“Medications That Block Folic Acid In Pregnancy Double Risk Of ... - Science Daily” plus 4 more

Medications That Block Folic Acid In Pregnancy Double Risk Of ... - Science Daily
KIM KARDASHIAN FEELING BROODY - Contactmusic.com
Medications to reduce folic acid during pregnancy increase the risk of ... - News-Medical.Net
U.S. Pregnancy Rate Is Dropping - WebMD
Pregnant teen graces cover of Teen Vogue - MSNBC

Medications That Block Folic Acid In Pregnancy Double Risk Of ... - Science Daily

Posted: 14 Oct 2009 11:13 AM PDT

ScienceDaily (Oct. 14, 2009) — Pregnant women are advised to take vitamin supplements containing folic acid as part of their routine pre-natal care. Now, a new study warns that taking medications that reduce or block the actions of folic acid during the first trimester of pregnancy increase the risk that the growing baby will develop abnormalities. The large collaborative cohort study was conducted by researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

This conclusion just published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology was reached by a team of epidemiologists, pediatricians, clinical pharmacologists, obstetricians and gynecologists who examined birth and abortion data collected in Israel between 1998 and 2007.

The study obtained medication data from pregnant mothers registered at Clalit HMO, Southern District, and drew information from 84,832 babies born at Soroka University Medical Center in Beer-Sheva, Israel. It was carried out as part of the Ph.D. dissertation of Ilan Matok, and supervised by principal investigators Dr. Amalia Levy and Prof. Rafael Gorodischer from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, in collaboration with Prof. Gideon Koren from the Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada (the BeMORE collaboration).

"After studying the data, we concluded that first trimester exposure to folic acid antagonists is associated with increased risk for neural tube, cardiovascular and urinary tract defects," according to the pediatrician and clinical pharmacologist, principal investigator Dr. Rafael Gorodischer, professor emeritus at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Healthcare professionals now encourage women to take folic acid supplements or eat food fortified with folic acid if they are planning to get pregnant, as well as during early pregnancy because there is clear evidence that this reduces the risk of any resulting baby having neural tube defects and possibly other birth defects (congenital malformations).

The team considered the effects of two groups of medications on pregnancy. Each group consists of drugs that prevent folic acid working in the body. One group (dihydrofolate reductase inhibitors) prevents folate from being converted into its active metabolites and includes trimethoprim (antibiotic), sulfasalazine (for ulcerative colitis) and methotrexate (chemotherapeutic). The other medications are known to lower serum and tissue concentrations of folate by various mechanisms, and include antiepileptics (carbamazepine, phenytoin, lamotrigine, primidone, valproic acid and phenobarbital) and cholestyramine (reduces cholesterol).

"The study shows that exposure to folic acid antagonists in the first trimester of pregnancy more than doubles the risk of congenital malformations in the fetus, and that neural tube defects, such as spina bifida and malformations of the brain, increase by more than six-fold after exposure to these antagonists," said Dr. Amalia Levy, an epidemiologist with the BGU Faculty of Health Sciences and chair of the BeMORE collaboration.

"Clinicians should try to avoid the use of these drugs whenever possible in women contemplating pregnancy," concluded Gorodischer.

Journal reference:

I. Matok, R. Gorodischer, G. Koren, D. Landau, A. Wiznitzer, and A. Levy. Exposure To Folic Acid Antagonists During The First Trimester of Pregnancy and the Risk of Major Malformations. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, DOI: 10.1111/1365-2125.2009.03544.x

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KIM KARDASHIAN FEELING BROODY - Contactmusic.com

Posted: 13 Oct 2009 01:41 AM PDT

Kim Kardashian picture

KIM KARDASHIAN FEELING BROODY

Kim Kardashian is delighted with recent changes in her family, including her sister Khloe's marriage to Lamar Odom and other sibling Kourtney's pregnancy.

Kim Kardashian wants a baby.

The socialite - who recently reunited with her boyfriend, American football star Reggie Bush - has revealed helping her sister Kourtney prepare for the arrival of her first child has made her broody.

She told America's OK! magazine: "This is just the most exciting new step in our lives, and I think everyone in the family can't wait for the baby to come!

"You see what my sister's going through and it's so much fun, and she's picking out cribs and high chairs, and I'm getting her little clothes and little shoes and it's all so cute!"

As well as looking forward to welcoming the new baby, Kim is also thrilled with her sister Khloe's recent wedding to Los Angeles Lakers basketball star Lamar Odom, who she married following a whirlwind romance.

The 28-year-old star said: "My whole family's changed over the course of a few months and, you know, it's just fun. We have all of these new, fun people in our lives and it is like a growing family!"

Kourtney and boyfriend Scott Disick recently revealed they are expecting a boy and according to her sister, the star only made the decision to find out the unborn tot's gender after being pressured by friends and family who wanted to buy gifts.

Kim explained: "She actually didn't even want to find out, so we waited and then planning the baby shower, we're like, 'OK, you got to give us some kind of colour here because we don't know what to do!' And so she found out."

Meanwhile, Kim's step-brother Brody Jenner is delighted she has reunited with Reggie.

He said: "I love it. I was just with Reggie the other night.

