Seizures, Not Epilepsy Itself, May Raise Birth Risks

Epileptic seizures during pregnancy increase the likelihood of premature and small babies, says a new study. Read more

Women's Alcohol Use Tied to Delayed Childbearing

Alcoholism is associated with delayed childbearing in women, according to a study that compared women's and men's lifetime history of alcohol dependence and their age when they had their first child. Read more

Leaking Fluid During Pregnancy: Another Scare at 18 Weeks

By Erica Kain

Getty Images
Last Sunday, at 18 weeks pregnant, I showed up to my hospital’s Labor and Delivery Department.
The women in the cubicles around me were hugely pregnant, moaning with contractions as they prepared to deliver and hold their new babies. I, on the other hand, was paralyzed by terror. The doctor had told me that he felt pretty sure my amniotic sac was leaking, and that my fetus and I were suffering from a preterm premature rupture of membranes (pPROM).
A fetus at 18 weeks is nowhere near viable outside the womb, and a broken sac would mean a miscarriage. The nurse was grim faced as she ordered the tests on the leaking fluid. “This doesn’t look good,” she said.
Read More

Health Tip: Medications and Pregnancy

(HealthDay News) -- You may take certain over-the-counter supplements and medications without thinking twice. But when you're pregnant, even drugs that you can buy without a prescription can affect the developing fetus.

The American Academy of Family Physicians offers these safety guidelines about medications and pregnancy:

• Don't take any medicine or herbal supplement without checking with your doctor.
• Try not to take any medicine during your first trimester of pregnancy, when your baby is most likely to be affected.
• If you are having pain, acetaminophen is usually safe for pregnant women to take for a short period. But you should first check with your doctor.
• Don't take aspirin while you're pregnant.
• Don't take an NSAID -- such as Advil, Motrin or Aleve -- while you're pregnant, particularly during your third trimester.

I Was Pregnant for a Week: Facing My Third Miscarriage

By Erica Kain

The problem with losing a pregnancy after you have given birth to healthy children is that you know precisely what you’ve lost. I should know. I just recently experienced another miscarriage, bringing our casualty stats to three.

I knew I was pregnant for a week this time, having taken a pregnancy test and glimpsed the coveted two lines—there was hCG in my urine! I was knocked up!
But I knew my odds weren’t great, having suffered two miscarriages in the past. Now at the age of 37, even women with no history of pregnancy loss have higher incidences of miscarriage. (The risk is 20%–35%, according to the American Pregnancy Association). Read More

Calcium Supplements Cut Blood Lead Levels During Pregnancy

(HealthDay News) -- High daily doses of calcium supplements may reduce lead levels in the blood of pregnant women and cut down on fetal and infant exposure, a new report suggests.

The study, published online in Environmental Health Perspectives, found that women who take 1,200 milligrams of calcium daily have up to a 31 percent reduction in lead levels.

Women who used lead-glazed ceramics or with high bone lead levels showed the largest reductions, while the average reduction was about 11 percent.

"We and others have previously shown that during pregnancy, mothers can transfer lead from their bones to their unborn -- with significant adverse consequences -- making maternal bone lead stores a threat even if current environmental lead exposures are low," principal investigator Howard Hu, chairman of the University of Michigan's Department of Environmental Health Sciences, said in a news release issued by the school. "This study demonstrates that dietary calcium supplementation during pregnancy may constitute a low-cost and low-risk approach for reducing this threat."

Exposure to lead during fetal development and infancy can cause low birth weight or slow weight gain after birth, cognitive defects such as lower intelligence scores, lower motor and visual skills, or even miscarriage. Damage from lead exposure and poisoning is usually permanent, the researchers said.

Bone lead can stay in the body for decades, and the fetus or nursing infant can still be at great risk from maternal stores of lead even with minimal environmental exposure, the researchers said.

"The bottom line is that obstetricians and pediatricians should consider adding calcium supplementation to the prenatal vitamins normally recommended in pregnant women, particularly if their patients have a significant history of environmental or occupational lead exposure," Hu said.

The study, conducted with 557 mostly low- to moderate-income women recruited from Mexican prenatal clinics, found reductions in blood lead levels were more evident in the second trimester (14 percent) than in the third trimester (8 percent).

More information
The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more about lead poisoning.

Health Tip: Good Scents During Pregnancy

(HealthDay News) -- Pregnant women become more sensitive to certain smells, some of which can make them feel nauseous.

