Matria Healthcare To Provide A Major National Health Plan With Expanded Continuum Of Maternity Care

Matria Healthcare, Inc., (NASDAQ: MATR) announced that it will expand its maternity services to a major national health plan by providing maternity risk assessment, member education and case management support services. When fully implemented, annualized revenues are expected to be in the range of $2.2 million.


Under the new terms, employers in the health plan's network will be able to use Matria's services to assist in the management of their employees' and members' pregnancy-related needs across the entire continuum of maternity care. The health plan network includes more than 4,200 hospitals, approximately 575,000 physician and ancillary providers nationally and provides health care coverage to more than 5,000 employers and over two million people.


"We look forward to building on our established relationship to deliver a more complete continuum of pregnancy care," said Gregg Raybuck, president of Women's and Children's Health at Matria. "It has been our experience that the earlier risk factors can be identified -- even before the pregnancy has occurred -- the better the clinical and financial outcomes for patients and healthcare providers."


Matria's expanded services to the client comprise a preconception education program, maternity risk screening, member education, case management of complicated cases and 24/7 access to highly experienced OB trained nurses. Matria currently provides the health plan with its comprehensive suite of home-based obstetrical services. Additionally, Matria provides a full suite of health enhancement programs and services, including wellness solutions and the management of chronic conditions.


"Matria's extensive national network of obstetrical RNs has vast experience in assisting physicians manage hundreds of thousands of complicated pregnancies with excellent clinical outcomes, while helping drive down costs," said Raybuck. "With the addition of these services, it is our aim to further improve clinical outcomes and increase overall member satisfaction in our expanded relationship."


According to Raybuck, the vital link to successful outcomes is how Matria's home-based obstetrical programs closely partner with healthcare providers to manage and monitor complicated pregnancy patients.


About Matria Healthcare


Matria Healthcare is a leading provider of integrated comprehensive health enhancement programs to health plans, employers and government agencies. Matria is dedicated to developing better educated, motivated and self-enabled healthcare consumers and supporting clinicians in managing the care of their patients. The Company manages major chronic diseases and episodic conditions including diabetes, congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, high-risk obstetrics, cancer, musculoskeletal and chronic pain, depression, obesity, and other conditions. Matria delivers programs that address wellness, healthy living, productivity improvement and navigation of the healthcare system, and provides case management of acute and catastrophic conditions. Headquartered in Marietta, Georgia, Matria operates through nearly 50 offices around the United States. More information about Matria can be found online at matria.















Safe Harbor Statement


This press release contains forward-looking statements. Such statements include but are not limited to the revenue expectations from the expanded relationship and the impact of the Company's maternity services on providing earlier risk identification, better pregnancy clinical and financial outcomes and increased member satisfaction. These statements are based on current information and belief, and are not guarantees of future performance. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements include failure to achieve the anticipated revenues, inability of the maternity services to provide earlier risk identification, better pregnancy outcomes and improved member satisfaction, developments in the healthcare industry, third-party actions over which Matria does not have control, regulatory requirements applicable to Matria's business and the risk factors detailed from time to time in Matria's periodic reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Matria's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007. By making these forward-looking statements, Matria does not undertake to update them in any manner except as may be required by Matria's disclosure obligations in filings it makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the federal securities laws.

Matria Healthcare

Some GOP Sens. Plan Campaign To Oppose CMS Nominee Berwick

Senate Republicans are increasing their opposition to President Obama's nominee for CMS administrator, Donald Berwick, and developing a campaign against him over what they claim is his support for rationing health care, CQ Today reports. According to CQ Today, Berwick is "widely regarded as an innovator in improving health care quality, but Republicans see his views as controversial" (Reichard, CQ Today, 4/21).

Berwick is a Harvard University professor and president and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. If confirmed, he would lead the implementation of many of the health reform law's broad changes, including expanding Medicaid and controlling Medicare costs (Women's Health Policy Report, 4/20). The Senate Finance Committee will oversee Berwick's confirmation hearing, but no date has been set.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) on Wednesday said Berwick "has a history of support for government rationing of health care resources, … [n]ot on the grounds of quality, not on the grounds of survivability, but on the grounds of cost." Senate Finance Committee member Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said that he likely will not support Berwick's nomination. Roberts said that Berwick "wrote two books on rationing" and helped the British implement their National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, or NICE, which Roberts called an "acronym for their rationing system."

The Republican Policy Committee on Tuesday released a statement suggesting that U.S. residents might find Berwick's "desire to 'learn from and adapt' the British rationing system as troubling" and "indicative of Democrats’ government takeover of health care," according to CQ Today.

White House spokesperson Reid Cherlin said that "no one is surprised that Republicans plan to use this confirmation process to trot out the same arguments and scare tactics they hoped would block health insurance reform." He added, "The president is looking forward to [Berwick's] confirmation" (CQ Today, 4/21).


Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.


© 2010 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

Overweight Girls At Risk For Cardiovascular Disease

WHAT: New results from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Growth and Health Study suggest that girls as young as age 9 who are overweight are at increased risk for short-term and long-term problems that increase the chances of developing cardiovascular disease. More than 2,300 girls ages 9 and 10 were enrolled in the study and followed for more than 10 years. Researchers measured participants' height, weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol annually through age 18, and obtained self-reported measures at ages 21 to 23.



