Feature Channels: Women's Health

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Eating healthier is a common recommendation for people looking to reduce their risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other medical concerns. Now a growing body of research is evaluating whether certain dietary changes can impact the skin by reducing the signs of aging and improving some skin conditions. Nutricosmetics – the use of nutrition or nutritional supplements for skin health and beauty – is popular abroad and may be the next frontier for improving skin health and beauty in the United States.

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In the search for new approaches to treat ERBB2 positive breast cancers that have become drug-resistant, Dartmouth investigator Manabu Kurokawa, PhD, led a team in discovery of a novel cancer resistance mechanism.

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Women whose bodies have high levels of chemicals found in plastics, personal-care products, common household items and the environment experience menopause two to four years earlier than women with lower levels of these chemicals, according to a new study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The findings are reported online Jan. 28 in the journal PLOS ONE.

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Older women don't have an increased overall risk of complications from breast reconstruction after mastectomy, reports the February issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

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According to a new study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, only 25 percent of women who had reported no earlier sleep problems developed moderate or severe insomnia or other sleep disturbances during a 16-year period around menopause. What’s more, the researchers say that these sleep woes did not appear to be caused by menopause itself, which may quell common fears about symptoms associated with this phase of life.

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Today the peer-reviewed journal Women's Health Issues (WHI) released a new Special Collection on Women’s Heart Health, with a focus on improving healthcare services to women at risk for cardiovascular disease.

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Women diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome – the most common hormone disorder in women of reproductive age – face a heightened risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, mental health conditions, reproductive disorders and cancer of the lining of the uterus than healthy women, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

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Researchers create first mouse model of ovarian clear cell carcinoma using data from human cancer genome atlas. They show how when the genes ARID1A and PIK2CA are mutated in specific ways, the result is ovarian cancer 100 percent of the time. They show that a known drug can suppress tumor growth.

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43% of surveyed female meningioma survivors aged 25–44 yrs stated they were warned that pregnancy was a risk factor for meningioma recurrence. Nevertheless, these women were more likely to want a baby (70% vs 54%) and intend to have a baby (27% vs 12%) than same-age women in the general population.

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A new breast cancer risk prediction model combining histologic features of biopsied breast tissue from women with benign breast disease and individual patient demographic information more accurately classified breast cancer risk than the current screening standard. Results of a Mayo Clinic study comparing the new model to the current standard, the Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool (BCRAT), are published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

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Women who experience moderate to severe hot flashes and night sweats during menopause tend to have lower bone mineral density and higher rates of hip fracture than peers with no menopausal symptoms, a new study finds.

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Despite the variety of effective treatments, and physicians who specialize in treating pain, women often suffer unnecessarily from conditions ranging from backaches to pain after cancer surgery, and also treat their pain with medications that may be ineffective and possibly harmful, according to a review of research related to women and pain by the American Society of Anesthesiologists® (ASA®).

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Postpartum depression (PPD) may have a diverse clinical presentation and this has critical implications for diagnosis, treatment and understanding the underlying biology of the illness, a new study finds.

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A new study from researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center characterizes the genetic underpinnings of a rare type of breast tumor called phyllodes tumors, offering the first comprehensive analysis of the molecular alterations at work in these tumors.

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A Georgia State University School of Public Health researcher's web-based training program has been proven to not only reduce the likelihood of college-age men becoming involved in sexual assaults, but also to intervene to stop an assault from happening.

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Once more, the multifactorial and heterogeneous nature of breast cancer fascinate researchers and is newly confirmed by the results of a study entitled “Anthropometric, metabolic and molecular determinants of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 expression in luminal b breast cancer”, published in December 2014 in the international journal Journal of Cell Physiology.

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Research led by Paul Lockman, Ph.D., B.S.N., the inaugural Douglas D. Glover Chair of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the West Virginia University School of Pharmacy and associate director for translational research at the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center, seeks to better understand why and how breast cancer can spread to the brain with the goal of developing a way to reduce the risk of this phenomenon.

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HPV testing alone is an effective alternative to current cervical cancer screening methods that use a Pap smear, or Pap smear-plus HPV test.

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Study indicates that alternatives to hysterectomy are being underused and that treatment guidelines are often not followed.

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Men’s eating habits are associated with the availability of healthy food sources in their residential neighbourhood but women’s are not, according to researchers at the University of Montreal and its affiliated CHUM hospital.

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A simple technique may be most effective in preventing heart disease after radiation therapy for breast cancer.

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Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey is referring breast cancer patients to a clinical trial examining the side effects of chemotherapy and hormonal therapy on the brain. Referred to as “chemo brain,” these changes can affect a patient’s quality of life.

