The Latest Biology News And Medical NewsBiology News 2Health News 2Biology News 3Health News 3
HOME >> BIOLOGY >> NEWS
New study: percentage of babies born with intestinal birth defect growing in U.S., N.C.

(Embargoed) CHAPEL HILL -- Gastroschisis, an uncommon but life-threatening birth defect in which babies are born with their intestines outside their abdomens, increased markedly in North Carolina and the rest of the United States in the late 1990s, according to a new University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study.

No one knows why the congenital defect occurs more often now, but UNC School of Medicine scientists suspect that because of its rapid increase, environmental and either legitimate or illegitimate drug exposures may be responsible.

A report on the troubling finding appears in the June issue of the Journal of Perinatology, a professional journal, being published today (May 22).

UNC authors are Drs. Matthew M. Laughon, a fellow in neonatal-perinatal medicine; Carl Bose, professor of pediatrics and chief of neonatal-perinatal medicine; and Ann Heerens, a former fellow now with the Pediatrix Medical Group of Roanoke, Va.. Others are Dr. Robert Meyer and Alison Wall of the N.C. State Center for Health Statistics in Raleigh, Dr. Eduardo Otero of the Broward General Medical Center in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and Dr. Reese Clark of the Pediatrix Medical Group in Sunrise, Fla.

"We decided to do this study because we seemed to be getting a lot of referrals to our Center for Maternal and Infant Health of mothers whose babies were born with gastroschisis," Laughon said. "This is an important problem because the mortality rate for these children is somewhere between 3 percent and 8 percent. Pediatric surgeons replace the intestines during surgery, but since they don't work well at first, it takes babies a long time to recover, and many of them will spend an average of 30 to 40 days in the hospital."

The UNC doctors and their colleagues decided to analyze medical information from two large databases, one for North Carolina births and the other for patients across the nation to learn if the incidence of the ailment had changed in
'"/>

Contact: David Williamson
919-962-8596
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
22-May-2003


Page: 1 2 3

Related biology news :

