Women Health

The importance of friendships and family support in helping prevent depression among teenagers has been highlighted in research from the University of Cambridge. The study, published in the open access journal PLOS ONE, also found that teenagers who had grown up in a difficult family environment were more likely than their peers to be bullied at school. Adolescence is a key … [Read more...]

Prediabetes is associated with increased risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia and cancer. However, the disease risk considerably varies among subjects. In The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology DZD scientists have now summarized information from the literature and have provided novel data indicating that in future the determination of the 4 major phenotypes fatty … [Read more...]

Fibromuscular dysplasia, or FMD for short, is up to ten times more common in women than in men. But it’s often overlooked because patients and their doctors have a hard time identifying the symptoms. Here’s what you need to know about this rare and mysterious disease. Nurse Mary Lou Lucas has spent her career helping others understand their medical problems. But she was … [Read more...]

A new study suggests uric acid may play a role in causing metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors that increases the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Uric acid is a normal waste product removed from the body by the kidneys and intestines and released in urine and stool. Elevated levels of uric acid are known to cause gout, an accumulation of the acid in the … [Read more...]

Frailty is a common condition associated with old age, characterized by weight loss, weakness, decreased activity level and reduced mobility, which together increase the risk of injury and death. Yet, not all elderly people become frail; some remain vigorous and robust well into old-age. The question remains: why? Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva … [Read more...]

It sounds like science fiction, but it seems that bacteria within us -- which outnumber our own cells about 100-fold -- may very well be affecting both our cravings and moods to get us to eat what they want, and often are driving us toward obesity. In an article published this week in the journal BioEssays, researchers from UC San Francisco, Arizona State University and … [Read more...]

Wellness coaching has become an increasingly prevalent strategy to help individuals improve their health and well-being. Recently, wellness coaching was found to improve quality of life, mood and perceived stress, according to a Mayo Clinic study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Matthew Clark, Ph.D., L.P., lead author of the study and resiliency expert at the Mayo Clinic … [Read more...]

When women enter menopause, their estrogen levels taper. This increases their risk of cardiovascular disease. New research from University of Copenhagen shows that interval-based team sport can make up for this estrogen loss as it improves their conditions, reduces blood pressure and thereby protects the cardiovascular system. While aging and an array of physical … [Read more...]

The findings of a large international prospective study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology suggest for the first time that women with BRCA1 mutations should have preventive ovarian surgery (prophylactic oophorectomy) by age 35, as waiting until a later age appears to increase the risk of ovarian cancer before or at the time of the preventive surgery. Women with a … [Read more...]

Holidays abroad may hold the key to tackling Scotland's vitamin D deficiency, research suggests. People who take foreign breaks have higher levels of vitamin D in their blood, which has been linked to wide-ranging health benefits, a study has found. Farmers also have higher levels of the vitamin -- which is produced in the skin after exposure to sunlight -- according to the … [Read more...]

Chronic fatigue syndrome patients report they are more anxious and distressed than people who don't have the condition, and they are also more likely to suppress those emotions. In addition, when under stress, they show greater activation of the biological "fight or flight" mechanism, which may add to their fatigue, according to new research published by the American … [Read more...]

In a survey of high-achieving physician-scientists, nearly a third of women reported experiencing sexual harassment. "This is a sobering reminder that our society has a long way to go before we achieve gender equity," says study author Reshma Jagsi, M.D., D.Phil., associate professor and deputy chair of radiation oncology at the University of Michigan Medical … [Read more...]

Women who attended religious services more than once per week were more than 30% less likely to die during a 16-year-follow-up than women who never attended, according to a study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Frequent attendees also had significantly lower risk both from cardiovascular- and cancer-related mortality. "Our results suggest that there may be … [Read more...]

Vitamin D is important for the absorption and metabolism of calcium, as well as for maintaining healthy bones and muscles. Danes generally have too low a level, and this is mainly because the sun -- the main source -- is absent for much of the year. Getting an intake of vitamin D through the diet will therefore be relevant for many, but are consumers actually interested in … [Read more...]

A combination of two compounds found in red grapes and oranges could be used to improve the health of people with diabetes, and reduce cases of obesity and heart disease. The find has been made by University of Warwick researchers who now hope that their discovery will be developed to provide a treatment for patients. Professor Thornalley who led research said: "This is … [Read more...]

