A teratogen is an environmental factor that a person is exposed to during their pregnancy that may affect the baby’s development, resulting in birth defects. In fact, around 4% to 5% of birth defects ...

Analysis of U.S. survey data showed that two-thirds of reproductive age women had one or more modifiable risk factors for birth defects. Common risk factors included obesity, folate concentrations ...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandated folic acid fortification of all enriched cereal grains in 1996, and this regulation resulted in a reduction of neural tube defect (NTD)–affected ...

A folic acid supplement is recommended during pregnancy and prior to conception because it reduces the risk of neural tube defects in babies. Social media posts have claimed that people should avoid ...

Anencephaly occurs when an infant is born without parts of their brain and skull. It is a severe congenital anomaly, which means that a baby develops anencephaly in the womb. Anencephaly is a ...

Quails are small, plump birds that scurry through grasslands on foot rather than take to the skies. Unexpectedly, studying these ground-dwellers has helped scientists uncover clues about a type of ...

A method for arrayed CRISPRi screening in organoids enables the investigation of morphogenesis in human stem cell-derived tissues, revealing the roles of ZIC2, SOX11, and ZNF521 in neural tube closure ...

Neural tube defects (NTDs) rank as the second most prevalent congenital malformation in humans, impacting the central nervous system development in approximately 1 in every 1,000 live births. Over 300 ...

In about one out of every 1,000 pregnancies, the neural tube, a key nervous system structure, fails to close properly. Georgia Tech physicists are now helping explain why this happens, having ...

In about one out of every 1,000 pregnancies, the neural tube, a key nervous system structure, fails to close properly. Georgia Tech physicists are now helping explain why this happens, having ...