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Increases in the prevalence of asthma, especially in children, have raised concern in the medical community, resulting in research to find possible causes and to explore potential means of prevention. Recently there has been some evidence linking acetaminophen (known as paracetamol in New Zealand) use in pregnant women and subsequent increased risk for asthma in their offspring.

A new study compared female ever-smokers with never-smokers and found that ever smoking cigarettes increases the risk for invasive breast cancer by 9% and current smoking increases the risk 16%.

In an effort to quell the intractable problem of premature birth in the United States, the March of Dimes has joined with Stanford University School of Medicine in California to apply a transdisciplinary approach to the problem of prematurity.

In the latest step toward making noninvasive detection of fetal trisomy 21 a reality, researchers in California evaluated a multiplexed, massively parallel shotgun sequencing assay to identify women carrying a fetal trisomy 21 fetus.

Because research shows that women are more likely than men to forgo, delay and ration medical care because of personal debt incurred from healthcare costs and expenses, investigators set out to determine whether financial hardships associated with medical debt also differ by gender.

One in 10 pregnant women experience depression with severe risks, and depression during pregnancy is associated with higher risks for complications as well as postpartum depression. Yet treating depression during pregnancy raises concerns for maternal well-being and fetus well-being alike, requiring clinicians to constantly balance the benefits of psychopharmacological agents for women while minimizing risks to their fetuses.