December 17, 2009
Filed under: Premature babies — Alan @ 9:18 am
In the case of premature births in which children are born before the mother reaches the 37th week, newborn girls have a better chance of survival and less defects than newborn boys.
In a dissertation at Sweden’s Lund University, Emma Elsmen Steen explored why male babies have a higher risk factor for death than their female counterparts.
There are many complications present in preterm birth including brain haemorrhaging, low blood pressure, cognitive handicaps, and lung immaturity. The more premature a child is born, the higher the risks, especially before the 28th week of pregnancy.
Steen stated in her dissertation that it is a well known fact that boys are a higher risk than girls which is something she wanted to explore to see the development process in the womb.
To complete her study Steen researched over 200 premature births finding that boys were in fact often prone to more complications during the initial period following birth. She found that often boys had lower blood pressure and were more likely to have chronic lung disease.
In another study males were found to have a greater risk of pregnancy toxaemia, infection, loss of amniotic fluid or excessive amniotic fluid.
Steen proposed that in the same way that preeclampsia affects mothers with girl foetuses early in pregnancy, there may be another disease that is not yet identified that primarily affects mothers with boy foetuses causing the premature birthing problems.
Ultimately, Steen drew the conclusion that premature boys face a higher morbidity rate because they mature later in the foetus lifespan than females.
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December 14, 2009
Filed under: Premature babies — Alan @ 7:49 am
Research suggests that there may be one simple test that can accurately predict whether premature labour pains will result in a delivery or a false alarm. Fewer than half of all women who show signs of premature labour actually give birth and often are still subject to many unnecessary tests.
The good news is that now UK researchers believe a test that looks for fFN (foetal fibronectin) may solve the dilemma.
The University of College London study suggests that since fFN protein attaches to the foetal sac a sign of imminent birth is if the protein is found to be leaking. If it is not leaking which is shown by low fFN levels, there is a good chance that the baby is safe.
Although the test to look at fFN levels is easy and cheap, most maternity units do not currently use it.
It can be done while a vaginal examination is performed and is usually done if a woman complains of abdominal pain while pregnant.
The study was conducted at a hospital in which the test was proved to be almost 99% accurate in predicting which women who would go into labour and which ones would not.
Dr. Anna David the lead researcher in the study stated that the fear of a premature baby can cause pregnant women to get very anxious which can be easily remedied by fFN testing. David also stated that it would reduce the amount spent in the healthcare system on long hospital stays that are unneeded.
December 9, 2009
Filed under: Premature babies — Alan @ 9:44 am
An East Sussex family is now celebrating taking their ‘miracle’ baby home with them after it was born prematurely at only 23.5 weeks. Mark James and Jodi Andrews feared that they would never get to take Anabella out of the hospital after her birth was extremely premature at the Eastbourne District General Hospital.
However, after being treated for four months at three different hospitals at Surrey and Sussex she was finally able to go home last week. James stated that they are beyond belief about how lucky they were.
Andrews went into birth prematurely and was rushed to the general hospital where she gave birth.
James stated that when the baby was born it was still encased in the amniotic sac, which in olden times was supposed to be lucky. He stated that at this point Anabella is a miracle baby since it protected her from bruising.
He continued to say that the couple was told that normally a child under 24 weeks would not be resuscitated but that given the opportunity they chose to give her a chance.
After her birth, Anabella was transferred to the St. Peter’s Hospital special care baby unit and then onto the Brighton Royal Sussex County Hospital.
James stated that there were many problems along the way and that it was an emotional fight but that the NHS offered them an extremely high amount of support, which made the entire ordeal easier for the couple to handle.
December 3, 2009
Filed under: Premature babies — Alan @ 7:07 am
Olli Reid has always looked upwards toward his twin brother, but not for the reason that most people would think. Instead, he looks up to his brother Alfie because despite being a twin Alfie was born at twice the birth weight of Olli, due to problems that occurred before the twins were born.
Olli was born at a low birth weight of four pounds, while Alfie was almost nine pounds due to the fact that Alfie’s size started to suffocate Olli and stole his nourishment in the womb.
Even though Alfie may have been a bully in the womb, the brothers have developed their normal twin bond outside of the womb, with their mother stating that Olli will not settle down for bed unless Alfie is beside him.
Doctors delivered the twins eight weeks early due to fears that Olli may not survive in womb, although there was a high risk that with his low birth weight he would not survive outside of it as well. However he defied the odds and now both boys are comfortable at their home in Banff, Aberdeenshire with their parents.
The twin’s parents had been trying to conceive for four years before the mother became pregnant and lost one child to a miscarriage before conceiving the twins. Doctors discovered the abnormal weight discrepancies after she was in a car accident and a scan was performed to check on the twins in the womb.
Doctors expect that it will take Olli about two years to level out at the same weight as his twin.
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October 29, 2009
Filed under: Premature babies — Alan @ 9:32 am
A research team from Newcastle University now believes that Trichostatin A, a drug commonly used to treat cancer, may also be useful in preventing premature labour.
The research team tested the drug on the tissue of 26 women who had a caesarean surgery, and found that the therapy helps to increase the protein in the tissue, which aids muscle relaxation and prevents contractions.
Every year in the UK there are over 50,000 premature babies born, out of which 1,500 babies die. In fact, preterm labour is thought to be one of the leading causes of infant death around the globe, in the developed areas of the world.
Researchers found that when Trichostatin A was tested on the tissue of women who had a caesarean contractions reduced by 46% on average for tissue that was contracting spontaneously, and on average the oxytocin which is a well known labour drug saw its reduction of contractions by 54%.
The reason why the Trichostatin may be helpful in reducing contractions is due to the fact that medically it was previously proven that protein kinase A is helpful in controlling and relaxing the uterus throughout pregnancy.
The use of the Trichostatin helps to increase the amount of protein kinase A found in the cells.
Although the leader of the research team, Professor Nick Europe-Finner, stated that Trichostatin cannot be given to an actual patient since it can kills as much as 10% of genes in a cell, the fact that it isolates agents makes the discovery worth further investigation.
September 21, 2009
Filed under: Premature babies — Alan @ 10:34 am
A new study suggests that women who choose to have an abortion are more likely to have children that are born prematurely or with a lower birth weight than desired a Canadian study reports.
The study was published in BJORG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and included 37 case studies concerning woman who had more than one abortion before having children.
The research concluded that the more abortions a woman had experienced the more likely there were to be complications during labour that was carried to full term.
According to the report, women who had over one abortion had a 72% of bearing children with low birth weights and had a 93% higher risk of going into premature labour.
Additionally, women who had an abortion during their first or second trimester were found to have an increase by 35% of having a low weight baby and 36% chance of premature labour.
The authors of the study point to new non-invasive ways to have an abortion such as taking pills to reduce the risks of premature labour and low birth weights in the future for women who plan on having children down the line.
Editor in chief of the BJOG, Professor Philip Steer stated that the study within the magazine on abortion highlights the fact that abortions need to be made safer for women and that ToP is still an important part of healthcare for women.
With this in mind he continued to say that it is important to always be re-evaluating what the benefits and risks are of different methods.