According to the American Pregnancy Association, these alternatives to perfumes may be easier to tolerate:

• Try not to wear or be around any heavy smells until you figure out what you can tolerate.
• Try a lightly scented body spray or lotion instead of perfume.
• Look for scents such as peppermint, ginger and cardamom, which can help combat nausea.
• Citrus scents, such as mandarin, neroli and sweet orange, also may help reduce nausea.
• Other softer smells to try include lavender, chamomile or rose.

Health Tip: Preparing for Pregnancy

(HealthDay News) -- At least three months before you try to get pregnant, you should start making sure that your body has the nutrients it needs to conceive a healthy baby.

The American Pregnancy Association offers these recommendations:

• Make sure you get at least 400 micrograms of folate or folic acid each day, either from your diet or from a supplement.


• Get at least 1,000 milligrams per day of calcium -- the equivalent of three 8-ounce glasses of skim milk.


• Talk to your doctor about taking a special vitamin for women who are pregnant or are likely to become pregnant.


• Reduce -- to no more than 300 milligrams daily -- your intake of caffeine, which can affect fertility and the body's ability to absorb calcium and iron.


• Avoid alcohol, drugs, cigarettes and artificial sweeteners.

Preterm Births Linked to Infection of Amniotic Fluid

(HealthDay News) -- Infections of amniotic fluid are more common than previously believed and may be a major cause of premature births, says a study led by researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine.

About 12 percent of all births in the United States are premature, and the frequency of premature birth is increasing.

The Stanford researchers analyzed amniotic fluid from 166 women in preterm labor (113 went on to deliver their infants prematurely) and found that 15 percent of the samples contained bacteria or fungi, compared to previous estimates of 10 percent. Some of the bacteria and fungi found in the samples hadn't been suspected of playing a role in preterm delivery.

Women with the highest degree of amniotic fluid infection were most likely to deliver more premature, sicker infants, the researchers said.

"To find that this amniotic compartment, which we have traditionally viewed as somewhat sacrosanct, is infected significantly more often than we thought is a little shocking," senior author Dr. David Relman, a professor of infectious disease and of microbiology and immunology, said in a Stanford news release.

The study was published in the Aug. 26 issue of the journal PLoS-ONE.

"If we could prevent these infections in the first place, or detect them sooner, we might one day be able to prevent some of these premature births," study first author Dr. Dan DiGiulio said in the news release.

The researchers are now conducting a larger study of amniotic fluid collected through routine amniocenteses at about the 20th week of pregnancy to determine if infections can be detected before the onset of preterm labor. The findings may help lead to new methods of prevention or treatment.

More information
The U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has more about premature labor and birth.

Health Tip: Hair Treatments During Pregnancy

(HealthDay News) -- Women should be cautious about exposure to any chemicals during pregnancy, even to hair dyes and treatments.

Here are guidelines for pregnant women about the use of these products, courtesy of the American Pregnancy Association:

• Try to avoid treatments that straighten, bleach, perm or color hair until the second trimester.
• Make sure that any treatment is applied in a well-ventilated area.
• Don't leave hair chemicals in longer than necessary.
• Make sure your hair and scalp are thoroughly rinsed with water after the treatment.
  Always wear gloves when applying these chemicals yourself, and always follow manufacturer directions carefully.
• Try testing on a small patch of hair first, to monitor for any allergic reaction.

Health Tip: Sleep Positions While You're Pregnant

(HealthDay News) -- As your pregnancy progresses, sleeping may become a little more uncomfortable each month.

The American Pregnancy Association offers these suggestions to help you sleep more comfortably during pregnancy:

• Try sleeping on your side -- particularly your left side, if it's comfortable. Bend your knees, and place a pillow between your knees.


• Also try a pillow under your belly, for support.


• If heartburn bothers you, prop up your upper body with pillows.


• If you feel short of breath, lie on your side or propped up with pillows.


• You should avoid sleeping on your back and on your stomach during pregnancy.

Giving Birth at Home

By ADA CALHOUN

For most pregnant women, a key part of their birth plan involves how they'll get to the hospital. But more and more moms-to-be are skipping that step and planning to deliver at home. Old-school birthing is back in style, with well-read women forsaking obstetricians for midwives and epidurals for warm baths.