"Childhood Overweight and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors: The National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute Growth and Health Study," will be published in the January issue of the Journal of Pediatrics. The study was funded by NHLBI, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, all components of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).



Researchers found that the girls were more than 1.6 times more likely to become overweight during ages 9 to 12 years than in later adolescence. Importantly, those who were overweight were more likely to have elevated blood pressure and cholesterol levels compared to girls who were not overweight. In addition, girls who were overweight during childhood were 11 to 30 times more likely than non-overweight girls to be obese in young adulthood (ages 21 to 23).



The study also provides insight into differences between African-American and Caucasian girls. Black girls were 1.5 times more likely to become overweight at any given age than white girls. In addition, from ages 9 through 18, the prevalence of overweight was greater among black girls (from 17 percent to 24 percent), compared to white girls (7 percent to 10 percent).



WHO: Karen Donato, program coordinator for We Can! and for NHLBI's Obesity Education Initiative, highlights the importance of helping children adopt behaviors to maintain a healthy weight and prevent overweight as early as ages 9 through 12. NIH has a national educational program for families and communities that addresses this need. Called We Can! (Ways to Enhance Children's Activity and Nutrition), the program offers helpful resources and evidence-based curricula for community programs targeting children ages 8 to 13 years and their parents or primary caregivers. More than 125 communities in over 34 states are now implementing We Can! programs. More information is also available at wecan.nhlbi.nih/.







Further information



*
We Can! (Ways to Enhance Children's Activity & Nutrition), wecan.nhlbi.nih/
















*
Metabolic Syndrome in Girls (November 7, 2005, news release), nhlbi.nih/new/press/05-11-07.htm



*
Decline in Physical Activity Plays Key Role in Weight Gain Among Adolescent Girls (July 14, 2005, news release), nhlbi.nih/new/press/05-07-14.htm



*
"What We Know about Obesity Development During Adolescence: Findings from the NHLBI Growth and Health Study," presented at Predictors of Obesity, Weight Gain, Diet, and Physical Activity Workshop, Bethesda, MD, August 4-5, 2004, nhlbi.nih/meetings/workshops/predictors/abstracts/kimm2.htm



* NHLBI Growth and Health Study (NGHS), nhlbi.nih/resources/deca/descriptions/nghs.htm



Part of the National Institutes of Health, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) plans, conducts, and supports research related to the causes, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of heart, blood vessel, lung, and blood diseases; and sleep disorders. The Institute also administers national health education campaigns on women and heart disease, healthy weight for children, and other topics. NHLBI press releases and other materials are available online at nhlbi.nih/.



The National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- The Nation's Medical Research Agency -- includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit nih/.



Contact: Susan Dambrauskas


NIH/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Mother Jones Examines Indian Surrogacy Clinics That Cater To Western Customers

Demand for Indian surrogate's has surged among foreigners seeking a lower-cost, less-regulated alternative to U.S. surrogacy, Mother Jones reports. However, some Indian clinics are attracting scrutiny for cloistering surrogates in small dormitories, a practice the clinics say allows them to better monitor patients' pregnancies and ensure that surrogates have good living conditions.

India legalized surrogacy in 2002. There are at least 350 fertility clinics throughout the country, although it is unclear how many clinics offer surrogacy services because the government does not track the issue. According to Mother Jones, "at minimum, Indian surrogacy services now attract hundreds of Western clients each year."

Mother Jones focuses on the Akanksha Infertility Clinic in Anand, which has facilitated 232 surrogate births since 2004. Surrogacy services at the clinic range from $15,000 to $20,000, compared with $50,000 to $100,000 in the few U.S. states that permit surrogacy. The clinic requires surrogates to live in its dormitories during their entire pregnancies, and surrogates receive $50 monthly up to delivery, which almost always is performed by caesarean section. According to Mother Jones, c-sections "are considered riskier for the baby under normal circumstances and double to triple the woman's risk of death during childbirth," but they are "far faster than vaginal labor -- and some clinics charge clients extra for them."

Surrogates also receive $500 at the end of each trimester, and the balance of the payment upon delivery. In total, women at the Akanksha clinic who deliver receive about $5,000 to $6,000, Mother Jones reports. If a surrogate miscarries, she is allowed to keep the payments she has received up to that point. Under the clinic's contract, a surrogate also is permitted to obtain an abortion, but she must reimburse the clinic and client for all expenses.

Despite the surrogacy industry's growth, it is not officially regulated by the Indian government, and there are no legal standards for the treatment of surrogates. India's Parliament is expected to introduce a bill this year that would address surrogacy concerns, likely granting regulatory responsibility to the states (Carney, Mother Jones, March/April 2010).


Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.


© 2010 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

International Law Permits Abusive Fathers Custody Of Children

A new survey of court cases against battered women living abroad shows that when the women left their abusive partners and returned with their children to the United States, half of the time, U.S. courts sent the children back, usually to their fathers.



The survey, co-authored by a University of Washington researcher, also shows that almost a third of these estranged husbands filed criminal kidnapping charges against their wives.



Released in time for Human Rights Day, Dec. 10, the survey is intended to help to establish domestic violence as a factor in whether courts send children back to their fathers. And the authors of the report hope their website serves as a resource for women and lawyers faced with Hague petitions.



The children's return is in accordance with an international treaty, the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, which affects thousands of children each year.



