Women Health

In a city of 1 million, about 10 to 15 patients a year will come to the emergency department with indistinct complaints that hide a potentially fatal blood disease. "They usually come in the middle of the night, and the symptoms can be very nonspecific," said X. Long Zheng, M.D., Ph.D., professor and division director of Laboratory Medicine in the Department of Pathology, … [Read more...]

Though the belief that DNA determines weight is highly debated, it appears to be shaping people's lives. A new study finds that those who believe that weight is outside of their control have less healthy BMIs, make poorer food choices, and report lower levels of personal wellbeing than those who don't. This study was published in Health Education and Behavior, a Society for … [Read more...]

The aging process is associated with declines in brain function, including memory and how fast our brain processes information, yet previous research has found that higher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness in older adults leads to better executive function in the brain, which helps with reasoning and problem solving. Higher cardiorespiratory fitness levels have also been … [Read more...]

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender/Transsexual, Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ) community is a growing and medically-underserved minority population in the United States, with 3 to 12 percent of the population estimated to identify as LGBTQ. Moffitt Cancer Center researchers published one of the first articles that describe the current knowledge about cancers that may … [Read more...]

Since 1994, researchers at Case Western Reserve University have studied mothers--some who used cocaine while pregnant and others who did not--to understand how the drug affected their children's cognitive and social development. Their latest findings suggest a link between prenatal cocaine exposure and an adolescent's likelihood to have sexual intercourse before age … [Read more...]

In-depth interviews conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine of 20 young women attending an urban sexually transmitted disease clinic have documented a variety of unexpected, unintended sexual encounters linked to their alcohol use before sex occurs. Links between alcohol use and risky or deleterious sexual encounters are not necessarily … [Read more...]

Depression and personality disorders are the most common diagnoses among Belgian psychiatric patients requesting help to die, on the grounds of unbearable suffering, finds research published in the online journal BMJ Open. Drugs, given either by mouth or administered intravenously, are used to perform euthanasia in Belgium, where the practice has been legal since … [Read more...]

A follow-up of nearly 60,000 women who received a synthetic vaginal mesh sling for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence finds the risk is low for needing a second surgery for mesh removal or revision (about 1 in 30 women ten years after surgery), according to a study published online by JAMA Surgery. Female stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is a common condition that … [Read more...]

The burgeoning field of optogenetics has seen another breakthrough with the creation of a new plant-human hybrid protein molecule called OptoSTIM1. In South Korea, a research team led by Won Do Heo, associate professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and group leader at the IBS Center for Cognition and Sociality, together with Professor … [Read more...]

Frequent sexist wisecracks, comments and office cultures where women are ignored are just as damaging to women as single instances of sexual coercion and unwanted sexual attention, according to a new study out today in The Psychology of Women Quarterly (a SAGE Journal). "Norms, leadership, or policies, that reduce intense harmful experiences may lead managers to believe that … [Read more...]

Young women who are attracted to both sexes or who are unsure about who they are attracted to are more likely to develop an eating disorder than those attracted to only one sex, according to a new study from Drexel University. However, the results of the study suggest that females attracted to the same-sex are no more likely to experience disordered eating symptoms than … [Read more...]

Novel research reveals that the risk of acute gout attacks is more than two times higher during the night or early morning hours than it is in the daytime. The study published in Arthritis & Rheumatology, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), confirms that nocturnal attacks persist even among those who did not consume alcohol and had a low amount of … [Read more...]

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have identified a new immune disorder--DOCK2 deficiency--named after the mutated gene responsible for the disease. An international team of collaborators studied five children, four boys and one girl, from different ethnic backgrounds who had experienced debilitating infections early in life. The children were … [Read more...]

Roflumilast, a drug recently approved in the United States to treat severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), increases the production of a protein that causes inflammation, which possibly results in patients developing a tolerance to the drug after repeated use and makes the drug less effective, according to researchers at Georgia State University, Kumamoto … [Read more...]

