Exercise During Pregnancy Could Mean Bigger-Brained Children
A new study indicates that
Pregnancy
South Dakota Legislators Ban Abortions
I was really trying to avoid the serious politics for a few days. Then the South Dakota legislature passed a bill banning almost all abortions, even in the case of incest or rape. The only exceptions would be if the mother’s life was in danger. According to the Associated Press report, the governor is “inclined”
A Genetic Basis for Sexual Orientation?
New research from UCLA indicates that the mothers of multiple gay sons tend to process X chromasomes differently from other mothers. This provides further evidence that sexual orientation is genetically determined. The results aren’t conclusive at this point, and other researchers caution that further study, with a larger sample, is needed, but it’s still an
Women Who Take Longer to Conceive More Likely to Have Sons
A new study from Maastricht University claims that women who take more than a year to conceive are more likely to produce sons: 58% vs. 51%. For every additional year of “natural” conception attempts, there is an almost 4% higher probability of having a boy. Apparently, women who struggle to conceive are more likely to
New Government Statistics on Births
The U. S. National Center for Health Statistics has released its analysis of birth data for 2004. One of the potentially worrisome findings was that C-sections in the U. S. are at an all-time high. The increase may be connected in part to the rise in multiple and preterm births, as well as a large drop in
Pregnant Women and New Moms Risk Blood Clots
Reportedly, pulmonary embolism has overtaken all other causes of maternal mortality in the past two to three decades. Research from a thirty-year study just published in the Annals of Internal Medicine indicates that pregnant women and those up to three months postpartum are four times more likely than other women to suffer pulmonary embolism or
New Test for Detecting Down Syndrome in First Trimester
Researchers at the Royal College of Physicians in Dublin, Ireland, announced a new screening test last week to detect Down syndrome in first-trimester fetuses. If the results of the test are positive, a woman can then choose to have further tests to confirm the diagnosis. The new test, a combination of a blood test and
Baby Took Over My Brain
During pregnancy, my partner would often excuse her hormonally induced behavior by saying “Sorry, the baby took over my brain.” Turns out there might be something to that. Scientists in Singapore, China, and Japan have conducted research on mice showing that fetal cells can migrate into the mother’s brain and develop into various nervous system