The Hague Convention does not explicitly factor in domestic violence in deciding whether to send children back to the country where they lived. But since the treaty was created 30 years ago, social science research has demonstrated that a child's exposure to domestic violence is just as harmful as direct abuse. Children who witness domestic violence are at higher risk for emotional problems, and later in life, they have a greater risk for violence in adult interpersonal relationships.



Now social scientists say that it's time for the law to catch up with science, especially as these cases are likely to dramatically increase as more binational families form and countries such as India and Japan consider adopting the treaty in the next few years.



"The law is not paying attention to the effects domestic violence have on women and their children," said Taryn Lindhorst, co-author of the report and a UW associate professor of social work. "This is like a tip of an iceberg: we've only seen some of the cases."



Lindhorst, an expert in the effects of domestic abuse for women, co-authored the report. The report is the first effort in the United States to interview mothers and attorneys about their experiences with the Hague Convention, in hopes of better preparing mothers and their lawyers for court proceedings in these cases.



The 404-page report, funded and published by the U.S. National Institute of Justice, includes analysis and excerpts of interviews with 22 mothers and 23 lawyers who represented mothers and fathers in Hague lawsuits and an analysis of court decisions on previous Hague cases involving domestic violence.



Most of the mothers had been living with their husbands in Europe, the Middle East or Latin America. They had moved abroad when their marriages were more stable or they had been tricked into moving.



In the report, the co-authors describe frequent, life-threatening domestic abuse endured by the women: beatings, threats with guns, ice picks and other weapons and - in a few cases - rape. Since most of the women were not citizens of the country where they were living, they were usually unable to obtain resources available to domestic violence victims in that country.
















Moving back to the United States became the best option.



None of the women in the study knew about the Hague Convention before returning to the United States, Lindhorst said. Many of them learned about it when federal agents arrived at their homes to take their children into custody. Some mothers were required to be in court within a matter of hours. Scrambling for a lawyer, most could not find a lawyer experienced with the Hague Convention.



The court decisions were grim for the women. In almost half, 12 of 22, the court sent the children back to the country they had fled from with their mothers. In seven of those cases, the fathers gained custody. Seven women - a third of the sample - also faced criminal kidnapping charges in foreign courts.



Ironically, when the Hague Convention Treaty was created in 1980, it was intended to protect women and children. Lawmakers wanted to expedite the return of children taken by a parent - usually the father - who was unsatisfied by a child custody decision.



But, as it turns out, the law has been used primarily by fathers. Nearly 70 percent of Hague petitions are filed by fathers, said Jeffrey Edleson, co-author and professor of social work at the University of Minnesota.



"In many cases, filing a Hague petition is an attempt by the abusive father to use the court to extend control over mother and child," said Edleson, an expert on children's exposure to domestic violence in the home.



In the Hague Convention cases examined in the report, courts tended not to consider domestic violence toward the mother when assessing whether the children should be returned to their father. In cases where the children are returned and end up in the fathers' care, it's because the judges see the mother as a kidnapper, Edleson said.



Once returned to the father, the children may be exposed to more violence. Typically, the mothers move back too to be closer to their children and some were abused again. Sometimes the fathers would physically abuse their children.



The report is part of the HagueDV Project on international child abduction and domestic violence, led by Lindhorst and Edleson. On Human Rights Day, Dec. 10, the group will hold a free event in Minneapolis of actors reading the battered mothers' stories interspersed with commentary by law and social science experts. The event will also be available by webcast.



Source:

Molly McElroy

University of Washington

80 Percent Of Cases Of Postnatal Depression Predicted By New Method

Worldwide, 13% of women who give birth suffer from postnatal depression, which causes a significant deterioration in a mother's quality of life and her ability to care for her baby. Now, Spanish researchers have developed a model to diagnose this illness with a predictive power of 80% - the best result to date for this kind of depression.



"Early diagnosis of postnatal depression would make it possible to intervene to prevent it from developing among women at risk", Salvador Tortajada, lead author of the study and a researcher at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), tells SINC.



The experts studied data on 1,397 Spanish women who gave birth between December 2003 and October 2004 in seven hospitals in Spain, and devised various models that can predict - with an 80% success rate - which mothers run the risk of developing depression during the first weeks after giving birth.



This study, which is the first of its kind in Spain and has been published recently in the journal Methods of Information in Medicine, gives the best results to date in terms of predicting this illness. "Now it needs clinical evaluation, and for psychiatrists to start to test it directly on patients in order to study the true potential of these tools", says Tortajada.



The researchers used artificial neuronal networks and extracted a series of risk factors highlighted in previous studies - the extent of social support for the mother, prior psychiatric problems in the family, emotional changes during the birth, neuroticism and polymorphisms in the serotonin transport gene (genes with high levels of expression lead to an increased risk of developing the illness).



They also discovered two protection factors that reduce the risk of depression - age (the older the woman the lower her chance of depression), and whether or not a woman has worked during pregnancy (which reduces the risk). The researcher points out that: "it can be seen that these factors are relevant in the neuronal networks, but not by using other statistical methods". The path is now clear for future studies to corroborate these findings.



However, many studies have shown that between 10 and 15% of women who give birth suffer from depression, normally between the second and third month after having given birth. This illness affects the patient's emotional and cognitive functions (in extreme cases leading to suicidal tendencies), and may have serious knock-on effects on the child's future development.



