MONDAY, Feb. 25 (HealthDay News) -- Exposure to viral infection -- especially herpes viruses -- may be associated with high blood pressure during pregnancy and preterm birth, Australian researchers report.

The findings -- the first of their kind -- are a major advance in learning more about the cause of hypertension in pregnancy, according to the authors of the study, which was published in the British Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology.

Over 10 years, researchers from Adelaide's Women & Children's Hospital and the University of Adelaide detected the presence of viral nucleic acid in heel-prick blood samples from 1,326 newborns -- more than 400 of whom were diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

"This is an exciting finding and further studies are now required to look at the link between viral exposure in pregnancy and genetic susceptibility to adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as high blood pressure, premature delivery and cerebral palsy," research group leader Alastair MacLennan, a professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, said in a prepared statement.

High blood pressure occurs in up to 10 percent of first pregnancies in the United States and other developed nations. It's a common cause of death among pregnant women in developing countries.

Previously, the Adelaide group identified a link between viral infection in pregnancy, genetic mutations in genes controlling inflammatory and blood clotting processes, and the development of cerebral palsy. They also found an association between several hereditary gene mutations and changes in inflammatory proteins that may cause dysfunction and constriction of blood vessels in the placenta and brain, resulting in increased blood pressure during pregnancy.

"We are just beginning to understand the interaction and importance of exposure to viruses and genetic susceptibility to infection both in pregnancy and the newborn," Paul Goldwater, an associate professor and the research team's virologist, said in a prepared statement.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about high blood pressure during pregnancy.

Here are some facts and suggestions about fever blisters, courtesy of the American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery:

• The dormant fever blister virus can be made active by stress, the sun, fever, hormonal changes or trauma.
• The virus is very contagious, and can be easily spread to other areas of the body, and from person to person.
• To reduce the risk of spreading the virus, avoid touching or picking at a blister, and avoid touching other people or other parts of your body until you wash your hands thoroughly.
• Fever blisters tend to recur, often in the same place.
• The virus can be spread even when there are no blisters present.
• While there is no cure for the virus, antiviral ointment applied to a sore can help hide its appearance.

MONDAY, July 9 (HealthDay News) -- A modified version of the virus that causes cold sores is showing early promise in targeting colorectal and liver cancer cells, scientists report.

The herpes simplex virus is specially designed so that it grows in specific cancer cells, killing them in the process. The researchers report that the genetically altered virus is safe for healthy tissue.

The findings were presented July 7 at the annual European Society for Medical Oncology meeting in Lugano, Switzerland.

"It doesn't replicate in normal, healthy cells, so our hope is that it will help fight cancers without causing side effects in the rest of the body," Dr. Axel Mescheder, vice president of clinical research and development for MediGene, said in a prepared statement. MediGene is a German biotech company based in Munich.

Mescheder reported safety and efficacy results and described the case of a patient whose liver tumors appeared to be reduced six months after treatment with the virus.

Seven leading cancer centers in the United States are participating in the study.

Almost 40 percent of patients with colorectal cancer die, because cancer spreads to other parts of the body, particularly the liver. The results reported by Mescheder follow testing in the lab and in animals where the virus was shown to be effective at killing colorectal cancer and liver cancer cells.

In 2003, over 73,000 men and almost 71,000 women were diagnosed with colorectal cancer in the United States. That year, close to 28,000 men and 28,000 women died from the disease, which is the second leading cancer killer.

More information

To learn about colorectal cancer, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Most commercial lubricants are toxic to sperm, and couples who want fertility should think about carefully choosing the lubricant they want," said study author Dr. William H. Kutteh, a reproductive endocrinologist at the University of Tennessee, in Memphis.

For the study, Kutteh and his team tested four commercially available lubricants against a new "fertility-friendly" lubricant developed by the researchers.

