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Maternal vitamin D levels not found to affect children’s bone health

A study of nearly 4000 pairs of mothers and their children in the Children of the 90s study at the University of Bristol has shown that maternal vitamin D levels during pregnancy are not associated with the child’s bone health in later life. The research, published Online First in The Lancet, is the largest ever observational study of the effects of mothers’ vitamin D levels in pregnancy on their children’s bone health, and suggests that UK health guidelines may be overstating the importance of vitamin D supplementation in pregnancy.

20 Mar 2013

Managing sexual expression among people with dementia

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20 Mar 2013

Philippines government must support reproductive health law

"Women in the Philippines have lacked autonomy over their bodies for decades. The overwhelming political power of the country's Catholic church leaders -- and the government's acquiescence to many of their demands -- has resulted in reproductive health care restrictions so severe they amount to human rights violations," Melissa Upreti, regional director for Asia at the Center for Reproductive Rights, writes in The Guardian's "Poverty Matters Blog."

20 Mar 2013

Opinion pieces address U.N. CSW declaration

The U.N. Commission on the Status of Women on Friday adopted a declaration urging an end to violence against women and girls, despite pushback from some conservative Muslim countries and the Vatican during negotiations.

20 Mar 2013

Study provides new insights about polycystic ovarian syndrome, insulin resistance

A group of tiny RNA molecules with a big role in regulating gene expression also appear to have a role in causing insulin resistance in woman with polycystic ovary syndrome and, perhaps, in all women, researchers report.

20 Mar 2013

Analysis, commentary examine access to, unmet need for contraceptives

In an analysis published online in the Lancet, researchers from the National University of Singapore and the U.N. Population Division "estimated and projected indicators of contraceptive prevalence and unmet need for family planning from 1990 to 2015," according to the paper's abstract.

20 Mar 2013

Federal judge strikes Mo. law exempting some from health law's birth control mandate

A federal judge has ruled that a Missouri law exempting moral objectors from the health law's mandate on birth control coverage cannot stand.

20 Mar 2013

Study finds that some younger women see both benefit and harm from annual exams

Screening for breast cancer every two years appears just as beneficial as yearly mammograms for women ages 50 to 74, with significantly fewer "false positives" - even for women whose breasts are dense or who use hormone therapy for menopause.

20 Mar 2013

Hepatitis C virus rarely transmitted through sex between monogamous heterosexuals

Individuals infected by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) have nothing to fear from sex in a monogamous, heterosexual relationship. Transmission of HCV from an infected partner during sex is rare according to new research published in the March issue of Hepatology, a journal published by Wiley on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).

19 Mar 2013

U.N. CSW adopts declaration urging end to violence against women, girls

"A United Nations policy-making body has agreed upon a declaration urging an end to violence against women and girls despite concerns from conservative Muslim countries and the Vatican about references to women's sexual and reproductive rights," Al Jazeera reports (3/16).

19 Mar 2013

Study assesses effectiveness of modern mammography screening in breast cancer

Kerlikowske et al., recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, used obsolete clinical endpoints to assess effectiveness of modern mammography screening and is fundamentally flawed regarding participant selection in the two study groups (annually vs. biennially).

19 Mar 2013

Regardless of breast density or HT use, women aged 50 to 74 years can undergo biennial mammography

A study that compared the benefits and harms of the frequency of screening mammography to age, breast density and postmenopausal use of hormone therapy (HT) suggests that woman ages 50 to 74 years who undergo biennial screenings have a similar risk of advanced-stage disease and a lower cumulative risk of false-positive results than those who get mammograms annually, according to a report published Online First by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.

19 Mar 2013

IRIN examines maternal mortality in Nepal

IRIN examines maternal mortality in Nepal, writing, "Observed declines [in the maternal mortality ratio (MMR)] since the early 1990s make Nepal, together with Bangladesh, the most recent 'success story,' comparable to countries like Malaysia, Thailand and Cuba that gained ground decades earlier, Julia Hussein, lead author of a 2011 medical appraisal of Nepal's MMR reduction, told IRIN."

19 Mar 2013

N.D. lawmakers pass 'heartbeat' abortion ban

North Dakota lawmakers have passed a bill that would ban abortions there, with few exceptions, after a fetal heartbeat can be detected -- after about six weeks. The ban would one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the nation.

19 Mar 2013

Minnesota House poised to vote on health exchanges

Meanwhile, a New Hampshire survey finds few residents are aware of the health insurance marketplaces starting soon, and a fight is brewing in California over how "enrollers" for the state's exchange will be screened.

19 Mar 2013

Pregnancy-associated plasma protein A predicts cardiovascular events: Study

Higher levels of pregnancy-associated plasma protein A were associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events in people with cardiac chest pain that developed as a result of heart disease/coronary artery disease, according to a study published in CMAJ.

19 Mar 2013