New U of A research has implications for prenatal development in humans
Zebrafish exposed to the leading cannabinoids found in cannabis in the earliest stages of development suffer a significant drop in neural activity later in life, according to a University of Alberta study that has implications for prenatal development in humans. Richard Kanyo, the lead author on the study and post-doctoral fellow in the Faculty of Medicine…
Pregnant women can now easily and quickly determine whether they should be exercising, thanks to a new one-of-a-kind tool developed in collaboration with researchers at the University of Alberta. The Get Active Questionnaire for Pregnancy, newly published by the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, guides pregnant individuals through a series of yes/no questions to confirm…
Researchers have found a causal link between caesarean section birth, low intestinal microbiota and peanut sensitivity in infants. They report the effect is more pronounced in children of Asian descent than others in a recently published paper in the journal of the American Gastroenterological Association. “It’s important to know what predicts or increases (the) risk of…
Study suggests following physical activity guidelines could help a vulnerable group that is bearing the brunt of social isolation
New moms and pregnant mothers-to-be who were physically active in the early days of the pandemic had a 30 per cent less chance of experiencing depression, according to a study that also shows this already vulnerable group continues to bear the brunt of the isolation measures. “It’s not like it was a big shock that…
Women’s Health Collective Canada will support research to fill knowledge gaps and meet women’s unique health needs, along with educating
Women make up roughly half the population and have given birth to everyone, yet have remained largely excluded from medical research and drug trials, according to Sharlene Rutherford, president and CEO of the Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation (RAHF). “We know it can take 17 years for medical research to filter down to clinical practice, and women…
Discovery may help explain cases of sudden infant death syndrome
At the moment of birth, the essential role of delivering life-saving oxygen to the baby switches from mom and her placenta to the baby’s lungs and brain. That the timing of this happens so precisely is miraculous, but how it happens remains largely a mystery. New research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine, in…
Newly graduated nursing PhD Oluwakemi Amodu is building on the work she did during her doctoral program at the University of Alberta to make life better for 250 women in a refugee camp in northern Nigeria. Amodu won a $75,000 post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Waterloo for a project to bring education and treatment for sexually…
U of A researchers identify specific bacteria linked with changes in gut microbiome of infants
Events at birth may affect the microbes living in a baby's gut during the first few months of life, leading to a higher risk of childhood obesity and allergies, according to a new study published in the journal Gastroenterology. The researchers used data from the CHILD Cohort Study (CHILD) to look at the complex relationships between birth events, a…
Alberta researchers identify gradients of risk for preterm births, small and large size at birth, smoking and drug use by mothers
The highest concentration of adverse birth outcomes and related maternal risk factors occur in rural areas of Alberta with the lowest socio-economic status, according to new research from the University of Alberta. “When it comes to perinatal health, postal code can be as important as your genetic code,” said perinatal epidemiologist Maria-Beatriz Ospina, assistant professor of obstetrics…
Postpartum OCD is frequently misdiagnosed and misunderstood – but it is treatable, help is available
By Gina Wong Athabasca University and Nicole Letourneau University of Calgary In January of 2018, a new mother in California became part of a viral Facebook post that described her baby’s four-month postpartum checkup. As a result of the thoughts she shared with her health-care providers, the police were called and she was escorted to…