Suzan Carmichael

..Investigations into genetic variation that influences transport and metabolism of folate will help fill this data gap. We focused on 118 SNPs involved in folate transport and metabolism...

..The purpose of this study was to examine whether maternal corticosteroid use during pregnancy is associated with delivering an infant with an orofacial cleft...

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..Several previous studies suggested increased risk of craniosynostosis among infants born to women who smoked...

..The hierarchical approach produces more plausible, more stable estimates than the conventional approach, while adjusting for potential confounding by other nutrients...

..To explore whether women who reported corticosteroid use during pregnancy were more likely to deliver an infant with hypospadias than women who did not...

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..It also examines whether known NTD risk factors explain observed differences in risk among Hispanic women who are more and less acculturated...

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..Environmental contaminants that disrupt endocrine function may contribute to hypospadias etiology...

..To examine the association of multiple measures of socioeconomic status (SES) with risks of orofacial clefts and conotruncal heart defects...

..The interdependence of these factors suggests a common pathogenesis via altered glycemic control and insulin demand...

..These data did not show meaningful differences between cases and controls for any other analytes...

..6, 95% CI: 2.1, 10.2; for 894T, OR = 4.4, 95% CI: 1.8, 10.7). No similar patterns were observed for risk of cleft palate...

..Even so, NTDs continue to occur despite individual supplementation or population fortification with folic acid. We investigated other nutrients related to one-carbon metabolism that may affect NTD risk...

..This analysis does not confirm a recent report suggesting that maternal smoking is associated with a reduced risk of having offspring with hypospadias...

..17 (95% confidence interval: 0.04, 0.76). Study findings for dietary components other than folic acid offer additional clues about the complex etiologies of NTDs...

..Information about nutritional factors as potential risks of orofacial clefts is limited...

..We have correlated measurements of cotinine (a nicotine metabolite) in mid-pregnancy sera with clefts and NTDs...

..These results suggest involvement of genetic variation of biologically relevant candidate genes, and gene-environment interaction, for some limb anomalies whose pathogenesis may be related to altered vascular tone or integrity...

..This analysis suggests that maternal periconceptional intake of folic-acid-containing supplements may provide protection from microtia for non-obese women...

..The cause of the increase in twins is unknown but coincides with trends towards delayed childbearing and increased use of subfertility treatments...

..Although the potential contribution of underlying maternal endocrine parameters to the current findings are unknown, the results do provide clues regarding hypospadias aetiology that merit further investigation...

..In this population-based case-control study we investigated whether periconceptional intakes of supplemental folic acid, dietary folate, vitamin A, and several other nutrients were associated with these eye defects...

..Using the above general maximum likelihood estimate, the probability of a dizygotic twin is subject to substantial variation that is largely a function of twin data ascertainment method...

..The etiologies of CDH remain unknown, although experimental animal data suggest dietary factors might play a role. This study examined whether maternal nutrient intakes were associated with delivering infants with CDH...

..This study examined whether the declining prefortification (1989-1996) NTD prevalences continued into the postfortification period (1998-2003) in selected California counties...

..We investigated the previously observed association between obesity and spina bifida and also possible associations between obesity and other birth defects...

..The reasons for current findings to be inconsistent with previous findings are unknown...

..This finding contrasts with results of a previous study, which provided initial evidence for such an interaction. Several important methodological differences may have contributed to the differences in findings between the two studies...

..We hypothesized that effects of congenital anomalies associated with maternal fever, cigarette smoking or alcohol use would be modified by intake of vitamins...

..In particular, NPPA appears to be a good candidate gene for conotruncal defects and warrants further investigation...

..4 for dTGA, and ORs for all six measures were < 0.7 for TOF. ORs for clefts tended to be closer to 1. This study suggests that SES risks are birth defect specific...

..7, 95% confidence interval: 0.7, 10.2). This study suggests that maternal dieting behaviors involving restricted food intake during the first trimester may be associated with increased NTD risk...

..These observed patterns tended to be similar for CP and for CLP...

..S. The objective of this study was to investigate the frequencies of low birthweight and preterm delivery after mandatory folic acid fortification among approximately six million California births...

..Little is known about risks of most specific birth defects among infants born to U.S.-born and foreign-born Hispanic or African-American women...

..Computations were extended to 4-digit level BPA codes. Almost all observed relative risks for malformations co-occurring with hypospadias overall and three subgroups were less than 1...

..Further studies exploring genetic susceptibility and combined gene-environment effects with respect to limb development will be important to continued improvement of our understanding of the etiology of limb anomalies...

..Several previous studies suggest that maternal stress may be associated with increased risk of certain birth defects. This study examined the association of maternal stressful life events with risks of several birth defects...

..The aims of the current report were to extend the literature on the descriptive epidemiology of CDH and to determine whether its mortality rate decreased in California during the study period...

..This study is the first to investigate the association between social networks and risk of NTDs. Stronger inferences await replication and extension of these results...

..Most of the risk estimates were imprecise, and chance could not be ruled out as an explanation for the observed findings...

..Little is known about reproductive outcome risks for Vietnamese women delivering infants and fetuses in the U.S...

..These data show descriptive epidemiologic features of anophthalmia and bilateral microphthalmia...

..We investigated whether maternal periconceptional dietary intake of myo-inositol influenced NTD risk...

..This study uses data from a large population-based registry to explore the association of timing of prenatal care initiation with risks of selected congenital malformation phenotypes...

..Little is known about the occurrence of specific congenital malformations among offspring of mixed race-ethnicity...

..Our results do not suggest a change in twinning prevalence associated with folic acid fortification of the US food supply among women delivering in California...

..We used actively ascertained, population-based data for which detailed clinical descriptions permitted careful phenotypic classifications...

..Progesterone and its derivatives are commonly prescribed during early pregnancy, for example, in cases of luteal phase dysfunction and in conjunction with ovulation stimulation drugs...

..Although many studies have observed variations in the prevalence of specific malformations by sex, there is a lack of population-based data on potential malformation prevalence differences by sex at birth...

..This study describes the frequency of chromosome abnormalities and microdeletion of 22q11 associated among infants and fetuses delivered with conotruncal heart malformations...

..4, 95% CI = 0.2-0.8). This finding suggests the coagulation/thrombophilic pathway may influence the development of preterm delivery...

..e. 2), the corresponding OR was 1.16 (95% CI 0.96, 1.38). This study suggests that increased risks of certain birth defects may be included among the negative consequences of food insecurity...

..There is a paucity of epidemiologic information about the external ear malformations anotia and microtia...

..To study the relationship between maternal thyroid disease and craniosynostosis using data from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study, a multisite, case-control study...

..e., 2 months before through 2 months after conception) and the risk of orofacial clefts, NTDs, and conotruncal heart defects in offspring...

..Stratified analyses suggested that the effect may be restricted to certain groups of women who may be at greater nutritional risk (i.e., women who did not take vitamin supplements or regularly consume breakfast cereals before pregnancy)...

..Although not exhaustive, our goal was to provide an overview of important gene-nutrient interactions and a framework for their investigation...

..Owing to its association with known risk factors for neural tube defects (NTDs) and its impact on physiologic processes relevant to fetal development, physical activity was identified as a potential risk factor for NTD-affected pregnancy...

..This research will enhance scientific understanding of the causes of several common, costly, often deadly birth defects, which will undoubtedly have important implications for their risk assessment and prevention. ..

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