Why Do Women Live Longer? [World] Women generally outlive men, and researchers are exploring the reasons why. Evolution may play a role, researchers note in the journal Human Nature. But other factors also work in women’s favor, and it’s possible for anyone —male or female — to work toward a longer, healthier life. First, take a look at the latest snapshot of U.S. life expectancy. In 2004, the most recent year for which such statistics are available, life expectancy from birth was 77.9 years. In 2004, life expectancy for U.S. women was 5.2 years longer than men. Women don’t just outlive men in the U.S. In April, researchers in England predicted that 2006 may be the year in which women outlive men all over the world, even in the world’s poorest countries.

Menstruation Is Fast Becoming Optional. [United States] For young women with a world of choices, even that monthly curse, the menstrual period, is optional. Thanks to birth control pills and other hormonal contraceptives, a growing number of women are taking the path chosen by 22-year-old Stephanie Sardinha. She hasn't had a period since she was 17. A college student and retail worker in Lisbon Falls, Maine, Sardinha uses Nuvaring, a vaginal contraceptive ring. After the hormones run out in three weeks, she replaces the ring right away instead of following instructions to leave the ring out for a week to allow bleeding. She says it has been great for her marriage, preventing monthly crankiness and improving her sex life. "I would never go back," said Sardinha, who got the idea from her aunt, a nurse practitioner. Using the pill or other contraceptives to block periods is becoming more popular, particularly among young women and those entering menopause, doctors say.

Midwives Offer Women Special Deliveries. [United States] So when the 33-year-old Fairfield mom became pregnant with her first child more than eight years ago, it wasn't the pain of labor that most intimidated her. It was the possibility she might be hooked up to machines, or receive an injection of anesthesia. "I knew that, when I went into the hospital, they were going to stick me with a needle," Luise said. Hoping to avoid needles, Luise delivered using a nurse-midwife. Nurse-midwives are advanced practice nurses with additional training in childbirth and prenatal and postpartum care. They tend to focus on how pregnancy affects each woman physically and emotionally. Luise opted for a nurse-midwife because she thought it would be a more "natural" delivery. Though doctors sometimes assist in midwife births, Luise decided to use a midwife. After some searching, she found Katy Despot, a certified nurse-midwife practicing in Trumbull.

Drug Trials Begin on Women With Breast Cancer Genes. [Britain] Clinical trials were expected to begin today of a new treatment for women who have inherited breast cancer genes. Studies suggest the drug carboplatin, already used for lung and ovarian cancer, could be up to 20 times more effective for women who carry the defective BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes than standard chemotherapy. There are around 1200 new cases of cancer every year in women who carry the genes and at the moment about a quarter of them relapse after initial treatment. Some women who know they carry the genes have their breasts removed and undergo hysterectomies to prevent the disease developing. The initial trials, being conducted in Britain, Israel, America and Australia, will follow just 150 women, but if the findings are as encouraging as hoped, larger trials are expected to follow.

No Magic Pill, After All. [United States] If someone invented a pill that could prevent breast cancer, women would line up to take it. Researchers thought they had the next best thing in 1998 when a study found that the drug tamoxifen, already used to treat breast cancer, could also lower the odds of getting it by 50 percent in high-risk women. But the lines never formed. Healthy people are not eager to take medicine for a disease they may never get. And tamoxifen has risks and side effects that apparently put off many women. It can cause hot flashes and other menopause-like symptoms, and slightly raise the risks of uterine cancer, blood clots and cataracts. Last month, the National Cancer Institute took another shot at prevention, when it held a news conference and jubilantly announced that a second drug, raloxifene, was just as good as tamoxifen at preventing invasive breast cancer - with fewer side effects. The finding came from a study that compared the two drugs in 20,000 high-risk women. But it's not clear that women concerned strictly about breast cancer will line up for this drug, either. A closer look at the recent study suggests that raloxifene's advantages may not be as great as the government announcement implied. Some cancer experts were less than enthusiastic, and patient advocates were downright skeptical.

Study: Lesbians' Brains React Differently. [United States] Lesbians' brains react differently to sex hormones than those of heterosexual women, new research indicates. That's in line with an earlier study that had indicated gay men's brain responses were different from straight men - though the difference for men was more pronounced than has now been found in women. Lesbians' brains reacted somewhat, though not completely, like those of heterosexual men, a team of Swedish researchers said in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A year ago, the same group reported findings for gay men that showed their brain response to hormones was similar to that of heterosexual women. In both cases the findings add weight to the idea that homosexuality has a physical basis and is not learned behavior. "It shows sexual orientation may very well have a different basis between men and women ... this is not just a mirror image situation," said Sandra Witelson, an expert on brain anatomy and sexual orientation at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. "The important thing is to be open to the likely situation that there are biological factors that contribute to sexual orientation," added Witelson, who was not part of the research team.

Health Experts Say Cause for Concern Over "Abortion Pill". [United States] Reports of rare bacterial infections, including a handful of cases in women who have taken the controversial RU-486 abortion pill, are cause for concern and warrant further study, U.S. health experts said on Thursday. Two sometimes fatal bugs -- Clostridium sordellii and Clostridium difficile -- are a particular worry as antibiotic resistance grows and infections occur in people without typical risk factors, doctors and researchers said. While the infections also have been reported in drug users, surgical patients and accident victims, including men, those found in women taking the pill drew the most scrutiny at a public meeting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Atlanta headquarters. Officials from the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health are seeking advice from outside experts to decide what research is needed to understand and track the infections. Paul Seligman, associate director for safety policy at the FDA, said it was unclear what was triggering the new clusters of cases. "What we do know is that in this country we are seeing the simultaneous emergence of two virulent, often fatal illnesses affecting otherwise healthy people," he said at the meeting. Drawing the most scrutiny are at least 15 cases in pregnant women, including 10 fatal infections reported recently in women who had given birth or who had miscarriages.