Women's Health News

Postmenopausal women diagnosed with colon cancer may be at increased risk of death if they fail to maintain a healthy body weight before cancer diagnosis, according to a study published in the September issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research...

EMILY's List is launching a two-week television ad campaign in Nevada that portrays Republican House candidate Joe Heck as hostile toward women's health issues, Politico reports. EMILY's List, which supports female candidates who are in favor of abortion rights, is backing Heck's opponent, Democratic incumbent Rep. Dina Titus...

Obesity and infertility frequently go hand in hand. Now, researchers reporting on studies of mice in the September issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, might have figured out why that is, and the results come as something of a surprise. "There was a sense that the reproductive dysfunction was due to insulin resistance," said Andrew Wolfe of Hopkins Children's...

The latest research on reproductive coercion -- a type of intimate partner abuse in which the man threatens the woman to become pregnant -- shows that a simple intervention at a family planning clinic can empower women to protect themselves from future abuse, Time reports...

By using telemedicine to dispense abortion medication, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland is applying the technology "as it was intended: to expand access to legal health services in rural Iowa," the Des Moines Register states in an editorial...

The following summarizes selected women's health-related blog entries. ~ "Electronic Mnemonics and the Pill," Laura Lloyd, National Campaign To Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy's "Pregnant Pause": Although oral contraceptives are the most popular birth control method among U.S. teens and young adults, the pill "tends to be less effective than it could be thanks to user error," Lloyd writes...

The following summarizes selected women's health-related blog entries. ~ "Electronic Mnemonics and the Pill," Laura Lloyd, National Campaign To Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy's "Pregnant Pause": Although oral contraceptives are the most popular birth control method among U.S. teens and young adults, the pill "tends to be less effective than it could be thanks to user error," Lloyd writes...

Experts gathered at a joint meeting of UNAIDS and the WHO last week called for two additional clinical trials to test the effectiveness and safety of a microbicide vaginal gel containing the antiretroviral tenofovir, which previous studies have shown reduces the risk of HIV transmission in women who used it before and after sex by 39 percent, PANA/Afrique en ligne reports (9/5)...

"Since the 2008 election, progressive leaders have done little to address the obvious national appetite for female leadership," Anna Holmes, founding editor of Jezebel, and author Rebecca Traister write in a New York Times opinion piece. Hampered by their "continuing obsession" with former Alaska Gov...

The U.S.-based conservative Christian group Focus on the Family has launched a program teaching abstinence to students in China's Yunnan Province, the Washington Post reports...

Donors have not committed enough money to move forward with two studies needed to confirm the efficacy of a vaginal microbicidal gel infused with the antiviral drug tenofovir to prevent HIV transmission in women, the New York Times reports...

There are currently no reliably safe and effective treatments for morning sickness, according to Cochrane researchers who conducted a systematic review of the available evidence. There was very limited evidence for all pharmaceutical and alternative medicines tested. Morning sickness is the term used to describe vomiting and feelings of nausea in pregnant women...

For the estimated 83,000 women who will be diagnosed with a gynecologic cancer in 2010, participation in clinical trials offers an opportunity both to ensure that future patients benefit from the most up-to-date treatments and increased survival rates and to potentially improve the health of current patients...

Congolese Community Leaders Warned U.N. About Security; 240 Rape Victims Now Identified "Congolese community leaders say they begged local U.N. officials and army commanders to protect villagers days before rebels gang-raped scores of people, from a month-old baby boy to a 110-year-old great-great-grandmother," the Associated Press reports...

Elsevier announced the publication of four important position statements from the European Menopause and Andropause Society (EMAS) in the journal Maturitas on common management problems in the post-reproductive health of women. The statements cover the management of the menopause in the context of obesity, epilepsy, endometriosis and premature ovarian failure...

Anxiety disorders afflict women twice as often as men, but estrogen might not be the reason. Testosterone, though, could be. That is one of the preliminary findings in the lab of Florida State University researcher Mohamed Kabbaj, associate professor in the College of Medicine. He recently was awarded a five-year, $1...

Court Accepts China's First HIV Discrimination Case, State Media Reports "A municipal court in central China has accepted the country's first lawsuit alleging work discrimination because of HIV status, state media reported Tuesday," the Associated Press reports (8/31)...

Specific prevention and education strategies are needed to address breast cancer in Mexican-origin women in this country, according to a study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, which was published online in the journal Cancer...

When breast cancer surgeons regularly confer with plastic surgeons prior to surgery, their patients are more likely to have reconstruction, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. Where a woman goes for breast cancer treatment can vary widely - ranging from small private practices to large hospital settings...

Ovatech, an emerging women's health-focused company, announced that the Company's Phase 2 clinical study of its non-hormonal, intravaginal contraceptive ring, Ovaprene, has been successfully completed...

Girls are hitting puberty earlier and earlier. One recent study found that more than 10 percent of American girls have some breast development by age 7. This news has upset many people, but it may make evolutionary sense in some cases for girls to develop faster, according to the authors of a new paper published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science...

A new study conducted by a Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researcher, together with a researcher from De-Paul University, reveals that women in the United States generally derive more happiness from religious participation than from shopping on Sundays...

A 51-year-old breast cancer patient from Switzerland has become the first person in the world to be treated using Gated RapidArc®, which makes it possible to monitor patient breathing and compensate for tumor motion while quickly delivering radiotherapy during a continuous rotation around the patient...

A common mineral may provide protection against bladder cancer. According to results of a study published in the September issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, selenium intake is associated with decreased risk of bladder cancer...