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Habitual physical activity improves midlife women's health

Moving 6,000 or more steps a day-no matter how-adds up to a healthier life for midlife women. That level of physical activity decreases the risk of diabetes and metabolic syndrome (a diabetes precursor and a risk for cardiovascular disease), showed a study published online this month in Menopause, the journal of the North American Menopause Society.

22 Nov 2012

MicroRNAs in ovarian cancer cells promote tumor growth

Unraveling the mechanism that ovarian cancer cells use to change normal cells around them into cells that promote tumor growth has identified several new targets for treatment of this deadly disease.

22 Nov 2012

Pregnant women with mental health disorders face too many barriers to stop smoking

Pregnant women with mental health disorders are facing too many barriers to help them quit smoking during pregnancy despite their willingness to accept support, finds a new study published today (21 November) in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

21 Nov 2012

Meningiomas likely results from hemodynamic changes associated with pregnancy

Meningiomas are a common type of benign brain tumor that sometimes grows dramatically in pregnant women. A new study suggests that this sudden tumor growth likely results from "hemodynamic changes" associated with pregnancy, reports the November issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

21 Nov 2012

Emergency obstetric care reduced maternal mortality rates up to 74% in two African projects, MSF reports

According to a new briefing paper from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), access to emergency obstetric care, including ambulance service, could help save the lives of up to three quarters of women who might otherwise die in childbirth, AlertNet reports.

21 Nov 2012

Young girls can dance their way to better mental health

Young girls can dance their way to better mental health. Symptoms like depression, stress, fatigue, and headaches are alleviated with regular dancing.

21 Nov 2012

UNC expert to talk about gratitude research at SPSP annual meeting, Jan. 17-19

Sara Algoe of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill who has investigated how gratitude benefits close relationships, including how expressing gratitude leads to long-term social outcomes for women with metastatic breast cancer and the evolutionary role for gratitude. She will be presenting some of this work at the SPSP annual meeting in New Orleans (Jan. 17-19, 2013), and she is a recipient of grant funding through the Expanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude project.

21 Nov 2012

IUD insertion does not increase risk of pelvic inflammatory disease in women

The risk of developing pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) following insertion of an intrauterine device (IUD) is very low, whether or not women have been screened beforehand for gonorrhea and chlamydia, according to a joint study of nearly 60,000 women by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research.

21 Nov 2012

High blood levels of vitamin D may protect mothers more than babies against MS

High blood levels of Vitamin D may protect mothers more than babies against multiple sclerosis (MS), Umeå University researcher Jonatan Salzer concludes in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

21 Nov 2012

MSF clinic helping to reduce maternal mortality in Sierra Leone

Some pregnant women in Sierra Leone, which has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, must travel more than 50 miles for health care services, but a Medecins Sans Frontieres clinic and ambulance service established in a remote region has helped reduce maternal mortality in the area by 61 percent, Al Jazeera reports.

20 Nov 2012

Most African countries not on track to achieve MDGs, U.N. officials say

"Most African countries are lagging behind in achieving the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals [MDGs] and will not make as much progress in health, nutrition and sanitation as had hoped, U.N. officials said" on Thursday, the Associated Press/ABC News reports.

20 Nov 2012

Addition of tomosynthesis to standard mammogram increases breast screening accuracy

The addition of three-dimensional breast imaging-a technology called tomosynthesis-to standard digital mammography significantly increases radiologists' diagnostic accuracy while reducing false positive recall rates, according to the results of a multi-center study published in Radiology.

20 Nov 2012

Certain occupations do increase risk of breast cancer

Is there a link between the risk of breast cancer and the working environment? A study published in BioMed Central's open access journal Environmental Health provides further evidence on this previously neglected research topic, confirming that certain occupations do pose a higher risk of breast cancer than others, particularly those that expose the worker to potential carcinogens and endocrine disrupters.

19 Nov 2012

American Cancer Society honors Kroger with 2012 Excellence in Philanthropy Award

The Kroger Co. today was awarded a 2012 Excellence in Philanthropy Award from the American Cancer Society.

17 Nov 2012

Study: Regular exercise before, during pregnancy could have beneficial effects for women

Contrary to popular thought, regular exercise before and during pregnancy could have beneficial effects for women that develop high blood pressure during gestation, human physiology professor Jeff Gilbert said, summarizing a new study by his research team that appears in the December issue of Hypertension, a journal of the American Heart Association.

16 Nov 2012

Study shows boost in access to screening for breast and cervical cancer

A study by researchers at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services indicates that full implementation of the Affordable Care Act would expand health insurance coverage for more low-income women, enabling more than a million women to obtain potentially life-saving screening for breast and cervical cancer.

16 Nov 2012

A.U. launches website on maternal, newborn survival program

"The African Union has launched a new website for its Campaign on Accelerated Reduction of Maternal, Newborn and Child Mortality in Africa (CARMMA)," which "aims to promote maternal and newborn survival, and provide evidence on progress to achieving health targets that have been set by African leaders," according to the Maternal Health Task Force's blog.

16 Nov 2012

Physical performance capabilities across the lifespan

Physical performance capabilities, which decline across the lifespan, are strongly associated with daily levels of physical activity. The decrease in physical activity across the lifespan has consequences for health and well-being.

16 Nov 2012

Family planning is 'global priority' to be recognized as human right

Improving access to family planning for the 222 million women who lack such services would bring many benefits, including helping to reduce maternal mortality and improve infant survival, UNFPA Executive Director Babatunde Osotimehin says in the Huffington Post's "Global Motherhood" blog, citing the recently released State of the World Population 2012 report.

16 Nov 2012

Romney says loss the result of Obama's 'gifts' to minority voters, women and young people

Certain provisions of the 2010 health law were the key "gifts" GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said were to blame for his loss. Other Republican leaders, including Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal fiercely rebuffed Romney's comments.

16 Nov 2012