(Press-News.org) PHILADELPHIA (August 1, 2025) – Faculty and doctoral students at Penn Nursing are at the forefront of advancing human milk feeding through a series of research studies, featured in the current issue of MCN The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing. The issue, edited by Penn Nursing's Diane L. Spatz, PhD, RN-BC, FAAN, FAWHONN, the Helen M. Shearer Professor of Nutrition and Professor of Perinatal Nursing in the Department of Family and Community Health, highlights articles showcasing critical strategies to enhance lactation care and improve outcomes for families.
These investigations highlight critical strategies, from empowering frontline healthcare providers and fostering supportive work environments to standardizing language, all aimed at enhancing lactation care and improving outcomes for families. Recent studies underscore the vital role of nurses and the broader healthcare team in supporting breastfeeding journeys:
Guidelines for Primary Pediatric Care Providers to Help Patients Establish and Protect Milk Supply A study led by Courtney N. Slater and Spatz details the critical role of primary pediatric care nurses in the early establishment of a robust milk supply. The research emphasizes that the period shortly after birth is a crucial window for lactation, often missed by traditional postpartum assessments. The authors provide a resource for nurses to prioritize strategies such as frequent and effective milk removal (8-12 times in 24 hours), responsive feeding based on infant cues, promoting safe skin-to-skin contact, and facilitating connections to lactation support specialists.
Nurses Partnering with Medical Assistants to Enhance Breastfeeding Care in the Pediatric Primary Care Setting Nicole Conover and Spatz explored how medical assistants (MAs) can be empowered to provide crucial breastfeeding support. Their findings indicate that most MAs surveyed were already offering informal support and expressed a strong interest in additional training to expand their roles. This research highlights the potential for MAs to be valuable partners with nurses in enhancing care within pediatric primary care settings, addressing the decline in breastfeeding exclusivity observed in the first six months postpartum.
Nurse Work Environments and Exclusive Breast Milk Feeding during the Birth Hospitalization Research by Aleigha Mason and colleagues investigated the link between nurse work environments during labor and birth and the rates of exclusive breast milk feeding during birth hospitalization. The study found a significant association between good or mixed nurse work environments and higher hospital-level exclusive breast milk feeding rates. Interestingly, the hospital's "Baby-Friendly" status alone was not a significant predictor in their models. This suggests that supportive nursing environments are paramount in enabling nurses, who are instrumental in breastfeeding initiation, to optimize outcomes.
Promoting Accurate Language on Lactation from Prenatal to Postpartum Nina A. S. Juntereal, and Spatz address the challenge of inconsistent and ambiguous terminology in lactation. Given that many healthcare professionals receive limited formal education in lactation, the study emphasizes the necessity of precise and consistent language to improve communication and care. The authors introduce "LactaPedia," a free online glossary designed to standardize lactation terminology for healthcare providers and the public, ultimately enhancing evidence-based education, support, and intervention.
“Collectively, these studies from Penn Nursing underscore a multi-faceted approach to improving human milk feeding,” said Spatz. “From early intervention in primary care and optimizing team collaboration to ensuring supportive work environments and promoting clear communication, Penn Nursing researchers are driving evidence-based changes that empower healthcare providers and support families in achieving their breastfeeding goals.”
About the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing) is one of the world’s leading nursing schools. It has been ranked the #1 nursing school in the U.S. by QS University for a decade. Our Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) is among the top-ranked programs in the nation, according to the 2025 U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges rankings. Penn Nursing also consistently earns high rankings in U.S. News & World Report’s annual list of best graduate schools and is a top recipient of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for nursing research. Penn Nursing prepares nurse scientists and nurse leaders to meet the health needs of a global society through innovation in research, education, and practice. Follow Penn Nursing on: Facebook, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, & Instagram.
END
Revolutionizing lactation support and outcomes
2025-08-04
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
New review highlights significant need for comprehensive care for gun violence survivors
2025-08-04
A new review article published in JAMA underscores the critical need for comprehensive long-term medical care for patients treated for firearm injuries, which has become an epidemic in the U.S. fueled by years of rising gun violence. More than 48,000 people died of firearm injuries in the U.S. in 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with 120,000 suffering from gunshot wounds that they recover from.
While emergency care protocols are well established, long-term recovery pathways for survivors—particularly in the outpatient setting—remain poorly defined and inconsistently applied, according to the review paper ...
Crop monitoring system utilizing IoT, AI and other tech showcased at ASABE
2025-08-04
Researchers from South Dakota State University presented a high-tech system to help farmers optimize crop yields while lowering costs at the 2025 annual meeting of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. The system, detailed in Integrating IoT and secure data transmission in a crop monitoring system, tracks and analyzes crop development through data collected by sensors, biosensors, the Internet of Things and AI.
