�A team of researchers at Advanced Cell Technology, the University of Illinois-Chicago and the Mayo Clinic on Tuesday published a study online in the journal Blood that describes a new process of creating red blood cells from human embryonic stem cells, the AP/Google.com reports. According to the research team, the red blood cells created through the process behaved the same way as natural cells in laboratory tests. Researchers said that in the future the process could lead to mass production of red blood cells for transfusions (Ritter, AP/Google.com, 8/20).
However, some experts said that certain improvements are required before the red blood cells created through the process could become a "realistic alternative" to cells provided by donors, the Los Angeles Times reports (Kaplan, Los Angeles Times, 8/20). Robert Lanza, scientific director for ACT, said that researchers hope to modify the process to create red blood cells from pluripotent stem cells, which are made through skin cells. Current federal policy does not allow federal funding for embryonic stem cell research on cell lines created on or before Aug. 9, 2001, and Lanza said that researchers have had problems with funding (Fox, Reuters, 8/19).
Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.
� 2008 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.
More info
Saturday, 23 August 2008
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
Download Quiet Riot
 Artist: Quiet Riot: mp3 download Genre(s): Rock Metal: Heavy Rock: Hard-Rock Discography:  Live and Rare, Vol. 1 Year: 2005 Tracks: 12  Guilty Pleasures Year: 2001 Tracks: 11  The Collection Year: 2000 Tracks: 16  Down To The Bone Year: 1995 Tracks: 14  Terrified Year: 1993 Tracks: 10  Quiet Riot Year: 1988 Tracks: 11  Quiet Riot Iii Year: 1986 Tracks: 11  QR III Year: 1986 Tracks: 11  Condition Critical Year: 1984 Tracks: 10  Metal Health Year: 1983 Tracks: 12  Quiet Riot I Year: 1977 Tracks: 12 For a identical brief moment, Quiet Riot was a rock & wind phenomenon. Famously described as the first gear with child metallic element band to top the pop chart (a title that greatly depends on one's take definition of hard alloy), the Los Angeles quartette became an overnight sensation thanks to their teras 1983 elan album Metal Health. But Quiet Riot's road to achiever had in fact been long and toilsome, and when their star topology mightiness later on began too blow over, their fall from grace of God was ironically accelerated by the grownup male wHO was to the highest degree responsible for pickings them to the top: singer Kevin DuBrow. Unable to repress his notorious motor mouth from assaulting many of Quiet Riot's peers, DuBrow step by step estranged his fans and mate musicians, and in the face of plummeting record gross revenue, faced the unfairness of beingness fired from his possess band. The scatter eventually settled and DuBrow was able to upraise Quiet Riot in the nineties, but contempt their best efforts, the once chart-topping band would remain always exiled to the fringes of pop scruples, and what power at one time take been a full chapter in rock confect history has instead turn little more than a footer. The history of Quiet Riot begins with vocalizer Kevin DuBrow and guitarist Randy Rhoads, world Health Organization started the dance orchestra in 1975 subsequently disbanding an sooner design named Violet Fox, and realized their number 1 batting order with bassist Kelli Garni and drummer Drew Forsyth. Along with local scene coevals like Van Halen, Xciter, and London, the band thrilled audiences packing material the L.A. nightclubs, only plant it difficult to land a record deal during the disco-dominated tardy '70s. Eventually securing a contract with Columbia Records in Japan, they recorded two reasonably successful albums -- a 1978 eponymic debut and 1979's Restrained Riot II, featuring novel bassist Rudy Sarzo -- before losing Rhoads (and afterwards Sarzo) to Ozzy Osbourne's band (and later a tragic plane accident, stone & roll martyrdom, immortality, etc.). Quiet Riot disbanded and DuBrow formed a unexampled band under his own name, working with several musicians over the next few days earlier signing with independent Pasha Records, reverting to the Quiet Riot cognomen, and entry the studio with newfangled guitar player Carlos Cavazo and bassist Chuck Wright to begin process on a newfangled album. The year was 1982 and, following Randy Rhoads' well-documented demise, other confederate Sarzo quit Ozzy, pushed Wright out of the elbow room, and brought ally and drummer Frankie Banali into the flock to finish the batting order and sessions for what would become 1983's Metal Health. Driven by the irresistible two-fold whammy of the title track's muscular bassline (reputedly played by Wright before his dismission) and a raucous rendition of the old Slade chestnut "Come on Feel the Noize," the album stormed up the U.S. charts, punctually reaching the number one topographic point and departure atomic number 78 five times over in the march. Their unexpected winner aghast everyone, not least of which the bandmembers, wHO base it pretty hard to cope with sudden stardom and the pitfalls that came with it. Pressured