OBGYN Expert from Houston Methodist is available for interviews regarding the Zika Virus
Houston Methodist
Migraine headaches heat up as women approach menopause, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC), Montefiore Headache Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Vedanta Research. The findings were published online this week in Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, a publication of the American Headache Society.
UAB is among the first in United States to offer Pelvalon’s Eclipse System, a nonsurgical therapy for women who suffer loss of bowel control.
Overactive microglia—the brain’s immune cells—may worsen the damage from brain injury after stroke or head impact. A new study in American Journal of Physiology—Endocrinology and Metabolism reports that a compound produced from estrogen called 2-methoxyestradiol calms overactive microglia. The findings offer an explanation for why stroke risk in women changes after menopause and point to potential treatments for treating brain injuries in men and women.
A University of Iowa researcher is working with the Veterans Administration on a pilot program to help female veterans suffering from postpartum depression. MomMoodBooster is an online intervention tool that helps mothers who live in rural areas cope with their depression.
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have found a link between pre-existing nutritional deficits and immune dysfunction and the risk of hepatitis E infection during pregnancy.
A new study published in American Journal of Physiology—Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology finds that the female sex hormone estrogen has anti-viral effects against the influenza A virus, commonly known as the flu. The study supports why the flu may hit men harder than women.
A systematic review of the scientific literature on dense breasts by researchers at UC Davis and other institutions has found that determinations of breast density can be unreliable and that as many as 19 percent of women are re-categorized as dense rather than non-dense or vice versa from one mammogram to the next. The study also found that supplemental diagnostic screenings for women with dense breasts find additional breast cancers but also greatly increase false positive results.
If followed, new U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) breast cancer screening recommendations will result in thousands of unnecessary deaths each year and thousands more women enduring extensive and expensive treatment than if their cancer had been found early by an annual mammogram.
New and comprehensive analyses from six independent research teams examining breast cancer screening intervals have produced a unanimous finding — that mammography screening every two years for average risk women ages 50 to 74 offers a favorable balance of benefits to harm.
Public health experts think the key to success to turn our New Year’s resolutions into reality is to bring the “fresh start” mindset of the beginning of the year to the beginning of every week. Research conducted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health shows that Monday is akin to a “mini-New Year.” Reinforcing this “fresh start” Monday mindset with weekly cues and reminders can be a powerful tool in helping people sustain healthy behaviors over time.
Each year approximately 1 in 1,000 pregnant women will experience peripartum cardiomyopathy, an uncommon form of often severe heart failure that occurs in the final month of pregnancy or up to five months following delivery. But the cause of peripartum cardiomyopathy has been largely unknown – until now. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania analyzed the genetic variants that have been associated with another form of inherited cardiomyopathy, and determined that peripartum cardiomyopathy is often the result of a genetic mutation. The findings of this study are detailed in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine.
Scientists have found that women who suffer unexplained heart failure towards the end of pregnancy or shortly after giving birth share certain genetic changes.
Although a number of randomized trials demonstrate the clear benefits of mammography screening in women up to age 74 on reducing mortality, data are sparse in women over the age of 74, especially minorities. A new study shows that black and white women ages 75 to 84 years who had an annual mammogram had lower 10-year breast cancer mortality than corresponding women who had biennial or no/irregular mammograms.
UCLA scientists have developed a promising novel method to treat gynecologic tumors. The approach focuses on a protein called p53, which is commonly mutated in women who have high-grade serous ovarian cancer, the deadliest form of reproductive cancer. In many women with the disease, the cancer is very advanced by the time it is diagnosed and is therefore difficult to treat.
Using paroxetine--a medication prescribed to treat conditions including depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder--during the first trimester of pregnancy may increase newborns' risk of congenital malformations and cardiac malformations. That's the conclusion of a recent analysis published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.
Discovery of a new mechanism that may explain why some embryos are not useful for fertility treatments
The January Journal of the American College of Radiology (JACR) offers articles highlighting radiologists’ involvement in educating patients about mammography and making imaging safer for children.
Largest study ever of pulmonary hypertension could lead to easier treatment of the heart disease that most often affects young women. The oral medication Selexipag significantly reduced hospitalizations and worsening symptoms.
Bottom Line: Postmenopausal women with periodontal disease were more likely to develop breast cancer than women who did not have the chronic inflammatory disease. A history of smoking significantly affected the women's risk.
Despite the risks, the number approaches that for FDA-approved hormone therapies.
Active surveillance could be a viable alternative to surgery and radiation for select patients with ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS, according to a mathematical model developed by researchers at Duke University.
