This is a new finding that may help many millions of women around the world at risk of preterm delivery. The hormone progesterone, when given vaginally, reduced preterm birth by 42% in women at risk of premature delivery due to a short cervix, a new analysis shows.

The cervix is the lower portion of the uterus. Typically the cervix shortens toward the end of pregnancy when the body prepares for birth.

“Vaginal progesterone in women with a short cervix reduced both early and later preterm birth,” says researcher Roberto Romero, MD, chief of the perinatal research branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the source quoted by WebMD.

Infants born preterm delivery was defined as less than 37 weeks. It is increasing in the United States has increased from more than 9% of births in 1981 to more than 12% in 2006 – is now about 1 in 8 babies. It is associated with potential health problems for babies. A full-term pregnancy is about 40 weeks.

“Medicine has a number of other benefits,” said Romero. This reduces the level of respiratory problems and the need for mechanical ventilation in infants. Infants were less likely to require intensive care.

Based on the new analysis, Romero and his team suggest that all pregnant women should have their cervix measured between 19 to 24 weeks of pregnancy. If the cervix is shortened, the treatment should be considered.

The new analysis is published online in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Progesterone to Prevent Preterm Birth

Progesterone is a crucial hormone for maintaining pregnancy. If progesterone declines, it can lead to shortening of the cervix. This can raise the risk of preterm delivery.

Romero and his team looked at the results of five previously published studies. Each compared vaginal progesterone to a placebo. Vaginal progesterone comes in several forms, such as a capsule, gel, or suppository.

The studies included 775 women and 827 infants. The 42% reduced risk was for birth before 33 weeks. The progesterone also reduced the risk of birth before 28, 32, and 35 weeks.

“Early preterm birth is less common, but those babies have many complications,” Romero tells. Progesterone treatment also reduced the risk of breathing problems by about 52% and the need for mechanical ventilation by 34%. Fewer babies whose mothers got the progesterone had to be admitted to neonatal intensive care units.

The progesterone also helped those women who had had a previous preterm birth and a short cervix, the researchers found.

FDA to Consider Progesterone Treatment

If an ultrasound taken at 19 to 24 weeks shows a shortened cervix, the researchers say, doctors should consider recommending a 90-milligram-a-day dose of vaginal progesterone starting at about 20 weeks.

On Jan. 20, 2012, the FDA will consider an application jointly submitted by Columbia Laboratories and Watson Pharmaceuticals to approve a vaginal progesterone gel for prevention of preterm labor. The FDA is expected to decide by late February 2012, says Charlie Mayr, a spokesperson for Watson Pharmaceuticals.

Mayr couldn’t disclose costs of the new gel, which may be called Prochieve.

One of the study’s researchers, John O’Brien, MD, was involved in vaginal progesterone studies sponsored by Columbia Laboratories. He also serves on advisory boards and is a consultant for Watson Pharmaceuticals. He is listed on the patent for the use of progesterone to prevent preterm birth.

Vaginal Progesterone Treatment a Game Changer?

The new findings ”will cause a change in practice,” says Jill Rabin, MD, chief of ambulatory care, obstetrics, and gynecology, and head of urogynecology at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, N.Y.

She reviewed the findings but was not involved in the research.
She calls the reduction in preterm births significant.

The recommendation to obtain routine ultrasounds ”doesn’t add much in the way of cost,” Rabin tells. The ultrasounds are routinely given to assess the pregnancy.

Women should know the status of their cervix when pregnant, Rabin says. “During prenatal care, it’s important to discuss the length of the cervix with your physician. If a doctor doesn’t discuss it, ask: ‘Does my cervix look OK?’

Looking at the workings, from Egg to Embryo?

Conception: From Egg to Embryo
At the moment when a lone sperm penetrates a mature egg, conception or fertilization takes place. To better understand the incredible process of conception, take a journey with us from tiny egg to growing embryo.

Ovulation
Each month, a mature egg is released from one of a woman’s two ovaries — this is called ovulation. Ovulation takes place about two weeks after the first day of the last menstrual period.

Passage Into the Fallopian Tube
Once the egg is released from the ovary, it travels into the fallopian tube where it remains until a single sperm penetrates it during fertilization..

