Pregnancy

The Cupertino-based Semiconductor Industry Assn. agreed to conduct a national study to see whether miscarriages and other adverse health effects result from chip workers' exposure to toxic materials. The announcement came at a meeting of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.

In response to "Perspectives on Teen Pregnancy," Commentary, Feb. 5: I was shocked to read about the 13-year-old girl, in Regina T. Montoya's article, who had sex with three young men, one of them being 19, in Texas. The shock wasn't from the fact that she had sex with three guys during school hours, or that she gave each of them a condom. What shocked me was the stance taken by Montoya indicating that the boys, and other males that engage in sex with consenting young females, should be prosecuted.

This Father's Day, as we dads prepare to open our gifts of after-shave and barbecue aprons, it's time to face up to the only challenge left for a real man in the 1990s. Forget taming the West, conquering space or climbing Mt. Everest in shorts and sandals. For men, pregnancy is the last frontier, and it's just a question now of who's going first. How do I know? Television. Already this year two popular prime-time programs have dealt with the issue.

Steady exposure to the electromagnetic radiation given off by cellphones during use may disrupt fetal development, disturb memory and weaken the barrier that protects the brain from environmental toxins, says a welter of new research being presented this week in Istanbul, Turkey. The authors of the studies, published in the past two years, highly preliminary and conducted on rabbits, mice and rats, suggested that the non-ionizing radiation emitted by cellphones and the base stations that broadcast cellphone signals may fundamentally damage cells by means other than the heat that they generate.

The government should tell pregnant women to limit their consumption of tuna because of concern that eating lots of the fish could expose an unborn baby's developing brain to possibly harmful mercury levels, scientific advisors recommended Thursday. It is not clear how much tuna women should eat, the advisors said--perhaps two 6-ounce cans a week if that is the only fish they eat, or a single can if other seafood, which also can contain mercury, is part of their diet.

Nickelodeon is considering a special for its young audience about sex and love following the news that 16-year-old "Zoey 101" star Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant. The television network has made no announcement about the future of "Zoey 101," its popular program aimed primarily at youngsters aged 9 to 14. Filming for the show's fourth season has finished, and episodes are scheduled to begin airing in February.

Folate is a valuable nutrient, especially for pregnant women. Studies show adequate intake of folate -- or folic acid -- just before pregnancy and during pregnancy can significantly reduce the risk of spinal cord defects. However, a new study shows one thing folate apparently can't do: lower the risk of preterm birth. Researchers have long wondered if the amount of folate in the diet would have an impact on preterm birth. One previous study suggested that it might help. Preterm birth is a big problem in the United States, with about 12% of babies born too early.

The drug Cytotec is almost as effective as surgery for removing tissue that can remain in the uterus after a failed pregnancy, a test has shown. The drug, also known by its generic name misoprostol, had a success rate of around 85%, said Jun Zhang of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, who led the study.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that smoking during pregnancy is bad for babies. But we’ll bet you didn’t know that exposure to cigarettes in utero could set a kid up for a life of crime. By analyzing the health records of nearly 4,000 Rhode Island mothers – including some who were heavy smokers while they were pregnant in the 1950s and 1960s – and comparing them with the criminal records of their offspring more than 30 years later, researchers found that people whose moms smoked more than 20 cigarettes a day during those crucial nine months were 31% more likely to have been arrested than those whose moms didn’t smoke at all during pregnancy.

Pregnant women are often urged to eat foods high in omega-3 fatty acids (usually simply referred to as “fish”) for healthier and smarter babies, but now research suggests that the “brain food” may also help women ward off postpartum depression. Or, rather, depression symptoms. Maybe. In a 52-person study, pregnant women who took a fish oil capsule five days a week during their third trimester had fewer symptoms of postpartum depression—such as anxiety—than women who took a placebo of corn oil during their third trimester, researchers at the University of Connecticut have announced.