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“Our data reveal that incontrollable urges to smoke are stronger at the beginning of the follicular phase that begins after menstruation. Hormonal decreases of oestrogen and progesterone possibly deepen the withdrawal syndrome and increase activity of neural circuits associated with craving” - Adrianna Mendrek

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ROCHESTER, Minn. — Women with atypical hyperplasia of the breast have a higher risk of developing breast cancer than previously thought, a Mayo Clinic study has found. Results of the study appear in a special report on breast cancer in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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Women who experience moderate to severe hot flashes and night sweats during menopause tend to have lower bone mineral density and higher rates of hip fracture than peers who do not have menopausal symptoms, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

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Although currently available diagnostic screening systems for breast are effective at detecting early signs of tumors, they are far from perfect, subjecting patients to ionizing radiation and sometimes inflicting discomfort on women who are undergoing screening because of the compression of the breast that is required to produce diagnostically useful images. New research suggests a better, cheaper, and safer way to look for the telltale signs of breast cancer may be with microwaves.

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Two-thirds of women treated for early-stage breast cancer in the U.S. receive longer radiation therapy than necessary, according to a new study published in JAMA this week from Penn Medicine researchers Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD, and Justin E. Bekelman, MD.

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What is the impact on expectant mothers and hospitals when there are large-scale closures of maternity units? A new study provides views from hospital staff members in Philadelphia, where 13 out of 19 obstetric units closed in a 15-year period.

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Women over the age of 70 who have certain early-stage breast cancers overwhelmingly receive radiation therapy despite published evidence that the treatment has limited benefit, researchers at Duke Medicine report.

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Pregnant women in Bangladesh with low levels of the most common form of vitamin E are nearly twice as likely to have a miscarriage than those with adequate levels of the vitamin in their blood, according to new research led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

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It is the season for predicting trends, so as they say in show business, "break a leg." Seriously, bone health is a major issue for women that is under reported.

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The Society for Women's Health Research responds to FDA data showing women and minorities are not studied enough in medical research.

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You might want to stand up for this. Occupational sitting is associated with an increased likelihood of obesity, especially among black women, independent of occupational and leisure time physical activity, finds a new study from the School of Medicine and the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

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Many women notice that their sexual health changes after childbirth, according to researchers from Loyola University Chicago. Loyola researchers have a study underway to determine the extent to which pelvic pain may be related to this change.

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Levels of testosterone and other naturally-occurring reproductive hormones play a limited role in driving menopausal women’s interest in sex and sexual function, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

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Women who take a common type of medication to control their blood pressure are not at increased risk of developing breast cancer due to the drug, according to new study by researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Murray, Utah.

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Women who take a common type of medication to control their blood pressure are not at increased risk of developing breast cancer due to the drug, according to new study by researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Murray, Utah.

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The number of pregnant women who abuse or are dependent on opioids (narcotics) jumped 127 percent in 14 years, leading to an increased risk of maternal death and stillbirth among other serious problems, according to a review of more than 57 million American women admitted for delivery. The results were published in the December issue of Anesthesiology, the official medical journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists® (ASA®).

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A UAB School of Public Health researcher has published a theory that suggests a mother’s activity and metabolism can influence her child’s likelihood of being obese.

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University of Adelaide research has for the first time shown how much of a critical role the natural antioxidant selenium plays at the earliest stages of a woman's fertility.

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Denosumab (Prolia®, Xgeva®) reversed cortical bone loss and increased bone mineral density, lowering wrist fracture rates in women with osteoporosis, according to new research findings presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting in Boston.

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About half the women in Israel have experienced considerable crisis after giving birth for the first time.

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Older women with disordered breathing during sleep were found to be at greater risk of decline in the ability to perform daily activities, such as grocery shopping and meal preparation, according to a new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the University of California, San Francisco.

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Angelina Jolie’s decision to undergo a double mastectomy inspired many other women to seek genetic counseling, too. But for women in rural areas, getting a genetic test can impose its own set of barriers. New research by Anita Kinney, PhD, RN, offers some hope.

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In honor of Veterans Day, the peer-reviewed journal Women's Health Issues (WHI) today released a new Special Collection on women veterans’ health, with a focus on mental health. The special collection also highlights recent studies addressing healthcare services, reproductive health and cardiovascular health of women veterans.

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Obesity in a pregnant woman may increase the risk that her children will be born with congenital abnormalities of the kidney and urinary tract.

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Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital will host an educational event Nov. 13 as part of a public awareness campaign to help women impacted by pelvic floor disorders (PFDs). Topics will include expert advice about signs, symptoms and treatment options for these distressing conditions; demonstrations of quick and easy exercises and tips to strengthen the pelvic floor; and anecdotes from women who have overcome a pelvic floor disorder and regained their quality of life.

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Vitamin D appears not to be effective for treating repeat occurrences of bacterial vaginosis (BV), the most common reproductive infection among women worldwide. While earlier studies have shown a correlation between low vitamin D levels and BV, new research shows the difficult-to-treat and frequently symptom-free reproductive infection isn’t altered by high dose vitamin D supplements. The findings underscore the need to confirm findings from observational studies through randomized controlled trials. Effective treatments for recurrent BV are urgently needed, because BV can cause spontaneous abortions and increase the risk of contracting HIV.