(February 4, 2010 - Insidermedicine)

From Chicago - According to a report presented at the Annual Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine meeting, genetics may cause some women to go into preterm labor. Researchers studied over 800 pregnant women--all of whom had a preterm birth prior to onset of the study-- and their fetuses. They found that the presence of a DNA variant in the fetus that influences inflammation doubled the risk of preterm birth, while certain variants in the mothers genes also raised this risk.

From Switzerland - COPD patients are more likely to suffer depression, according to a report published in the journal Chest. Comparing over 35,000 COPD patients with over 35,000 healthy controls, researchers found that the COPD patients had 6.8% higher prevalence of depression.

And finally, from Texas - According to a report published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, a mother's exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) raises her child's risk of developing asthma. Researchers gave mice BPA in their drinking water before pregnancy, during pregnancy and afterwards. They found that offspring of mice exposed to BPA demonstrated symptoms of asthma, while those who were not exposed showed no such signs.