Pregnancy loss occurs in about 20% of women with a clinically recognized pregnancy. One factor could be chronic inflammation caused by a change to the innate immune system after a sexually transmitted infection (STI), referred to as the trained innate immunity hypothesis. Anti-inflammatory aspirin therapy prior to conception has been shown to improve birth rates in some women with histories of pregnancy loss when they experience chronic low-grade inflammation prior to pregnancy. Researchers hope to learn more about factors that drive chronic preconception inflammation and pregn...

Obesity is an American epidemic, affecting approximately 40 percent of U.S. adults and 18.5 percent of children and adolescents. It is linked to health conditions including heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer, some of the leading causes of preventable, premature death. Studies have established that a mix of risk factors, including heredity and environment, can influence weight status, and obesity’s prevalence is higher in certain low income populations.    But there’s more to learn about the role of environmental factors, including adverse...

People with a history of injection drug use were found to have better odds of stopping injection when their social networks included more people who don’t inject, according to new research from Abby Rudolph, associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics.  The findings, published in the journal Addiction, are part of ongoing research that Rudolph and colleagues have been conducting to examine the social context of opioid use in rural Eastern Kentucky, a region hit hard by the opioid crisis and Hepatitis C.  In her work, Rudolph uses social network analyses to unders...