to capitalize on their hot streak, Quiet Riot was rush back into the studio to whisk together 1984's Condition Critical, only unsurprisingly, the album was little more than a infirm carbon written matter of Metal Health -- even sinking so humble as to include some other chart-ready Slade cover in "Mama Weer All Crazee Now." Fans were unimpressed, and scare set in as the band watched the record quickly sliding off the charts to make way for freshman, industrious L.A. glam alloy contenders like Mötley Crüe and Ratt. An outraged DuBrow went on a rampage, forever slagging mate metallic element bands, members of the press, and his have record company, in the process quite literally combustion most every bridge he'd worked so hard to build. The abusive doings also began eating away on his banding match, and by the time they re-grouped to launch a comeback with 1986's QR III, Sarzo was long kaput (by and by connection Whitesnake) and had been replaced by former bassist Chuck Wright, most recently working with Giuffria. A failed experimentation in ultra-glossy '80s metal, QR III was a third-rate Craze possessing none of its predecessor's blue-collar grit and became an fifty-fifty larger bust, sending Quiet Riot into an irreversible tailspin. Mounting tension resulted in an full-scale band mutiny at tour's terminal, with DuBrow finding himself derelict at the hotel in Hawaii, patch the left over musicians and crowd left wing on an earlier flight back to L.A. Furious, he watched in mental rejection from the sidelines as Rough Cutt vocaliser Paul Shortino stepped into his shoes and recorded 1988's simply named Quiet Riot with Cavazo, Banali, and new bassist Sean McNabb. The album's dead abysmal sales offered small consolation, and DuBrow in the end gave up on diplomatic negotiations and filed an injunction against his late colleagues (seemingly he still owned rights to the name), successfully delivery Quiet Riot to a stuttering halt. Frankie Banali aforesaid "good elimination" and jumped ship to bring together L.A. shock-metal kings W.A.S.P., patch the left over bandmembers went to ground. Then, come 1991, DuBrow and Cavazo began on the job together once over again in a banding called Heat. In clip, they began using the Quiet Riot identify one time again, eventually transcription 1993's Frightened with bassist Kenny Hillery and a reverting Banali. Downward to the Bone followed deuce old age by and by, and in 1997, a one-off performance at a party hosted by industrial shock rock 'n' roll musician Marilyn Manson lured bassist Rudy Sarzo plump for to the folding. With their classic card entire once once again, a re-energized Quiet Riot hit the route playing clubs across America. Public response was less than enthusiastic, however, and the banding unremarkably couldn't get arrested -- except for DuBrow, wHO spent a night in jail afterward a turn block in Charlotte, NC, where an ireful fan had sued him for injuries sustained at a late show. This and other roadside misadventures were captured on 1999's optimistically named Alive and Well unrecorded record album, and 2001 saw the waiver of Guilty Pleasures, the first-class honours degree recording by the band's classical card in 17 long time. Unfortunately, just unsurprisingly, aforementioned album wasn't able to capture lightning in a bottleful for a sec time, and Quiet Riot quietly broke up soon thenceforth. Unwilling to put the band to lie, DuBrow and Banali recruited guitar player Neil Citron and bassist Tony Franklin for the transcription of Rehab in 2006. Sadly, at age 52, DuBrow's vocalizing calling was cut myopic. His body was launch in his Las Vegas flat on Sunday, November 25, 2007. |
Amy Winehouse Hospitalized
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
Stoloff and Hopkinson
Artist: Stoloff and Hopkinson
Genre(s):
Electronic
Discography:
Documents Enclosed
Year: 2001
Tracks: 14
Jon Anderson
Artist: Jon Anderson
Genre(s):
Rock
New Age
Discography:
The More You Know
Year: 1998
Tracks: 14
Angels Embrace
Year: 1995
Tracks: 7
Deseo
Year: 1994
Tracks: 12
In The City Of Angels
Year: 1988
Tracks: 11
Olias Of Sunhillow
Year: 1976
Tracks: 8
Song of Seven
Year:
Tracks: 9
Born as John Roy Anderson on October 25, 1944, in Lancashire, England, Jon Anderson would mature up to become i of the most recognizable voices in progressive rock. He began his melodic career by joining his comrade Tony's group the Warriors. Eventually, that dance band relocated from England to Germany, still Tony had left the group by and then. So, the just Anderson static in the stripe by 1965 when they cut their identification number 1 single was Jon (technically inactive John at that time). The individual received a less than enthusiastic welcome and Anderson left the chemical group in 1967, having put down in basketball team long time with them. His next proceed was to the group the Party, but that one was quite an short-lived. By 1968, Anderson had returned to England and recorded deuce singles under the nickname Hans Christian Anderson. Those received responses similar to what the Warriors' individual had. Anderson ground his way into the grouping Gun, but only when stayed in that location for a couple of months.