Taking calcium and vitamin D can help prevent broken bones in older women. However, this benefit may be cancelled out by an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. With the highest reported risk of hip fractures in the word, Norway has good reason to consider the benefits and risks of calcium supplements. The challenge is that too little calcium and vitamin D in your diet … [Read more...]

Logging on to social media sites frequently throughout the week or spending hours trolling various social feeds during the day is linked to a greater risk of young adults developing eating and body image concerns, a University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine analysis discovered. Gender, specific age, race and income did not influence the association; the study found that … [Read more...]

Individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) relive past traumas again and again, bound in a virtual prison of their memories. Researchers in the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio now report a biological mechanism that might explain why these individuals are less able to extinguish the fear of past dangers. The … [Read more...]

Eating tree nuts appears to help reduce two of the five markers for metabolic syndrome, a group of factors that raise the risk for heart disease and other health problems such as diabetes and strokes, a new research paper says. The paper found a "modest decrease" in blood fats known as triglycerides and blood sugars among people who added tree nuts to their diets compared to … [Read more...]

There is currently no specific diagnostic test for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), but now researchers have identified a combination of 16 different substances in the breath that, when measured together, can accurately distinguish IBS patients from people without the condition. Investigators analyzed breath samples from 170 IBS patients and 153 healthy controls, as well as … [Read more...]

New findings regarding the pathology of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) are bringing Griffith University researchers closer to identifying the cause of this disabling illness. This is the news from a team at the National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases at the Menzies Health Institute Queensland. Professors Marshall-Gradisnik and Don Staines and their … [Read more...]

A team of researchers led by McMaster University's Charu Kaushic has revealed for the first time how estradiol, a female sex hormone present during the menstrual cycle and found in oral contraceptives, may work to protect women against sexually transmitted viral infections. In a study published in the scientific journal PLOS Pathogens, Kaushic and colleagues describe the … [Read more...]

Always surrounded by an aura of mystery, the moon and its possible influence over human behavior has been object of ancestral fascination and mythical speculation for centuries. While the full moon cannot turn people into werewolves, some people do accuse it of causing a bad night's sleep or creating physical and mental alterations. But is there any science behind these … [Read more...]

In order to fight invading pathogens, the immune system uses "outposts" throughout the body, called lymph nodes. These are small, centimeter-long organs that filter fluids, get rid of waste materials, and trap pathogens, e.g. bacteria or viruses. Lymph nodes are packed with immune cells, and are know to grow in size, or 'swell', when they detect invading pathogens. But now, … [Read more...]

Three-hundred thirty-two thousand Americans have hip replacement every year. For most, the surgery requires a hospital stay, and weeks of rehabilitation.  Now, a different approach to surgery is getting patients back on their feet and out of the hospital faster than ever before. For 63-year-old Mary Farley, lifting up, stepping down and bending over are cause to celebrate. … [Read more...]

A protein that controls when genes are switched on or off plays a key role in specific areas of the brain to regulate metabolism, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found. The research potentially could lead to new therapies to treat obesity and diabetes, since the transcription factor involved -- spliced X-box binding protein 1 (Xbp1s) -- appears to influence … [Read more...]

A new study from UC San Francisco is the first to show that while the impact of life's stressors accumulate overtime and accelerate cellular aging, these negative effects may be reduced by maintaining a healthy diet, exercising and sleeping well. "The study participants who exercised, slept well and ate well had less telomere shortening than the ones who didn't maintain … [Read more...]

  Life events such as visiting another country or contracting a disease cause a significant shift in the make-up of the gut microbiota -- the community of bacteria living in the digestive system, according to research published in the open access journal Genome Biology. Two participants used smartphone apps to collect information every day for a year in the study by … [Read more...]

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have shown for the first time that people with higher levels of brown fat, or brown adipose tissue, in their bodies have better blood sugar control, higher insulin sensitivity and a better metabolism for burning fat stores. Their findings suggest that, because of the brown fat's ability to better regulate … [Read more...]

  A team of local researchers has proposed a molecular mechanism that may be responsible for the development of life-threatening diseases called amyloidoses. The best known of such diseases is Alzheimer's disease (AD), but there are many others that are receiving increased scrutiny, in part because of mounting evidence linking them to atherosclerosis and aging. The … [Read more...]