The Laborious Journey of the Sperm
An average ejaculate discharges 40-150 million sperm which eagerly swim upstream toward the fallopian tubes on their mission to fertilize an egg. Fast-swimming sperm can reach the egg in a half an hour, while others may take days. The sperm can live up to 48-72 hours. Only a few hundred will even come close to the egg, due to the many natural barriers and hurdles that exist in the female reproductive tract.

Fertilization: Sperm Penetrates Egg
If a sperm cell meets and penetrates an egg, it will fertilize the egg. The fertilization process takes about 24 hours. When fertilization happens, changes occur on the surface of the egg to prevent other sperm from penetrating it. At the moment of fertilization, the genetic makeup is complete, including the sex of the infant.

The Cells Begin to Divide
The fertilized egg begins dividing rapidly, growing into many cells. It leaves the fallopian tube and enters the uterus three to four days after fertilization. Rarely, the fertilized egg does not leave the fallopian tube; this is called a tubal pregnancy or ectopic pregnancy and is a danger to the mother.

Implantation
After entering the uterus, the fertilized egg attaches to the uterine lining, or endometrium. This process is called implantation. The cells continue to divide.

Pregnancy Hormones
Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is a hormone present in the blood within about a week of conception. It is the hormone detected in a blood or urine pregnancy test, but it usually takes three to four weeks for levels of hCG to be high enough to be detected by home pregnancy tests. It is secreted by cells that develop into the placenta.

Fetal Development
After implantation, some cells become the placenta while others become the embryo. The heart begins beating during week five. The baby’s brain, spinal cord, heart, and other organs are beginning to form. At the eighth week the developing baby, now called a fetus, is well over a half inch long — and growing. A “full term” delivery generally occurs around 40 weeks.

sources quoted from: WebMD

Eating too much, either in children or adults? This often occurs in the absence of hunger, this can lead to weight gain and obesity. Current ways to treat binge eating in a youth focus on therapies that limit what children can eat, which requires them to track their food intake and engage in intensive exercise.

But for most children, such as behavioral therapy technique does not work in the long run, according to Kerri Boutelle, PhD, professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. Boutelle and colleagues are developing new ways to treat binge eating in children and adults.

The results of their study, published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology this week, which describes two new methods to reduce overeating. The overall objective of this study is to improve the response to internal hunger and satiety cues and reduce the physiological and psychological response to food in the environment. In essence, how we learn to stop eating when we are no longer hungry?

The first treatment group, called appetite awareness training, train the children and parents to recognize, and appropriately respond, hunger and satiety cues. Other treatment groups, the so-called cue exposure training, train the children and their parents to refuse food in front of them.

“We teach children and parents how the environment tricks us into eating foods even when we’re not hungry,” said Boutelle, citing examples of food triggers such as TV commercials, the abundance of easy-to-eat and high-calories snacks, and the use of food as a reward.

In this study, 36 obese 8-to-12-year olds with high levels of overeating and their parents were assigned to eight-week-long training, either in appetite awareness or a cue-exposure treatment. Children were provided a toolbox of coping skills to “ride out their cravings” — identifying such cravings and learning strategies to ride them out until the urges diminished (but only when they were not physically hungry).

Participants also learned how to manage potential overeating situations when they might not listen to their bodies’ signals, because of the availability of foods or even their own moods.

While the appetite awareness group focused on training the participants to regulate eating by focusing on internal cues of hunger and appetite, the cue exposure group trained the participants to tolerate cravings to reduce overeating.

Children and parents in the appetite awareness group brought dinner into the clinic and practiced monitoring their hunger and satiety cues throughout the meal. Children and parents in the cue exposure group brought in their highly craved foods and “stared them down” — holding, smelling and taking small bites of the food — for up to 20 minutes while rating their cravings, after which they threw away the food.

In post-treatment surveys, 75 percent of the children in the appetite awareness group and more than 50 percent of children in the cue exposure group liked the program “a lot” or “loved it.” A high percentage (81 and 69 percent, respectively) reported feeling more in control of their eating due to the program.

The researchers assessed the impact of these two different eight-week treatments on body weight, overeating, binge eating and caloric intake in both the children and parents.

“While this was a pilot study, our initial results suggest that the ‘cue exposure’ approach might be very helpful in reduction of eating in the absence of hunger,” said Boutelle. She added that significant reduction in such overeating was found in the cue-exposure group, even six months post-treatment, though there was very little long-term impact on overeating in the appetite awareness group. There was only a small effect on body weight and no effect on reported calories eaten in either group; however, both approaches resulted in decreased binge eating in children and their parents.

