Heart Disease and Stroke

• Common Tests Can't Detect Many Heart Cases in Women. [Times of India] If you are a woman who has been experiencing recurring chest pain but heart tests show no abnormality, you may still have reason to worry. A ground-breaking research has found that tests like ECG and angiography often fail to detect certain heart conditions in women. It says the pathophysiology of heart problems in women is often completely different from men.

• Strong Link Between Specific Genetic Variations and an Increased Risk of Stroke in Younger Women. [News-Medical.net, Australia] University of Maryland researchers have shown a strong association between specific genetic variations and an increased risk of stroke in younger women, adding to the growing evidence of possible genetic influences in stroke.

• Drug Taken by Their Mothers Puts Women at Cancer Risk. [Scotsman, UK] Tens of thousands of women whose mothers took an anti-miscarriage drug are nearly twice as likely to develop breast cancer, researchers have warned. A form of synthetic oestrogen called DES was routinely given to pregnant women from the 1940s. A new study has found those now over 40 who were exposed to the drug in the womb are 90% more likely to get breast cancer.

• Women's Group Criticised Over Backing. [TVNZ, New Zealand] The Breast Cancer Advocacy Coalition says the latest women's health group to back Pharmac's decision to recommend against funding the drug Herceptin is ill-informed. The drug-buying agency announced on Friday that it wants more information before it can recommend funding Herceptin for women with early stage breast cancer. The Federation of Women's Health Councils supports the agency's stance.

• Women Get World-First Cancer Vaccine. [Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia] A group of Australian women today became the world's first to receive a breakthrough vaccine protecting them against most cervical cancers. Developed by Queensland scientist Ian Frazer, the drug halts the spread of sexually-transmitted human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes 70% of cervical cancer.  The vaccine, which also protects against two types of HPV that cause genital warts, is available for girls aged nine to 26.

• Cervical Cancer Vaccine Hard to Find, Expensive. [News-Leader.com] Many parents hoping to get their daughters a new cervical cancer vaccine at their back-to-school checkups are winding up disappointed. The expensive shots are often hard to find or not yet covered by insurance. The vaccine, Merck & Co.'s Gardasil, prevents infections from four strains of the sexually transmitted human papilloma virus, or HPV, which can cause cervical cancer, other genital lesions and genital warts. About 6 million Americans are diagnosed each year with HPV, which is among the most common sexually transmitted diseases. Because cervical cancer is the most serious consequence, the vaccine is recommended for women and girls only. A government advisory panel's recommendations said that ideally the vaccine should be given before girls become sexually active.

• Stress Worsens Ovarian Cancer. [Malaysia Star, Malaysia] Stress causes ovarian cancer tumours to grow and spread more quickly in mice, US researchers reported in a study that provides one of the first biological links between stress and cancer. In the mice, stress hormones attach directly to tumour cells and stimulate new blood vessel growth and other factors that lead to faster and more aggressive tumours, the researchers said. The study published in the journal Nature Medicine also found that a blood pressure drug reverses the effect. Dr Anil Sood of The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Centre and colleagues noticed that ovarian cancer patients who reported high levels of stress in their lives also had higher levels of a protein called VEGF, which stimulates blood vessel growth in tumours. Patients who had more social support in their lives had lower levels of VEGF.

• Ovarian Cancer More Aggressive in Obese Women. [Guardian Unlimited, UK] Obese women are less likely to survive ovarian cancer than those of normal weight, according to research published yesterday. The disease is one of cancer's most lethal forms. Most women who develop it are not diagnosed until the disease is advanced and 70% die within five years. The paper, published by the American Cancer Society's journal Cancer, suggests for the first time that a woman's weight can affect the course of the disease. Those who are obese, it says, not only have lower survival rates, but the cancer recurs sooner after treatment and they face an earlier death than women who are diagnosed at their ideal body weight.

• US Approves Over-The-Counter 'Morning-After' Pill. [ABC Online] Authorities have approved over-the-counter sales of an emergency contraceptive pill, ending three years of controversy. American women over the age of 18 will now be able to go to their local pharmacy and buy the morning-after pill without a prescription.  Conservative groups had fiercely resisted the move, claiming easier access to the contraceptive would promote promiscuity.

