A hemangioma is a benign tumor of cells that line blood vessels, appearing during the first few weeks of life as a large birthmark or lesion. A study published in Pediatric Dermatology reveals that a disturbance of oxygen depletion was found in placentas of babies who developed infantile hemangioma (IH).
Researchers reviewed placental samples from 26 pregnancies with babies who weighed less than 3.5 pounds, 13 consisting of newborns who developed IH after birth and 13 healthy preterm infants who did not have IH.
Only one of the infants without IH showed an abnormal placenta. The higher ratio of placental anomalies in babies with IH suggests that reduced oxygen to the placenta contributed to fetal stress, and that stress led to infantile hemangioma development.
Source: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Related stories:
Baby's smell tamps down dad's testosterone levels
Does eau de infant make dad a better parent? It does, it seems, if you are a common marmoset, a New World monkey known for its collaborative approach to rearing offspring.
Babies' rapid weight gain linked to higher blood pressure as adults
The pace of weight gain in early childhood may be associated with increased blood pressure in adulthood, according to a report in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Virus weaves itself into the DNA transferred from parents to babies
Parents expect to pass on their eye or hair color, their knobby knees or their big feet to their children through their genes. But they don't expect to pass on viruses through those same genes.
Mom's mood, baby's sleep: what's the connection?
If there's one thing that everyone knows about newborn babies, it's that they don't sleep through the night, and neither do their parents. But in fact, those first six months of life are crucial to developing the regular sleeping and waking patterns, known as circadian rhythms, that a child will need for a healthy future.
Common treatment to delay labor decreases preterm infants' risk for cerebral palsy
Intravenous magnesium sulfate supplementation before preterm delivery cuts the risk for handicapping cerebral palsy in half, according to research led by University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) obstetrician Dwight Rouse, M.D., and published in the Aug. 28 issue of
The New England Journal of Medicine.
Unusual ultrasonic vocalization patterns in mice may be useful for modeling autism
Scientists have found novel patterns of ultrasonic vocalizations in a genetic mouse model of autism, adding a unique element to the available mouse behaviors that capture components of the human disease, and representing a new step towards identifying causes and better treatments.
Infections linked to premature births more common than thought
Previously unrecognized and unidentified infections of amniotic fluid may be a significant cause of premature birth, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
Helping the medicine go down
Getting little Doug and Debbie to take a spoonful of medicine is more than just a rite of passage for frustrated parents. Children's refusal to swallow liquid medication — and their tendency to vomit it back up — is an important public health problem that means longer or more serious illness for thousands of kids each year. In the case of HIV and AIDS pediatrics, missing a dose can be a life or death scenario.