Source:
SINC


FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology

Obama's Call For 'Empathy' In Supreme Court Justice Reflects 'Understanding Of Judicial Role,' Opinion Piece Says

President Obama has said he wants his replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter to be "'someone who understands that justice isn't about some abstract theory or footnote in a case book; it is also about how our laws affect the daily realities of people's lives,'" Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus writes in an opinion piece. Obama also has said that the "'quality of empathy'" is an "'essential ingredient for arriving at just decision and outcomes.'" According to Marcus, this call for a "quality of empathy" is a "red alert for conservatives," who fear Obama will appoint an "activist judge" who would rule based on partisan views. She notes that Steven Calabresi, a law professor at Northwestern University and co-founder of the Federalist Society, said in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece before the election that Obama's "emphasis on empathy in essence requires the appointment of judges committed in advance to violating" a judge's oath to rule with equal justice to all people. According to Calabresi, Obama is advocating to "tear the blindfold off, so the judge can rule for the party he emphasizes with most."

Marcus writes that she also would "be on the barricades" if she thought Obama was "advocating for a pick-your-favorite-side approach." However, Obama's position "reflects a more thoughtful, more nuanced understanding of the judicial role," as opposed to Chief Justice John Roberts' analogy that likens a justice to a baseball umpire. Marcus continues, "Like its downscale cousin, the dictate that judges should 'interpret the law, not legislate from the bench,' the judge as umpire trope is fundamentally misleading," adding that if the correct conclusion "was always available to a judge who merely thinks hard enough about it, we could program computers to fulfill the judicial function." The most important Supreme Court cases require a judge to bring "life experiences" to the bench, as well as knowledge of the rule of the courts, and finally, "as Obama put it, 'a broader version of what America should be,'" Marcus says.

Marcus writes that Obama's "most controversial formulation of the empathy argument came in a 2007 speech to Planned Parenthood." Obama said, "The issues that come before the court are not sport. They're life and death. And we need somebody who's got ... the empathy to recognize what it's like to be a young, teenage mom; the empathy to understand what it's like to be poor or African American or gay or disabled or old." Marcus writes that having the "'empathy to recognize' should not determine the outcome of a case, but it should inform the judge's approach," concluding that a justice's "blindfold is a useful metaphor for impartiality. It's not a fixed prescription for insensitivity, or for obliviousness to the real world swirling outside the arid confines of the courthouse" (Marcus, Washington Post, 5/6).


Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.


© 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

UN Commission on Women Passes Economic Measure With Reproductive Rights Amendment

The 45-member... U.N. Commission on the Status of Women on Friday, which was the final day of a two-week U.N. meeting in New York, adopted a resolution -- originally proposed by the United States -- that calls for economic equality for women and includes an amendment mentioning "reproductive rights," Reuters reports. The commission adopted the resolution despite opposition to the amendment from U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Ellen Sauerbrey. South African delegates proposed the reproductive rights-related amendment, which states that the "neglect of women's reproductive rights severely limits their opportunities in public and private life" (Leopold, Reuters, 3/12). Sauerbrey said that the United States intended the resolution to focus on entrepreneurship and expressed "disma[y]" that the resolution "was getting away from its original intent," the AP/San Francisco Chronicle reports (Wadhams, AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 3/11). She said that the amendment "is not acceptable to the United States," adding, "We worked very hard during the course of negotiations to arrive at language that was broad and was acceptable to most delegations" (Reuters, 3/12).

Earlier U.S. Objections
Earlier in the meeting, the commission unanimously approved a one-page declaration supporting the Platform for Action adopted at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing after U.S. delegates agreed to drop an amendment that would have clarified that the platform does not include a right to abortion. The declaration asked the participating countries to reaffirm progress toward the Beijing platform, which stated that abortion should be safe in places where it is legal and that criminal charges should not be filed against any woman who undergoes an illegal abortion. The platform also stated that women have the right to "decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality ... free of coercion, discrimination and violence." Bush administration representatives at first said the United States would not sign the declaration because of concerns that the platform classified legal abortion as a human right and proposed an amendment that would reaffirm U.S. commitment to the platform and declaration "while reaffirming that they do not create any new international human rights and that they do not include the right to abortion." However, most member nations rejected even a "watered down" version of the U.S. amendment, and the declaration passed in its original form (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 3/7).


"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at www.kaisernetwork/dailyreports/repro The Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report Highlights Issues In Various States

The following highlights recent news of state actions on women's health issues.

Abortion Regulations
Kansas: State lawmakers on Thursday failed by four votes to override Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' (D) veto of a measure (SB 528) that would have required physicians who perform late-term abortions to supply the state with data about women undergoing the procedure, the AP/Kansas City Star reports (AP/Kansas City Star, 5/25). The measure, which Sebelius vetoed last Friday, would have required physicians to submit to state health officials information detailing fetal abnormalities, the pregnant woman's health and the name of the physician who authorized the abortion (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 5/23). State lawmakers voted 23-12 to override Sebelius' veto, falling short of the required two-thirds majority of 27 votes, according to the Wichita Eagle (Klepper/Sullinger, Wichita Eagle, 5/26).

South Carolina: The state House on Thursday voted 81-18 to preliminarily approve a bill (S 1084) that would make it a separate crime to injure or kill a fetus during the assault of a pregnant woman, the AP/Columbia State reports (AP/Columbia State, 5/25). The measure -- which the state Senate preliminarily approved in March -- would apply only to violent crimes and would exempt legal abortion procedures from prosecution. The legislation would allow prosecution for murder and attempted murder of fetuses regardless of intent or proof that the person causing injury to a pregnant woman knew she was pregnant. Prosecutors cannot seek the death penalty solely for crimes involving the fetus, according to the legislation. The bill would allow charges to be brought at any stage of fetal development (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 3/3). The state House on Friday did not read the bill for a third time (AP/Columbia State, 5/26).