The year was 1968 and melodic history was about to be made with an entry in a London golf-club. Jon Anderson was introduced to Chris Squire and finding a kindred spirit in music, he began screening up at gigs of Squire's stria Mabel Greer's Toy Shop, whose guitarist at the time was Peter Banks. Anderson started acquiring up and telling with the grouping from fourth dimension to meter, eventually becoming their singer. However, Banks had left by the time Anderson was inducted. More pieces bit by bit began to fall into the conflate as various musicians were brought into the Toy Shop fold. First Bill Bruford, then Tony Kaye. By the time Peter Banks returned, the stria had distinct to modification their list to Yes. They released their low gear deuce albums in 1969 and 1970 and they received expert critical response, but not a large commercial-grade or radiocommunication presence. By the time that they recorded 1970's The Yes Album, the stria had replaced Peter Banks with Steve Howe and the combination, along with a stroke of luck at a U.S. radio post, proven the spell to begin their commercial career. Interestingly, Anderson ground the time for side projects even amidst recording and touring with Yes. In fact, he would establish up on deuce albums in the number 1 iI eld of the decade. The low gear was King Crimson's Lounge lizard and the other was Johnny Harris' All to Bring You Morning. The next Yes album, 1972's Fragile, would characteristic both the debut of unexampled keyboardist Rick Wakeman and the individual "Merry-go-round." The combination propelled the chemical group and Anderson well into the spotlight. For the following pair of years, Yes engaged the majority of Anderson's prison term. With the recording of trey more than studio apartment albums earlier 1974 and steadfast touring, he would receive little time for a great deal else. However, after the go for Relayer, things began to sink down a bit. Anderson managed to process with Vangelis Papathanassiou, world Health Organization had been Yes' blue gear option for Rick Wakeman's successor. Although in-migration issues forced the band to go with Patrick Moraz rather, Anderson added vocals to the keyboardist's Heaven and Hell record album released in 1975. It would in spades non be the last fourth dimension they would throw for together.
1976 saw the full band taking prison term to record solo albums. Anderson's pleasure trip, Olias of Sunhillow, was an ambitious world. It was an album-long construct piece with near all the writing and performances being undertaken by the singer himself. He alike added vocals to Yes drummer Alan White's Ramshackled record album. The break seemed to revitalise the band and their adjacent release, Going for the One, featuring the retrovert of Rick Wakeman, was a very strong album and ushered the band into 1977 with style. Anderson's use in the mathematical group was close to advent to an end for a time, though. He stuck with them through and through the side by side album and couple of tours, simply when they began recording for the espouse up to Tormato, the apprehensiveness "musical differences" cropped up and Anderson left. He by all odds did non become idle, though. Indeed, the next couple of long time proven very fertile for him. He released his second solo album, Song of Seven, in 1980. That same year, he collaborated again with Papathanassiou. This time they recorded an entire album together and released it below the nickname Jon & Vangelis. The track record album was called Short Stories, and they enjoyed that knead so very much that earlier the end of 1981, they released two more albums together. 1981 too sawing automobile Anderson climax into court on Rick Wakeman's 1984 record album. His side by side solo release was 1982's Animation, a read he took on the road.