These women want to give birth in their own bed or tub, with none of the medical interventions that have become staples of modern childbirth, like contraction-inducing medication and C-sections, which now serve as the grand finale in nearly a third of U.S. births. "For a normal, healthy pregnancy, the hospital environment is overkill," says Jessica Reid, 27, a stay-at-home mom in Pasco, Wash. Continue Reading >>

Health Tip: Exercising During Pregnancy

(HealthDay News) -- Exercise is good for you during any stage of life.

But among pregnant women, it can offset some common problems.

Your doctor should approve of any exercise program while you're pregnant. The American Pregnancy Association offers this list of potential benefits:

• It can help alleviate conditions such as poor circulation and back pain.


• It can give you more energy throughout your day.


• It can help you sleep better.


• It can put you in a better mood.


• It can better prepare your body for childbirth.


• It can help prevent excessive weight gain during pregnancy.

Tracking Down a Medical Expert: The Process and the Cost

By Kate Rope

It was time to track down an expert on autoimmune disease and pregnancy. My mystery chest pain (which first reared its ugly head during my pregnancy) had returned when my daughter was 3 months old, and my rheumatologist wanted me to consider going on a drug I couldn’t use while breast-feeding. That was a deal killer for me. I actually liked breast-feeding and was good at it. I was nowhere near ready to abandon it.
So without consulting my doctor, I went looking for another. I live in one of the medical capitals of the world, New York City, and I am a health journalist who works at a health website. So, I had a leg up on finding an expert on autoimmune disease and pregnancy. I asked my colleagues if they had interviewed any over the years, and one of our veteran health reporters immediately emailed back with two names. At the same time, a friend who is a prominent immunologist recommended one of the same two doctors and gave me her email. Bingo. I had an entrée to the upper echelons of rheumatology.
Read More

One in 4 Teen Girls Has a Sexually Transmitted Disease

(HealthDay News) -- More than 3 million teenaged girls have at least one sexually transmitted disease (STD), a new government study suggests.

The most severely affected are African-American teens. In fact, 48 percent of African-American teenaged girls have an STD, compared with 20 percent of white teenaged girls.

"What we found is alarming," Dr. Sara Forhan, from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a teleconference Tuesday. "One in four female adolescents in the U.S. has at least one of the four most common STDs that affects women."

"These numbers translate into 3.2 million young women nationwide who are infected with an STD," Forhan said. "This means that far too many young women are at risk of the serious health effects of untreated STDs, including infertility and cervical cancer."

These common STDs include human papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, herpes simplex virus and trichomoniasis, Forhan said.

Forhan announced the results as part of the CDC's 2008 National STD Prevention Conference, in Chicago.

"These findings are really giving us a lot of pause about how we provide care to adolescent girls who are sexually active," said Dr. Elizabeth Alderman, an adolescent medicine specialist at Children's Hospital at Montefiore in New York City and chairperson of the Executive Committee of the Section of Adolescent Health of the American Academy of Pediatrics. "The numbers are really astonishing."

Forhan noted that most of the burden of STDs falls on young African-American women. "Among African-American teenagers, about one in two were affected compared to one in five white teens," she said.

In terms of the racial disparity, "it's what we've always seen, which is very unfortunate," Alderman said.

In the study, Forhan's team collected data on 838 girls aged 14 to 19 who took part in the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The study did not include syphilis, gonorrhea or HIV, as earlier studies found very low prevalence of these diseases in this age group.

HPV and chlamydia are the most common STDs found among teenage girls, Forhan said. "Almost one in five overall had a strain of HPV associated with cervical cancer or genital warts," she said.

"We need to be screening adolescent girls who are sexually active and providing them with HPV vaccine," Alderman said. "The recommendations are to screen sexually active girls, but many girls don't disclose to their health-care provider that they are sexually active, even when asked," she said.

As for chlamydia, 4 percent of teenaged girls had this STD, Forhan said. "The majority of chlamydia infections do not have symptoms. If left untreated, it can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, which leaves these young women at risk for atopic pregnancy, chronic pelvic pain or infertility," she said.

In addition, the study found that 2.9 percent of young women had trichomoniasis, and 2 percent were infected with genital herpes, Forhan said.

According to Forhan, about 50 percent of the teens reported having sex, and the prevalence of STDs in this group was 40 percent. "Even for young women with only one reported lifetime sexual partner, one in five had an STD," she noted.