Other Regulations
Connecticut: State Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Ralph Carpenter on Thursday said the department will stop issuing "Choose Life" license plates while the department and state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (D) investigate whether the Children First Foundation is eligible to promote itself through license plates, the Hartford Courant reports. The state's DMV allows groups to promote themselves on specialty plates, and the department in 2003 gave approval to Children First for the "Choose Life" plates, which also list the group's Web site. Children First gives grants to pregnancy centers that do not offer abortions, as well as to programs that provide women a venue to give infants to hospitals and fire stations without being charged with a crime, according to Elizabeth Rex, the group's president. Blumenthal and a Democratic state lawmaker on Wednesday sent a letter to Carpenter saying that Children First has "negligible, if any, 'operations' in Connecticut, much less a base of operation in the state." Rex said that her group works on a small budget from members' homes, which should not preclude the group from being eligible for a plate. She added that she believes she can answer any of the state's questions (Lender, Hartford Courant, 5/26).
















"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

Asthma and hay fever linked to irregular periods

Asthma and hay fever seem to be linked to irregular periods, finds a large study in Thorax.


The finding adds weight to the evidence, suggesting that female hormones might have a role in the development of asthma and
allergies.


More than 8500 women from five northern European countries were surveyed about their respiratory health and hormonal patterns
between 1999 and 2001.


Women who were menopausal, pregnant, or taking oral contraceptives/hormone replacement therapy were excluded from the final
analysis, leaving just over 6,000 women in total.


The entire sample had originally been surveyed about their respiratory health as part of a large European study, which ran
from 1990 to 1994 (ECRHS I).


Around one in four women (23%) had irregular periods. This translated into around one in seven women (15%) aged between 25
and 42, and over a third (37%) of those aged between 43 and 54.


Among the younger women, those who weighed the most, or were the shortest or tallest, tended to have irregular periods. Among
the older women, irregular periods were associated with smoking and with the timing of the menopause.


And after taking account of other influential factors, rates of asthma and allergy were significantly higher in younger women
who had irregular periods than in those with regular periods.


The potential impact of asthma medication on the menstrual cycle was not evident, as the trend was also seen among women
whose symptoms were not being treated. This pattern was seen across all the centres.


The authors suggest that common factors may underlie both irregular periods and asthma/allergy, including fetal development
and insulin resistance. Previous research has also found an association between poorer lung function and insulin resistance.



Click here to view the paper in full:
press.psprings/thx/june/445_tx32615.pdf


[Association of asthma and hay fever with irregular menstruation Thorax 2005; 60: 445-60]

Cancer Experts Identify Symptoms For Early Diagnosis Of Ovarian Cancer

The American Cancer Society, Gynecologic Cancer Foundation and the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists on June 25 are expected to formally announce recommendations for identifying symptoms that could signal early stages of ovarian cancer, the New York Times reports. Experts from the groups are calling on women who experience the symptoms -- which include bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly, and a frequent or urgent need to urinate -- every day for two to three weeks to see a gynecologist.

Some physicians said the recommendations will make women and doctors more aware of early symptoms of ovarian cancer and will lead to earlier diagnosis. "The majority of the time this won't be ovarian cancer, but it's just something that should be considered," Barbara Goff, director of gynecologic oncology at the University of Washington and an author of several studies that helped identify the symptoms, said. She added that new and persistent problems were the most important for women to monitor.

According to the Times, if ovarian cancer is diagnosed and surgically removed before it spreads outside the ovary, 93% of patients are alive after five years. However, only 19% of cases are diagnosed early, and 45% of all women with ovarian cancer survive at least five years, compared with 89% of women diagnosed with breast cancer. About 22,430 new cases of ovarian cases and 15,280 deaths are expected in the U.S. this year, the Times reports.

According to Goff and other specialists, women who have the symptoms should visit a gynecologist for a pelvic and rectal exam. If the exams suggest a possibility of ovarian cancer, the next step would be a transvaginal ultrasound, which costs between $150 and $300, and a $100 blood test to detect CA125, a substance that is often elevated in women who have ovarian cancer.

Women whose test results suggest ovarian cancer should be referred to a gynecologic oncologist. Women who still experience symptoms but who have normal test results could be monitored or advised to undergo a CT scan or magnetic resonance imaging, but they likely will be recommended for immediate surgery if cancer is "strongly suspected," the Times reports. Debbie Saslow, director of breast and gynecologic cancer at ACS, said the question over what to do in such cases remains unresolved.

Reaction
Thomas Herzog, director of gynecologic oncology at Columbia University Medical Center, said the recommendations are important because medical community previously had said there were no early symptoms of the disease. Carol Brown, a gynecologic oncologist at Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, said that the recommendations are "something that women themselves can do and we can familiarize clinicians with, to help make diagnosis earlier." Brown added that the list of symptoms might be the best solution for early diagnosis until a screen test to "find ovarian cancer before it has symptoms" is developed.














Saslow said that ACS agreed to the recommendations with reservations. "We don't have any consensus about what doctors should do once the women come to them," Saslow said, adding that the group recognizes that physicians in some cases disregarded symptoms in women who were later diagnosed with ovarian cancer (Grady, New York Times, 6/13).