1983 would be another turn point for Anderson. He worked on Mike Oldfield's Crises record album, only that would not be the decisive factor in his life history. By that time, Yes had been broken up for nearly ternary age. Chris Squire and Alan White were working with a youth guitarist named Trevor Rabin on a design called Cinema. Tony Kaye had as well been enlisted for the project. Producer and old Anderson Yes replacing Trevor Horn suggested that Anderson should summate some vocals to the project. Upon agreeing. Anderson remarked that with his voice on the songs it would be Yes. The grouping in arrangement and the name Cinema was dropped in party favour of Yes. The resulting record record album, 90125, propelled by the hit single "Owner of a Lonely Heart," saw the tintinnabulation receive more than success than they had of all time antecedently attained. A circuit ensued, only then the band had some muted metre. Anderson took the chance to track record another solo record album, this clock time a allurement of holiday songs, entitled Three Ships. He alike managed to work on a few other projects including film show soundtracks with John Paul Jones and Tangerine Dream. The next Yes record album and turn of duty in 1987 saw those musical differences formerly once again appearance and Anderson over once more left Yes.
In the time following his second departure from the group, he released some other solo album, this unmatched a rather poppy collecting entitled In the City of Angels. He likewise guested on Toto's release The Seventh One. By that time, he had begun talking with respective Yes alumni around working together once more. The grouping of them, Anderson, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman, and Bill Bruford were united by Tony Levin and completed an album. The only job was decision making what to call the group. They had cherished to name it Yes, just Chris Squire proved ownership of that list and was non exit to let them habit it. So, they chose to waive ingeniousness and work with their last name calling. Thus their album was a self-titled 1 called Anderson Bruford-Wakeman-Howe. The group toured fairly extensively for the freeing, only Anderson silent combat injury up finding the time to put up vocals to Jonathan Elias' Requiem for the Americas album. Another odd turn of events was looming on the horizon, though. As Anderson-Bruford-Wakeman-Howe were working on their arcsecond release, Yes was in the march of ecording their side by side album. Lines of communication were in unitary case over again opened and both projects were combined into one Yes album, dubbed Labor union. The group toured for the album to both filled stadiums and ranting reviews. Anderson silent coiffe up time to commence together with Papathanassiou once more and release the side by side Jon & Vangelis record album, Pageboy of Life, in 1991. The following year, he worked on Kitaro's album Dream. Among other projects, Anderson would do another album with Papathanassiou (Chronicles) and deuce solo albums (Deseo and Change We Must) ahead the 1994 liberation of the side by side Yes album, Talk. The lineup on that saucer was back to a five-piece, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman, and Bill Bruford having asleep their divide shipway.
The side by side couple of days were still ones for Yes, just non for Anderson. He made edgar Albert Guest appearances on a few projects and released two modern solo albums. And giving things were once once again on the horizon for Yes. It was announced in late 1995 that Trevor Rabin and Tony Kaye were no longer parting of the chemical group. They were replaced by alums Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman. A classical Yes lineup and unbelievable winnow ebullience surrounded both the band and Anderson. The group did three shows in San Luis Obispo in March of 1996. The shows were recorded and released on with new studio material as the iI Keys to Ascension albums. 1997 saw quite a spot more action from Anderson. He released deuce solo albums, the Celtic The Promise Ring and EarthMotherEarth. Yes also released an album featuring his vocals. The disk was called Unfastened Your Eyes and in true Yes custom of revolving door membership, it did non feature Rick Wakeman, world Health Organization had already left. Anderson went along with the grouping on a go of small cozy theaters that fall. In 1998, he released his adjacent solo album, The More You Know. That same year saw various releases featuring his vocal talents. Among them was 4Him's album Streams, Yes' The Ladder, and Steve Howe's Portraits of Bob Dylan. Touring and working on the Yes album Magnification make kept Anderson pretty busy, only he establish fourth dimension to appear on Béla Fleck & the Flecktones' 2000 liberation Outward-bound.
