Women's Health Weekly articles from December 2000

Women's Health Weekly archives from December 2000

New IUDs and Contraceptive Patch Tested in Animal Models.
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7- (NewsRx.com) -- Two studies discussing new contraceptive methods were presented at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine meeting, held in San Diego, California. Researchers in the United States and Canada collaborated...

Perfectionists Abound in Anorexia Nervosa Population.
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7 - (NewsRx.com) -- A new international, multicenter study has confirmed that perfectionism is inherent in individuals with the eating disorder anorexia nervosa. The study of 322 females from the United States and Europe...

Multiple Risk Factors Don't Increase Risk.(for cervical cancer)
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7 - (NewsRx.com) -- An odd situation exists with the pathogenesis of cervical cancer. Smoking, human papillomavirus 16 (HPV 16), and Chlamydia trachomatis are all associated with the development of cervical cancers in women, but...

Growth Factors Linked to Increased Risk are Expressed by Overweight, Sedentary Women.(colorectal cancer risk increased)
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7 - (NewsRx.com) -- Women who are overweight or lead a sedentary lifestyle are more likely to express increased levels of insulin and other growth factors that are associated with an increased risk for colorectal cancers. Living a...

Excess Estrogen May Increase Risk.(of cancer)
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7 - (NewsRx.com) -- Prolonged elevation in estrogen levels can put women with endometriosis at increased risk of cancer, researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, suggest. "Endometriosis is extremely common in...

Women Not Treated as Aggressively for Coronary Artery Disease.
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7 - (NewsRx.com) -- Looking for a clue to the continuing cycle of hospitalizations among men and women with congestive heart failure (CIF) cased by coronary artery disease (CAD), Johns Hopkins University researchers have observed that...

Bone Loss Uncommon in Women - Usually.(possible side effect of hormone replacement therapy)
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7 - (NewsRx.com) -- Bone loss is uncommon in women who take the usual doses of hormone replacement therapy; however, there appears to be a distinct group of women who either lose bone during the first 12 months of treatment or lose...

Infection in Mid and Late Stages of Pregnancy Characterized.
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7 - (NewsRx.com) -- Pregnant women are often advised to receive flu shots if they will be in their second or third trimesters of pregnancy when flu season arrives. A recent study from England describes serological and clinical findings...

Interpersonal Psychotherapy Effective Treatment for Postpartum Depression.
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7 - (NewsRx.com) -- Women can reduce postpartum depression by engaging in interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT), which assists with social adjustment while offering an alternative to antidepressant medications, according to an article in...

Optimistic Outlook on Life Can Affect Women's Health.
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7 - (NewsRx.com) -- How a woman views her life can keep her healthy or put her at risk for health problems, according to two new studies that examine the effects of stress on women's health during their reproductive years. These...

PTSD Found in Mothers Whose Children Receive a Bone Marrow Transplant.(post traumatic stress disorder)
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7 - (NewsRx.com) -- Preliminary results of a new study show 10% of mothers whose children undergo bone marrow transplants (BMT) suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) six months after the procedure. The study was...

Procedure Restores Menstrual Cycle in Primate Model.(transplantation of ovarian tissue could restore ovarian function)
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7 - (NewsRx.com) -- At the American Society for Reproductive Medicine meeting, held in San Diego, California, researchers announced that they had successfully restored ovarian function, menstrual cyclicity, and produced mature eggs in...

Researchers Explore Ways to Preserve Female Fertility.
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7 - (NewsRx.com) -- Researchers at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) meeting announced success with several different approaches to preserving fertility in women. A team from the University of Bologna, Italy,...

Some of Smoking's Harmful Effects Reserved Specifically for Women.
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7 - (NewsRx.com) -- Smoking can cause serious health problems for anyone, regardless of age or gender. But some of tobacco's harmful effects are reserved for women only. That is why health experts presented the latest research on...

Young Women Suffer More Aggressive Disease.(tongue cancer)
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7 - (NewsRx.com) -- Young women with anterior tongue cancer suffer from more and earlier recurrences than male or older female patients, although the cause of this discrepancy remains unclear, oncologists report. L.T. Galati and...

Women with Early Stage Disease Sought for Drug Evaluation.(breast cancer)
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7- (NewsRx.com) -- Iowa University (IU) of Iowa Health Care is joining the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP), a network of medical professionals funded by the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) to launch a...

AHRQ Awards New Research Projects to Help Victims.(Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7 - (NewsRx.com) -- The U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) announced November 14, 2000, the award of approximately $5.5 million in total projected funding over the next five years to fund four new research projects...