"If you choose to be sexually active, you need to protect yourself and be screened for these infections," Alderman said. "And all girls between the ages of 11 and 26 should get vaccinated for HPV."

Among women with an STD, 15 percent had more than one infection, Forhan added.
"These data provide a clearest picture to date of the overall burden of STDs in adolescent women in the United States," Forhan said. "The study also underscores the importance of addressing racial disparities in STD rates among young women."

Race itself is not a risk factor for STDs, Forhan said. However, factors such as limited access to health care, poverty, community prevalence of STDs, and misperceptions about individual risk are some of the reasons that STD rates are particularly high among African-Americans, she said.
More information
For more on STDs, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Born to Be Obese?

(HealthDay News) -- The brain circuitry that controls appetite might be wired differently in some people, and that could predispose them to obesity, California researchers suggest.

The study was conducted in rats, not humans, and yet it could ultimately lead to novel obesity treatments, said Philip Smith, director of the Office of Obesity Research at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

"It is not just about drugs that modify short-term appetite," he said, "there may be drugs that stimulate development of the appropriate neural pathways. So, it is an exciting, but very early, time in this field."

The study was published in the February issue of Cell Metabolism.

Sebastien Bouret, an assistant professor of neuroscience at the University of Southern California, and his colleagues examined neural circuits emanating from the appetite, hunger and body-weight control center of the brain -- the so-called arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus (ARH) -- in a series of rats bred to be either prone to, or resistant to, obesity.

The team found fewer neural connections projecting from the ARH in obesity-prone animals than in their leaner counterparts. Surprisingly, Bouret said, this deficiency developed very early in life, before the animals became obese, and appeared to extend into adulthood.

"Somehow, these animals are programmed to become obese," Bouret said. "The obesity is hard-wired into the brain."

When the researchers then looked at why the brains of obese rats differed from their normal-weight counterparts, they found that the neurons from obesity-prone animals were less responsive to leptin, a hormone that controls the development of these circuits, and which also signals the body's energy status and controls metabolic rate.

"This paper presumes to say, these animals must be leptin-resistant, and that is why the pathways are not developing," said Smith.

But that doesn't mean they are doomed to a life of severe obesity, said Dr. Barbara Kahn, chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in Boston. How they live their lives also matters.

"It is important not to 'blame' the obese person or imply that he/she is responsible for being obese," Kahn noted. "Having said that, reasonable, healthy caloric restriction and a safe and sustainable program of physical activity can help limit weight gain and often bring about some degree of weight loss. In addition, healthy eating and regular exercise can reduce the complications of obesity such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease."

At the same time, she added, not everyone can wear a size 4.

"There is a certain aspect of genetics that sets somebody in a certain range of possible body weights, and then how that person lives his or her life will determine whether they are at the bottom or top of the range," she explained.

Human obesity has both genetic and environmental roots. The rats used in this study, like most humans, developed obesity when fed a high-energy diet. On a normal diet, they were heavier than normal rats, but not yet obese.

"This is quite an exciting paper," said Smith, "because it links more closely to human behavior than most rodent models we have seen."

The findings also suggest a possible therapeutic approach to combating human obesity. If drugs could be designed to influence the formation of neural circuits during development and targeted to at-risk pregnancies, Smith said, "there is a good likelihood we could have successful interventions that improve the health of the mother, and which have a major impact on disease risk for the infant, during pregnancy."

A related study from Boston University researchers in the same journal found that bulking up muscle mass can lead to a general metabolic improvement in obese individuals. "Interventions designed to increase skeletal muscle mass in at-risk human populations may prove to be critical weapons in the fight against obesity and obesity-related comorbidities, including diabetes, heart disease, stroke, hypertension and cancer," an accompanying editorial stated.

More information
For more on obesity, visit the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Health Tip: Choosing a Contraceptive

(HealthDay News) -- Among couples who wish to prevent unwanted pregnancy, there are many contraceptive options available.

Here are some of them, courtesy of the American Academy of Family Physicians:

• Condoms, which also protect against sexually transmitted disease.
• A diaphragm or cervical cap, which must be fitted by a doctor.
• Birth control pills, which must be taken each day.
• The prescription birth control patch.
• The vaginal contraceptive ring, which is worn all the time in three-week increments.
• Hormone shots, which can prevent pregnancy for about one to three months.
• An intrauterine device (IUD), which is implanted in the uterus.

