20 MAR 2018 by ideonexus
Human Pregnancy is Adversarial Between Mother and Fetus
Inside the uterus we have a thick layer of endometrial tissue, which contains only tiny blood vessels. The endometrium seals off our main blood supply from the newly implanted embryo. The growing placenta literally burrows through this layer, rips into arterial walls and re-wires them to channel blood straight to the hungry embryo. It delves deep into the surrounding tissues, razes them and pumps the arteries full of hormones so they expand into the space created. It paralyzes these arteries ...Folksonomies: human evolution pregnancy
Folksonomies: human evolution pregnancy
1 21 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
If You Really Want to Know, You Go to Science
[I]magine you want to know the sex of your unborn child. There are several approaches. You could, for example, do what the late film star ... Cary Grant did before he was an actor: In a carnival or fair or consulting room, you suspend a watch or a plumb bob above the abdomen of the expectant mother; if it swings left-right it's a boy, and if it swings forward-back it's a girl. The method works one time in two. Of course he was out of there before the baby was born, so he never heard from cust...Sagan uses the example of a watch swinging over an expectant mother's belly to determine the sex of a fetus.
04 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Sir Charles Bell on the Phylogeny of the Fetus' Brain
Man has two conditions of existence in the body. Hardly two creatures can be less alike than an infant and a man. The whole fetal state is a preparation for birth ... The human brain, in its earlier stage, resembles that of a fish: as it is developed, it resembles more the cerebral mass of a reptile; in its increase, it is like that of a bird, and slowly, and only after birth, does it assume the proper form and consistence of the human encephalon. Which recapitulates its evolutionary history (note: need reference for this)
27 JUL 2011 by ideonexus
No Commercial Product is Shown to Improve Baby Cognitive ...
Believe it or not, no commercial product has ever been shown in a scientifically responsible manner (or even in an irresponsible non-scientific manner) to do anything to improve the brain performance of a developing fetus. There have been no double-blind, randomized experiments whose independent variable was the presence or absence of the gadget. No rigorous studies showing that an in utero education curriculum produced long-term academic benefits when the child entered high school. No tw...Folksonomies: evidence-based medicine child development
Folksonomies: evidence-based medicine child development
1 
notes
notesThere is no research supporting any product doing anything.
08 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Prenatal Influences as Information for the Fetus
The notion of prenatal influences may conjure up frivolous attempts to enrich the fetus, like playing Mozart through headphones placed on a pregnant belly. In reality, the nine-month-long process of shaping and molding that goes on in the womb is far more visceral and consequential than that. Much of what a pregnant woman encounters in her daily life—the air she breathes, the food and drink she consumes, the emotions she feels, the chemicals she’s exposed to—are shared in some fashion w...Folksonomies: pregnancy fetal development
Folksonomies: pregnancy fetal development
2 Diet and other environmental factors are data for the fetus about the conditions of the world outside the womb and influence its development to be best adapted to that environment.
08 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Exercise is Good for the Fetus
May conducted a study of the effects of maternal exercise on the fetus. Comparing sedentary pregnant women to those who engage in moderate-intensity aerobic exercise for at least thirty minutes three times a week, May found that fetuses show the same beneficial effects of cardiovascular training as do their physically active mothers: their heart rates are significantly lower, and their heart-rate variability is greater, than those of fetuses of mothers who don’t exercise.
[...]
Exercise m... 1 notes
notesand may give it a larger brain.
08 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Seeing the Baby on the Ultrasound
There’s no doubt that seeing one’s future child on an ultrasound monitor is a powerful experience, the first visual evidence of the fetus in a culture in which seeing is believing. The encounter can be so compelling, in fact, that some medical providers are using it not just as a diagnostic tool, but as a treatment in itself. Zack Boukydis, a professor of psychology at the Illinois Institute of Technology, has been working with doctors for almost a decade to expand routine screenings into...Folksonomies: pregnancy fetal development
Folksonomies: pregnancy fetal development
1 notes
notesAs the first touchpoint, experience as a parent.
08 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
The Placenta and Toxicity
“During most of pregnancy, the placenta separating mother and fetus is only one cell thick,” Koren tells me. “But it has an array of mechanisms to help it do its job of protecting the fetus.” These subcellular tools, he explains, include tiny pumps that expel toxins before they can do any damage, immune agents that guard the placenta’s perimeter, and placental enzymes that chemically break down intruding molecules.
This armamentarium does an impressive job of blocking bacteria from... 1 notes
notesThe placenta uses chemical and electrical criteria for filtering out molecules, meaning small fat-soluble molecules, even harmful ones, will pass through.
