[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 5]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 7480]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              TRIBUTE TO THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

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                        HON. MICHAEL K. SIMPSON

                                of idaho

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 30, 2008

  Mr. SIMPSON. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the 
National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the important research it is 
doing. There are few investments the Federal Government makes that 
regularly pay dividends to the American taxpayer. The National 
Institutes of Health, the lead government agency tasked with preventing 
and curing diseases and disorders, is one such investment. NIH conducts 
biomedical research at its Maryland campus and also supports biomedical 
research at medical centers, independent research laboratories and 
colleges and universities across our country. I would like to highlight 
one example of research that NIH is supporting to improve our 
constituents' overall health and well-being through the Eunice Kennedy 
Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 
(NICHD).
  Premature birth is a major public health priority for the United 
States and a major research priority for the NICHD. In 2003, one out of 
every eight infants was born premature--resulting in more than $18 
billion in hospital expenditures. Premature infants are at high risk 
for a variety of disorders, including mental retardation, cerebral 
palsy, and vision impairment.
  The primary goal of prematurity research is to find a way to prevent 
births from occurring before an infant is strong enough to survive 
outside of the womb. Because women who have one premature birth are 
considered to be at high risk for another premature birth, NICHD 
investigators have focused their attention on trying to prevent 
premature birth among these high-risk women. Researchers in an NICHD 
funded Maternal-Fetal Medicine Network set out to test the use of a 
specific type of progesterone called 17P that the body makes to support 
pregnancy. The results were remarkable--for women who have a history of 
premature delivery that are carrying one baby, injections of 17P 
reduced premature birth by one-third. The results of this research are 
currently being translated into real world results as obstetricians 
across the country are putting them into practice with their patients. 
This research is a clear and important step towards achieving our goal 
of bringing healthy babies into the world.
  This is just one example of how the research funded with taxpayer 
dollars at the NIH is improving the health and well-being of all 
Americans.

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