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Contraceptive pill could soon be given out to 13 year olds without prescription

According to an NHS report girls as young as 13 should be given the contraceptive pill without having to see a doctor. Normally girls and women can only go on the Pill once they have undergone a thorough consultation with a GP or nurse as it can cause side effects including blood clots.

26 Apr 2012

Doctor claims to have found the elusive G spot

In an article published Wednesday by the Journal of Sexual Medicine, the semi-retired Florida gynecologist declared that he had found it. For his study he conducted a postmortem examination of an 83-year-old woman in Warsaw Medical University's Department of Forensic Medicine. Unlike the United States, which strictly regulates the research use of cadavers, Poland allows the dissection of human remains soon after death, when fine distinctions in tissue remain easy to see.

26 Apr 2012

Ariz. Senate approves bill to ban state funds for Planned Parenthood

The vote follows abortion restrictions passed by the Arizona legislature this year. In addition, N.H., Calif. and La. lawmakers are weighing abortion bills.

26 Apr 2012

IMPAKT 2012 breast cancer conference to focus on four major areas

"Basic science and clinical medicine move at different pace because they follow different paths. Both however aim at improving strategies to manage cancer patients. We need to efficiently translate the good things from basic science and efficiently implement them in the clinic."

26 Apr 2012

Medicaid news: Florida prepares for shift to managed care

Preparing for Florida's shift to a statewide Medicaid managed-care system, 20 health companies and organizations are interested in competing for contracts to serve seniors who need long-term care. ... The list of potential bidders only reflects health plans interested in the long-term care portion of a statewide managed-care system. AHCA has not sought similar letters of intent for plans hoping to serve the broader Medicaid population, such as children and women.

26 Apr 2012

Allowing countries to use PEPFAR funding for voluntary contraception for women aligns with GHI's 'women-centered' approach

"PEPFAR has said it will use" nearly $1.5 billion in unspent aid "to invest in commodities (condoms, HIV rapid test kits and voluntary medical male circumcision kits), systems and institutions, and program strengthening," Suzanne Ehlers, president of Population Action International, writes in this post in the Huffington Post's "Impact" blog.

26 Apr 2012

Gender differences in musculoskeletal health are not solely due to hormones

Osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, fractures, and spinal disorders are among the most common reasons for doctor visits. These conditions have more than one thing in common: they are all musculoskeletal problems and are more prevalent in women.

26 Apr 2012

Flavonoid rich berries may delay memory decline in older women

Berries are good for you, that's no secret. But can strawberries and blueberries actually keep your brain sharp in old age? A new study by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) finds that a high intake of flavonoid rich berries, such as strawberries and blueberries, over time, can delay memory decline in older women by 2.5 years.

26 Apr 2012

Daily ART safe and effective in preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission

In early results of a large-scale randomized study published in 2010 and led by researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, giving daily antiretroviral drugs (ART) to HIV-infected moms or their breastfeeding babies for 28 weeks proved safe and effective for preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission through breast milk.

26 Apr 2012

Link between obesity and RA in women

Obesity and the painful autoimmune disorder rheumatoid arthritis are each becoming more common, raising a logical question: Could one have something to do with the other? For women, it appears there is a link, Mayo Clinic researchers say.

26 Apr 2012

RANK inhibitor-chemotherapy combination may have important therapeutic effects against breast cancer

Researchers from the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) have shown that overactivation of the RANK signalling pathway promotes the initiation, progression and metastasis of tumours in human breast epithelial cells by dedifferentiation of breast cells to stem cells. The results of this study have been advanced in the electronic edition of the journal Cancer Research.

25 Apr 2012

Fights over abortion legislation in N.H., Wisconsin

The New Hampshire Senate is expected to weigh a half dozen abortion bills later this week, including one that would cut off taxpayer funding to clinics and others that perform elective abortions, according to media reports. In Wisconsin, meanwhile, some women's groups and doctors oppose a law that prompted Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin to suspend nonsurgical abortions.

25 Apr 2012

Sheffield researchers investigate ways to improve treatment for elderly patients with breast cancer

Sheffield researchers are investigating ways to improve the treatment and survival rate of elderly patients diagnosed with breast cancer.

25 Apr 2012

S-equol effective in reducing menopausal hot flashes, muscle and joint pain among U.S. women

A dose of 10 milligrams (mg) daily of S-equol delivered via a newly developed fermented soy germ-based nutritional supplement is as effective as a standard dose of soy isoflavones at reducing hot flash frequency significantly and is even more effective for relieving muscle and joint pain, according to a peer-reviewed study in US postmenopausal women published in the June Journal of Women's Health, available now as a Fast Track article online ahead of print.

25 Apr 2012

Elusive G-spot does exist anatomically: New study

For centuries, women have been reporting engorgement of the upper, anterior part of the vagina during the stage of sexual excitement, despite the fact the structure of this phenomenon had not been anatomically determined.

25 Apr 2012

Novel community-based weight loss intervention for African American breast cancer survivors

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago's Institute for Health Research and Policy have designed a novel community-based weight loss intervention designed for African American breast cancer survivors.

25 Apr 2012

Study sheds light on how stress differently affects women’s hearts

Coronary artery disease continues to be a major cause of death in the U.S., killing hundreds of thousands of people per year. However, this disease burden isn't evenly divided between the sexes; significantly more men than women are diagnosed with coronary artery disease each year. The reasons behind this difference aren't well defined. Though some studies have shown that men's hearts become more constricted than women's during exercise, letting less blood flow through, women are more likely than men to have symptoms of heart trouble after emotional upsets.

25 Apr 2012

Former Planned Parenthood spokesman to join HHS public affairs shop

If the Obama administration was already on bad terms with abortion opponents, it's not going to improve relations by hiring Planned Parenthood's former spokesman for a job at the Department of Health and Human Services. Tait Sye, Planned Parenthood's former media director, has joined HHS as deputy assistant secretary for public affairs, HHS made public Friday. He'll have the public health portfolio -; an area where you can be pretty sure abortion and contraception issues will come up.

24 Apr 2012

Rising food prices affecting efforts to reach MDGs for food, nutrition, World Bank/IMF report says

"Higher global food prices are hampering attempts to hit targets for food and nutrition," and "rates of child and maternal mortality are still 'unacceptably high' -- partly as a result of surging commodity prices," according to the Global Monitoring Report 2012, released by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday in Washington, D.C., the Guardian reports.

24 Apr 2012

Breast cancer survivors who redefine their goals are healthier

A new collaborative study published in Psycho-Oncology by Carsten Wrosch of Concordia University's Department of Psychology and Centre for Research in Human Development and Catherine Sabiston of McGill's Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education and the Health Behaviour and Emotion Lab found that breast cancer survivors who were able to let go of old goals and set new ones showed an improved well-being overall.

24 Apr 2012