Spotlight: Health

Most Women Would Accept More Mammograms.  [United States] Despite the inconvenience and anxiety of being recalled for a repeat mammogram after a questionable finding, most women would willingly undergo additional tests if this would result in even a slightly increased chance of earlier breast cancer detection, a new survey shows.  "Overall, we found that women who responded overwhelmingly preferred this trade-off," Dr. David Gur and his colleagues report.  Guidelines urge radiologists to keep their recall rates at or below 10 percent in order to reduce costs and prevent unnecessary anxiety among women undergoing the screening test, the researchers note, but there has been very little research on what the preferences of the women themselves might be.  "Given the fact that mammography is not a perfect procedure and is not likely to become one, the need to involve women in the decision-making process concerning their own health may be obvious to some yet is frequently not met," write Gur, at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and colleagues in their report in the journal Radiology. 
Obesity, Estrogen Breakdown Tied to Breast Cancer.  [United States] Among women not using hormone therapy, obesity and the byproducts of estrogen breakdown appear to raise the risk of breast cancer, according to findings published in the International Journal of Cancer.   "Hormone therapy and body mass index (BMI) have been associated with postmenopausal breast cancer," Dr. Francesmary Modugno, of the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues write.  "Because estrogen metabolism may affect breast cancer risk and can be altered by weight and hormone therapy, it might play a role in the hormone therapy-BMI-breast cancer associations."  BMI is the ratio of body weight and height, and a score of 30 or higher is considered obese.
The Truth About Women and Heart Disease.  [United States] Yes, it's more common than you may think.  No, it's not inevitable.  WebMD teamed up with experts at The Cleveland Clinic to bring you the latest on women and heart disease.  Risk 1: The Cholesterol Connection.  Risk 2: Why Blood Pressure Matters.  Risk 3: Your Diet and Weight. Risk 4: Exercise For A Healthy Heart.
Women Fail to See Bone Risk.  [Scotland] Women are failing to appreciate the dangers of osteoporosis or hip fractures, a new study has found.  A survey carried out by the Alliance for Better Bone Health found only three per cent of Edinburgh women said they were worried about developing the debilitating bone condition osteoporosis.  Less than a fifth of those quizzed told researchers they were worried about suffering a fall later in life.
Gee, Women Have ... a Prostate?  [United States] Due to overwhelming interest, we're going to return to the G spot — a region of female anatomy associated with orgasm and occasionally ejaculation.  After my last column on the G spot ran last month, quite a few men wrote in or called.  Several said they were older than 60 and they sounded as if they'd been with enough women to have put together statistically significant scientific studies on female sexual response.  These guys for the most part wanted to express wonder at the great diversity nature bestows on the female body.  Those who reported they'd witnessed an ejaculatory event may have rubbed up against a woman's prostate.  That's not a typo.  In 2002, what was once an obscure female anatomical feature known as the paraurethral glands, or Skene's glands, was officially renamed the prostate by the Federative International Committee on Anatomical Terminology.  To understand why women would have prostate glands, it helps to go back to our embryonic beginnings, when everything was taking shape.  Popular wisdom says we all start life as female embryos, but scientists say we really begin as blended male-female beings.  "You actually have the plumbing for both genders in the early embryos," says University of Pennsylvania developmental biologist Patricia Labosky.  At eight weeks, males and females both have a proto penis and a proto prostate.  After that point, depending on whether your chromosomes say you're male or female, some parts grow and develop and others degenerate.  A few develop in different ways in both sexes:  In girls, what would become the penis instead grows into its sister organ, the clitoris.  And what would become the male prostate becomes the female prostate.  Just as the male prostate produces the fluid that carries sperm to their various destinations, the female version sometimes creates an ejaculation of fluid if rubbed the right way — through the G spot.
Women's Health Declines.  [China] Chinese women's health situation has declined slightly in the past decade, according to a report released by the China Women Research Institute.  "This is caused by the growing gender imbalance among newborns, the high death rate of baby girls, and high death toll of pregnant women in some areas," said the Report on China Gender Equality and Women Development: 1995-2005, also called the green book on women.  The average death rate of pregnant women declined from 61.9 in 100,000 in 1995 to 48.3 in 100,000 in 2004.  However, the book said, the regional disparity is alarming.  In remote ethnic minority areas, such as the Tibet Autonomous Region, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province, the maternity death rates all exceed 100 in 100,000, with the highest being 310.4 in 100,000.  The number of health centers for women and children has dropped sharply in the past decade.  The report said such centers amounted to 3,179 in 1995, but 2,998 in 2004.  "The decline will unavoidably weaken the health services provided for women," the report said.  In the past several years, the number of women taking gynaecological check-ups remained comparatively low, lingering between 38 percent to 39 percent, said the report.  The book, dubbed China's first comprehensive report on gender equality and women development, claims that development of women is based on gender equality and equality is based on the mutual development of both sexes.  It evaluated women's development nationwide in terms of health, education, economy, politics and decision-making, family and surroundings.
Silent Struggles in the Womb.  [United States] Pregnancy can be the most wonderful experience life has to offer.  But it can also be dangerous.  Around the world, an estimated 529,000 women a year die during pregnancy or childbirth.  Ten million suffer injuries, infection or disability.  To David Haig, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard, these grim statistics raise a profound puzzle about pregnancy.  "Pregnancy is absolutely central to reproduction, and yet pregnancy doesn't seem to work very well," he said.  "If you think about the heart or the kidney, they're wonderful bits of engineering that work day in and day out for years and years.  But pregnancy is associated with all sorts of medical problems.  What's the difference?"  The difference is that the heart and the kidney belong to a single individual, while pregnancy is a two-person operation.  And this operation does not run in perfect harmony.  Instead, Haig argues, a mother and her unborn child engage in an unconscious struggle over the nutrients she will provide it.  Haig's theory has been gaining support in recent years, as scientists examine the various ways pregnancy can go wrong.  His theory also explains a baffling feature of developing fetuses: the copies of some genes are shut down, depending on which parent they come from.  Haig has also argued that the same evolutionary conflicts can linger on after birth and even influence the adult brain.  New research has offered support to this idea as well.  By understanding these hidden struggles, scientists may be able to better understand psychological disorders like depression and autism.
Study Finds Limitations of Gene Test for Cancer.  [United States] The widely used genetic test for breast cancer risk can miss mutations that help cause the disease, according to a new study in the United States, a finding that is likely to increase the pressure to develop more thorough testing methods.  The test, which looks for mutations in genes called BRCA1 and BRCA2, missed them in about 12 percent of breast cancer patients from families with multiple cases of breast or ovarian cancer, according to the study's authors at the University of Washington.  Experts cautioned that the chances of such false negative results were much smaller for women who were not from such high-risk families, so that most women who tested negative had little cause for concern.  Also, if a woman is tested for the same specific mutation her mother has, the test is not likely to miss it if it is there.   Still, experts said women in families with multiple cases of breast and ovarian cancer should take precautions as if they had a mutation, even if none was found.