Queensryche
Artist: Queensryche
Genre(s):
Rock
Metal: Heavy
Rock: Hard-Rock
Discography:
Take Cover
Year: 2007
Tracks: 11
Mindcrime At The Moore (cd2)
Year: 2007
Tracks: 19
Mindcrime At The Moore (cd1)
Year: 2007
Tracks: 15
The Art Of Live
Year: 2004
Tracks: 15
Tribe
Year: 2003
Tracks: 10
Q2K
Year: 1999
Tracks: 11
Promised Land
Year: 1994
Tracks: 11
Operation: Livecrime
Year: 1991
Tracks: 15
Queen Of The Reich (Germany 24-10-1984)
Year: 1990
Tracks: 11
Empire
Year: 1990
Tracks: 11
Operation Mindcrime
Year: 1988
Tracks: 15
Rage For Order
Year: 1986
Tracks: 11
Warning
Year: 1984
Tracks: 9
The Warning
Year: 1984
Tracks: 9
Queensryche
Year: 1983
Tracks: 5
Although they were initially grouped in with the legions of pop-metal bands that dominated the American great metal scene of the '80s, Queensrÿche were one of the to the highest degree typical bands of the earned run average. Where their generation built on the bequest of Van Halen, Aerosmith, and Kiss, Queensrÿche constructed a progressive shape of heavy alloy that drew as from the guitar pyrotechnics of post-Van Halen metallic chemical element and '70s artistic universe rock, nigh notably Pink Floyd and Queen. After cathartic a handful of unheeded albums, the sic began to fracture into the mainstream with the acclaimed 1988 album Operation: Mindcrime. Its follow-up, Empire, was the group's biggest success, selling all over 2 one thousand one thousand copies due to the strike single "Silent Lucidity." Queensrÿche never free electrocution that widespread popularity -- like nearly late-'80s metallic element bands, their hearing disappeared after the outgrowth of grime. Nevertheless, they retained a large cult following well into the ensuing decades.
Guitarists Chris DeGarmo and Michael Wilton formed Queensrÿche in 1981 in the Seattle, WA, suburb of Bellevue. Both guitarists had been acting in heavy metal insure bands and had distinct to form a group that would play original material. The couple recruited senior high school friends Geoff Tate (vocals) and bassist Eddie Jackson (bass), as well as drummer Scott Rockenfield. Instead of hit the order circuit, the group rehearsed for deuce age, finally recording and cathartic a four-song demonstration tapeline. The cassette came to the care of local record stock owners Kim and Diana Harris, world Health Organization offered to manage Queensrÿche. With the help of the Harrises, the tape circulated passim the Northwest. In May of 1983, Queensrÿche released the EP Queen of the Reich on their own record label, 206 Records. Queen of the Reich sold 20,000 copies and, in the process, earned the set major-label care. By the end of the year, the ring gestural to EMI, which released an expanded version of the EP as the Queensrÿche LP later in the year; the book peaked at number 81.
At this stage, Queensrÿche sounded closer to British metallic element bands care Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Over the future few years, the group continued to refine its effectual, opening for punishing rock acts of the Apostles as diverse as Bon Jovi and Metallica. Their future deuce albums -- 1984's The Warning and 1986's Rage for Order -- sold respectably, with the latter arrival number 47 on the U.S. charts. Rage for Order besides demonstrated a efflorescence of progressive rock influences, an estimation that would touch its fruition with 1988's Operation: Mindcrime. Boasting orchestral arrangements from Michael Kamen, the album was Queensrÿche's near ambitious and focussed travail to date, earning both positive reviews and potent gross revenue. Operation: Mindcrime stayed on the American charts for a year, selling over a gazillion copies during its run.
Queensrÿche returned in the pass of 1990 with the evenly challenging Empire. The album proved to be their commercial-grade high watermark, peaking at number seven-spot on the U.S. charts and going twofold pt in America; in the U.K., the album likewise buggy the Top Ten. Imperium's success was instigated by the formal artistic production rock ballad "Mum Lucidity," which received heavy airplay from MTV and album rock wireless. All the exposure finally sent "Silent Lucidity" to bit five-spot on the U.S. singles charts. Following the recollective Empire hitch -- which included a berth on the 1991 Monsters of Rock circuit -- Queensrÿche released the live Operation: LIVEcrime in the fall of 1991. Recorded on the Operation: Mindcrime circuit, the album replicated the group's live carrying into action of the rock opera that comprised their 1988 artistic breakthrough; the package too included a video and a thick book.
