Gender: Female
Stress-Related Adult Disease May Originate In Fetal Development
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According to a review in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, evidence is mounting that lifelong stress-related conditions such as depression and chronic pain may be linked to fetal growth and timing of delivery.
“During the past decade, a considerable body of evidence has emerged showing that circumstances during the fetal period may have lifelong programming effects on different body functions with a considerable impact on disease susceptibility,” says review author Eero Kajantie.
Older Adults May be Unreliable Eyewitness, Study Shows
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A University of Virginia study suggests that older adults are not only more inclined than younger adults to make errors in recollecting details that have been suggested to them, but are also more likely than younger people to have a very high level of confidence in their recollections, even when wrong. The finding has implications regarding the reliability of older persons’ eyewitness testimonies in courtrooms.
The study, “I misremember it well: Why older adults are unreliable eyewitnesses,” is published in a recent issue of the Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.
A black and white look at breast cancer mortality
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African and African American women are more likely to die of breast cancer than their white counterparts because they tend to get the disease before the menopause, suggests new research from the University of East Anglia and the Children’s Hospital Boston in collaboration with researchers in the US and Italy.
A racial disparity in mortality rates from breast cancer in the US first appeared in the 1970s coinciding with the introduction of mammography. The new research, published in The International Journal of Surgery, posits that the reason for this is not reduced access to medical care, but because surgery in pre-menopausal women could encourage growth of the cancer.
Spearmint tea—A possible treatment for mild hirsutism
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Women with hirsutism grow hair on their faces, breasts and stomachs. This can cause great distress. The hair grows because they have abnormally high levels of the ‘masculinising’ androgen hormones. Androgens travel around the body in the blood stream, and a key way of treating hirsutism is to reduce the level of these androgens.
Data just published in Phytotherapy Research shows that drinking two cups of spearmint tea a day for five days could reduce the level of androgens in women with hirsutism.
Women Twice as Likely as Men to Seek Treatment for Hyperhidrosis
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Whether it’s sweaty palms causing embarrassment when shaking hands on a job interview or unsightly underarm stains that could make anyone think twice about wearing a white shirt, the excessive sweating disorder known as hyperhidrosis can impact all facets of a person’s personal and professional life. Although the prevalence of this chronic medical condition is the same for men and women, a new study examining hyperhidrosis patients finds that women sought treatment much more frequently than men.
Speaking today at the 65th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology, dermatologist Dee Anna Glaser, MD, FAAD, professor and vice chairman of dermatology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo., discussed how a patient’s age, gender and the site of the excessive sweating affected diagnosis and treatment.
Heart drug may improve preterm labor outcomes
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Treatment with transdermal nitroglycerin can prolong pregnancy in women who go into labor prematurely and its use seems to reduce illness in the newborn, a study shows.
While a number of drugs called tocolytics that block uterine contractions can prolong pregnancy, “none have been shown to improve neonatal outcomes,” lead author Dr. Graeme N. Smith, from the Kingston General Hospital in Canada, told Reuters Health.
Oldest woman to give birth may have deceived clinic
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The oldest woman ever to give birth deceived doctors to get the fertility treatment that let her have twins at age 67 last month, a Sunday newspaper said.
Carmela Bousada, who gave birth to twins Christian and Pau on December 29, convinced a Los Angeles clinic she was 55, the cut-off age for their in-vitro fertilization program, the News of the World said.
“They didn’t ask for my age or my passport. I may look tired now but before the births I did look slim and a lot younger,” the newspaper quoted Bousada as saying in an interview.
Anger linked to women’s heart problems
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Some women who make a habit of venting their anger may be more likely to develop blockages in the heart arteries, new research suggests.
Past studies have linked anger and hostility to a greater risk of heart disease, but most of those have focused on men.
These latest findings, published in the Journal of Women’s Health, suggest that there is a relationship between anger and heart health in women, but it’s complex.
The secret women keep from themselves
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Do women have a secret so painful that they even keep it from themselves?
According to Dr. Anita H. Clayton of the University of Virginia Health System, the secret exists, and it’s big. In an era when so many women are over-achievers with high expectations for almost every area of their lives, too many of them settle for mediocre sex.
Dr. Clayton, who is one of the world’s preeminent experts on women’s sexuality and a psychiatrist with the University of Virginia Health System, exposes and explores this secret in her new book, Satisfaction: Women, Sex, and the Quest for Intimacy, which is scheduled for release by Ballentine/Random House in mid-January.
Dental X-rays may help detect osteoporosis
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A computer program that analyzes routine dental X-rays could offer a simple, cheap way to detect the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis, new research suggests.
British researchers found that a software program they developed was able to spot signs of declining bone density in dental X-rays of the lower jaw—a potential sign of osteoporosis.
Infant outcome worse with planned c-section
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Newborns who are delivered via planned cesarean section are more likely to be transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit and to experience lung disorders compared with those delivered via planned vaginal delivery, according to findings published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
“The appropriateness of the rising rate of cesarean delivery worldwide has been debated widely,” Dr. Toril Kolas, of Innlandet Hospital Trust, Lillehammer, Norway, and colleagues write.
Older women with bad vision at greater death risk
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Older women with poor eyesight have a greater likelihood of dying over a given period than similar women with better vision, a new study shows.
Vision loss occurs with aging, and is known to increase the risk of falls and fractures, Kathryn L. Pedula of Kaiser Permanente Northwest in Portland, Oregon and colleagues note in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Women on osteoporosis drug can discontinue use with no risk
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A long-term study of the most widely used osteoporosis drug has found that many women can discontinue the drug after five years without increasing their fracture risk for as long as five more years.
The study on alendronate was led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, and findings are published in the December 27, 2006 issue of the “Journal of the American Medical Association.” The research also showed that women at very high risk of painful spine fractures might be better-off continuing treatment.
“This has important implications as it has not been known whether treatment of osteoporosis should be continued indefinitely,” said lead author Dennis Black, PhD, professor in the UCSF Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. “Because women with osteoporosis, particularly older post-menopausal women, often need to take multiple drugs, this would be welcome news for this group.”
Study finds gender differences related to eating and body image
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Researchers have discovered a subtle new difference between men and women – this one occurring in the realm of eating.
In the new study of observed eating behavior in a social setting, young men and women who perceived their bodies as being less than “ideal” ate differing amounts of food after they were shown images of “ideal-bodied” people of their own gender.
Moderate Drinking May Help Older Women Live Longer
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Newcastle, Australia - December 13, 2006 – A study published in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society finds that moderate alcohol intake (1-2 drinks/day for 3-6 days/week, depending on alcoholic content) may lead to increased quality of life and survival in older women. The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health followed nearly 12,000 women in their 70’s over a 6 year period. The group was comprised of non-drinkers, occasional drinkers and moderate drinkers.
The study found that non-drinkers and women who rarely drank had a significantly higher risk of dying during the survey period than did women who drank moderately. Of those who survived, the women who drank the least reported the lowest health-related quality of life. Previous studies have shown that women who have at least one drink per day stand at a lower risk for cardiovascular disease and ischemic stroke than non-drinkers.