“These findings are exciting because they offer a completely new paradigm for controlling overeating and binge eating,” Boutelle said. “By reducing overeating and binge eating, we hope to provide a new way of preventing weight gain and providing children with a sense of control over what they chose to eat. This is really important, because a loss of control can lead to depression and other psychiatric problems, and of course childhood obesity.”

Additional contributors to the study include Nancy L. Zucker, Duke University; Carol B. Peterson and Sarah A. Rydell and Lisa Harnack University of Minnesota; and Guy Cafri, UC San Diego. The project was funded by a University of Minnesota Faculty Development Grant to Boutelle and Harnack.

This study was the first to develop and test interventions that specifically target overeating in children. The researchers plan larger, randomized trials, starting in summer 2012. A clinical study for adults called “Regulation of Cues” — testing this intervention separately within an adult binge eating group — is now recruiting participants in San Diego.

sources quoted from: sciencedaily.com

The fitter you stay during pregnancy, the easier it will be to get back in shape after you’ve had your baby. Check with your GP before starting exercising if you have high blood pressure, bleeding or cervical weakness, or if you’re expecting twins or triplets.

First Trimester : What’s happening to my body?

‘During the first trimester, your heart rate, metabolic rate and blood volume are all increasing,’ says Prima Baby’s pre- and antenatal fitness expert Melinda Nicci. ‘If you already follow a regular exercise routine, carry on but sensibly.  And if you’re new to exercise, try walking.

Exercise can help relieve many common pregnancy niggles, including backache and constipation. It also boosts your mood, as each time you exercise, you release endorphins, the body’s feel-good hormones – important during those first few weeks, when you can experience mood swings. Plus, the fitter you are, the easier you’ll find your pregnancy – you’ll have more energy, feel less tired, sleep better and put on less weight.’

What you can do:

During the first 12 weeks, many women feel sick, or super-tired. But if you feel up to it, get out for a walk. ‘Aim for 30 to 40 minutes at least three times a week – remember to take a bottle of water and some snacks with you to ensure you stay hydrated and keep blood sugar levels stable,’ says Melinda. ‘But if you can’t manage 30 to 40 mins, just do what you can. Even 10 minutes out in the fresh air is beneficial both physically and psychologically.’

If you feel up to it, walk a bit faster so you’re working up a sweat. ‘Walk at a pace just before you need to break into a run and make sure you pump those arms for extra oomph!’ says Melinda.

If you ran before you were pregnant you can still continue your routine as long as it is at a gentle pace and you have checked with your GP first. Running during pregnancy is not safe if you have complications such as if you’re at risk for premature labor, have had bleeding, or have preeclampsia, as then activities like jogging can worsen your condition.

Stay Safe

As early as two weeks into your pregnancy, your body starts producing the hormone relaxin, which softens ligaments so they can stretch as they carry the growing life inside you. Stretch only as far as you are comfortable to avoid injury.

sources quoted from: babyexpert.com

photo: detikHealth

Asthma or wheezing is a respiratory disorder in which sufferers hard to breathe and make sounds when breathing. Asthma is beginning to emerge from the children. The fix is simple, feed the fish and avoid antibiotics.

Children who start eating fish before 9 months of age less likely to be suffering from wheezing when pre-school age yet. Children exposed to higher risk of asthma if given antibiotics at the age of one week of taking paracetamol or the mother during pregnancy.

Researchers analyzed the answers of the 4171 families who were randomly selected responses to questions about her son when she was six months, 12 months and four and a half years.

“Repeated Wheeze is a very common health problem in preschool children. Obviously the importance of better medical care and an understanding of the underlying mechanisms. The purpose of our study was to identify risk factors and protective factors of this disease,” said study leader, Dr. Emma Goksor of Queen Silvia Children’s Hospital, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Researchers studied the children who have wheezing episodes three times or more, including the use of asthma medication or not, then compare it with the kids who did not wheeze.

The next sample is broken down into only the children who had wheezing when triggered colds, where children also experience a runny nose or wheezing when reacting to allergies, tobacco smoke, or physical movement.

