(March 12, 2010 - Insidermedicine)

From North Carolina - According to a report published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, pregnant women who get the flu may increase their child's risk of schizophrenia. Researchers infected rhesus monkeys in their third trimester with influenza. MRI scans of the babies after 1  year revealed brain changes similar those seen in humans with schizophrenia.

From Oxford - According to a report published in the British Medical Journal, obesity and alcohol consumption combine to drastically increase ones risk of liver disease. Researchers studied data on over 1.2 million women, finding that women with a BMI between 22.5 and 25 who consumed more than 150 grams of alcohol a week were at 170% increased risk of liver disease, while women with a BMI of 30 or more saw their risk raised by 400%.

And finally, from Miami - Pregnant women with psoriasis are at increased risk of complications, according to a report presented at annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology. Researchers compared a group of pregnant psoriasis patients to over 130,000 pregnant women without psoriasis. Results showed that the psoriasis patients were up to three to four times more likely to experience complications such as preterm birth, preeclampsia, spontaneous abortion and ectopic pregnancy.