Researchers at Washington University have discovered a protein that can help limit the extent of brain injury that occurs when a baby is deprived of oxygen during delivery. Such deprivation of oxygen can cause a condition called cerebral palsy. The researchers found that the protective protein called Nmnat1 can help reduce critical brain damage and limit the extent of cerebral palsy.

Arizona medical malpractice lawyers find a number of causes for oxygen deprivation in a baby during the delivery process. There may be complications from a spike in maternal blood pressure, and this typically happens because doctors fail to monitor maternal health. Doctors may fail to perform an emergency cesarean section, leading to the baby being forced through the birth canal. In such cases, there is a disruption in the supply of oxygen to the baby, causing brain damage with possibly long-term consequences. One of these long-term consequences is cerebral palsy, a condition that affects an individual’s mobility, movement and mental development.

The researchers found that Nmnat1 helps protect brain cells from damage, probably by blocking the effects of the neurotransmitter glutamate, which kills off healthy brain cells. The researchers examined the effects of Nmnat1 on mice that that had suffered oxygen and blood flow deprivation. They found that mice that had genetically-engineered higher levels of Nmnat1 had much lower brain damage to critical areas of the brain that are responsible for causing cerebral palsy, than the mice that did not.

Follow-up studies further found that the mice with the higher levels of Nmnat1 suffered minimal or no brain damage at all. Researchers are now concluding that introducing Nmnat1 doses could help prevent the loss of brain cells in a baby suffering from oxygen deprivation, and thereby block or limit cerebral palsy.

A new study suggests that black infants have a much higher risk of developing cerebral palsy.  What's worse, according to the study, these infants are less likely than white infants to be diagnosed with cerebral palsy, although the researchers say that exact reasons for this are still a mystery. 

The study focused on more than 6.2 million births in California between 1991 and 2001.  Out of these, 8,410 were diagnosed with cerebral palsy, which is approximately 1.4 cases per 1000 live births. Researchers believe that the reason why black infants are at a higher risk of developing cerebral palsy is possibly linked to their low birth weight at the time of birth.  Low birth weight has often been found by Arizona medical malpractice attorneys to be a factor in the development of cerebral palsy. 

According to the researchers, reducing the incidence of cerebral palsy in the black population could be a matter of improving prenatal care, so that there are fewer low birth weight deliveries.  Black women are more likely to deliver low birth weight babies than white women.  If this disparity between these two groups could be lowered, we could be seeing fewer cases of cerebral palsy in the black population.

Arizona medical malpractice lawyers believe that we could be doing a better job of increasing black women's access to good prenatal care.  This includes access to frequent medical checkups by a physician.  The need for such care is even more important in the case of teenage mothers, who may be more likely to be deprived of such care.  Teenage pregnancy rates are higher in the black population, further increasing the risk of cerebral palsy.  Studies have shown that women who get quality prenatal checkups, eat a good diet, and maintainable an overall healthy lifestyle during their pregnancies, are much more likely to deliver healthy babies than those who do not have such advantages.

Many Arizona medical malpractice attorneys have long known that the risk of birth injuries increases with nighttime deliveries. A new survey by the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology confirms that the risk of brain injuries, including cerebral palsy increases when babies are delivered at night.

Earlier studies have confirmed that nighttime deliveries have a greater association with poor health outcomes for the baby and the mother, including infant mortality and birth injuries. There is no solid base of research that confirms the reasons for the increased rate of injuries that occur during nighttime deliveries. However, it is possible that at least some of these birth injuries occur because of staff shortages at night. Understaffed labor rooms and hospitals are much more likely to contribute to medical errors that end with a birth injury. Besides, doctors and nurses on night shifts may be fatigued.

Researchers studied nearly 2,000,000 babies born in California over a 14-year period. All of these were full term babies. The researchers were specifically looking for whether the day, hour and month of delivery impact the risk of medical complications. Out of the children in the study, the researchers found that more than 2,000 babies had brain injuries. That works out to approximately 1.1 brain injuries for every 1,000 babies. Further, babies born between 10 PM and 4 PM had a 22% higher risk of suffering a brain injury, than babies were born during the daytime.

According to the researchers, the risk is mitigated somewhat if the baby's body temperature is cooled. There is evidence to indicate that such cooling can help protect the brain. However, the researchers are cautioning against the assumption that nighttime delivery causes neonatal encephalopathy.

Animal studies have indicated that loss of blood at birth could lead to harm. In fact, these results show that early cord clamping procedures after birth may interfere with placental transfusion. When an infant’s cord is clamped too soon, the infant may lose up to 30% of his blood volume. Early clamping, however, is required for saving optimum cord blood volumes. In order to save the cord blood, the cord must be clamped before it has stopped pulsating.

According to a researcher at the University of Rhode Island, in their haste to clamp the cord to collect optimum cord blood volumes, providers probably deprive the infant of a significant part of his blood supply. Other studies in 1998 have also shown that early clamping for cord blood collection could pose future health problems for the baby.

Is it possible that parents who choose to collect and store the child's cord blood could actually be placing their child at risk of the very conditions they want to prevent? The researchers are calling for more awareness among parents who want to participate in cord blood collection. There are confirmed studies that prove that early clamping of the cord can cause blood loss in an infant, and possibly lead to related health problems. Researchers suggest that parents who want to collect cord blood, choose a medical provider who uses late clamping methods.

A new study has findings of interest for Arizona medical malpractice attorneys, who frequently come across patients who have developed cerebral palsy as a result of birth injuries.  The study rules out infertility as a possible cause of cerebral palsy in children conceived through in vitro fertilization or by intracytoplasmic sperm injection. 

The study was conducted by researchers led by Jin Liang Zhu at the Danish Epidemiology Science Center at the University of Aarhus in Denmark.  The researchers looked at the link between the risk of developing cerebral palsy in children, as well as the infertility period of the couple. 

It has been believed for years now that babies have an elevated risk of developing cerebral palsy when they are conceived by in vitro fertilization or by intracytoplasmic sperm injection.  However, whether this increased risk was due to the fertility treatments themselves, or to the fact that so many of these fertility treatments end with multiple births, was not so clear.  It was also not clear whether the increased risk of cerebral palsy was due to the couple’s infertility that caused them to seek in vitro fertilization or intracytoplasmic sperm injections in the first place.  However, there seems to be no link between the parental infertility and the risk of developing cerebral palsy.

Researchers looked at data from the National Danish Birth Cohort.  They specifically looked at more than 90,000 children who were born between 1997 and 2003.  Parents were asked whether their pregnancies were planned, and how long it had taken them to conceive.  The researchers then studied the children depending on the number of months that the parents had taken to conceive them.  Parents who conceived very quickly were categorized as “highly fertile.”  The categories were further divided based on conception time as between 0 to 2 months, 3 to 5 months, 6 to 12 months and conception period greater than 12 months. 

The researchers found that the parental delay in conceiving did not seem to have any effect on the risk of developing cerebral palsy.