Exercise Combats Fatigue During and After Cancer Treatment
December 28th 2012The effects of exercise during and after cancer treatment are different, according to the findings of a new systematic review. Researchers concluded that exercise has a palliative effect in patients during cancer treatment and a recuperative effect after treatment.
Do pregnant women benefit from marriage over cohabitation?
December 27th 2012A cross-sectional nationwide Canadian epidemiological study suggests that marriage rather than cohabitation may have psychosocial benefits for pregnant women. Published in theAmerican Journal of Public Health, the results point to a need for research on maternal and child health that distinguishes between married and unmarried cohabiting women.
Ovarian Ca screening: Needed in non-BRCA carriers?
December 27th 2012A study published online by the Archives of Internal Medicine reports that women who are screened for the BRCA gene and found not to be carriers often undergo ovarian Ca screening, despite the fact that the lifetime risk of developing ovarian cancer is only 1% to 2% in the general population.
PCOS Increases Risk of Venous Thromboembolism for Women on Oral Contraceptives
December 26th 2012Women with polycystic ovary syndrome who take combined oral contraceptives are more than twice as likely as women without PCOS who take oral contraceptives to have a venous thromboembolism (VTE), according to the findings of a new study.
Microarrays beat karyotyping in prenatal diagnosis
December 20th 2012In a head-to-head trial, chromosomal microarray analysis was shown to be more effective than traditional karyotyping in prenatal diagnosis. Results of the study-which is the largest of its kind and which received support from the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development-reflect the accuracy, efficacy, and incremental yield of the technologies.
Even moderate smoking risky for women
December 20th 2012Researchers who prospectively examined the association between cigarette smoking/smoking cessation and the risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) have found that even “light-to-moderate” smokers (those who smoke 1 to 14 cigarettes daily) are at increased risk. The study looked at 101,018 women participating in the Nurses' Health Study without known coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, and cancer beginning in 1980. (The Nurses' Health Study has collected biannual health questionnaires from US female nurses since 1976.)
Study finds link between HPV risk and timing of 'sexual debut'
December 20th 2012Human papillomavirus (HPV) detection among older patients may be due to reactivation of the virus, not a new acquisition, according to new research. This fact, as well as the aging of the baby boomer generation-the first generation to have experienced the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s-means that perimenopausal women who are found to have HPV may have acquired it years before.
A decade of tamoxifen reduces BCa recurrence
December 13th 2012Doubling the duration of adjuvant tamoxifen treatment in women estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer reduces risk of late recurrence and death compared with the current standard-of-care of 5 years' therapy. So say the results of a large international randomized trial presented at the 2012 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and simultaneously published in The Lancet.
Hospital-employed physicians may be under pressure
December 13th 2012The New York Times claims that today, about 39% of doctors nationwide are independent, down from 57% in 2000, citing estimates by the consulting firm Accenture. The article "A Hospital War Reflects a Bind for Doctors in the U.S.," which appeared on the New York Times web site on November 30, 2012, discusses the state of healthcare in Boise, Idaho, which the authors call "a medical battleground" and claim is representative of the healthcare situation in many cities around the United States.
Practice Guidelines for Breast Cancer Follow-Up After Primary Treatment
December 12th 2012A review of new publications by the Update Committee for the American Society of Clinical Oncology found that the guidelines for the follow-up and management of patients with breast cancer who have completed treatment are still sound.
BPA found in fetal liver tissue
December 11th 2012A National Institutes of Health-funded study published in the Journal of Biochemical and Molecular Toxicology provides evidence that exposure to the compound bisphenol A (BPA) during human pregnancy is considerable, and that elimination of BPA occurs more slowly in fetuses than in adults.
Prenatal peptides promising in Down syndrome model
December 11th 2012A mouse model suggests that prenatal treatment with neuroprotective peptides may have potential in improving learning performance in Down syndrome, according to researchers from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).
Sleep apnea found to affect women's brains more than men's
December 11th 2012Sleep apnea affects women and men differently because of sex-specific changes in the brain. This is the finding of researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)'s School of Nursing, School of Medicine, and Brain Research Institute.
Systematic review ranks tocolytics
December 6th 2012Prostaglandin inhibitors, such as celecoxib and indomethacin, and calcium channel blockers, such as nifedipine and nicardipine, had the highest probability of delaying premature labor by 48 hours and improving maternal and neonatal outcomes, according to a systematic review and network meta-analysis published in a recent issue of BMJ.
What drives prophylactic mastectomy?
December 6th 2012Fear-not clinical indications-may be the driving force in women's decision-making about contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM). That is the surprising conclusion from a population-based study presented by investigators from Michigan at the 2012 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Quality Symposium in San Diego.