While the majority of projects that build systems utilizing IoT only simulate post-quantum security on super computers, ...
Simple algorithm paired with standard imaging tool could predict failure in lithium metal batteries
2025-08-04
Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a simple yet powerful method to characterize lithium metal battery performance with the help of a widely used imaging tool: scanning electron microscopy. The advance could accelerate the development of safer, longer-lasting and more energy-dense batteries for electric vehicles and grid-scale energy storage.
The work was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Lithium metal batteries have the potential to store twice as much energy as today’s lithium-ion batteries. That could double the range of electric cars and ...
Can botox be used to alleviate pain in a jaw disorder?
2025-08-04
Temporomandibular disorder (TMD) limits jaw function and is so painful that it lessens the quality of life. Botulinum toxin—also known as botox—is emerging as an effective treatment option, but there are concerns about side effects, like muscle dysfunction. Eungyung Kim and Yu Shin Kim, from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, led a study using a mouse model of TMD to explore the possibility of using botox as a treatment.
In their JNeurosci paper, the researchers discovered that injecting botox directly into the male mouse temporomandibular joint (TMJ) instead of surrounding muscle tissue reduced TMD-related ...
Why “sleeping on it” may improve learning and memory
2025-08-04
When faced with difficult tasks, sometimes people hit a mental wall and make the decision to “sleep on it.” Returning to the task after sleeping, they often perform better. Why? Rhythmic brain activity during sleep transforms task-related information into stronger, longer-term memory. A new JNeurosci paper on research led by Dara Manoach, from Harvard Medical School, advances understanding of where in the brain this rhythmic activity appears to improve motor learning.
In the study, 25 participants learned a typing sequence while the researchers recorded their brain activity. After training, brain recordings continued as study participants napped. During sleep, ...
From faces to feelings: How children learn to read emotions
2025-08-04
Peking University, August 4, 2025: Why do young children often miss the emotions behind adult expressions? A pioneering study led by researcher Xie Wanze from Peking University’s School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, in collaboration with professor Seth Pollak from the University of Wisconsin, reveals that the answer lies in a cognitive shift. Published in Nature Communications, their research shows how children aged 5-10 transition from merely “seeing” facial expressions to deeply understanding emotions, relying less on instinct and more on learned insight.
Background: The Importance ...
Pan Feng’s team advances inverse design of catalytic materials with topological AI
2025-08-04
Peking University, June 18, 2025: A collaborative research team led by Professor Pan Feng from the School of New Materials at Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School has developed a topology-based variational autoencoder framework (PGH-VAEs) to enable the interpretable inverse design of catalytic active sites. Their study, titled “Inverse design of catalytic active sites via interpretable topology-based deep generative models” and published in npj Computational Materials, introduces a novel integration of graph-theoretic structural chemistry, algebraic topology, and deep generative models, enabling ...
Lab to industry: InSe wafer-scale breakthrough for future electronics
2025-08-04
Peking University, July 30, 2025: In a landmark advancement for next-generation electronics, researchers from the International Center for Quantum Materials at Peking University in collaboration with Renmin University of China have successfully fabricated wafer-scale two-dimensional indium selenide (InSe) semiconductors. Led by Professor Liu Kaihui, the team developed a novel “solid–liquid–solid” growth strategy that overcomes long-standing barriers in 2D semiconductor manufacturing.
Published in Science under ...
August Issues of APA journals feature new research on psychiatric genetics, telehealth prescribing of controlled substances, mental health advocacy, and more
2025-08-04
WASHINGTON, D.C., Aug 4, 2025 — The latest issues of three American Psychiatric Association journals (The American Journal of Psychiatry, Psychiatric Services, and Focus) are now available online.
The August issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry brings together research on psychiatric genetics and telehealth prescribing of controlled substances. Highlights of the issue include:
Psychiatric Genetics in Clinical Practice: Essential Knowledge for Mental Health Professionals. (AJP Deputy Editor Daniel Pine, ...
Pioneering AI approach enhances prediction of complex astrochemical reactions
2025-08-04
Decoding cosmic evolution depends on accurately predicting the complex chemical reactions in the harsh environment of space. Traditional methods for such predictions rely heavily on costly laboratory experiments or expert knowledge, both of which are resource-intensive and limited in scope. Recently, a research team developed an innovative AI tool that predicts astrochemical reactions with high accuracy and efficiency, demonstrating that deep learning techniques can successfully address data limitations in astrochemistry. Titled “A Two-Stage End-to-End Deep Learning Approach for Predicting Astrochemical Reactions,” this research was published ...