Heart Disease and Stroke

• Over 40, Female and Fatter? Beware Diabetes, Heart Disease. [Longview Daily News] Getting fatter around the middle? Have a family history of heart disease or diabetes? You could be headed for the same trouble, especially if you're over 40 and female. Yet, even many women with a family history of heart disease or diabetes don't know they need to eat a healthier diet and get more exercise to avoid those problems -- two of the nation's top killers.

• Special Bra Helps Women After Heart Surgery. [Globe and Mail, Canada] A new compression bra is proving to be a sure hit with women recovering from heart surgery. University of Calgary researcher Kathryn King came up with the idea for the bra for women who experience numbness, tingling and shooting sensations in their breasts after their chests are opened for the surgery. She said a study of 481 women in 10 cities across Canada shows that those who wore the bra had significantly less post-operative breast pain and discomfort compared to women in a control group.

• Screening is Best Way to Protect Your Life. [Toronto Star] Early detection of breast cancer is the key to improving your chance of surviving it. Screening women between the ages of 50 and 69 will detect more than 80% of cancer cases in those women, says Dr. Verna Mai, director of screening at Cancer Care Ontario. The risk of death for this age group falls 30% with regular screening. Regular mammograms are crucial so technicians can track subtle differences in the breast.

• Women Walking to Fight Breast Cancer. [WALB-TV] October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the Carlton Breast Health Center at Phoebe Putney wants to help women stay aware of breast cancers dangers year round. They continue to promote "The best protection is early detection" in the fight against breast cancer. The centers director hopes all women seek their critical screenings.

• Women Over 70 Urged to Get Screened for Breast Cancer. [This is London, UK] Women over 70 should insist on attending breast cancer screenings. Breakthrough Breast Cancer called for a review of breast screening for women over 70 after its research found that 90% of women in that age group had never requested a screening appointment and 28% of those thought there was no need.

• JARMC Suspends Operations at Women’s Breast Care Clinic. [Meridian Star] Jeff Anderson Regional Medical Center has temporarily suspended mammography services at its Women’s Breast Care Clinic. The decision comes after an annual inspection by the Food & Drug Administration in mid-summer. Since then, hospital officials said, they have learned that inspectors noted some compliance issues.

• The Trials of Giving Birth. [International Herald Tribune] Twenty years ago in Douala, Cameroon, I witnessed the same kind of death - women and girls with obstructed labor and botched abortions left to die, the one doctor totally overwhelmed and without basic supplies. Things are probably somewhat better in Douala today, especially for those with money, but not in Yokadouma or countless other places like it throughout sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and impoverished parts of Latin America. Lasting change requires that donors and recipient countries dramatically change their strategies, which means sustained investment in accessible primary care, strong systems to deliver supplies, trained and well-treated health professionals other than doctors, especially midwives, and a functioning referral system for higher levels of care.

• Childbearing Women Need Folic Acid. [PakTribune.com] Folic acid, also known as folate, is a B vitamin that’s found in some enriched foods and vitamin pills. If women get enough of it before and during pregnancy, it can decrease the risk for neural tube birth defects. The U.S. Public Health Service recommends that all women who could become pregnant get 400 micrograms of folic acid daily. This could prevent up to 70% of neural tube birth defects. But to lower their risk, women of childbearing age need to get enough folic acid before they become pregnant -- even if they’re not thinking about having a baby soon.

• Taller Women Likelier to Have Twins. [Houston Chronicle] Tall women are more likely to have twins, according to a study in the September issue of the Journal of Reproductive Medicine. Twin births have been linked to having higher levels of insulin-like growth factor (IGF), a protein that is released from the liver in response to growth hormone. This protein increases the ovaries' sensitivity to a hormone called follicle-stimulating hormone, which increases ovulation. 

• Women in their 60s 'Are Perfectly Good Mothers'. [Independent, UK] Age is no bar to being a good mother and there is no reason to prevent pensioners from becoming parents, researchers have found. Women in their 50s and 60s who conceive after fertility treatment are just as capable of being good parents as women in their 30s and 40s, a study has shown. The finding will bring hope to thousands of women who have delayed parenthood and seek help late in life to have a family. Even though they run greater risks of complications during pregnancy and childbirth, once their children are born they are just as good at raising them.

• Trial Draws Attention to Genital Cutting. [MyWayNews] The trial of an Atlanta-area father accused of circumcising his 2-year-old daughter with scissors is focusing attention on an ancient African practice that experts say is slowly becoming more common in the U.S. as immigrant communities grow. Khalid Adem, a 30-year-old immigrant from Ethiopia, is charged with aggravated battery and cruelty to children. Human rights observers said they believe this is the first criminal case in the U.S. involving the 5,000-year-old practice. Prosecutors say Adem used scissors to remove his daughter's clitoris in their apartment in 2001. The child's mother said she did not discover it until more than a year later. "He said he wanted to preserve her virginity," Fortunate Adem, the girl's mother, testified this week. "He said it was the will of God. I became angry in my mind. I thought he was crazy."