Broadcast Coverage
Several broadcast programs on Wednesday and Thursday reported on the recommendations.

ABC's "Good Morning America": The segment includes a discussion with ABC medical editor Tim Johnson (Sawyer, "Good Morning America," ABC, 6/14). Video of the segment is available online.

CBS' "Evening News": The segment includes comments from Goff, Brown and a woman who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer (Couric, "Evening News," CBS, 6/13). Video of the segment is available online.

PBS' "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer": The segment includes comments from Goff (MacNeil, "News Hour with Jim Lehrer," PBS, 6/13). Audio of the segment is available online.

NBC's "Nightly News": The segment includes a discussion with NBC News chief medical editor Nancy Snyderman (Williams, "Nightly News," NBC, 6/13). Video of the segment is available online.

"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

Tea Good For Women's Hearts?

Women who drink three cups of tea a day "are less likely to have heart attacks and strokes," the Daily Express reports. The newspaper adds, however, that "strangely, no added benefit of tea drinking was found among women who only had one or two cups a day or for men".


The story is based on a French study that looked at how the thickness of 'plaques' in the carotid artery were related to the amount of tea that men and women drank. Plaques are build-ups of fat and cholesterol in the blood vessels (known as atherosclerosis). They have been linked to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. The women who drank three cups of tea or more a day were seen to have fewer plaques in their arteries. However, because of its design, this study cannot prove that tea consumption was the cause of less plaque build-up in the arteries; a randomised controlled trial would be the best way to show this.


On the strength of this study alone, it would be better to suggest to women (and men) that they should drink tea because they enjoy it, rather than in any hope that it may reduce their risk of heart disease or stroke.


Where did the story come from? St?©phanie Debette and colleagues of the University Hospital of Lille and Broussais Hospital, Paris, France carried out this research. The Fondation pour la Recherche M?©dicale funded the preparation and initiation of the study. Various other institutions and foundations also provided support. It was published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, a peer-reviewed medical journal.


What kind of scientific study was this?

This was a cross-sectional analysis of data collected at the start of the Three-City (3C) Study, a large cohort study of the French population. The 3C study attempted to clarify the relationship between tea consumption, thickness of the carotid artery and plaque build up.


In the 3C study, 9,693 people aged 65 years or older were recruited from the cities of Dijon, Bordeaux and Montpellier between March 1999 and March 2001. Of these people, 6,635 (excluding those aged over 85) had an ultrasound examination to determine their carotid artery thickness. The participants were also interviewed by a nurse and data was collected on past medical history (including cardiovascular disease and medications), lifestyle factors, education, average daily consumption of tea and coffee (divided into none, one to two cups, or three or more cups), and average weekly consumption of various foods. The study also recorded blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), blood sugar levels and blood cholesterol levels.















Of the people with ultrasound scans, 6,597 also provided data on their tea consumption and these were included in the final analysis. The researchers carried out statistical tests to see whether there was any link between the three tea-drinking categories and thickness of the carotid arteries. The researchers adjusted for possible confounding factors, including age, smoking, BMI, diabetes, cholesterol, alcohol consumption and diet.


EVA, a matching study, was carried out following these results to investigate whether similar associations were found in a younger population group aged between 51 and 79.


What were the results of the study?

When the researchers looked at the association between level of tea consumption and the other variables tested, they found that tea consumption was inversely associated (i.e. when one increases the other decreases) with age, blood pressure, BMI, diabetes and smoking in women. It was inversely associated with alcohol consumption in men, and with coffee and meat consumption in both. In both men and women, tea consumption was positively associated (an increase in both variables at the same time) with consumption of fish, fruit and vegetables and a higher education level. It was also positively associated with hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in women.


The researchers found that drinking three or more cups of tea reduced the risk of finding plaques on the carotid arteries in women, even after adjustment for potential confounding factors. However, there was no link between tea consumption and thickness of the artery wall. In men, there was no link between tea consumption and carotid plaques or thickness of the artery wall.


In the EVA study of younger men and women, there was no link between tea consumption and carotid plaques or thickness of the artery wall in either sex.


What interpretations did the researchers draw from these results?

The researchers conclude that, in their large French sample, carotid plaques occurred less frequently in women who drank three or more cups of tea per day. However, this association was not seen in men.


What does the NHS Knowledge Service make of this study?


This is a large population study and, reportedly, the first to examine the link between tea consumption and atherosclerosis. However, interpretations from the results should be made with care.


- The cross-sectional design of this study means it cannot prove that tea consumption reduced fatty build-up in the arteries. To get a better idea of whether this is the case, researchers should, over time, follow two groups of people: those who drink tea and those who do not. Ideally, the groups should be randomised to balance other potential confounding factors. Both groups should be free from atherosclerosis at the start of the study and should be monitored to see whether there is any difference in the development of the condition between the groups.


- The study considered many confounding factors, but there are others that may have influenced the results, e.g. exercise level and family history of heart disease.


- The data on tea consumption is self-reported on only one occasion. A single estimate of average daily tea consumption may not be a reliable estimate of long-term tea-drinking patterns. This would also be the case for other one-off measures, such as blood pressure, BMI, smoking, alcohol or other dietary factors. Additionally, there is no information on the type of tea that the participants drank, e.g. black tea, white tea, green tea or others.


