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Women smokers more likely to attempt quitting when bans are enforced

Many workplaces and households ban smoking and, for some women, the effects extend beyond their office building or family home. A new study finds that women smokers who live and work where bans are enforced, even those who did not make explicit plans to quit, are more likely to attempt quitting.

2 Sep 2011

Obama gets tough on abortion protesters; state abortion laws challenged in courts

The Obama Justice Department has been taking a more aggressive approach against people who block access to abortion clinics, using a 1994 law to bring cases in greater numbers than its predecessor. The numbers are most stark when it comes to civil lawsuits, which seek to create buffer zones around clinic entrances for people who have blocked access in the past.

2 Sep 2011

Integrating rapid syphilis and HIV testing for pregnant women could reduce maternal, child morbidity and mortality

"A study conducted in Uganda and Zambia by the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) found high rates of syphilis and HIV co-infection among pregnant women in both countries," but showed that "integrating rapid syphilis screening and HIV testing for pregnant women was feasible, cost-effective, and helped to prevent transmission of syphilis and HIV from mother-to-child," PlusNews reports.

2 Sep 2011

MRSA ‘superbug’: Everyone at risk!

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a type of staph bacteria that does not respond to commonly used antibiotic treatments, is a type of infection that has been a problem in hospital settings for many years. Back in 2000 it began steadily making its way into the lives of otherwise healthy people, especially children, who are not typically at risk for the fast-moving bacteria.

2 Sep 2011

FDA panel on post-approval studies of silicone breast implants

A panel of expert advisors to the FDA has been asked to look into the matter of the thousands of women who enrolled in studies designed to evaluate rare complications that might arise years after they received silicone gel breast implants.

31 Aug 2011

Americans ‘gulping’ down sweetened beverages: Study

According to health experts half of Americans drink a soda or sugary beverage each day. One in 20 people drinks the equivalent of more than four cans of soda each day. This is in spite of the health officials’ recommendation to limit sweetened beverages to less than half a can.

31 Aug 2011

Women who eat fast have higher risk for obesity: Study

Researchers at Otago University say that more than a third of middle-aged New Zealand women eat fast and this tendency could be leading to increased weight gain. The advice “eat slowly, eat less” has been around for decades but, unlike many dieting myths, this one seems to hold water.

31 Aug 2011

Study: Obesity's impact on incidence of hot flashes may depend on age

A recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM) found that among women aged 60 and above, heavier women have fewer hot flashes than their leaner counterparts. The inverse association between body size and hot flashes was observed only among the older women.

31 Aug 2011

Regis to host one-day haircutting event in support of breast cancer research

This year, the American Cancer Society estimates over 230,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women.

31 Aug 2011

Family planning can improve maternal and child health, survival

Describing a maternal health program that promotes family planning in the rural village of Bweremana in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Michael Gerson writes in his Washington Post column that "the very words 'family planning' light up the limbic centers of American politics."

31 Aug 2011

Victims of intimate partner violence more likely to develop mental health disorders

Victims who suffer violence at the hands of a spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend, or other intimate partner aren't only brutalized physically; they also suffer disproportionately higher rates of mental health distress, according to a new policy brief from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

31 Aug 2011

Many women give birth in Haiti's tent camps without medical services

In the refugee camps in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince nearly two years after a devastating earthquake, "health and human rights officials warn of another crisis: an explosion of tent babies," the Miami Herald reports.

31 Aug 2011

Presidential panel reveals new details of 1940s syphilis experiments in Guatemala

"A presidential panel on Monday disclosed shocking new details of U.S. medical experiments done in Guatemala in the 1940s, including a decision to re-infect a dying woman in a syphilis study," the Associated Press/Seattle Times reports.

31 Aug 2011

Positive results from Bionovo's Menerba tolerability trial on menopausal hot flashes

Bionovo, Inc., a pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of safe and effective treatments for women's health and cancer, today announced the positive results from the completion of their tolerability trial of Menerba (MF101) for menopausal hot flashes.

31 Aug 2011

Insight Pharmaceuticals announces acquisition of MONISTAT business from McNEIL-PPC

Insight Pharmaceuticals, a portfolio company of Swander Pace Capital, announced today that it has acquired the MONISTAT North American brand portfolio from McNEIL-PPC, Inc.

31 Aug 2011

Life Expectancy with Disability is worse in European women than men

European women live longer than men, because of both biological and behavioural advantages, but women's longer lives are not necessarily healthy lives. Studies commented on by Dr Vannuzzo at the ESC Congress 2011, show that due to increase in tobacco and alcohol consumption in women, the gender gap is decreasing.

30 Aug 2011

Study: Gender gap has not diminished in reperfusion therapy

In spite of an increased attention to gender differences in treatment of myocardial infarctions, focus on adherence to guidelines and a change in predominant therapy, the gender difference in treatment and mortality regarding the big infarctions - STEMI - has not diminished from 1998-2000 to 2004-2006. For some therapies, it has actually increased.

30 Aug 2011

Money alone cannot fix Russia's 'demographic crisis'

Russia "is in a demographic crisis, shedding 2.2 million people (or 1.6 percent of the population) since 2002, and the government is trying to encourage more women to bring Russian citizens into the world," journalist Natalia Antonova writes in a Foreign Policy opinion piece, in which she describes her experience with the Russian medical system after "unexpectedly" becoming pregnant shortly after receiving her visa to work in Moscow.

29 Aug 2011

Men worse than women at protecting their skin in the sun

Nearly 90 per cent of British adults admit their skin has been sunburnt - with almost half experiencing pain as result of being in the sun.

29 Aug 2011

Boehringer Ingelheim initiates two afatinib phase II studies in HER2-positive breast cancer

Boehringer Ingelheim today announced the initiation of two phase II studies, 1200.89 and LUX-Breast 2, evaluating afatinib in patients with metastatic breast cancer, who have an overexpression of the erbB2 (HER2) protein, so called HER2-positive patients. Afatinib is an irreversible ErbB Family Blocker, which binds to all erbB-family kinases including erbB2.

29 Aug 2011