Simple Workout Urged for Pregnant Women on Bed Rest

(HealthDay News) -- Pregnant women restricted to bed rest can and should do safe, specially-designed physical activity, say experts at the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA).
Each year in the United States, an estimated 700,000 women with high-risk pregnancies (including nearly all those carrying triplets or more) are put on bed rest, the APTA said. But, in many cases, the incapacitating effects of total bed rest are not being addressed, leaving some expectant mothers ill-prepared for pre- and post-partum physical and psychological challenges.

"As a result of prolonged bed rest, pregnant women experience an array of symptoms ranging from cardiovascular deconditioning, musculoskeletal discomforts, stressful postures and positions, skin breakdown, muscle weakness, as well as psychological issues such as guilt, stress, and depression," Jean Irion, a professor of physical therapy at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, said in a prepared statement.

Irion teaches physical therapists across the United States to develop safe physical activity programs for pregnant women on bed rest.

"Physical therapy is often equated with exercise, and many physicians equate exercise to a strong potential for exacerbating a given high-risk condition, so they don't suggest pregnant women restricted to bed rest see a physical therapist. This is a huge mistake," according to Irion.

She said physical therapists work to minimize loss of muscle tone and strength and to make the women as comfortable as possible.

"We're not training these women to compete in a triathlon following delivery. Our aim is for these women to maintain some strength, flexibility and range of motion in the upper and lower extremities, so they'll be prepared for the demands of lifting carrying, and holding their babies," Irion said.

More information
The Nemours Foundation has more about bed rest during pregnancy.

Chlamydia Screening Programs Don't Work: Expert

(HealthDay News) -- Population-wide screening programs for chlamydia, the most commonly reported sexually transmitted disease, may not actually work, a Swiss expert contends.
That's especially true for so-called "opportunistic" programs, which routinely test patients for chlamydia whenever they seek medical care.

"We do not have sufficient evidence that this approach to a screening program does more good than harm at reasonable cost," said Dr. Nicola Low, an epidemiologist at the University of Bern.
But despite that, and despite increasing rates of infection in nations that have screening programs, more countries continue to adopt this approach, Low wrote in an article appearing in this week's British Medical Journal.

U.S. social health experts took a neutral tone when discussing the report.

"We support current guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommend annual chlamydia screening for sexually active females ages 25 and younger as well as older women at risk for this disease," said Fred Wyand, a spokesman for the American Social Health Association in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

"We believe it's especially important for women to be tested for chlamydia, since the infection is often asymptomatic, but if undetected and untreated can lead to serious health complications, such as pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility," Wyand added. "We are also in favor of discussion and research to determine which approaches to screening are most effective, in terms of both cost and in reducing the incidence of chlamydia infection."

Infection with the Chlamydia trachomatis pathogen is the most common preventable cause of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) in young women. PID, in turn, can lead to ectopic pregnancy and infertility.

Chlamydia infection, which usually causes no symptoms, is easily treated, often with a single dose of antibiotics. Detection is also easy, with a urine-sample test; results are generally available within a day.

But recent evidence is emerging to suggest that chlamydia may result in fewer severe complications that previously thought. Chlamydia is currently the only sexually transmitted infection for which population screening has been implemented, stated a BMJ editorial.
Two types of screening programs exist. Proactive screening involves using population registries to invite people to be screened for a particular infection at regular intervals. Opportunistic screening targets people using health services for other reasons.

Chlamydia screening is currently recommended in Sweden, the United States and Canada, according to the BMJ report. An opportunistic screening program for all sexually active women and men under 25 years of age, the National Chlamydia Screening Programme, is scheduled to start in England in 2008.

But the evidence for such programs is weak, Low said.

In Sweden, a drop in chlamydia rates in the mid-1990s was attributed to widespread testing, but, in fact, the fall in rates coincided with a national campaign to prevent a more dangerous pathogen, HIV. Since 1995, chlamydia infection rates have been rising again in Sweden.
Similarly, in the United States, decreases in rates of chlamydia infection have been attributed to opportunistic screening programs.

Yet no randomized, controlled trial has shown that screening reduces long-term complications from chlamydia. And studies that do show a value have not been well-designed, while tending to overestimate the cost-effectiveness of the screening programs, Low noted.

Low argued that a consistent definition of "screening program" is needed and that screening programs for all diseases should be standardized.