Japan Fund Will Help Female Street Children in Indonesia.
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7 - (NewsRx.com) -- The Asian Development Bank launched its Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction November 1, 2000, with a US$1 million project to help young female street children in Indonesia. The fund, which has resources of US$90...

Yale Research Program on Women and Drug Abuse Established.
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7 - (NewsRx.com) -- Drug abuse among women will be the focus of a new five-year, $2.5 million faculty training grant recently awarded to Yale University researchers in the Department of Psychiatry. The grant, funded by the U.S....

Researcher Investigates Anti-Depressants, Nursing Mothers, and their Babies.(effect of antidepressants on the infants of nursing mothers with postpartum depression)
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7 - (NewsRx.com) -- University of Iowa Health Care researchers are looking into the effects of antidepressants on the infants of nursing mothers with postpartum depression. Numerous studies have been conducted to gauge the extent...

Vaginal Microbicide an Accepted Formulation Among Women.
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7 - (NewsRx.com) -- Biosyn, Inc., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, announced that Savvy vaginal microbicide was found to be a highly acceptable formulation among women in a Phase I clinical study. Savvy is a product in development for...

Abnormal Gene Silencing May Lead to Disease Progression.(breast cancer risk increased)
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7 - (NewsRx.com) -- Scientists at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, have discovered that a mistake in the way DNA is labeled and packaged could lead to the abnormal silencing of a gene that plays an important role in keeping breast...

New Susceptibility Gene - ATR - Identified.(breast cancer)
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7- (NewsRx.com) -- A report published in the December 1, 2000, issue of the journal Genes & Development provides the first evidence that ATR may be the newest breast cancer susceptibility gene. Mutations in the so-called breast...

Recruiting At-Risk Women to HIV Vaccine Trials Isn't Easy.
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7 - (NewsRx.com) -- Recruiting women to and keeping them in HIV vaccine efficacy trials is a challenge. Workers in The New York Blood Center report that such efforts need to draw from a variety of sources and involve community...

Fatigue Common in Hepatitis C Patients, Especially Women.
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7 - (NewsRx.com) -- Women with chronic hepatitis C are more likely to suffer from fatigue, a new study conducted by researchers in France indicates. Age, cirrhosis, and purpura are also factors associated with fatigue in patients...

Obese Black Women More Prone to Insulin Resistance than Obese White Women.
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7 - (NewsRx.com) -- Obese black women, even those who are not diabetic, seem to display a greater degree of insulin resistance than their obese Caucasian counterparts, researchers writing in the International Journal of Obesity report....

Blood Flow in Uterine Cancers May Predict Progression and Metastasis.
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7 - (NewsRx.com) -- Blood flow rates and vascular endothelial growth factor correspond with increased angiogenesis in endometrial cancers, and might potentially be used as a good prediction factor for tumor progression and metastasis...

Oral Pain Relievers More Cost-Effective than Patient-Controlled Analgesia.(in treatment of post cesarean section pain)
December 7, 2000... 2000 DEC 7 - (NewsRx.com) -- Orally administered analgesics provide more than adequate pain relief after cesarean sections at a fraction of the cost of patient-controlled analgesia, researchers in Israel say. "Cesarean section is one of the...

Early Data Suggest Lasers May be Promising Treatment.(for uterine fibroid tumors)
December 21, 2000... 2000 DEC 21 - (NewsRx.com) -- Lasers are showing promise in zapping painful uterine fibroid tumors, the most common reason for hysterectomies. A study on the minimally invasive technique was presented at the 86th Scientific Assembly and...

Women Not Getting Adequate Health Care.(epilepsy)
December 21, 2000... 2000 DEC 21 - (NewsRx.com) -- Women with epilepsy might not be getting adequate healthcare according to a survey released November 28, 2000, by the Epilepsy Foundation and reported in the November 2000 issue of the Journal of Women's Health and...

Risk Highest During First Two Days of Menstrual Cycle.(migraine)
December 21, 2000... 2000 DEC 21 - (NewsRx.com) -- Women are twice as likely to experience migraine without aura during the first two days of their menstrual cycle than during the rest of the month, according to a study in the November 28, 2000, issue of Neurology....

Low Estrogen Linked to Heart Attack in Premenopausal Women.
December 21, 2000... 2000 DEC 21 - (NewsRx.com) -- A woman is more vulnerable to sudden, serious heart disease during the time of the menstrual cycle when her estrogen levels are at their lowest, according to a study presented November 14, 2000, at the American...

Hypothyroidism During Pregnancy Linked to Increased Miscarriage Risk.
December 21, 2000... 2000 DEC 21 - (NewsRx.com) -- Pregnant women with hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) have a four-times greater risk for miscarriage during the second trimester, according to a study published in the November 22, 2000, issue of the Journal of...