• Survey Shows Women Unaware of Morning After Pill, How Plan B Works. [LifeNews.com] A new survey of women finds that just a small percentage of women are aware of the availably of the morning after pill and fewer still know how the mechanism of the Plan B drug works. The morning after pill may cause an abortion in some instances and pro-life groups oppose the use of the drug for that and other reasons.

• Why Are Canadian Women Denied Drug-Induced Abortions? [Globe and Mail, Canada] Two decades after mifepristone, the so-called abortion pill, became available in Europe, the option of a drug-induced abortion is still not open to Canadian women. Why are women being denied a relatively safe, inexpensive and accessible alternative to a surgical procedure? Abortion is legal in Canada, but access to surgery remains inadequate.

• Young Women Travelling Interstate for Melbourne Abortion Services. [ABC Online] New research has found that young women are travelling long distances to access abortion services in Melbourne. A study has found that teenagers are two-and-a-half times more likely than older women to have travelled more than 100 kilometres to have an abortion. Some claim there are no services in their area, while others are concerned about privacy issues in country towns.

• Researchers Find Epilepsy Drug Poses Risk for Pregnant Women. [Contra Costa Times] One in five women who took the widely used epilepsy drug valproate in a clinical trial had pregnancies resulting in birth defects or fetal death, researchers said. The drug, sold as Depakote by Abbott Laboratories Inc., was substantially riskier to unborn children than three competing medicines examined in the study.

• Almost 40% of Women Don't Get Pap Smears. [Sydney Morning Herald] Two out of every five Australian women are still failing to get life-saving cervical cancer checks. But the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) figures bring good news too, with the number of new cases and deaths from the disease continuing to fall. The newly released AIHW report shows that almost 3.5 million women aged over 20 had pap smear tests in the 2003/04 financial year

• Passion Dies 'As Soon As a Woman is Sure of Her Man'. [Daily Mail – UK] It is a common complaint for many couples. However amorous they may have been in the first few years of the relationship, after a while the passion fizzles out. Now researchers have provided an explanation. Apparently, a women's libido starts to wane as soon as she feels sure she has got her man. Scientists believe the different sex drives of men and women result from the way humans evolved.

• FDA Considers Drug to Prevent Pre-Term Birth. [Forbes] The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering approving a drug to help reduce the number of premature babies. If approved, Gestiva would be the only drug available to help mothers carry their babies to term. But Gestiva does have potential drawbacks. It does not, for instance, appear to help prevent the earliest preterm births, which most often result in complications and death. The drug may also increase the rate of miscarriage and stillbirths.

• Many Pregnant Women 'Unprepared'. [BBC News] One in five pregnant women say they do not feel "emotionally ready" to have a baby. The poll of 1,100 women for Tommy's baby charity found many women were surprised at the physical and emotional demands of pregnancy. Half felt under pressure to be "perfect", and 44% said those around them felt the need to pass on "tips". Experts said more services should be available to support pregnant women and to stop them feeling so isolated.
  

• Women Perplexed by Choices for Menopause. [Monsters and Critics.com] As treatment options for menopause continue to expand, patients now have a variety of treatments available that can be tailored to their needs, experts say. Yet many women are confused because of the wide selection of options, as well as the risky side effects of taking such drugs, which include heart disease, breast and cervical cancers.

• Wyeth Vows to Fight All Menopause Drug Suits. [International Herald Tribune] Wyeth is facing lawsuits that allege its menopause treatments can cause breast cancer. The first of more than 5,000 suits involving Wyeth's hormone replacement drugs is scheduled to go to trial in U.S. District Court in Little Rock, Arkansas. A second is scheduled to begin in September in a Pennsylvania state court in Philadelphia.

• Tummy Fat Worse Than Obesity in Older Women. [PakTribune.com] Among women over 60, extra abdominal fat appears to increase the risk of artery clogging more than either overall obesity or pockets of excess fat located anywhere else in the body, researchers said. These findings suggest that "all fat is not the same in women," Dr. Robert Bonow of the American Heart Association said in a statement. 

• Many Female Athletes Don't Get Proper Nutrition. [Reuters] The number one nutritional concern for female athletes today is not whether they are drinking or eating too much but whether they are getting as much nutrition as they need. Based on her review of studies on the topic, Dr. Kathe A. Gabel advises the parents of female athletes to be aware that it is critical for girls to develop healthful eating habits at home and within the sports arena.

