Contraceptive News and Research

RSS

DVT and long haul flights - air pressure and oxygen levels not the culprits

According to new research from the UK the reduced air pressure and oxygen levels experienced by travellers on long flights are not responsible for the formation of deadly blood clots often referred to as "economy class syndrome".

17 May 2006

Access to emergency hormonal contraception from community pharmacists and family planning clinics

Pharmacies who provide fast and convenient access to the morning-after pill could be helping to prevent 10 per cent more unwanted pregnancies, according to a study in the latest British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

16 May 2006

Abortion pill in trouble again

Clostridium sordellii is a rare germ that has killed four women who took the abortion pill RU-486 and has also been implicated in the deaths of at least 11 other women following childbirth or miscarriage.

11 May 2006

Healthy habits and appropriate treatments help prevent stroke

Stroke is the third leading cause of death and a major source of disability in the United States. Every year about 700,000 people in the United States suffer a stroke, resulting in nearly 158,000 deaths.

10 May 2006

When it comes to mothers and babies, top spot to be is Sweden

According to a report by the U.S. charity Save the Children, Scandinavian countries lead the stakes when it comes to the top countries to be a mother, while Australia along with the Netherlands ties for 7th place and countries in sub-Saharan Africa dominate the bottom tier.

10 May 2006

Study shows rapid return to menstrual flow once oral contraception stopped

A study by a Columbia University Medical Center researcher shows that 99 percent of participants experienced either a return to menstruation or became pregnant within 90 days after stopping an investigational, low-dose oral contraceptive taken every day without placebo.

8 May 2006

New male contraceptive

Men and women have long been promised a male version of the female contraceptive pill. But the first new male contraceptive to market may not be hormonal at all.

8 May 2006

Men find masculine men more threatening during their partner's ovulation phase

Men become more jealous of dominant males when their female partner is near ovulation, researchers at the University of Liverpool have found.

3 May 2006

A contraceptive pill for men!

According to a Sydney scientist a hormone-based contraceptive for men has the ability to reverse its effect just four months after stopping its use.

1 May 2006

Former FDA commissioner investigated

It appears that the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration Dr. Lester Crawford is under federal investigation amid accusations of financial improprieties and making false statements to Congress.

1 May 2006

Environmental scientists identify new culprits in the cancer equation

In the granite-rich region of Western North Carolina, taking a daily shower could pose a risk of developing lung cancer. So could working from home every day. That's because granite emits a carcinogenic gas, radon.

13 Apr 2006

St. John's wort and Echinacea increase activity of enzyme in the liver and intestine

St. John's wort and Echinacea, two widely-used herbal preparations, have been found to increase activity of a specific enzyme in the liver and intestine, an enzyme involved in the metabolization of roughly one in every four pharmaceutical drugs on the market today, reports a clinical pharmacologist at Indiana University School of Medicine.

11 Apr 2006

Sex in the media aimed at teens encourages promiscuity

According to a new study teenagers between the ages of 12 and 14 who use media with high sexual content are up to 2.2 times more likely to have sex by the time they are 16 than those who use less of such media.

4 Apr 2006

Many men who have vasectomies do not return for follow up tests

A quarter of the men who had vasectomies at a U.S. clinic didn't return for any follow up tests to make sure that the procedure had worked, according to research published in the April issue of the British - based urology journal BJU International.

4 Apr 2006

Breast symmetry can be early indicator of breast cancer

Healthy Women who go on to develop breast cancer tend to have less symmetrical breasts than those women who do not develop the disease, researchers at the University of Liverpool have found.

21 Mar 2006

Finasteride combined with oral contraceptives may improve female hair loss

Finasteride, a medication approved to treat hair loss in men, may also improve the condition in women when combined with oral contraceptives, according to an article in the March issue of Archives of Dermatology.

21 Mar 2006

Low pressure and low oxygen factors in DVT and long flights

Researchers say that the risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) during flights may not be due simply to sitting still; they say the low pressure and low oxygen environment during air travel may also contribute to the development of deep vein thrombosis in some susceptible individuals.

13 Mar 2006

Human papillomavirus the main risk factor for cervical adenocarcinoma

Human papillomavirus (HPV) was found to be the main risk factor associated with increased incidence of an unusual type of cervical cancer called cervical adenocarcinoma, according to a study in the March 1 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

1 Mar 2006

Blood clot warning to go on Ortho Evra birth control patch

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says early results of a new study show that women who use the Ortho Evra contraceptive patch are twice as likely to develop blood clots than others who took a birth control pill.

19 Feb 2006

Researchers capture the electrical activity of a single sperm cell

Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute have, for the first time, captured the electrical activity of a single sperm cell. The technically difficult maneuver, reported in Nature, allows the first measurement of the currents that flow across the sperm's outer membrane.

14 Feb 2006