Preventing early pregnancy complications

The enzyme alkaline phosphatase may provide a new therapeutic option for women at high risk of pregnancy complications due to bacterial toxin exposure.

Vanderbilt participates in national study of group prenatal care

Pregnancy promoter and protector

Alkaline phosphatase enzymes appear to play roles in promoting pregnancy and in protecting the uterus from bacterial infection.

Initiative makes cesarean births a family affair

Robert and Michele McClellan expected the experience of their infant son’s birth via cesarean section to be like that of other women who had had the procedure — unable to witness their son’s exit from the womb and for him to be immediately whisked away.

Study tracks hormone’s role in reducing preterm birth risk

Pregnant women who have had prior preterm births may avoid a subsequent early birth if given progestogens, which are natural or synthetic forms of progesterone, a female hormone that naturally increases during pregnancy, a Vanderbilt analysis shows.

MRSA in pregnancy may be less dangerous than previously thought

Vanderbilt pediatric infectious disease researchers studying antibiotic-resistant staph say fears that mothers carrying the germ may set their newborns up for infection are unfounded.