Women's Health News

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First Edition: September 20, 2010

Today's headlines include news about the political positioning of both Democrats and Republicans on health reform, the mid-term elections and GOP plans to repeal and replace.

20 Sep 2010

Warning on Australian clinics offering safe alternatives to mammograms

Experts have warned that some private clinics that are offering safe alternatives to mammograms as breast cancer screening are doing more harm than good. It is seen that clinics offering services like botox, liposuction and spray tans are increasingly providing breast cancer screening that uses thermal imaging and “electrical impedance” technology. These methods are being used on women as young as 20, with claims they can detect cancer years earlier than mammograms.

20 Sep 2010

Scientists discover new genetic variants, pave way for early detection of ovarian cancer

An international consortium of scientists has discovered new genetic variants in five regions of the genome that affect the risk of ovarian cancer in the general population, according to two separate studies published today (Sunday), online in Nature Genetics.

20 Sep 2010

Sutter Home Family Vineyards renews annual Sutter Home for Hope program

Sutter Home Family Vineyards today announced the renewal of its annual Sutter Home for Hope program. Since 2001, Sutter Home has been committed to supporting breast cancer research through the consumer-driven Capsules for Hope program and has donated more than $800,000 toward breast cancer awareness.

18 Sep 2010

Study finds mothers' education levels affect child mortality

A study published in the journal Lancet on Friday found that "a mother's education level has a huge, if indirect, effect on the health of her children," the Washington Post reports.

18 Sep 2010

POWER study: Women with diabetes have C-section, complications during pregnancy

Nearly half of women with diabetes prior to pregnancy have a potentially-avoidable C-section and their babies are twice as likely to die as those born to women without diabetes, according to the POWER study.

18 Sep 2010

HRA Pharma, Watson enter licensing agreement for ulipristal acetate emergency contraceptive commercialization

HRA Pharma, a privately-held, European pharmaceutical company that develops healthcare solutions in reproductive health and endocrinology and makes them available worldwide, and Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that they have entered into a licensing agreement for the commercialization of HRA Pharma's next generation emergency contraceptive ulipristal acetate in Canada.

18 Sep 2010

Researchers awarded funds to assess effects of omega-3 fatty acids on breast cancer development

Two researchers at Marshall University have been awarded federal funds totaling more than $1 million to assess the effects of omega-3 fatty acids on breast cancer development.

18 Sep 2010

Boehringer Ingelheim commences afatinib Phase III clinical trial in advanced breast cancer

Boehringer Ingelheim today announced the initiation of a phase III clinical trial to investigate one of its most advanced oncology pipeline compounds, afatinib, for the treatment of patients with advanced (metastatic) breast cancer. Afatinib is an oral compound (taken as a tablet), which is a next generation, targeted therapy, that irreversibly inhibits both, the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR/HER1) and the human epidermal receptor HER2, which are involved in tumour growth and spread.

18 Sep 2010

World Vision urges action on child and maternal health at 2010 UN General Assembly

As world leaders gather for the 65th United Nations General Assembly, they will review progress made toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set in 2000 to halve extreme poverty by 2015. Leading humanitarian agency World Vision, whose projects reach more than 100 million people in nearly 100 countries, will be present to push for further concrete action on child and maternal health.

17 Sep 2010

Females marry younger when men outnumber women: Study

When men outnumber women, females marry younger and the age gap between spouses grows, a University of Michigan study shows.

17 Sep 2010

Women's Health Research releases progress report

A major effort to conduct research on women's health began about 20 years ago, when it became clear that results from studies until then, which involved mostly male subjects, were often misinterpreted or misapplied in the cases of female patients. Women's Health Research: Progress, Promise, and Pitfalls, new from the Institute of Medicine, offers a progress report on the state of women's health research.

17 Sep 2010

St. Joseph's Hospital-North adds obstetric services

Moms-to-be have asked for it and now St. Joseph's Hospital-North delivers a birthing experience like no other hospital stay. The area's first new hospital in more than 30 years has added obstetric services, bringing new moms and babies comfortable care in a soothing, elegant environment.

17 Sep 2010

Diclectin's effectiveness for morning sickness: Report

In the latest issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, a group of American and Canadian researchers report on the effectiveness of Diclectin(R) (the delayed-release formulation of doxylamine and vitamin B6) for morning sickness.

17 Sep 2010

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center research team wins 2010 BioFlux Innovation Award

Fluxion Biosciences, Inc. announced today that a research team from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center has won the 2010 BioFlux Innovation Award competition. Laura Sycuro, Ph.D., a post-doctoral research fellow in the lab of David Fredricks, M.D., authored the winning submission which focuses on screening and characterizing bacterial strains involved in biofilm-related infections known to affect women's reproductive health.

From Fluxion Biosciences 17 Sep 2010

IVF on the rise in Australia: Report

According to a Federal Government report there are now more births via In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatment than ever before in Australia. There has been a 45% rise in the number of babies born through IVF and other treatments between 2004-08, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report released today. In 2008 there were 10,509 babies born through fertility treatments in Australia.

16 Sep 2010

Key recommendations for better services for women with secondary breast cancer

The support provided for women with secondary breast cancer is inadequate and urgent steps are needed to provide better services for patients with this progressive incurable disease, which kills half a million women worldwide every year. Those are the key recommendations to emerge from a trio of papers in the September issue of the European Journal of Cancer Care.

16 Sep 2010

Aetna supports landmark study on BRCA testing

Testing is available to help identify if a woman is likely to face one of her gender's worst fears: inherited breast and ovarian cancer. But significant questions have been raised among doctors and public health agencies about whether these tests are being offered to the women who can most benefit - consistent with the evidence-based guidelines for this testing - and whether the information learned from testing is being put to best use.

16 Sep 2010

Moores UCSD Cancer Center receives Breast Imaging Center of Excellence certificate from ACR

Moores UCSD Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego has been designated a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiology.

16 Sep 2010

Maternal mortality worldwide declines by over one-third since 1990, U.N. report says

Maternal mortality has declined by more than one-third since 1990, according to a report from U.N. agencies released on Wednesday, Agence France-Presse reports. But the agencies warned that the rate of progress was too slow and that the decline still misses the maternal mortality Millennium Development Goal target of a three-quarters cut (9/15).

16 Sep 2010