1. Chernobyl study: Risk of thyroid cancer rises with radiation dose
2. UW study: Migrating birds offer insight into sleep
3. UF study: Barren Siberia, of all places, may be original home to animal life
4. Comprehensive study: We know little about environmental effects on kids
5. UW study: Babys face lights up emotional center of new moms brain
6. UF study: World shark attacks sink again, may signal long-term trend
7. Fox Chase Cancer Center study: Novel DNA-repair gene mutation can cause resistance to cancer drugs
8. MIT study: Hydrogen car no environmental panacea
9. UF study: Calorie restriction reduces age-related brain cell death
10. USF study: Nicotine antagonist relieves depression in children with Tourettes
11. Independent study: DEET products superior for fending off mosquito bites
Post Your Comments:
(Date:12/1/2008)...search leading to the development of flood-toleran...as worldwide, Julia Bailey-Serres of UC Riversid... of the International Rice Research Institute in t...ent of Agriculture (USDA) with the 2008 USDA Natio...hree scientists are, or have been, principle inves...
(Date:12/1/2008)...ea and land animals around a group of Antarctic is...y and has more species than the Galapagos. The stu...they will respond to future environmental change. ...raphy , the team from British Antarctic Survey and...he land, sea and shores of the South Orkney Island...
(Date:12/1/2008)...s (the inheritance of propensities acquired in the...und in eggs and other foodsduring pregnancy may si...ther,s offspring. This finding by a team of biolog...line consumption during pregnancy to breast cancer...e-related genetic changes that affect breast cance...
(Date:11/30/2008)...terol" are good enough, a new study published in t...ests that you may want to think again. In the repo...llenge the conventional wisdom that simply having ...ls of bad cholesterol (LDL) is necessary for good ...l has varying degrees of quality and that poor qua...
Breaking Biology News(10 mins):UC Riverside rice geneticist receives high honor from US Department of Agriculture 2UC Riverside rice geneticist receives high honor from US Department of Agriculture 3Eating eggs when pregnant affects breast cancer in offspring 2EpiCept To Host Third Quarter 2007 Conference Call and Webcast on November 7 2007 5426 1EpiCept To Host Third Quarter 2007 Conference Call and Webcast on November 7 2007 5426 2EpiCept To Host Third Quarter 2007 Conference Call and Webcast on November 7 2007 5426 3Successful Breast Feeding 5424 1Successful Breast Feeding 5424 2Successful Breast Feeding 5424 3Biggest Field Ever to Compete Nov 4 for Fastest Company in Silicon Valley Title in the Comerica Corporate Challenge at The 2007 Metro Silicon Valley 5422 1Biggest Field Ever to Compete Nov 4 for Fastest Company in Silicon Valley Title in the Comerica Corporate Challenge at The 2007 Metro Silicon Valley 5422 2Biggest Field Ever to Compete Nov 4 for Fastest Company in Silicon Valley Title in the Comerica Corporate Challenge at The 2007 Metro Silicon Valley 5422 3Iomai CEO to Speak at Acumen BioFin Rodman 26 Renshaw Annual Healthcare Conference on Monday Nov 5 742 1Iomai CEO to Speak at Acumen BioFin Rodman 26 Renshaw Annual Healthcare Conference on Monday Nov 5 742 2
Other News:
...ia That Cause Gum Disease......Exposure to broadba...or killing the bacteria that cause plaque and peri...ssachusetts. Their findings appear in the April 2...Chemotherapy.......Dental plaque is a film that fo...
...ortant and often irreplaceable products and servic... and sinks of heat-trapping carbon dioxide. Yet t...nmental changes are poorly understood. In the mos...van Mantgem show that birth and death rates of tre...
...ome has stood before cancer researchers as an open...hat one day could lead to the prevention, treatmen...cancer.......By perusing the contents from the Hum...gins and risks for cancer, scientists are now defi...
... of neurons to migrate to the appropriate location...connect to other nerve cells in an intricate netwo...ng axons, are responsible for steering axons in th...als from cells they encounter along the way. Some ...
Tips from the journals of the American Society for Microbiology 2Tips from the journals of the American Society for Microbiology 3Readers of genome decipher signatures of cancer patient outcomes 2Readers of genome decipher signatures of cancer patient outcomes 3Readers of genome decipher signatures of cancer patient outcomes 4Readers of genome decipher signatures of cancer patient outcomes 5Cerebral navigation: How do nerve fibers know what direction to grow in? 2
...w medication has dramatically reduced mortality am... disease, according to results of a study includin...hers....The results were so favorable that investi...he 1,050 study participants suffering from advance...
...ITH RESPIRATORY INFECTION IN ELDERLY......Dental p... responsible for hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP)...niversity of Buffalo, Buffalo, NY. Of 49 critical...ve care treatment, researchers found that 28 subje...
CHICAGO Delays in reviewing test results are common, and many physicians are not satisfied with how they are able to manage test results, according to an article in the November 8 issue of The Archiv
...transdermal nicotine patch, nortriptyline--an anti...n, according to an article in the November 8 issue...JAMA/Archives journals.......According to backgrou...tant preventable cause of death. However, current ...
health news:New medication dramatically decreases congestive heart failure in African-American patients 2health news:News briefs from the Journal CHEST, November 2004 2health news:Delays in test result reviewing common 2health news:Antidepressant may help people stop smoking when used with nicotine patch 2
...failure is often referred to as one of the new "ep...tury, there have been few community-based studies ... population. In a report published in the July iss...s from the University of Massachusetts Medical Sch...
...practitioner can help improve quality of life and ...from osteoporosis-related fractures by referring a...dures. ......An article published recently in the...oners reviews the pathophysiology of osteoporosis ...
...N.C. A new analysis based on animal studies sugge... for a decade or more could have permanent effects...at levels of manganese considered safe by the Envi...ers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine...
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., June 30, 2005 Researchers and engineers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have won three R&D 100 Awards, presented each year by R&D Magazine in recognition
health news:Researchers confirm increasing risk for heart failure in aging US population 2health news:Does manganese inhaled from the shower represent a public health threat? 2health news:ORNL wins three R&D 100s 2