(Press-News.org) UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL: Jan. 30, 2025, 3:30 p.m. MST
Media Contact: Karen Addis, APR, karen@addispr.com, +1 (301) 787-2394
Denver, Colo. ― Microplastics, which are less than 5 millimeters, and nanoplastics, which are invisible to the naked eye, are widespread throughout our environment. Research has shown that exposure to plastics in general is harmful to both the environment and humans.
Now, in a new study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s (SMFM) annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting™, researchers will unveil findings that suggest that microplastics and nanoplastics have been found in higher concentrations in the placentae of infants born prematurely compared to those born at term.
In collaboration investigators at the University of New Mexico, researchers used highly sensitive mass spectrometry to analyze 175 placentae; 100 placentae collected at term and 75 collected preterm (less than 37 weeks of pregnancy).
“Advanced technology now enables us to accurately measure microplastics in ways we haven’t been able to in the past,” says senior study author Kjersti Aagaard, MD, PhD, MSCI, a maternal-fetal subspecialist and research professor at Boston Children’s Hospital and the HCA Institute. Aagaard also serves as the medical director of the Gulf Coast Division of HCA Healthcare.
Researchers found that the levels of microplastics and nanoplastics were significantly higher in preterm placenta and they were at much greater levels than previously measured in human blood. This led the investigators to conclude that plastics were likely accumulating in the placenta during pregnancy, with a greater exposure and accumulation occurring in cases of preterm birth.
“The finding of higher placental concentrations among preterm births was surprising because it was counterintuitive to what you might expect if it was merely a byproduct of the length of time of the pregnancy,” says the study’s lead author Enrico R. Barrozo, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.
“In other words, a preterm delivery not only accumulated more microplastics and nanoplastics in its placenta relative to term, but did so at an earlier time point in the pregnancy,” added Aagaard. “This hints at the possibility that the accumulation plastics could be contributing to the risk and occurrence of preterm birth. When combined with other recent research, this study adds to the growing body of evidence, ranging from heart disease to potentially stroke, that demonstrates a real risk of exposure to plastics on human health and disease.”
The abstract was publisehd in the January 2025 issue Pregnancy, a new open-access journal and the first official journal for the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine.
Additional news releases about select SMFM research being presented are posted on AAAS’s EurekAlert (subscription needed) approximately one week in advance of embargo lifting. Embargoes lift on the date and start time of the abstract presentation.
Disclosure Statement
This study was supported by NIH-NICHD (R01HD091731), NSF (#2208903), NIH LRP (NIAID-1L40AI171990-01), pilot grants from MIEHR (#P50MD015496) and CPEH (#P30ES030285), NIEHS (R01ES014639), CMBM (P20GM130422), UNM CTSC (KL2TR001448), and the Superfund Research Program (P42ES027725). Funding agencies had no role in study design, data collection, analysis, or publication.
# # #
About the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine
The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), founded in 1977, is the medical professional society for obstetricians who have additional training in high-risk, complicated pregnancies. SMFM represents more than 7,000 members who care for high-risk pregnant people and provides education, promotes research, and engages in advocacy to reduce disparities and optimize the health of high-risk pregnant people and their families. SMFM and its members are dedicated to optimizing maternal and fetal outcomes and assuring medically appropriate treatment options are available to all patients. For more information, visit SMFM.org and connect with the organization on Facebook, X, and Instagram. For the latest 2025 Annual Meeting news and updates, follow the hashtag #SMFM25.
END
SALT LAKE CITY— Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah (the U) proudly announces the addition of two da Vinci 5 robotic surgical systems. This state-of-the-art technology is designed to enhance precision, control, and safety during minimally invasive surgeries, setting a new standard in patient care. These advancements align with Huntsman Cancer Institute’s focus on successfully delivering world-class cancer care through innovative treatments.
“This is a significant leap forward in robotic surgery,” says Brian Mitzman, MD, MS, FACS, FCCP, Huntsman ...
