Atrial Fibrillation - Among Older Patients, Risk Of Stroke Greater In Females

A new study published in the May 9 issue of JAMA reveals that older women, especially those aged 75+, who receive the anticoagulant therapy warfarin after diagnosis of atrial fibrillation are more likely to suffer a stroke than men…

The Most Effective Emergency Contraception Provided By Intrauterine Devices

Intrauterine devices (IUDs) should be used routinely to provide emergency contraception, according to the authors of the first systematic review of all available data from the past 35 years. They found that IUDs had a failure rate of less than one per thousand and were a more effective form of emergency contraception than the “morning [...]

News From The Annals Of Internal Medicine: May 8, 2012, Online

1. Evidence Review: Screening Women for Intimate Partner Violence May Have Benefits, Few Harms Intimate partner violence, or IPV, includes a range of abusive behaviors perpetrated by someone who is in an intimate relationship with the victim…

In Mouse Model, Delayed Female Sexual Maturity Linked To Longer Lifespan

An intriguing clue to longevity lurks in the sexual maturation timetable of female mammals, Jackson Laboratory researchers and their collaborators report. Jackson researchers including Research Scientist Rong Yuan, Ph.D., had previously established that mouse strains with lower circulating levels of the hormone IGF1 at age six months live longer than other strains…

Fibroid Tumors Triggered By A Single Stem Cell Mutation

Fibroid uterine tumors affect an estimated 15 million women in the United States, causing irregular bleeding, anemia, pain and infertility. Despite the high prevalence of the tumors, which occur in 60 percent of women by age 45, the molecular cause has been unknown…

Environmental Epigenetics And Ovarian Disease

Washington State University researchers have found that ovarian disease can result from exposures to a wide range of environmental chemicals and be inherited by future generations. WSU reproductive biologist Michael Skinner and his laboratory colleagues looked at how a fungicide, pesticide, plastic, dioxin and hydrocarbon mixtures affected a gestating rat’s progeny for multiple generations…

Women In Resource-Poor Countries Can Flash-Heat Breast Milk To Inactivate HIV

An international team led by UC Davis researchers has found that mothers in sub-Saharan Africa could successfully follow a protocol for flash-heating breast milk to reduce transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) — the virus that causes AIDS — to their infants…

Exposing Fetus To Plant Estrogen May Lead To Infertility In Women

A paper published in Biology of Reproduction’s Papers-in-Press describes the effects of brief prenatal exposure to plant estrogens on the mouse oviduct, modeling the effects of soy-based baby formula on human infants…

Potential Personalized Therapies Based On A Woman’s Vaginal Microbiome

The delicate balance of microbes in the vagina can change drastically over short periods of time in some women, while remaining the same in others, according to a new study led by the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Institute for Genome Sciences and the University of Idaho…

Study Finds Invasive Bladder Testing Before Incontinence Surgery May Be Unnecessary

Invasive and costly tests commonly performed on women before surgery for stress urinary incontinence (SUI) may not be necessary, according to researchers at the University of California San Diego, School of Medicine and the Urinary Incontinence Treatment Network. The study, supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), was released online by the New England [...]