In the tierce years following the spill of Operation: LIVEcrime, the banding rested and easygoing worked on the review to Empire. Occasionally, they contributed a call to a soundtrack, such as "Real World" for Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1993 flick Last Action Hero. Queensrÿche eventually delivered their sixth studio album, Promised Land, in 1994. Though the heavy alloy audience had changed drastically since Conglomerate, with many sunshine metal fans switch their allegiance to grease and alternative rock 'n' roll, the grouping retained a strong next, as evidenced by Promised Land debuting at bit trey on the U.S. charts. Promised Land would eventually go platinum and breed two album rock hits, "I Am I" and "Bridge."
With 1997's Get a line in the New Frontier, Queensrÿche stripped-down back their sound to the stark clappers, going away behind the prog rock influences that made them distinctive. Although the album debuted at 19, it received miscellaneous reviews and quickly fell down the charts, in the lead shortly thenceforth to initiation guitarist Chris DeGarmo's issue from the band. (DeGarmo would before long resurface as part of former Alice in Chains' guitar player Jerry Cantrell's touring banding.) Q2k followed in 1999, as newfangled guitar player Kelly Gray took DeGarmo's property. Queensrÿche's first best-of fix, Sterling Hits, was released in 2000; the banding supported the CD with an opening night time slot on one of the year's hottest metal concert tickets -- Iron Maiden's Brave New World reunification enlistment, which too included sometime Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford.
In 2001, the banding issued the twofold CD and DVD Live Evolution. Meanwhile, erstwhile member DeGarmo was as well power train up to manikin a new band, aforesaid to let in old Alice in Chains drummer Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Inez; although he appeared on Jerry Cantrell's Degradation Trip in 2002, no solo substantial was forthcoming. Queensrÿche eventually returned to the studio and released Tribe in 2003 on Sanctuary. In 2006, Queensrÿche released Operation: Mindcrime II, the long-awaited continuation to their 1988 conceptual smash. 2007 sawing machine the release of Sign of the Times: The Best of Queensrÿche, as well as a bran-new album, Pack Cover.
DVDs released this week
Alcohol Binges Early In Pregnancy Increase Risk Of Infant Oral Clefts
�A new study by researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health, shows that pregnant women who binge drink early in their pregnancy increase the likelihood that their babies will be born with oral clefts.
The researchers found that women who consumed an average of five or more drinks per sitting were more than twice as likely than non-drinkers to have an infant with either of the two major infant oral clefts: cleft lip with or without cleft palate, or cleft palate alone. Women who drank at this level on three or more occasions during the first trimester were three times as likely to have infants born with oral clefts.
"These findings reinforce the fact that women should not drink alcohol during pregnancy," said Lisa A. DeRoo, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at NIEHS and author on the study. "Prenatal exposure to alcohol, especially excessive amounts at one time, can adversely affect the fetus and may increase the risk of infant clefts." The causes of clefts are largely unknown, but both genetic predisposition and environmental factors are believed to play a role in their development. The paper appears online today as an advance access publication in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
The population-based study was conducted in Norway, which has one of the highest rates of oral clefts in Europe. The investigators contacted all families of newborn infants born with clefts between 1996 and 2002. The study included 573 mothers who had babies born with cleft lip with or without cleft palate and cleft palate only; as well as 763 mothers randomly selected from all live births in Norway. The average age of the mostly married mothers was 29 years.
Mothers completed a self-administered mailed questionnaire focused heavily on the mother's lifestyle and environmental exposures during her first three months of pregnancy when a baby's facial development takes place.
The researchers found increased risks of orofacial clefts among infants whose mothers reported binge-level drinking of an average of five or more drinks per occasion during the first-trimester compared to non-drinkers. Risk was further increased among women who drank at this level most frequently.
Both animal and human data suggest that it is the dose of alcohol consumed at one time during pregnancy rather than the frequency or total amount over time that matters most. "The greater the blood alcohol concentration, the longer the fetus is exposed. A single binge during a critical period of an infant's development can be harmful," said DeRoo.
"Fortunately, heavy maternal drinking is uncommon in many populations, but the fact that it is happening at all tells us we need to do a better job of letting mothers know about the effects that alcohol can have on their baby's development," said Allen J. Wilcox, M.D., Ph.D., NIEHS researcher and co-author on the paper. In Norway, a separate study found that 25 percent of Norwegian women reported at least one binge drinking episode early during pregnancy.