Oral Contraceptive Use Does Not Affect Bone Mass.
December 21, 2000... 2000 DEC 21 - (NewsRx.com) -- New research from the Pennsylvania (Penn) State College of Medicine shows that oral contraceptive pill (OCP) use by healthy teenage females does not affect their peak bone mass, or their growth. Peak hip bone...

Symptoms Generally Present Before Diagnosis.(ovarian cancer)
December 21, 2000... 2000 DEC 21 - (NewsRx.com) -- A U.S. national survey indicates that although the majority of women with ovarian carcinoma have symptoms before diagnosis, diagnosis frequently is delayed. The delay in diagnosis may result from omission of a...

Researchers Suggest Condition is a "Silent Epidemic".(pelvic floor disorders)
December 21, 2000... 2000 DEC 21 - (NewsRx.com) -- Pelvic floor disorders can be a serious cause of discomfort and even disease, especially among women. The disorders may prompt incontinence, vaginal or uterine prolapse, and hemorrhoids. Bowel and bladder problems...

Candidate Gene for Premature Ovarian Failure Identified.(inhibin alpha gene)
December 21, 2000... 2000 DEC 21 -(NewsRx.com) -- Researchers from New Zealand have identified a gene that may be implicated in premature menopause, also known as premature ovarian failure (POF), a condition affecting one in 100 women under the age of 40 and one in...

Age and Race are Significant Risk Factors for Vitamin D Deficiency.
December 21, 2000... 2000 DEC 21 - (NewsRx.com) -- Vitamin D deficiency is associated with bone loss and bone fractures, which are major causes of disability and death among elderly women, reports a study published in a recent issue of the American Journal of...

Successful Completion of Seven-Day Transdermal Patch Study Announced.(transdermal contraceptive patch tested)
December 21, 2000... 2000 DEC 21 - (NewsRx.com) -- Levotech Inc., West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, announced that it has successfully completed a 12-patient bridging study at the University of Tennessee for its seven-day transdermal contraceptive patch, containing...

Physicians Meet to Develop Consensus Guidelines for Abnormal Bleeding.(as an increased risk for uterine cancer)
December 21, 2000... 2000 DEC 21 - (NewsRx.com) -- Bleeding after menopause is associated with an increased risk of uterine cancer, the most common gynecologic cancer. The diagnosis of uterine cancer is commonly found because of abnormal vaginal bleeding after...

Survey Shows Women Unaware of Hysterectomy Alternatives.(for treatment of excessive menstrual bleeding)
December 21, 2000... 2000 DEC 21 - (NewsRx.com) -- Many American women are unaware of alternatives to hysterectomy for treating excessive menstrual bleeding. The data were released according to a small national survey released November 28, 2000, by the Society...

Study in Primary Treatment of Cancer Commences.(BICO Inc. in collaboration with Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center)
December 21, 2000... 2000 DEC 21 - (NewsRx.com) -- BICO, Inc. (BIKO), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and a subsidiary of ViaCirQ, Inc., announced that it has commenced a study with Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center utilizing the ThermoChem-HT System and...

Women Suffer Unnecessarily Due to Low Awareness of PMDD.(premenstrual dysphoric disorder)
December 21, 2000... 2000 DEC 21 - (NewsRx.com) -- Low awareness among women of the term premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), a severe form of PMS, might cause needless suffering. The data was released according to a recent survey (The Society for Women's...

Pattern of Genetic Risk Explored.(breast cancer)
December 21, 2000... 2000 DEC 21 - (NewsRx.com) -- An established hypothesis that explains the increase in risk of cancer with advancing age is centered on cell division. The older one gets, the more times one's cells must divide (or undergo mitosis), the greater...

Postmenopausal Use of Hormones Does Not Increase Risk.(for breast cancer development)
December 21, 2000... 2000 DEC 21 - (NewsRx.com) -- Postmenopausal use of exogenous female hormones does not significantly increase the risk for developing breast carcinoma in women with proliferative benign breast lesions beyond the level of risk already associated...

Cytomegalovirus Antibodies May Increase Women's Risk.(for coronary heart disease)
December 21, 2000... 2000 DEC 21 - (NewsRx.com) -- Antibodies to cytomegalovirus (CMV), a virus that lies dormant in many adults, may be associated with the development of coronary artery disease, according to a study in the November 14,2000, issue of Circulation....

Being Underweight or Overweight Reduces Probability of Pregnancy.
December 21, 2000... 2000 DEC 21 - (NewsRx.com) -- Extremes of weight are associated with reduced probability of achieving pregnancy in women receiving assisted reproduction treatment, according to a study in the November 23, 2000, issue of British Medical Journal....