The researchers found that

• One in five children had at least one episode of wheezing and one of 20 children had experienced wheezing repeatedly (three episodes or more) over the last year. Of these, 3 / 4 asthma medication, and more than setenganya diagnosed asthma.
• More than half the children who had wheezing caused by viral wheeze as much as 57%, and the remaining 43% had wheezing since triggered many other things.
• Eat fish before the age of nine months almost decreases the chances of suffering from recurrent wheezing by 50% until the age of 4.5 years. The most commonly consumed fish is white fish, salmon and flat fish.
• Broad-spectrum antibiotics in the first week associated with an increased risk of wheezing as much as twice as long as 4.5 years. Only 3.6% of the group without wheezing children who received antibiotics, compared with 10.7% in children who had experienced three or more episodes of wheezing.
• Nearly a third of mothers surveyed (28.4%) never drank some drugs during pregnancy, 7.7% of them taking other medications along with paracetamol and 5.3% only take paracetamol alone.
• Possible exposure to paracetamol in pregnancy and wheezing in the group using the asthma medication was 12.4% and take paracetamol during pregnancy increases the risk of wheezing by 60%.
• In the group that his wheezing triggered a lot of things, the risk increased more than doubled and its impact is obvious

Previous studies have reported that the fish is thought to contain the risk-reducing properties of rewarding overcome allergies and eczema in infants and allergic rhinitis in pre-school age. Other studies have shown a protective effect against asthma.

“Our findings clearly indicate that the fish has a protective effect against wheezing pre-school, infants who were given antibiotics at the age of one week and whose mothers took paracetamol during pregnancy have an increased risk of wheezing, especially wheezing triggered a variety of things,” concluded Dr. Goksor as quoted from detikHealth .

New research shows that children who are overweight and not getting enough sleep may have a difficult time learning, and those with learning difficulties may be at higher risk for obesity and sleep problems. The study found that the weight of children, sleep problems, and ability to learn are all connected, with each one can affect the other.

Although one expert said the study raises some interesting questions about the relationship of obesity, sleep, and intelligence, it’s too soon to even suggest that intelligence levels have played a role in obesity or sleep problems. It is widely recognized that obesity increases the risk for sleep apnea and related conditions, known collectively as sleep-disordered breathing (SDB).

Chronic sleep deprivation has also been shown to have a negative impact on learning. But the new study is the first to test the interaction of obesity, lack of sleep, and intelligence in children of primary school. Study researcher Karen Spruyt, PhD, of the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, said sleep problems are often overlooked in children with weight problems or learning.

“Along with a campaign that targets obesity, screening for sleep-disordered breathing in children and overweight children with learning difficulties can be justified,” he said.

Weight, Sleep, and Learning Connected

The study involved 351 primary school children who live in Louisville, Ky. The average age was 8. No child has a diagnosed learning disability that justified the appointment of a special study at school and no one taking ADHD medications.

The children underwent standard intelligence tests, with emphasis on traits associated with learning, such as memory, working memory, planning, problem solving, and attention. They also spend the night in a sleep laboratory where they were evaluated for SDB.

Spruyt and colleagues rely on analytical techniques used are widely known as a structural equation model to test the interaction between weight loss, sleep quality, and learning. This model suggests that each affects the other variables:

• Lack of sleep increases the risk of a child for both obesity and low scores on tests of learning ability.
• Obesity may increase the risk for breathing-related sleep problems and lower the value of learning ability.
• Values ​​lower learning ability affects the risk of obesity and sleep problems.

Because all the children in this study is considered normal development, this study does not discuss the impact of obesity and sleep problems in children with diagnosed learning disabilities, Spruyt said.

Checking Sleep Problems

Dietitian Nancy Copperman, MS, RD, has worked with children of overweight and obesity and their families for two decades. Director of public health initiatives in the Shore-LIJ Health System North in Great Neck, NY, Copperman said the negative impact of obesity on sleep and the relationship between lack of sleep and higher body weight is widely recognized.

But he added that the impact of poor sleep and poor fitness on learning among children is only now beginning to be emphasized. “Sleep should definitely be one thing to see when a child is being assessed for poor academic performance,” he said.

He said the research proposal that intelligence can protect against obesity and sleep problems need to be confirmed. “Many children who have normal weight and learning problems of children are overweight are many who do not,” he said. “I do not know that we can say that the higher cognitive abilities are directly linked to obesity,” the source from WebMD.