New Pill May Cut Breast Cancer Risk and Eliminate PMS.  [Scotland] A contraceptive pill that may reduce the risk of breast cancer and heart disease and eliminate periods could be available within the next five to 10 years.  Scientists believe the development could transform the lives of millions of women and would be safer than current forms of oral contraception, which carry a higher risk of breast cancer and heart problems.  The new Pill could also bring an end to the problem of premenstrual syndrome and other painful gynaecological conditions such as endometriosis.  But experts warned that progress on developing the new contraceptive is being hampered by political pressure from pro-life groups and the Bush administration in the US, who object to the fact it works in the same way as the so-called abortion pill.  At a conference to mark the 50th anniversary of the development of the Pill this year, Professor David Baird, emeritus professor of reproductive endocrinology at the University of Edinburgh, revealed that his team was testing the new compound on small groups of women in clinical trials.  Three other teams - in Sweden, Chile and the US - are also working on similar projects involving the same class of compounds.  The current combined Pill, which is taken by more than two million women in the UK, uses oestrogen and progesterone to stop ovulation and prevent pregnancy.  But oestrogen can increase the risk of breast cancer and cardiovascular problems such as deep vein thrombosis.  Studies have shown that women who take the Pill have a 24 per cent increased risk of breast cancer, although scientists have pointed out that only a tiny number more will be diagnosed with the disease as a result.
A Contraceptive Pill That Can Beat Cancer.  [Scotland] A new generation of contraceptive medication that guards against breast cancer as well as pregnancy could be available within five years, scientists predicted yesterday.  Patient trials of a drug that is used in higher doses to cause abortions have shown it to be an effective contraceptive with few side-effects, and animal and cell models have even suggested that it can protect against breast tumors.  Women taking the new Pill, which contains no female hormones, would have no periods and would thus be unlikely to suffer from pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS).   The contraceptive is also thought to carry a lower risk of blood clots than existing varieties.  If the early results are confirmed by larger studies, the research, led by the University of Edinburgh, would provide millions of women with a safe, reliable way of controlling fertility.  While the Pill is the most effective form of contraception, many are put off by side-effects from the female hormones on which it is based.

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