Antidepressant Can Provide Effective Relief.(of fibromyalgia)
December 21, 2000... 2000 DEC 21 - (NewsRx.com) -- Although studies regarding the effectiveness of antidepressants in treating fibromyalgia are inconclusive, researchers writing in the Journal of General internal Medicine argue that evidence shows that they can...

Global Partnerships for Health, Biotech Content Announced.
December 21, 2000... 2000 DEC 21 - (NewsRx.com) -- NewsRx.com [TM], Atlanta, Georgia, recently announced partnerships with several international firms, including EBSCO Online, Factiva, and the new iSyndicate Europe-Bertelsmann venture. "iSyndicate Europe will...

Clonidine Can Extend Intrathecal Analgesia for Labor Pain.
December 21, 2000... 2000 DEC 21 - (NewsRx.com) -- Combining the alpha-2 adrenergic agonist clonidine with intrathecal analgesics can extend the duration of pain relief provided to women undergoing childbirth, researchers writing in the Canadian Journal of...

CDC Releases New Guidelines on HIV Counseling/Testing of Pregnant Women.
December 21, 2000... 2000 DEC 21 - (NewsRx.com) -- In an effort to increase HINT counseling and testing rates of pregnant women through revised counseling and testing guidelines, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued recommendations...

More Evidence Demonstrates that Soy May Reduce Risk.(breast cancer)
December 28, 2000... 2000 DEC 28 - (NewsRx.com) -- Including soy in the diet from the teenage years on could offer the best chance of protection against breast cancer, suggest researchers. A study of 120 Asian women conducted by scientists at the Cancer...

Antidepressant Alleviates Hot Flashes.
December 28, 2000... 2000 DEC 28 - (NewsRx.com) -- Venlafaxine, one of the newer antidepressant drugs, alleviates hot flashes in about 60% of breast cancer survivors and other women with postmenopausal symptoms, according to a new study conducted by the North...

Post-Cesarean Delivery Dilemma: C-Section Again, or Not?
December 28, 2000... 2000 DEC 28- (NewsRx.com) -- A new study shows little difference in risk between elective repeat cesarean, and labor with vaginal birth among women who had cesarean before. Indeed, the old adage "once a cesarean, always a cesarean," has...

Risk Related to Insulin-Resistance, Elevated Levels of Sex Hormones.(breast cancer )
December 28, 2000... 2000 DEC 28- (NewsRx.com) -- University of Buffalo researchers have confirmed a significant link between breast cancer risk and physical characteristics of insulin resistance and higher-than-normal male and female sex hormones in a woman's...

Study Finds Serious Bone Loss in 90% of Women with Anorexia.
December 28, 2000... 2000 DEC 28 - (NewsRx.com) -- Estrogen supplements do not appear to prevent bone loss in anorexia. More than 90% of young women with anorexia nervosa were found to have significant bone loss in a study conducted at Massachusetts General...

Violence Against Women is a Major Concern in Refugee Camps.
December 28, 2000... 2000 DEC 28 -- (NewsRx.com) -- Researchers are learning how to increase use of emergency contraception in refugee settings to prevent pregnancies and improve reproductive health services. Violence against women, including rape, is a major...

Short and Long Gaps Between Pregnancies Can Harm Women.
December 28, 2000... 2000 DEC 28 - (NewsRx.com) -- Women with gaps between pregnancies of less than six months or longer than 59 months are at increased risk of complications during pregnancy, finds a recent study. The research was carried out in developing...

There Are Few "Safe" Days in Menstrual Cycle.
December 28, 2000... 2000 DEC 28 - (NewsRx.com) -- Guidelines for getting pregnant - or avoiding pregnancy - usually assume an average woman is fertile between days 10 and 17 of her menstrual cycle. But researchers at the U.S. National Institute of...

Chemotherapy + Herceptin Improves Response Rate in Patients with Advanced Disease.(breast cancer )
December 28, 2000... 2000 DEC 28 - (NewsRx.com) -- The addition of weekly Taxol (paclitaxel) plus Paraplatin (carboplatin) to Herceptin (trastuzamab) improves patient response and disease control in metastatic, or advanced, breast cancer that overexpresses the...

Phase III Trials Underway Evaluating Herceptin in Early Stage Disease.(breast cancer)
December 28, 2000... 2000 DEC 28 - (NewsRx.com) -- Genentech, Inc., announced December 8, 2000, that four Phase III randomized clinical trials are currently enrolling or planning to enroll more than 10,000 women at 800 sites worldwide with early stage (adjuvant)...