Their lubricant, called ConceivEase, didn't adversely affect sperm motility, Kutteh said, although the other four lubricants did. The new lubricant, with a patent pending, is made by Reproductive Laboratory Inc. in Memphis. Kutteh is an owner of the company and the product is distributed by Sepal Reproductive Devices in Boston, he said.

Kutteh was to present the findings Monday at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists annual meeting, in New Orleans.

The test results could be good news for couples having difficulty conceiving, he said. "People are afraid of going to a fertility doctor because they think they will have to spend $10,000 on IVF [in vitro fertilization]," he said. "Sometimes all you need is a $14.99 oil change."

If sperm aren't moving properly, fertility is affected, Kutteh said. "The sperm have to move through the vagina, through the cervical mucus and out to the fallopian tube. Anything that decreases the motility of the sperm will make the pregnancy rate decline. Sperm can live for 48 to 72 hours."

For the study, five men who had initial sperm counts above 65 percent motility donated sperm. Kutteh's team then exposed the sperm to four commercially available lubricants -- K-Y Jelly, Replens, Touch and Astroglide, along with ConceivEase.

The effects on sperm motility were evaluated at 1 minute, 15 minutes, 30 minutes and one hour. While the ConceivEase maintained sperm motility at 65 percent, the others did not. At one hour, the motility of the sperm exposed to Touch was down to 10 percent, while sperm exposed to the other three lubricants was down to zero, the study found.

Kutteh said he first began noticing the effect of lubricants on sperm more than a decade ago. While at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, he published a report in the International Journal of Fertility showing that commercial lubricants were harmful to sperm motility, he said.

Kutteh said he's been giving the lubricant to his own patients for years. Lubricant use during intercourse is common among couples undergoing fertility treatment, he said, partly because ovulation-inducing agents can cause vaginal dryness.

The new lubricant includes light mineral oil, Vitamin E, and glycerol buffered with a certified growth medium. It protects the sperm from pH changes and other factors that can decrease fertility, according to literature from the company.

Dr. Jennifer Wu, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, called the new study interesting, adding that it "holds promise because it doesn't alter sperm motility at one hour."

But, she added, she'd like to see results beyond the one hour, up to 72 hours.

Wu said she typically advises couples trying to conceive not to use commercial lubricants at all, and she thinks that's common advice from doctors. "We don't want to do anything that narrows the window of opportunity for sperm to meet the egg."

And, while the commercially available lubricants were found to kill off sperm, Kutteh added a caveat for those couples not trying to conceive: Don't trust them as contraceptives.

More information

To learn more about infertility, visit the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

"There has been a dramatic increase in television programming directed toward young infants. This has occurred despite recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics that children younger than 2 years should not watch any television. Much of this programming is marketed toward parents as 'educational,' despite limited data to support this assertion," noted Dr. Alan L. Mendelsohn, of the New York University School of Medicine, and colleagues.

They found that over one 24-hour period, 149 of 154 mothers (96.8 percent) reported that their 6-month-old infants had a total of 426 exposures to television or videos. These included: 139 exposures (32.6 percent) to educational programs for young children; 46 (10.8 percent) to non-educational programs for young children; 205 (48.1 percent) to programs for school-aged children, teenagers or adults; and 36 (8.5 percent) to unknown programs.

The mothers reported that they talked to their infants during 101 (23.7 percent) of those 426 television and video exposures.

"Consistent with our first hypothesis, interactions were most commonly reported in association with educational content, especially among programs that had been co-viewed," the researchers wrote. "However, approximately half of the exposures consisted of programs not intended for young children; these were not associated with frequent interactions even when they were co-viewed."

"Our findings are important, because parent-infant interactions are associated with long-term developmental-behavioral outcomes. Verbal responsiveness is frequently seen in association with reading and playing with toys. Given the large amount of media exposure and low frequency of reported interactions, additional study is needed to determine whether media exposure can facilitate interactions of sufficient quantity and quality to be associated with benefits for young children," the researchers concluded.

The study was published in the May issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Internal Medicine.

More information

MedlinePlus has more about children and television.