CAR T cell therapy is one of the most promising new cancer treatments to emerge in recent years. It involves removing a patient’s own immune T cells and engineering them to recognize specific targets on the surface of the cancer cell.
A major limitation of this type of CAR T cell therapy, called autologous therapy, is that the cells are taken from the patient and must be custom-made into a treatment. This requires patients to wait until their cells are modified for infusion — precious time they may not have.
Now research done at Memorial Sloan ...
EL PASO, Texas (Jan. 30, 2025) – Health sciences researcher Emre Umucu, Ph.D., associate professor and associate dean for research at The University of Texas at El Paso, has been awarded the Roger G. Barker Distinguished Research Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association (APA). The award honors research in the field of rehabilitation psychology, which focuses on helping individuals with disabilities and chronic conditions improve their health, independence and social participation.
“I am ...
UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL: Jan. 30, 2025, 2:45 p.m. MST
Media Contact: Karen Addis, APR, karen@addispr.com, +1 (301) 787-2394
Denver, Colo. -- In the medical community, research has traditionally focused on how to prevent and treat the leading medical causes of maternal mortality, which include bleeding, infection, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. However, new research reveals deaths by homicide and suicide are the leading causes of maternal death in the United States.
In a study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal ...
Millions of women undergo episiotomies during childbirth every year, yet the mechanics behind these surgical cuts remain largely unstudied. A new research project is poised to change that, addressing this significant gap in women’s health.
An episiotomy involves cutting the pelvic-floor muscles to aid delivery, a technique currently guided largely by a surgeon’s personal judgment and experience. While intended to prevent severe vaginal tears or other complications during delivery, the procedure itself can lead to lasting pain, incontinence, infection, ...
Experts from the global Earth science community – including a scientist from the University of Calgary – have pieced together what happened during the massive Sikkim flood to try to help others prepare for similar disasters.
On Oct. 3, 2023, a multi-hazard cascade in the Sikkim Himalaya, India, was triggered by a permanently frozen (permafrost) lateral moraine – debris from erosion along a glacier – collapsing into South Lhonak Lake.
“A landslide went into a lake and that triggered a wave that eroded a dam at the end of the lake, which resulted in a slurry-like flood for hundreds of kilometres,” explains Dr. Dan ...
Rush is developing an innovative data platform to improve the health of Chicagoans. Funded by a $7.5 million grant from the Searle Funds at the Chicago Community Trust, the project will fortify Rush’s data science infrastructure and create a research network to improve quality and equity in health care.
“We believe everyone should have the chance to be healthy,” said John Rich, MD, MPH, the Harrison I. Steans Director of the RUSH BMO Institute for Health Equity. “Yet, we know from medical literature that certain groups receive ...
Your parents were right: Scratching an itchy rash really does make it worse. Now we know why, thanks to new research published today in the journal Science that uncovers how scratching aggravates inflammation and swelling in a mouse model of a type of eczema called allergic contact dermatitis.
“At first, these findings seemed to introduce a paradox: If scratching an itch is bad for us, why does it feel so good?” said senior author Daniel Kaplan, M.D., Ph.D., professor of dermatology and immunology at the University of Pittsburgh. “Scratching is often pleasurable, which suggests ...
Linking citation and retraction data aids in responsible research evaluation
In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available paper in PLOS Biology: http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3002999
Article title: Linking citation and retraction data reveals the demographics of scientific retractions among highly cited authors
Author countries: United States, Italy, the Netherlands
Funding: The work of AC has been supported by the European Network Staff Exchange for Integrating Precision Health ...
PITTSBURGH, Jan. 30, 2025 – A prophylactic antibody-based immune therapy protects monkeys against severe disease caused by H5N1 avian flu, University of Pittsburgh and NIH Vaccine Research Center researchers report today in Science.
The broadly neutralizing antibody, which recognizes a relatively stable region of the bird flu virus, is less prone to losing its efficacy than antibodies targeting influenza’s more mutation-prone structures. This feature ensures that the immune protection can withstand the possible emergence of virus variants, akin to the SARS-CoV-2 mutants that ...