"There is a difference between 'screening' and a 'screening program,' " Low said. "Any benefits of screening in a population will only be achieved if screening is implemented as a program. This means regular repeated screening of all those in the target population. Opportunistic screening as usually practiced does not ensure that people who have been screened once are invited for subsequent screening tests."

The bottom line, according to the Swiss expert: "Low overall coverage and infrequent screening will not control the spread of an asymptomatic, infectious disease."

There also needs to be more research to determine if screening programs really are effective, especially the more targeted, proactive kind, Low said. "There are trials of proactive chlamydia screening showing a benefit after one round of screening," she said. "The sustainability and duration of benefit of this approach to screening are therefore unknown."

Any screening program shouldn't replace prevention, another expert stressed.

"Prevention is really the best way to go, and sexually transmitted diseases are no exception to that rule," said Dr. Patricia Sulak, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and an ob/gyn at Scott & White Hospital in Temple, Texas.
"Really, the best way for us to reduce problems is to look at the source of the problems, and that's multiple sexual partners," she said. "The earlier you start having sex, the greater the chance of becoming infected. We want to make sure we get prevention across."

More information
For more on chlamydia, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Protein Linked to Lung Development Identified

(HealthDay News) -- Research that uncovers a protein pathway critical to lung development holds the promise of new treatments for premature babies who suffer from respiratory distress syndrome.
"There is a lot of work that must be done, but at least we have a new set of molecules for which, if a receptor is found, intervention is possible," said study author Vrushank Dave, an assistant professor of pediatrics at University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
"This is the first signaling pathway that has been identified for lung maturation," Dave said. In their research, which is published in the Sept. 21 online issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, his team found the protein calcineurin is necessary for lung tissue development at birth.
The study was performed in fetal mice and identified a specific signaling pathway for genes that controlled how lung tissue developed. That's good news because until now, the controlling proteins for the final stages of lung development have not been identified.
"It is critical to understand that this work was done in mice, so we can't make a blanket statement saying that the (research) will translate into humans," Dave cautioned.
Still, the animal work is important because right now, there's no definitive treatment for premature babies who develop respiratory distress syndrome, Dave noted. Lungs fully develop very late in pregnancy, so premature infants are at risk for lung disease when they're born. Currently, mothers at risk for preterm delivery are given a single shot of a corticosteroid to help reduce the chances of their babies developing these conditions.
"Prenatal corticosteroids for the prevention of respiratory distress syndrome improves lung maturation; it has some confounding problems," Dave said. These infants are at a very high risk of dying, despite aggressive treatment that can include a mechanical respirator.
Almost one-fourth of premature infants develop respiratory distress syndrome because the cells that line their lungs are not fully developed, so they can't breathe properly; about 60,000 children in the United States are born each year weighing less than three pounds. Of those who survive, many suffer permanent lung damage, which can slow growth, increase the possibility of infection, and result in abnormal brain development.
The current study sheds some much needed light on the syndrome. The researchers deleted the calcineurin b1 gene in the respiratory cells of fetal mice, which stunted lung maturation and caused respiratory failure. The gene deletion decreased the synthesis of surfactant and other proteins necessary for lung development. Because they lacked the protein calcineurin, the newborn mice could not breathe properly and died soon after birth, the researchers wrote.
The mouse research may apply to premature infants because "failed lung maturation at birth results in surfactant deficiency, causing respiratory distress in the perinatal period," the authors wrote.
Future treatment will hinge on more basic science. "The idea is to find the receptor for the [calcineurin] pathway, and we don' have it at this point," Dave said.
The hope is that the description of this pathway that controls the final stages of lung development in mice might help researchers design treatments to manage respiratory distress syndrome and lung disease in premature babies.
Once the receptor is found, "we would like to find molecular targets for the receptor. If we can find that receptor, then it would be possible to see how much we can increase lung maturation," Dave said.
Finding a receptor for the pathway would activate it, but "that's not only the pathway involved. This is very complex phenomenon -- in the last few days before birth, a lot of structural and functional changes in lung are going on," he explained.
This research, Dave stressed, is in its infancy. "We don't know the therapeutic target. This (approach) would work if there's a defect in the receptor pathway, but if there's a cellular defect, that can't be cured with this research," he said.
More information
For more on acute respiratory distress syndrome, go to the American Lung Association.