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Senate Health Committee likely to hold hearing on new mammogram guidelines

Roll Call reports that 22 senators have written the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee asking its leaders to hold hearings on controversial new mammogram guidelines. "The letter came less than a week after the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended looser guidelines for breast cancer screenings. The task force suggested that women wait until they turn 50 to begin screening and then undergo one mammogram every two years instead of every year."

25 Nov 2009

TMCI announces a national rollout of its successful "Plan" to reach the nation's teen moms

Lee Daniels' gritty indie film "Precious” follows a suffering pregnant girl struggling against impossible odds. Producer and director Daniels said on NPR's Fresh Air, "I know the cycle has to stop. And that's the beauty of 'Precious.'"

25 Nov 2009

SBI urges Congress to exclude the USPSTF guidelines from health care legislation

Several sections of Senate health care reform legislation contain language stipulating that insurance entities such as private insurers, Medicare and Medicaid would only be required to cover services receiving a specific grade from the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force. Presently, this would exclude mammography services for women 40-49, would only require coverage of biennial (every other year) coverage for women 50-74, and exclude coverage for those 74 and older.

25 Nov 2009

CHMP positive opinion for marketing ELONVA in Europe

PROLOR Biotech, Inc., today noted the positive opinion by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency for marketing approval in Europe for ELONVA(R), a long-acting CTP-modified version of the fertility hormone FSH from Merck & Co. Merck and PROLOR are both licensees of the CTP technology from Washington University in St. Louis.

25 Nov 2009

Alpha-fetoprotein, a well-tolerated agent for treatment and prevention of breast cancer

Researchers have found that hormones produced during pregnancy induce a protein that directly inhibits the growth of breast cancer. This protein, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), may serve as a viable, well-tolerated agent for the treatment and prevention of breast cancer, according to findings published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

25 Nov 2009

Initiation of Phase II clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of BN83495 announced

Ipsen today announced the initiation of an international, multi-center, controlled, randomized Phase II clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of BN83495, its investigational first-in-class steroid sulfatase (STS) inhibitor, in advanced endometrial cancer.

25 Nov 2009

Positive efficacy data from Phase 2 study of AEZS-108 announced

AEterna Zentaris Inc. (the "Company"), a global biopharmaceutical company focused on endocrine therapy and oncology, today announced positive efficacy data from a Phase 2 study with its targeted cytotoxic peptide conjugate, AEZS-108 (formerly AN-152), in patients with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer.

25 Nov 2009

New mammography guidelines can set breast health care back a half century in time, says cancer expert

Until recently, women hitting their 40th birthdays expected to begin receiving yearly mammograms to screen for breast cancer. Earlier this week, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), a government appointed task force, advised cutting back on the number of mammograms that women receive, as well as pushing back the age of the first mammogram to 50.

25 Nov 2009

Enzyme that plays an important role in the formation of breast tumours identified

A team of US scientists found that the enzyme lysyl oxidase (LOX) alters the structure of collagen - the major component of connective tissue - in the cells surrounding the growing tumour.

25 Nov 2009

IPS examines next year's UNGASS on MDGs, improvements in maternal health

Inter Press Service reports that the September 2010 U.N. Generally Assembly meeting will feature a three-day special session (UNGASS) on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

24 Nov 2009

Bloomberg examines Sec. of State Clinton's focus on women

Bloomberg examines Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's "fervor for making women's advancement a core part of her national-security efforts." According to the news service, Clinton "has been pushing the cause from remote Congolese villages to the United Nations General Assembly.

24 Nov 2009

Guardian Technologies' novel imaging analysis technology platforms may help avoid mammography false positives

Guardian Technologies International, Inc. -- A recent U.S. Preventive Services Task Force report suggests that while mammograms save lives, they also lead to unnecessary additional procedures. Experts suggest that the problem with mammography is that improvements are needed to reduce false positives and increase accuracy.

24 Nov 2009

Groups on both sides of abortion issue revived in Senate reform fight

The Wall Street Journal reports that abortion-rights groups are mobilizing to keep a provision that would toughen abortion restrictions out of a Senate health care reform bill. "Activists hope to flood Washington to rally and lobby on Dec. 2, during the week that Senate floor debate begins." Ads are running to criticize the restrictions and a new coalition — the Coalition to Pass Health Care Reform and Stop Stupak — is being formed, The Journal reports.

24 Nov 2009

Poll: Women in their 40's will still get mammograms, despite new guidelines

USA Today reports that "[a] vast majority of American women plan to ignore controversial new recommendations about mammograms, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows. The poll also shows that most women sharply overestimate their risk of developing the disease."

24 Nov 2009

New finding reveals Barrett's esophagus in asymptomatic women undergoing endoscopic screening

In the November issue of GIE: Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE), a study out of Stanford University found that Barrett's esophagus was detected in six percent of asymptomatic women undergoing endoscopic screening.

24 Nov 2009

Breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy drug Taxol more likely to develop chronic neuropathic pain

Breast cancer patients treated with the chemotherapy drug Taxol (paclitaxel) are more likely to develop chronic neuropathic pain, according to research published in The Journal of Pain, the peer review publication of the American Pain Society.

24 Nov 2009

Lysteda tablets to treat menorrhagia approved by the FDA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Lysteda tablets (tranexamic acid), the first non-hormonal product cleared to treat heavy menstrual bleeding (menorrhagia). Lysteda works by stabilizing a protein that helps blood to clot.

24 Nov 2009

Flaxseed oil may reduce reduce the risk of osteoporosis

Animal studies suggest that adding flaxseed oil to the diet could reduce the risk of osteoporosis in post-menopausal women and women with diabetes, according to a report to be published in the International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition and Public Health.

23 Nov 2009

Middle age women who store fat on their waist more likely to develop dementia when they get older: Study

Women who store fat on their waist in middle age are more than twice as likely to develop dementia when they get older, reveals a new study from the Sahlgrenska Academy.

23 Nov 2009

Guideline controversy: 'Politics is always intruding into the world of breast cancer'

Kaiser Health News' Peggy Girshman talks with Dr. Barron Lerner about the politics surrounding the recent release of mammography guidelines.

23 Nov 2009

Women's Health News

Senate Health Committee likely to hold hearing on new mammogram guidelines

TMCI announces a national rollout of its successful "Plan" to reach the nation's teen moms

SBI urges Congress to exclude the USPSTF guidelines from health care legislation

CHMP positive opinion for marketing ELONVA in Europe

Alpha-fetoprotein, a well-tolerated agent for treatment and prevention of breast cancer

Initiation of Phase II clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of BN83495 announced

Positive efficacy data from Phase 2 study of AEZS-108 announced

New mammography guidelines can set breast health care back a half century in time, says cancer expert

Enzyme that plays an important role in the formation of breast tumours identified

IPS examines next year's UNGASS on MDGs, improvements in maternal health

Bloomberg examines Sec. of State Clinton's focus on women

Guardian Technologies' novel imaging analysis technology platforms may help avoid mammography false positives

Groups on both sides of abortion issue revived in Senate reform fight

Poll: Women in their 40's will still get mammograms, despite new guidelines

New finding reveals Barrett's esophagus in asymptomatic women undergoing endoscopic screening

Breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy drug Taxol more likely to develop chronic neuropathic pain

Lysteda tablets to treat menorrhagia approved by the FDA

Flaxseed oil may reduce reduce the risk of osteoporosis

Middle age women who store fat on their waist more likely to develop dementia when they get older: Study

Guideline controversy: 'Politics is always intruding into the world of breast cancer'

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