Gynaecology News and Research

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How to maximise your chance of having a baby

New research by The Times has revealed a huge variation across the UK in the cost of a common fertility drug with some high street chemists charging infertile couples up to 80 per cent more than others for private prescriptions.

7 Mar 2005

Researchers can now predict who will benefit from cerclage

Doctors treating pregnant women with threatened preterm birth sometimes sew the cervix closed, a procedure known as cerclage. Despite this traditional intervention, many women still lose the pregnancy.

1 Mar 2005

Quicker recovery time with new laparoscopic hysterectomy

More than 600,000 hysterectomies are performed every year in the United States at a cost of $5 billion, which doesn't take into account the 144 million work hours lost to the average six-week recovery time. Billie Williams of Grapevine had been considering having one for years, but major surgery and a long convalescence didn't fit with her plans.

1 Mar 2005

More experienced physicians less likely to falsely characterize a mammogram as abnormal

Physicians who specialize in screening mammography and who have at least 25 years of experience are more accurate at interpreting the images and subject fewer women to the anxiety of false positives for cancer, when compared to physicians with less experience or those who don't have the same focus, according to a new study.

1 Mar 2005

Study first to document increase risk of herpes infection due to oral sex, particularly in young women

The first clinical study to document risk of acquiring herpes simplex virus type 1 infection based on sexual activity has linked oral sex and vaginal intercourse with a demonstrably higher rate of infection, particularly in young women, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh report in the February issue of Sexually Transmitted Diseases, the journal of the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association.

28 Feb 2005

Women with a history of caesarean section deliveries do not have a higher risk of a subsequent stillbirth

"Caesarean sections have been associated with some pregnancy complications, but when a physician consults a woman with prior caesarean sections about her next pregnancy, stillbirth should not be one of the concerns," said Bahtiyar.

13 Feb 2005

Screening for toxoplasmosis for all pregnant women and newborns is necessary

Physicians found that signs, symptoms and identifiable risk factors are absent in more than half of the mothers of infants with congenital toxoplasmosis in a national study of children with this disease.

9 Feb 2005

Turning point in the history of preterm labor diagnosis

A combination of four proteins that result from inflammation and infection and lead to premature birth can be rapidly and accurately detected in the amniotic fluid of pregnant women using proteomics technology, Yale researchers report in two studies in the February issue of British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

7 Feb 2005

What causes puberty to begin?

Puberty, that awkward phase when boys and girls are primed for their sexual reproductive years as men and women, appears to be triggered by the brain's own version of "It takes two to tango," whereby a signal literally gets turned on by a molecule that is produced by a gene aptly named KiSS-1.

31 Jan 2005

Nearly 10,000 preterm births could have been prevented in 2002

Nearly 10,000 preterm births could have been prevented in 2002 if all pregnant women at high risk for a premature baby and eligible for weekly injections of a derivative of the hormone progesterone had received them, according to a new study published in the February issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

31 Jan 2005

Premenstrual exacerbation of depression common

Virginia Commonwealth University mental health experts have found that women with depression commonly report fluctuations in their symptoms across the menstrual cycle — a key factor that may help physicians better evaluate and treat depressed women.

30 Jan 2005

Phenoxodiol increases the effectiveness of Docetaxel by at least 100 times

The investigational anti- cancer drug, phenoxodiol, considerably enhances the ability of the drug, docetaxel (Taxotere(R), Sanofi-Aventis), to kill human ovarian cancer cells in the laboratory. The findings are reported in the current issue of Oncology Research.

24 Jan 2005

Mother’s diet and slimness might have long-term effects on the health of her baby

Researchers have discovered a link between the amount of blood flowing through the liver of the unborn baby in late pregnancy and the diet of expectant mums.

20 Jan 2005

New system may help babies avoid brain damage

The same heightened electrical activity that indicates an adult taking a treadmill test isn’t getting enough oxygen to his heart is now being measured during labor to see if it can better identify babies in serious distress who need immediate delivery.

12 Jan 2005

First new guidelines in more than a decade for managing asthma during pregnancy

The report reflects new medications that have emerged and updates treatment recommendations for pregnant women with asthma based on a systematic review of data on the safety of asthma medications during pregnancy. An executive summary ("Quick Reference") of the guidelines is published in the January issue of the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology.

12 Jan 2005

System to help babies avoid brain damage

The same heightened electrical activity that indicates an adult taking a treadmill test isn't getting enough oxygen to his heart is now being measured during labor to see if it can better identify babies in serious distress who need immediate delivery.

9 Jan 2005

Women need less morphine after hysterectomies with new treatment

Women recovering from hysterectomies require less morphine to combat pain and are able to recover their lung function more quickly when they receive a combination of two non-morphine-like or “non-opioid” drugs as part of their treatment, a new Queen’s study shows.

5 Jan 2005

Stem cells could reveal secrets of illness in later life

Mums to be have known for some time that what they eat when pregnant affects their unborn child but now scientists believe that the diet of our mothers during pregnancy may even affect our predisposition to illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure in late life.

5 Jan 2005

Technology that could double the effectiveness of cancer drugs

To identify the best treatment for recurrent ovarian cancer, researchers at Yale School of Medicine are studying a technology called the Yale apoptosis assay in combination with another technology called the ChemoFX assay, which could double the response rate to existing drugs.

4 Jan 2005

Least forceful way to deliver a baby whose shoulders are stuck in the birth canal

Johns Hopkins researchers, using a novel birthing simulator designed by biomedical engineering faculty, staff and students at the University, have identified what may be the least forceful way to deliver a baby whose shoulders are stuck in the birth canal.

3 Jan 2005