Final results of the randomized intergroup EORTC, LYSA (Lymphoma Study Association), FIL (Fondazione Italiana Linfomi) H10 trial presented at the 13th International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma in Lugano, Switzerland, on 19 June 2015 show that early FDG-PET ( 2-deoxy-2[F-18]fluoro-D-glucose positron emission tomography) adapted treatment improves the outcome of early … [Read more...]

Lightly stimulating the brain with electricity may improve short-term memory in people with schizophrenia, according to a new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The procedure, known as transcranial direct current stimulation, involves placing sponge-covered electrodes on the head and passing a weak electrical current between them. It is … [Read more...]

More than six million American women and girls struggle with endometriosis, a chronic condition that causes pain before and after their periods. It can also cause infertility. In some cases, endometriosis is difficult to diagnose, but a new imaging method may shed light on difficult to detect cases. Twenty-eight year old Susie Veech has spent more than half her life in the … [Read more...]

Researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have found that patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease receiving home oxygen have a higher risk of burn injury. This study was published on March 30 in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Aside from smoking cessation, no other medical intervention has improved survival and quality of life for patients … [Read more...]

In patients who don't resume normal urination after surgery, a simple ultrasound test can accurately diagnose the common problem of postoperative urinary retention (POUR), reports a study in Anesthesia & Analgesia. Using ultrasound to measure bladder diameter provides a quick and inexpensive test for POUR, according to the new research by Dr Aurélien Daurat and colleagues … [Read more...]

Strong morphine-based painkillers -- are widely prescribed to patients experiencing chronic severe pain. While these drugs are very effective for treating and managing pain, they have one particularly bothersome side effect: constipation. A new drug, called naloxegol, could bring relief. In stage 3 trials reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, KU Leuven and … [Read more...]

Athletes and others reporting cognitive difficulties after a head injury are usually diagnosed as having had a concussion. But is it really a concussion? A new study published by University at Buffalo medical faculty finds that many of the same symptoms are common to concussions and to injuries to the neck and/or balance system, known collectively as cervical/vestibular … [Read more...]

Postmenopausal women who exercised 300 minutes per week were better at reducing total fat and other adiposity measures, especially obese women, during a one-year clinical trial, a noteworthy finding because body fat has been associated with increased risk of postmenopausal breast cancer, according to an article published online by JAMA Oncology. Physical activity is an … [Read more...]

Lou Gehrig's disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, attacks muscle-controlling nerve cells -- motor neurons -- in the brain, brainstem and spinal cord, leading to progressive weakness and eventual paralysis of muscles throughout the body. Patients typically survive only three to five years after diagnosis. Now, with publication of a study by … [Read more...]

An interdisciplinary research team in the Cedars-Sinai Biomedical Imaging Research Institute, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Regenerative Medicine Institute and Department of Surgery received a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop the first imaging technique used to identify biomarkers that could indicate patients have a painful, degenerative back … [Read more...]

Researchers have warned that sexual dysfunction should not be ignored in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome after finding that women with the condition experience significantly more sexual dysfunction than healthy controls. The findings are published online today in the journal Rheumatology. Primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) is the second most common systemic autoimmune … [Read more...]

During the 2012-2013 school year, 38 Chicago Public School (CPS) students and staff were given emergency medication for potentially life-threatening allergic reactions. This finding is detailed in a new Northwestern Medicine® report in partnership with CPS. Following national and local legislation, CPS was the first large, urban school district in the nation to develop and … [Read more...]

In May, the Los Angeles school board voted to ban suspensions of students for "willful defiance" and directed school officials to use alternative disciplinary practices. The decision was controversial, and the question remains: How do you discipline rowdy students and keep them in the classroom while still being fair to other kids who want to learn? A team led by Dara … [Read more...]

Whether recovering from an injury or dealing with everyday aches, tight muscles can be a pain in the neck. Functional dry needling is a new therapeutic treatment that stimulates twitches to provide pain relief. "Functional dry needling involves inserting a very thin needle into a trigger point, a small knot or painful area in a muscle to stimulate a small twitch," said Matt … [Read more...]