• Moderate Drinking May Promote Health in Older Women. [Reuters.uk] Older women who are drinking within the recommended limits of one to two glasses of spirits daily are more likely to survive and more likely to remain in good health than women who do not drink. "There is concern that older women may need to drink less alcohol than recommended for other women," study leader Dr. Julie Byles noted in an email to Reuters Health.

• Low Glycemic Index Diet May Help Women Stay Slim. [Reuters] Staying away from simple carbohydrates and eating plenty of fiber may help women avoid packing on pounds as they get older, a study by Danish researchers suggests. Dr. Helle Hare-Bruun of Copenhagen University Hospital and colleagues found that normal-weight women who ate a diet with a relatively high glycemic index gained more weight, more fat, and more padding around the middle over a six-year period than women who ate a low glycemic index diet. But larger, longer-term studies are needed to show how a low glycemic index diet affects weight regulation, Dr. Mark A. Pereira of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis writes in an accompanying editorial.

• Obese Women Face Greater Risk for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. [Forbes] Overweight and obese women are five times more likely than lean women to have polycystic ovary syndrome, a new Spanish study finds. Polycystic ovary syndrome, which decreases fertility, occurs when the ovaries malfunction and levels of the hormone androgen in the body are unusually high. Symptoms include acne, excess hair growth, and irregular or no menstrual periods.

• Young Women Falling Into Aids Trap. [AllAfrica.com] High-risk sexual behavior has become common practice among young women and girls struggling to make end meet in the semi-rural Embo area of South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal Province. Zandile Shange, an AIDS educator with the Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) operating about 15km north of Embo, expressed concern that young people, lured by the "fancy lifestyles" portrayed on television and in magazines, were placing themselves at risk of HIV infection. She told IRIN PlusNews that her awareness talks at schools had made her realize the extent to which some girls would go to feed siblings after their parents had succumbed to AIDS-related illnesses, or simply to get desired items that indicated affluence and social status.

Miscellaneous

• Female Liver Recipients Live Longest. [United Press International] Women who receive liver transplants in the UK live 4.5 years longer than male recipients. The agency said the average survival time for six-month liver-transplant recipients was 22 years; the averages for male and female recipients were 18 and 26 years, respectively.

• Asian-American Women Live Longest. [Ivanhoe] Women in Japan are recognized for having the longest lifespan in the world. But Asian-American women may live even longer. In 2001, the average life expectancy for women living in Japan was 84.7 years. According to a new study, Asian women in the United States live three years longer than women in Japan.

• Pointing the Way in Female Sporting Prowess. [Scotsman] Women whose ring fingers are longer than their index fingers are generally better at sport. A study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that finger length ratio can predict a woman's sporting prowess. It is uncertain what causes the effect, but the experts predict that genetic factors play a major part.

• Female Hormone May Treat Brain Injuries. [Reuters] Treatment with progesterone, a well-known hormone that prepares the womb for pregnancy, safely reduces the risk of death and disability in people who suffer a traumatic brain injury. Animal studies have indicated that giving progesterone soon after injury reduces brain swelling, prevents nerve death and improves functional outcomes.

• Women Match Men In Sexual Arousal Time. [CBS News] If you think sexual arousal happens faster for men than women, you might want to think again. Healthy young men and women take the same amount of time — about 11-12 minutes -- to become sexually aroused, Canadian researchers report.

• Smart, Rich Women More Likely to Have Orgasms: Study. [Globe and Mail, Canada] Women with graduate degrees are more likely to reach orgasm than their less educated counterparts. The survey, which interviewed more than 9,000 women, claims that higher levels of education and income are associated with a greater prevalence for orgasm among women.

• Faster Aging in Female Skin: Study. [WIS] A new study suggests that female skin ages faster than male skin. That comes from German researchers, who used a new laser imaging technique to examine the deep layers of the skin and measure the amount of damage from the sun and natural aging. It turns out, women lose collagen faster than men. When that happens, in come the wrinkles. The laser technique might one day aid in testing anti-aging cosmetics.

• Perchlorate Linked to Thyroid Deficiency in Women. [Los Angeles Times] Many women exposed to perchlorate, the rocket fuel chemical that has contaminated hundreds of Southern California water wells, have suppressed thyroid function, which can lead to health problems in them and abnormal brain development in their offspring.  Women with low iodine levels — more than one-third of U.S. women — were most at risk from the chemical, according to the report.

• Cola activates Osteoporosis in Women. [The Money Times, India] Women who drink too much of cola might end up with fractured bones. A new study reveals that the relation between the quantities of cola consumed by females and the chances of them having brittle bones were directly proportionate, i.e. more of the fizzy drinks consumed, higher were the chances of weaker bones.

• Study Faults Women's Prison Healthcare. [Los Angeles Times] Some prisoners held at the California Institution for Women in Corona failed to get basic health and dental care and told researchers they had often waited months to see a doctor or get their prescriptions filled, according to a study conducted by an advocacy group and the San Bernardino County Department of Health.