Women's Health News

RSS

Okla. high court keeps 'personhood' amendment off Nov. ballot; Minn. Gov. vetoes abortion bill

Sooner state voters won't vote on the controversial proposal to label an embryo a person.

2 May 2012

Uncomfortably high rates of maternal deaths during childbirth raise concerns: Study

According to latest figures more than a 100 mothers have died in childbirth in London in the last five years. This is twice the rate in the rest of the country. There were 11 deaths in 2005-6, compared with 29 in 2010-11. Births in London have soared by 27 per cent in the last decade from 106,000 in 2001 to 134,000 in 2011, but numbers of midwives and doctors have not kept pace.

30 Apr 2012

Caesarean delivery provides cost-effective measure to improve health in developing world, study shows

"A new study suggests that at least one surgical procedure, caesarean delivery, is a highly effective way of improving health at a reasonable cost in developing countries," VOA News reports (Chimes, 4/27).

30 Apr 2012

Single mothers with depression more likely to add cereal to bottles

Efforts to prevent obesity among low-income infants should focus not only on what babies are being fed but also the reasons behind unhealthy feeding practices, according to a study to be presented Saturday, April 28, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Boston.

30 Apr 2012

ABVS improves detection of breast cancer in Asian women

A new study from researchers at the Bangkok Breast Center shows significant improvement in the detection of breast cancer in Asian women using automated breast volume sonography (ABVS) as compared to hand-held ultrasound (HHUS).

30 Apr 2012

Pharmanest commences SHACT Phase I pharmacokinetic study

Karolinska Development: Pharmanest AB today announced that the first patient has been dosed in an open label pharmacokinetic study with its drug candidate SHACT, a product developed for pain relief in connection with intrauterine device (IUD) insertion.

30 Apr 2012

Parents underestimate their daughters' reproductive concerns

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues have found that adolescents newly diagnosed with cancer have strong concerns about their ability to have children as cancer survivors. They also found that standard health-related quality-of-life survey tools used to elicit answers from teens with cancer did not accurately reflect these concerns. Parents, who often answer survey questions as proxies, often inaccurately relayed their child's reproductive concerns.

30 Apr 2012

Study: Incidence of fetal growth restriction is lower in obese women

Obesity during pregnancy puts women at higher risk of a multitude of challenges. But, according to a new study presented earlier this month at the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine annual convention, fetal growth restriction, or the poor growth of a baby while in the mother's womb, is not one of them. In fact, study authors from the University of Rochester Medical Center found that the incidence of fetal growth restriction was lower in obese women when compared to non-obese women.

30 Apr 2012

Obama says Romney, GOP ‘out of touch' on women's health issues

Casting his re-election along gender lines, President Barack Obama told hundreds of female supporters Friday that Republicans seem determined to meddle in women's health decisions in ways that are "appalling, offensive and out of touch." A recent fight over contraception access, Obama said, was like "being in a time machine." "These are folks who claim to believe in freedom from government interference and meddling -; it doesn't seem to bother them when it comes to a woman's health," Obama said during early evening remarks at a women's issues conference.

30 Apr 2012

Maternal stress during first trimester of pregnancy puts newborns at risk for iron deficiency

Newborns whose mothers are under stress during the first trimester of pregnancy may be at risk for low iron status, which could lead to physical and mental delays down the road, according to a study to be presented Sunday, April 29, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Boston.

30 Apr 2012

Girls with high body satisfaction have lower likelihood of unhealthy weight-control behaviors

A study to be published in the June 2012 issue of Journal of Adolescent Health looking at the relationships between body satisfaction and healthy psychological functioning in overweight adolescents has found that young women who are happy with the size and shape of their bodies report higher levels of self-esteem. They may also be protected against the negative behavioral and psychological factors sometimes associated with being overweight.

30 Apr 2012

Berries taken at least once a week can preserve memory functions: Study

The study of more than 16,000 women taking part in the Nurses' Health Study involved following them up since 1980. Between 1995 and 2001, researchers also measured the mental function of women who were over 70 and had not had a stroke.

29 Apr 2012

Lack of awareness, cultural beliefs, transport challenges leading to high number of maternal deaths in Ethiopia, officials say

"A lack of awareness of the importance of skilled hospital deliveries in Ethiopia, cultural beliefs, and transport challenges in rural areas are causing a high number of deaths during childbirth," officials say, according to IRIN.

27 Apr 2012

Long-duration breastfeeders sacrifice considerable income

Pediatricians and other breastfeeding advocates often encourage new mothers to breastfeed their babies for at least the first six months of their infants' lives based on the purported health benefits to both mothers and children. Many breastfeeding proponents also argue that breastfeeding has financial advantages over formula-feeding-breastfeeding is free, they say.

27 Apr 2012

California senate scales back bill to broaden abortion access

In its current form, the bill would allow 41 California non-physicians peform a certain first-trimester abortion procedure.

27 Apr 2012

Smoking during pregnancy may increase risk of autism in children

Women who smoke in pregnancy may be more likely to have a child with high-functioning autism, such as Asperger's Disorder, according to preliminary findings from a study by researchers involved in the U.S. autism surveillance program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

27 Apr 2012

Blog posts report on International Treatment as Prevention conference in Vancouver

Two separate posts in the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog report on the International Treatment as Prevention conference in Vancouver. The first post recaps an update from Stephen Becker of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Tuesday "about the Foundation's treatment optimization activities," writing, "According to Becker, the Foundation acknowledges that treatment will be at the center of HIV prevention efforts, but 'no amount of treatment will obviate the need for primary prevention modalities.'"

27 Apr 2012

Study investigates possible links between maternal age and autism

In a study published in the May 2012 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, led by Mr. Sven Sandin, of the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden and King's College London, researchers analyzed past studies to investigate possible associations between maternal age and autism. While much research has been done to identify potential genetic causes of autism, this analysis suggests that non-heritable and environmental factors may also play a role in children's risk for autism.

27 Apr 2012

Mammography remains beneficial for women in their 40s

Researchers from University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have published new findings that mammography remains beneficial for women in their 40s.

27 Apr 2012

Healthy emmetropic women have a wider pupil diameter than men

From an anatomical point of view, a normal, non-pathological eye is known as an emmetropic eye, and has been studied very little until now in comparison with myopic and hypermetropic eyes. The results show that healthy emmetropic women have a wider pupil diameter than men.

27 Apr 2012