• Weight Loss May Worsen Cellulite. [Guardian Unlimited] The battle against cellulite: lose weight and you will help rid yourself of the"orange peel" effect. But research suggested that calorie-counting and chocolate denial - far from improving the situation - could make cellulite worse for some. Women who were significantly overweight looked better after losing a lot of extra fat. But women who had less of a problem who were most at risk of exacerbating the problem.

• '30% of Black Women Are Clinically Obese'. [Independent Online, South Africa] Obesity is on the rise among black women in South Africa, possibly in part due to fears of looking like an Aids patient. "Regretfully, there is also a perception that if a black woman is thin, she might have HIV/AIDS or that her husband can't afford to feed her well."

• Obese Women Warned of IVF Health Risk. [Independent Online, South Africa] Severely overweight women should be denied access to free fertility treatment in England and Wales and obese women must lose weight before being offered the chance to try In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF), experts said. They also said in a report that no woman over the age of 40 should be allowed to start National Health Service-funded fertility treatment, and that single women and same sex couples should be offered the same access as heterosexual couples. The British Fertility Society's recommendations, which suggest women with a body mass index of 36 or more should be denied IVF treatment on the NHS, go further than current NHS guidelines which say overweight women should be warned of the health risks but do not impose a ban on treatment.

• HIV Testing Can Have Severe Consequences, Especially for Women. [CBC News, Canada] Testing that results in an HIV-positive diagnosis can mean women are blamed for bringing HIV into the family, "even when their husband may very well have infected them, just because the woman was tested first."

• Cultural Obstacles to Abstinence and Being Faithful. [Aidsmap, UK] Certain cultural factors in resource limited settings pose significant challenges to prevention efforts and must be addressed to make it to adopt abstinence, being faithful, and correct and consistent condom use. “The reality is that for many women, these strategies are hard to implement, and fail to offer real options that [fit] into their daily reality.”

• HIV/Aids Positive Women to Proclaim Association. [AllAfrica.com] An association of women living with HIV/AIDS will be proclaimed for the promotion and defence of theirs and HIV/AIDS positive children's rights. The association that will be called "Mwenho", a local language word that means life, was established by a group of women interested to improve the condition of children and women infected with HIV/AIDS.

• ABC Strategy Not Working for Women. [AllAfrica.com] Uganda has received international acclaim for a job well done in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDs. The ABC strategy has however failed to protect women due to the actual sexual violence in marriage relations. In Uganda today women and girls are portrayed as subservient and therefore incapable of making any decisions including those relating to sexual matters such as when to have sex with their partners.

• India to Fight AIDS with Female Condoms. [Out In America] India will introduce female condoms later this year to help fight the spread of AIDS among its billion-plus population, with cheap supplies available to commercial sex workers, the state-owned contraceptive maker said Friday. "Female condoms will empower the woman to protect herself from infection," M. Ayyappan, managing director of Hindustan Latex Ltd. told The Associated Press.

• Women's Network Plays Role In AIDS 2006 in Toronto. [Voice of America] The world’s largest AIDS conference in Toronto, Canada will be attended by about 24,000 people. Among them are members of many women’s groups from around the world who have united under the banner of the Athena Network. The Athena Network aims to advance gender equality and human rights, as well as the global response to HIV/AIDS, based on the principles of the Barcelona Bill of Rights.

• Empower Women to Roll Back AIDS. [Toronto Star] AIDS, among the most deadly and destructive contagions in human history, came to the attention of doctors 25 years ago. Soon after that, a full-blown pandemic erupted, one shrouded in mystery and without any known treatment. To date, AIDS has killed 25 million people around the world. About 40 million are currently living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and an estimated 11,000 die each day.

• Research on Female Condoms, MPs Ask. [New Vision, Uganda] The parliamentary presidential affairs committee has recommended that research be carried out on possibilities of manufacturing a female condom better than femidom. In a report to the House, the committee was alarmed by the statistics about HIV prevalence, especially among women. MPs observed that since femidom was shunned by the majority of women, a better condom acceptable to women be manufactured.