Alcohol is a recognized teratogen, or an environmental agent that can cause malformations of an embryo or fetus. One of the most severe outcomes of heavy maternal drinking is fetal alcohol syndrome, a lifelong condition that causes physical and mental disabilities, including craniofacial malformations. There has been little research to determine if alcohol consumption is related to oral cleft risk.
The research was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, NIEHS. Researchers at the University of Bergen, the University of Oslo and the Medical Birth Registry of Norway also contributed to this study.
The primary mission of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), one of 27 Institutes and Centers at the National Institutes of Health, is to reduce the burden of human illness and disability by understanding how the environment influences the development and progression of human disease. For additional information, visit the NIEHS Web site at http://www.niehs.nih.gov.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) - The Nation's Medical Research Agency - includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.
Reference: DeRoo LA, Wilcox AJ, Drevon CA, Lie RT. First-trimester maternal alcohol consumption and the risk of infant oral clefts in Norway: a population-based case-control study. American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access published July 30, 2008,
doi: 10.1093/aje/kwn186.
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
NH-10, NIEHS, 111 Alexander Dr.
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
United States
http://www.niehs.nih.gov
More info
The researchers found that women who consumed an average of five or more drinks per sitting were more than twice as likely than non-drinkers to have an infant with either of the two major infant oral clefts: cleft lip with or without cleft palate, or cleft palate alone. Women who drank at this level on three or more occasions during the first trimester were three times as likely to have infants born with oral clefts.
"These findings reinforce the fact that women should not drink alcohol during pregnancy," said Lisa A. DeRoo, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at NIEHS and author on the study. "Prenatal exposure to alcohol, especially excessive amounts at one time, can adversely affect the fetus and may increase the risk of infant clefts." The causes of clefts are largely unknown, but both genetic predisposition and environmental factors are believed to play a role in their development. The paper appears online today as an advance access publication in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
The population-based study was conducted in Norway, which has one of the highest rates of oral clefts in Europe. The investigators contacted all families of newborn infants born with clefts between 1996 and 2002. The study included 573 mothers who had babies born with cleft lip with or without cleft palate and cleft palate only; as well as 763 mothers randomly selected from all live births in Norway. The average age of the mostly married mothers was 29 years.
Mothers completed a self-administered mailed questionnaire focused heavily on the mother's lifestyle and environmental exposures during her first three months of pregnancy when a baby's facial development takes place.
The researchers found increased risks of orofacial clefts among infants whose mothers reported binge-level drinking of an average of five or more drinks per occasion during the first-trimester compared to non-drinkers. Risk was further increased among women who drank at this level most frequently.
Both animal and human data suggest that it is the dose of alcohol consumed at one time during pregnancy rather than the frequency or total amount over time that matters most. "The greater the blood alcohol concentration, the longer the fetus is exposed. A single binge during a critical period of an infant's development can be harmful," said DeRoo.
"Fortunately, heavy maternal drinking is uncommon in many populations, but the fact that it is happening at all tells us we need to do a better job of letting mothers know about the effects that alcohol can have on their baby's development," said Allen J. Wilcox, M.D., Ph.D., NIEHS researcher and co-author on the paper. In Norway, a separate study found that 25 percent of Norwegian women reported at least one binge drinking episode early during pregnancy.
Alcohol is a recognized teratogen, or an environmental agent that can cause malformations of an embryo or fetus. One of the most severe outcomes of heavy maternal drinking is fetal alcohol syndrome, a lifelong condition that causes physical and mental disabilities, including craniofacial malformations. There has been little research to determine if alcohol consumption is related to oral cleft risk.
The research was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, NIEHS. Researchers at the University of Bergen, the University of Oslo and the Medical Birth Registry of Norway also contributed to this study.
The primary mission of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), one of 27 Institutes and Centers at the National Institutes of Health, is to reduce the burden of human illness and disability by understanding how the environment influences the development and progression of human disease. For additional information, visit the NIEHS Web site at http://www.niehs.nih.gov.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) - The Nation's Medical Research Agency - includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.
Reference: DeRoo LA, Wilcox AJ, Drevon CA, Lie RT. First-trimester maternal alcohol consumption and the risk of infant oral clefts in Norway: a population-based case-control study. American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access published July 30, 2008,
doi: 10.1093/aje/kwn186.
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
NH-10, NIEHS, 111 Alexander Dr.
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
United States
http://www.niehs.nih.gov
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