"I personally think Reggie is one of the nicest human beings I've ever met in my life. I think he would be an incredible partner for Kim."

Kim and Reggie, 24, dated for two years before ending their relationship in July because they were not spending enough time together.

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Medications to reduce folic acid during pregnancy increase the risk of ... - News-Medical.Net

Posted: 14 Oct 2009 08:24 PM PDT

Pregnant women are advised to take vitamin supplements containing folic acid as part of their routine pre-natal care. Now, a new study warns that taking medications that reduce or block the actions of folic acid during the first trimester of pregnancy increase the risk that the growing baby will develop abnormalities. The large collaborative cohort study was conducted by researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

This conclusion just published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology was reached by a team of epidemiologists, pediatricians, clinical pharmacologists, obstetricians and gynecologists who examined birth and abortion data collected in Israel between 1998 and 2007.

"Clinicians should try to avoid the use of these drugs whenever possible in women contemplating pregnancy," concluded Gorodischer.

Source: American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

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U.S. Pregnancy Rate Is Dropping - WebMD

Posted: 14 Oct 2009 12:03 PM PDT

U.S. Pregnancy Rate Is Dropping

Oct. 14, 2009 -- The U.S. pregnancy rate dropped by 11% from 1990 to 2005, a new CDC report shows.

According to that report, there were an estimated 6.4 million pregnancies in the U.S. in 2005, which works out to a rate of 103.2 pregnancies per 1,000 women ages 15-44, compared to a rate of 115.8 pregnancies per 1,000 women ages 15-44 in 1990.

The 2005 pregnancy rate is close to the nation's pregnancy rate in 1976, when the CDC started tracking pregnancy data.

Other findings, published in the CDC's National Vital Statistics Report, include:

Women in their 20s had the highest pregnancy rates from 1990 to 2005.
Pregnancy rates dropped by 8% for married women and by 11% for unmarried women during 1990-2005.
Pregnancy rates dropped for teens during 1990-2005, with a greater decline for teens ages 15-17, compared to older teens.

The data do not include the 2006 rise in teen birth rates reported earlier this year.

The estimated 6,408,000 pregnancies in the U.S. in 2005 include 4.14 million live births, 1.21 million induced abortions, and 1.06 million miscarriages or other fetal losses.

The abortion rate fell during the years studied. Among married women, seven out of 1,000 pregnant women got an abortion in 2005, down from 11 per 1,000 pregnant women in 1990. Among unmarried women, 31 per 1,000 pregnant women got abortions in 2005, compared to 48 per 1,000 in 1990.

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Pregnant teen graces cover of Teen Vogue - MSNBC

Posted: 14 Oct 2009 09:00 PM PDT

When Jamie Lynn Spears revealed she was expecting a baby back in 2007, the question of whether a pregnant teen should have a starring role on a television show that targets a young audience was broached (Spears played the lead on Nickelodeon's "Zoey 101.")

Now the magazine world enters into a similar dialogue as Teen Vogue's November issue, which pictures a pregnant, unmarried 19-year-old model on its cover, hits newsstands.

There's nothing about the cover that would indicate that Jourdan Dunn, who is the first black model to walk a Prada show since Naomi Campbell in the 1990s, is pregnant. She looks no different than Chanel Iman, who is also pictured, and the accompanying cover line says simply, "Teen Supermodels Jourdan and Chanel on their rise to the top."

Not until you read the accompanying piece does the subject of Dunn's pregnancy come into play. Toward the end of the interview, Dunn says her unplanned pregnancy was "really hard," and "all I could think about was what my mom was going to say, my agency, my boyfriend."

From all indications in the piece, all parties are supportive of Dunn, who is due in December.

A representative for Teen Vogue said that they didn't know Dunn was pregnant until after the photo shoot, and production schedules, among other factors, led to the decision to keep the cover in place.

Whether or not you think it was right of Teen Vogue to go with the cover, it's obvious that the coverage of teen pregnancy continues to evolve. Spears' pregnancy forced a lot of families to have a conversation about why the young star was no longer on the television and was instead pictured in tabloids posing at her baby shower.

More recently, there are the challenges that came with Bristol Palin's pregnancy. While Palin has mostly stayed out of the spotlight since giving birth to son Tripp in December, the baby's father, Levi Johnston, has become a part of mainstream media for no reason other than impregnating the right politician's daughter at the right time.

If Spears and Palin weren't enough to spawn a dialogue about teen pregnancy, Teen Vogue will certainly advance the conversation, whether we're ready for it or not.

Keeping tabs: People's Jaycee Dugard exclusive

Next to People magazine's current issue, which displays a shockingly fresh-faced image of kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard, the cover of Star featuring Lindsay Lohan and the headline "Rock Bottom" seems a bit ridiculous.

With all due respect to Lohan's struggles, I'm pretty sure Dugard is the one who knows rock bottom better. And yet, the story, for all its horror, is an uplifting one in People.

"I'm so happy to be back," is the cover line, and the accompanying piece goes on to tell a story of the two months since Dugard's rescue in a way that's uplifting. Suffice to say then, People will be the most compelling magazine on the newsstand this week.

Courtney Hazlett delivers the Scoop Monday through Friday on msnbc.com. Follow Scoop on Twitter @courtneyatmsnbc

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