• Female Condoms On The Up. [News24, South Africa] In some parts they are used as decorative bangles and at times it is derisively referred to as a "fish bag" - but female condom usage seems to be rising in South Africa, its second largest market in the world. The female condom has been around for nearly a decade, and in South Africa - which globally has among the highest incidence of HIV/Aids with about 5.5 million people living with the disease - forms a focal point of government's national HIV/Aids programme.

• R38m Spent on Female Condoms. [iAfrica.com, South Africa] An amount of R38-million was allocated by the Health Department to distribute condoms for women this year. Spokesperson Sibani Mngadi said in a statement the department was aiming to distribute three million female condoms this year.  "This follows indications that there is increased acceptability of these condoms amongst users," he said. Mngadi added that it was part of "deliberate efforts" to empower women to protect themselves from HIV infection.

• Critics Slam Findings On Female Sexual Activity. [AllAfrica.com] Swazi women have more sexual partners than men, a new study has found, but critics of the controversial report say this is driven by poverty. 60% of sexually active women said they had had at least two sexual partners in the past three months – 18% higher than men. Although the survey tested the assumption that male sexual behaviour was the primary cause for Swaziland having the world's highest rate of HIV/AIDS infections, it did not absolve men, HIV/AIDS advocacy groups said in reaction to the report. About 33% of Swaziland's sexually active adults are HIV positive, according to this year's UNAids report.

• Female Genital Mutilation Laws Failing. [Legalbrief] Efforts to save girls from the outlawed practice of FGM have not yielded the intended results. The Tanzania Legal and Human Rights Centre estimates that 1.5m women have been subjected to the practice, which the government criminalised in 1998. The crime is punishable by up to 15 years' imprisonment, a fine of up to 300 000 shillings (US$230), or both. The law has not resulted in any convictions, and the few adults who have been tried were acquitted, usually because their daughters were unwilling to testify against their parents.

• Harmful Effects of Female Genital Mutilation. [AllAfrica.com] A recent research by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has, once again, debunked the claim that female genital mutilation (FGM), a harmful traditional practice that is still prevalent in many African countries, reduces promiscuity. It also confirms that circumcised complications and risks during childbirth.

• Female Circumcisers Abandon Trade. [Middle East Times, Egypt] Fifteen Sierra Leonean women involved in female genital mutilation made a collective public declaration at the weekend "completely" to abandon the practice. They pledged at a public ceremony to work now toward "safeguarding the health of women and girls," the state-owned newspaper said. As a symbolic gesture, the women publicly set ablaze their instruments.

• The Evils of Female Circumcision. [AllAfrica.com] It is estimated that about 18% of women in Tanzania undergo FGM, though the extent is not fully known. In rural areas, 85% of the rural girls are mutilated while 100 percent of the Maasai women undergo mutilation in the Arusha area. Though outlawed, the practice continues as normal.

• Smoking Increases Chance of Rheumatoid Arthritis in Women. [Hindu] Smoking increases the chance of developing rheumatoid arthritis in women who otherwise lack genetic risk factors for the disease, reveals research published ahead of print in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

• Why Girls Will Always Be Girls. [Toronto Star] Girl brains are different from boy brains. So says Louann Brizendine in her just released The Female Brain. Brizendine, clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, says profound neurological gender differences do exist, and that the sooner we accept that fact, the sooner we can move toward a new "social contract" that will benefit us all.

• Marital Therapy More Effective Than Traditional Therapy. [South Asian Women's Forum, India] Researchers found that women alcoholics treated with behavior couples therapy combined with individual alcoholism treatment reported greater reductions in drinking and higher levels of satisfaction in their relationships compared to women alcoholics who received traditional one-on-one counseling or those who participated in educational lectures with their partners.

• Women Need More Help Getting Sleep. [Arizona Republic] Women are twice as likely as men to suffer from insomnia, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says. The trend has been developing since the 1990s when men, by far, were the usual patients at sleep clinics. Now, women increasingly seek help.

• Women Recalled Over Blood Tests. [Guardian Unlimited, UK] More than 600 pregnant women and new mothers are being recalled to hospitals after it emerged that blood tests for diseases such as HIV were not carried out. The National Blood Service (NBS) confirmed that 627 women in the north of England had been contacted about their tests for HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B. The introduction of a new form two years ago caused confusion among midwives who tested women between December 1 last year and July 31 this year, the NBS said.