Women who have high levels of both testosterone and estrogen in midlife may face a greater risk of developing benign tumors on the uterus called uterine fibroids than women with low levels of the hormones, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
A new study finds some surprising ways in which women’s health at midlife is connected to when they had their first child and to their marital history.
A new study finds some surprising ways in which women’s health at midlife is connected to when they had their first child and to their marital history.
Dozens of the country’s leading experts in gynecology and related specialties are asking the Food and Drug Administration to rescind or revise a warning it issued severely restricting use of a device commonly employed in minimally invasive procedures to treat uterine fibroids.
Women with a history of a false-positive mammogram result may be at increased risk of developing breast cancer for up to 10 years after the false-positive result, according to a study led by a researcher with the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Childbirth is arguably the most traumatic event the human body can undergo, and new imaging techniques show that up to 15 percent of women sustain pelvic injuries that don't heal.
It is well documented that black, Hispanic and Asian women typically develop advanced-stage breast cancer more often than white women. As a result, black women are likelier to receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy, or chemotherapy prior to surgery, in hopes of improving outcomes. However, a Yale Cancer Center study published recently in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that among minority women treated with early chemotherapy, black women fare worse than the other groups.
A study recently published online on November 23rd in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that that those who breastfed were a great deal less likely -- up to 50 percent less -- to develop diabetes 2 in subsequent years than those who did not breast feed.
Researchers at the University at Buffalo are studying whether plant sterols can be used as a natural alternative to drug therapy for pregnant women who have high cholesterol.
Researchers in New Zealand have developed a new sensor that can detect low levels of E2, one of the primary estrogen hormones, in liquids. The sensor, described in the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B, has a simple design, gives real-time readings, could be integrated into an electronic monitoring system and uses very little power – advantages it has over other types of detection methods.
Preeclampsia is generally diagnosed later in pregnancy, but new research reports that the protein copeptin can predict the development of preeclampsia as early as six weeks of gestation. The findings could lead to diagnosis of the disorder in the first trimester, improving care and potentially leading to the development of preventative measures.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) posted yesterday its “Fifth Annual Report to Congress on High-Priority Evidence Gaps for Clinical Preventive Services.” This year’s report identifies evidence gaps related to preventive services for women and highlights several endocrine-related services such as screening for thyroid dysfunction, vitamin D deficiency and osteoporosis.
Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder, a disease often confused for multiple sclerosis, may increase a woman’s risk for miscarriage and preeclampsia during pregnancy, according to a study published in the November 18, 2015, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Transgender women may be at a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes compared with men and women in the general population. New research finds that transgender women who received only hormone therapy had poorer metabolic health than transgender women who underwent sex reassignment surgery in addition to receiving hormone therapy, suggesting that sex reassignment surgery may be metabolically protective.
Women with apple-shaped bodies – those who store more of their fat in their trunk and abdominal regions – may be at particular risk for the development of eating episodes during which they experience a sense of “loss of control,” according to a new study from Drexel University. The study also found that women with greater fat stores in their midsections reported being less satisfied with their bodies, which may contribute to loss-of-control eating.
Bypass patients who are older, female and/or from lower-income neighbourhoods are more likely to face delays in beginning cardiac rehabilitation (CR), making them less likely to complete CR, which can lead to a higher mortality risk, suggests a new study.
Wrist fractures are common among postmenopausal women who are younger than 65 and a new UCLA-led study suggests that they may also predict more serious fractures in other parts of their bodies later in life. The researchers on the study, published in the November issue of the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, found that one in five women who had experienced a broken wrist went on to suffer a non-wrist fracture during the next 10 years.
A UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center-led study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology identified a group of women with HER-2 positive breast cancer who could benefit from less intensive targeted treatment.
Cardiovascular disease risk in women increases after menopause and is associated with the drop in estrogen levels. Menopausal hormone therapy could slow the progression, but oral formulations also increase the risk of blood clots. A new study reports that whether a woman will obtain cardiovascular benefits from certain types of hormone therapy may depend on her genes.
More than half (52%) of women and a third (38%) of men reported doctor-prescribed painkillers as their first contact with opioid drugs, a family of drugs which include prescription medicines such OxyContin and codeine, as well as illicit drugs such as heroin.
Black women in Canada have substantially higher rates of premature births than white women, mirroring relative disparities in the United States, according to a study led by researchers at McGill University. The findings are based on new cohort data from the Canadian Live Birth, Infant Death and Stillbirth Database linked to the Canadian census data.