Study Compares Letrozole Tablets with Tamoxifen for Advanced Disease.(breast cancer )
December 28, 2000... 2000 DEC 28 - (NewsRx.com) -- Novartis Oncology, San Antonio, Texas, announced clinical findings from two studies presented at the 23rd Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held during December 2000. The findings show Femara...

U.S. FDA Clears New Form of Long-Acting Contraceptive.
December 28, 2000... 2000 DEC 28 - (NewsRx.com) -- Berlex Laboratories, Inc., the United States subsidiary of Schering AG, Germany (SHR), announced December 7, 2000, that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved [Mirena.sup.R] (levonorgestrel-releasing...

Women in Florida Less Likely to Receive Antiretroviral Therapies than Men.(HIV infection )
December 28, 2000... 2000 DEC 28 - (NewsRx.com) -- A demographic study conducted by Georgetown University public policy researchers has revealed that women infected with HIV are less likely to receive antiretroviral therapies than men and as a result, their...

Phase II Study in Postmenopausal Women Shows Promising Results for Aromasin.(breast cancer )
December 28, 2000... 2000 DEC 28 - (NewsRx.com) -- Updated results from a randomized Phase II study in the first-line treatment of advanced breast cancer in postmenopausal women taking Aromasin (exemestane tablets) show that it may demonstrate a high tumor response...

Phase II Clinical Trial Announced for Immunotherapy of HPV-Associated Cancer Precursor.
December 28, 2000... 2000 DEC 28 - (NewsRx.com) -- Zycos Inc. announced the initiation of a multi-center Phase II clinical trial for ZYC101a, its novel therapeutic candidate designed to treat cervical dysplasia associated with the human papillomavirus (HPV). A...

Human Immunocontraceptive Vaccine Under Development.
December 28, 2000... 2000 DEC 28 - (NewsRx.com) -- Zonagen, Inc. announced that it has entered into an option agreement with Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, the pharmaceutical division of American Home Products Corporation, to collaborate in the development of a human...

Tubal Sterilization Poses No Greater Risk of Menstrual Abnormalities.
December 28, 2000... 2000 DEC 28 - (NewsRx.com) -- The largest, most comprehensive study of its kind to date has found that women who have undergone tubal sterilization are at no greater risk for menstrual abnormalities than are women who have not had the...

Automated Cell Imaging System Detects Overexpression of Breast Cancer Protein.
December 28, 2000... 2000 DEC 28 - (NewsRx.com) -- At the 23rd annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held in San Antonio, Texas, during December 2000, medical researchers reported results of a study showing automated cell imaging adapted from Star Wars...

Compounds that Block Growth Factors Could Prevent Fibroid Tumors in Women.
December 28, 2000... 2000 DEC 28 - (NewsRx.com) -- Scientists say that certain compounds could potentially be effective in blocking growth factors commonly found in fibroid tumors. Blocking compounds could eliminate the practice of using surgical interventions...

Vascular Growth Factor Regulation Could Dampen Effects of Fibroid Tumors.
December 28, 2000... 2000 DEC 28 - (NewsRx.com) -- by Sonia Bell-Nichols, staff medical writer -- Women who endure the unpleasant side effects of fibroid tumors could potentially see relief by using therapies that block a compound known to promote the growth,...

Middle-Aged Women Suffer Economic Penalty for Extra Pounds.
December 28, 2000... 2000 DEC 28 - (NewsRx.com) -- Extra pounds can be expensive for middle-aged women, according to University of Michigan researchers who analyzed data on more than 7,000 men and women in their 50s and 60s. The findings, presented November 19,...

Hepatitis and Rubella Screening Policies Not Always Followed in Hospitals.
December 28, 2000... 2000 DEC 28 - (NewsRx.com) -- Some hospitals do not always screen pregnant women the way they should prior to and following delivery, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention epidemiologists stated recently in the American Journal of...

Potent Platinum-Based Drug Shows Promise in Clinical Trials.(ovarian cancer )
December 28, 2000... 2000 DEC 28 - (NewsRx.com) -- Clinical trials of a new platinum-based cancer drug could hold promise for many cancer patients, in particular the nearly 25,000 women in the United States who develop ovarian cancer each year, according to...

Clinical Trials Announced for Microbicidal Contraceptive Gel.
December 28, 2000... 2000 DEC 28 - (NewsRx.com) -- Empyrean Bioscience, Inc. (EMDG), Cleveland, Ohio, announced that the first in a series of Phase III clinical trials has begun in Brazil to determine the effectiveness of the GEDA Plus microbicidal contraceptive...