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Tufts researchers and colleagues report that place of birth plays a role in the occurrence of asthma in a United States black population. the researchers found that within one inner-city population, blacks born in the United States were more likely to have asthma than blacks who were born outside of the United States. "Within Asian and Hispanic populations, there is research that indicates that asthma varies between those who are born in the U.S. and those who are foreign-born.

In a paper available at the online site of the journal Biology of Reproduction, a team of UCLA researchers reports for the first time that vitamin D induces immune responses in placental tissues by stimulating production of the antimicrobial protein cathelicidin. The study involved exposing cultured human trophoblast cells to the active form of vitamin D, leading to production of cathelicidin and an increased antibacterial response in the trophoblast cells.

Fluidigm Corporation today announced that it has secured co-exclusive licenses to Stanford University inventions that detect fetal genetic characteristics in maternal plasma, including the use of a combination of digital PCR* and high-throughput sequencing.

A stunning discovery based on epigenetics (the inheritance of propensities acquired in the womb) reveals that consuming choline - a nutrient found in eggs and other foods - during pregnancy may significantly affect breast cancer outcomes for a mother's offspring. This finding by a team of biologists at Boston University is the first to link choline consumption during pregnancy to breast cancer.

Exposure to folic acid antagonists during pregnancy is associated with a higher risk of placenta-mediated adverse outcomes such as preeclampsia, placental abruption, fetal growth restriction or fetal death reports a retrospective cohort study published in CMAJ http://www.cmaj.ca/press/pg1263.pdf.

Sequenom, Inc. (NASDAQ:SQNM) announced new data from a collaborative project with The Chinese University of Hong Kong, published this week in the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that demonstrate its innovative, next-generation, noninvasive prenatal diagnostic technology accurately quantified maternal plasma DNA sequences for fetal Trisomy 21, or Down syndrome, based on samples taken from women in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy.

Photo reprinted with permission of Shana. December is TTTS (Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome) Awareness Month. Sisters Andie and Annabelle have overcome a lot in their short 7...

Will you take your twins to visit Santa? © 2008 Pamela Prindle Fierro, licensed to About.com, Inc. My twin girls were always terrified of the jolly old elf. At...