on the Netherlands, where around 30 per cent of births take place at home.
Of all births in England and Wales in 2006, 2.7 per cent took place at home, the most recent figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed. A total of 18,100 were at home, out of a total of 662,915.
The number of home births has been on the rise from an all-time low of 0.9 per cent in 1988 and a major study is currently being carried out into the safety of giving birth in different settings in England and will report by the end of 2010.
http://www.euronews24.org/united-kingdom/home-births-as-safe-as-hospital-1/
Health messages may have the highest impact if they are given early in life. Therefore, the Dutch Ministry of Health identified pregnant women as a target population and initiated an innovative eHealth program to serve as a communication channel of health messages to pregnant women.
http://www.jmir.org/2009/1/e7
Numerous studies have shown that for low-risk women home birth is indeed a safe choice.
In fact, some studies have show that a homebirth can be a safer option than a hospital delivery for low-risk women.
Studies that show that it’s unsafe are usually found to be grouping unplanned or emergency home deliveries into their data on “out of hospital births.”
http://www.naturalbirthandbabycare.com/home-birth.html
Promoting healthy pregnancy and safe childbirth is a goal of all European health care systems. Despite progress in recent decades, mothers and their babies are still very much at risk during the perinatal period, which covers pregnancy, delivery, and the postpartum.
The European Perinatal Health Report released by the EURO-PERISTAT project is the most comprehensive report on the subject to date and takes a new approach to health reporting. Instead of comparing countries on single indicators like infant mortality (the ‘report card’ or ‘league table’ approach), the report paints a fuller picture by presenting data about mortality, low birthweight and preterm birth alongside data about health care and other factors that can affect the outcome of pregnancy. It also illustrates differences in the ways that data are collected, and explains how these can affect comparisons between countries.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081211112010.htm
EDIT: The report mentioned in this post can be downloaded for free at http://www.europeristat.com.
New research indicates that the rates of cesarean deliveries, gestational diabetes, and other pregnancy-related outcomes differ among Asian, Caucasian, and interracial Asian-Caucasian couples.
“Our study demonstrates that interracial Asian-Caucasian couples represent a population with distinct perinatal risks, with differing risks depending upon which parent is of Asian race,” the researchers state in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE4907JP20081001
When a pregnant woman goes into early labor, her obstetrician may give her drugs to quiet the woman’s uterus and prevent premature birth.
New research shows, however, that one popular drug works no better than a placebo at maintaining pregnancy after the initial bout of preterm labor is halted, say scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.
The findings will appear in the December 2008 issue of the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081126081401.htm
A pregnant woman who knows her unborn child has Down’s syndrome might one day be able to prevent some symptoms before giving birth.
That at least is the hope raised by experiments in mice. When fetal mouse pups that had a syndrome similar to Down’s were treated with nerve-protecting chemicals, some of the developmental delays that are part of the condition were removed.
Children with Down’s have an extra copy of chromosome 21, while mice engineered to have a similar condition are given an extra copy of a segment of chromosome 16. In both species, the development of certain motor and sensory abilities is delayed. These “trisomic” individuals may also have learning difficulties and symptoms of Alzheimer’s later in life.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026844.600-downs-symptoms-may-be-treatable-in-the-womb.html
Mothers who delivered their babies vaginally appear to be much more sensitive to the cry of their own child within a few weeks of the birth compared with those who deliver by Caesarean section, a new study shows. The finding, published in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, give researchers insight into why postpartum depression seems to be linked more often to Caesarean birth.
http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2008/09/11/natural-childbirth-moms-more-attuned-to-babies-cry.html
(By Henci Goer) – In order to offer evidence-based maternity care, we need to keep up with the current research. Unfortunately, some research studies are poorly designed or biased – even when published in respected peer-reviewed journals. The Lamaze Institute for Normal Birth has developed brief critiques of some influential studies that have shaped policy and practice. These critiques are meant to help childbirth professionals evaluate the quality of evidence on these important topics.
http://www.lamaze.org/Research/WhenResearchisFlawed/tabid/121/Default.aspx
A study initiated by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands suggests that prenatal exposure to famine can lead to epigenetic changes that may affect a person’s health into midlife. The findings show a trickle-down effect from pregnant women to the DNA of their unborn children and the timeframe over which such early damage can operate…
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081030110959.htm
Childbirth is the leading reason for hospitalization in the USA and one of the top reasons for outpatient visits, yet much maternity care consists of high-tech procedures that lack scientific evidence of benefit for most women, a report says today. U.S. hospital charges for maternal and newborn care jumped from $79 billion in 2005 to $86 billion in 2006, the authors write. More than $2.5 billion a year is spent on unnecessary C-sections, which now represent nearly a third of all deliveries…
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-10-08-childbirth-costs_N.htm
Pregnant women whose labor stalls while in the active phase of childbirth can reduce health risks to themselves and their infants by waiting out the delivery process for an extra two hours, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco. By doing so, obstetricians could eliminate more than 130,000 cesarean deliveries – the more dangerous and expensive surgical approach – per year in the United States, the researchers conclude…
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/127827.php