- This study only looked at the degree of atherosclerosis in the carotid arteries; it did not looked at other blood vessels in the body (heart attacks and stroke can be caused by an embolus, which is a section of plaque that has travelled to other parts of the body, as well as thrombosis at the site).


- This research did not look at long-term outcomes in the study population. Those with signs of greater thickening on the arteries at ultrasound scan may not necessarily be the ones who will go on to have a heart attack or a stroke. There are many risk factors for these conditions.


- Finally, these results are not applicable outside the French population. Dietary patterns and health in general may be different elsewhere.


Links to the headlines


Stay chipper on 3 cuppas a day.Daily Express, March 15 2008

Three cups of tea a day helps stop heart attacks and strokes (unless you're a man).Daily Mail, March 17 2008


Links to the science


Tea Consumption Is Inversely Associated With Carotid Plaques in Women.
Debette S, Courbon D, Leone N, et al.
Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 2008; 28:353-359

This news comes from NHS Choices

Neb. Ultrasound Bill Advances To Full Legislature

The Nebraska Legislature's Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted 6-0 to advance a bill (L.B. 675) to require doctors to offer ultrasound images to women one hour prior to an abortion, the Omaha World-Herald reports. The bill, which now goes to the full Legislature for consideration, was approved after lawmakers reached a compromise over language that originally required the ultrasound image to be displayed one hour prior to the procedure in a manner in which women could either choose to see it or avert their eyes. According to the World-Herald, abortion-rights advocates objected to the language, saying that it seemed to require the image to be placed directly in front of women. Under the compromise, the committee-approved bill now states that the ultrasound screen should be within a woman's view (Hammel, Omaha World-Herald, 4/9). Julie Schmit-Albin of Nebraska Right to Life said that the amended language "makes it a little clearer that no one is forcing women to view ultrasounds" and that the image "just needs to be displayed so that she has the option of seeing it."

According to the AP/Newark Star-Ledger,the bill was also modified on Thursday to remove a requirement that doctors tell women that abortion places them at risk for psychological trauma, endometritis and an incomplete or failed abortion. State Sen. Kent Rogert (D) called for the change and said that there "could just be psychological trauma for just being pregnant, or for a stillbirth or miscarriage." Although an official with Planned Parenthood of Nebraska and Council Bluffs would not comment on the amended bill because the group had not had a chance to review it, spokesperson Bobbie Kierstead said women "should have all the information they need to make sound medical decisions." Kierstead added that the group does not "believe the Legislature should be directing medical practice" (Jenkins, AP/Newark Star-Ledger, 4/9).


Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.


© 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

Link Between Lung Cancer Mystery And Coal From Mass Extinction Era

The volcanic eruptions thought responsible for Earth's largest mass extinction - which killed more than 70 percent of plants and animals 250 million years ago - is still taking lives today. That's the conclusion of a new study showing, for the first time, that the high silica content of coal in one region of China may be interacting with volatile substances in the coal to cause unusually high rates of lung cancer. The study, which helps solve this cancer mystery, appears in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology, a semi-monthly publication.



David Large and colleagues note that parts of China's Xuan Wei County in Yunnan Province have the world's highest incidence of lung cancer in nonsmoking women - 20 times higher than the rest of China. Women in the region heat their homes and cook on open coal-burning stoves that are not vented to the outside. Scientists believe that indoor emissions from burning coal cause cancer, but are unclear why the lung cancer rates in this region are so much higher than other areas. Earlier studies show a strong link between certain volatile substances, called PAHs, in coal smoke and lung cancer in the region.



The scientists found that coal used in parts of Xuan Wei County had about 10 times more silica, a suspected carcinogen, than U.S. coal. Silica may work in conjunction with PAHs to make the coal more carcinogenic, they indicate. The scientists also found that this high-silica coal was formed 250 million years ago, at a time when massive volcanic eruptions worked to deposit silica in the peat that formed Xuan Wei's coal.



Article: "Silica-Volatile Interaction and the Geological Cause of the Xuan Wei Lung Cancer Epidemic" pubs.acs/stoken/presspac/presspac/full/10.1021/es902033j



Source: Michael Bernstein


American Chemical Society

California Gov. Schwarzenegger Vetoes Bill That Would Have Required Some Health Care Plans To Cover HPV Vaccination

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) on Sunday vetoed a bill (AB 1429) that would have required every individual or group health care plan that covers cervical cancer treatment also to provide coverage for human papillomavirus vaccination, the AP/Contra Costa Times reports (Young, AP/Contra Costa Times, 10/15). The California Legislature passed the bill last month.

The bill had stated that every health care plan that is issued, amended or renewed on or after Jan. 1, 2008, and that includes coverage for treatment or surgery of cervical cancer also must cover HPV vaccination in compliance with the recommendations of CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Health plans also would have been required to cover a Pap test, an FDA-approved HPV screening test and an FDA-approved cervical cancer screening test. The measure would have exempted specialized health care service plans from the requirement (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 9/18).

Schwarzenegger in his veto message said, "While I support increased access to preventive services, I cannot support this bill as it may contribute to rising premiums. Further, a mandate is not necessary as [HPV vaccines are] already routinely provided by health plans and insurers" (Schwarzenegger release, 10/14).


The veto message is available online (.pdf).

Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

National Childbirth Trust, Save The Children, UNICEF Form Coalition To Urge U.K. To Ban Infant Formula Advertising

The National Childbirth Trust, Save the Children and UNICEF have formed a coalition to urge the United Kingdom to ban advertising for infant formula, Manchester reports (Manchester, 8/7). Companies are allowed to advertise formula for infants older than six months, but the U.K. Food Standards Agency is reviewing the policy on formula advertising (BBC News, 8/6).

The coalition in a report published Tuesday said that formula companies' advertising tactics are undermining parents who want to breast-feed, as well as confusing parents who are unsure whether to breast-feed or formula-feed their infants (Manchester, 8/7).

According to the coalition, companies are using formula advertisements for infants ages six months to two years to promote formula for younger infants by using the same name and logo on packaging, making the different formulas "virtually indistinguishable" to parents.

According to BBC News, about 76% of mothers in the United Kingdom begin breast-feeding when their infants are born, up from 7% in 2000. However, fewer than half of new mothers are breast-feeding when infants are age six weeks, and about 25% of mothers are breast-feeding when their infants are age six months. It is recommended that infants are breast-fed until they are six months old, BBC News reports.

The coalition is urging FSA to issue a ban, noting that new European Union recommendations say that information on infant formula "should not counter the promotion of breast-feeding." It is uncertain whether FSA will agree to the ban; however, some groups believe that under new restrictions, formula companies will not be permitted to claim that formula is similar to breastmilk.

Reaction
Ellie Lee, a researcher at the University of Kent who has examined the impact of formula advertising on women's decisions whether to breast-feed, said the advertising is "negligible," adding that the decision was a "pragmatic" one "based on personal circumstances." Belinda Phipps, executive director of NCT, said that formula companies "are finding ways to exploit ambiguity in the law and to continue aggressively marketing their products to parents" (BBC News, 8/6). Phipps added, "We need to close the loopholes, strengthen the law and protect both mothers that plan to breast-feed and those that formula-feed from this commercial tug-of-war for their money" (Manchester, 8/7).


The coalition's report is available online.

Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

UNFPA Scales Up Efforts To Save Millions Of Women

A new thematic fund for maternal health has been created to boost global efforts to reduce the number of women dying in pregnancy and childbirth. The fund, established by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, will also encourage developed countries and private sponsors to contribute more to saving women's lives.


Every minute a woman dies due to complications in pregnancy or childbirth, adding up to half a million women dying every year. Another 10-15 million women suffer serious or long-lasting illnesses or disabilities.


"No woman should die giving life," said UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid. "To have a healthy society, you have to have healthy mothers."


In many countries, however, progress in maternal health has been slow. In some, the situation has actually deteriorated over the last 20 years. The reason is insufficient political will and inadequate resources, as women's health is often pushed off the agenda in favour of other priorities.


"It is critical to invest in women if we are to achieve the Millennium Development Goals," said Ms. Obaid. "We urge countries to dedicate more resources to improving national health systems, training skilled birth attendants and promoting family planning. Millions of deaths and disabilities could be prevented, if every woman had access to reproductive health services."


Improving maternal health and reducing maternal deaths are at the heart of Millennium Development Goal number 5.


The thematic fund, which UNFPA has established in partnership with governments, United Nations organizations and other international partners, will help countries increase their access and use of quality maternal health services that would reduce maternal deaths and disabilities. It will also increase the capacity of health systems to provide a broad range of quality maternal health services, strengthen mechanisms to reduce health inequities, and empower women to exercise their right to maternal health.


The thematic fund will focus on supporting 75 countries with the greatest need. The goal is to raise $465 million during 2008-2011.


UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.

unfpa

Australian House Approves Law Allowing Some Forms Of Therapeutic Cloning

The Australian House on Wednesday voted 82-62 to approve a bill that legalizes some forms of cloning of human embryos for stem cell research, the AP/Houston Chronicle reports (McGuirk, AP/Houston Chronicle, 12/6). The Australian Senate in November passed the legislation by a 34-32 vote (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 11/22). Parliament in 2002 approved a law that allows unused embryos from in vitro fertilization treatments to be used for stem cell research but prohibited all types of cloning (AP/Houston Chronicle, 12/6). The new law allows embryonic stem cells to be cloned for research use but bans importing or exporting cloned embryos, Reuters reports. In addition, the law maintains the ban that prohibits placing cloned embryos into a human body or the body of an animal (Grubel, Reuters, 12/6). Prime Minister John Howard and Kevin Rudd, leader of the opposition Labor party, opposed the measure, but members of Parliament were allowed a "conscience vote" on the legislation, meaning members did not have to vote the party's stance, AFP/Khaleej Times reports (AFP/Khaleej Times, 12/6). "I don't think the science has shifted enough to warrant the Parliament changing its view," Howard on Wednesday said, adding, "I think we do live in an age where we have slid too far into relativism, and there must be some absolutes in our society" (Reuters, 12/6). The bill "will enable Australia to stay at the forefront of medical research," Sen. Kay Patterson, a former health minister who drafted the measure, said, adding, "I didn't see how we could accept any treatment derived from this in the future if we didn't allow the research here in Australia." The law will take effect in six months after health and science officials draft guidelines for stem cell research licensing and egg donations, according to Patterson (AP/Houston Chronicle, 12/6).

"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

Unique genetic profile helps over-45s get pregnant

Women who have a special genetic profile can conceive spontaneously after the age of 45 years, a scientist said at the 21st annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology today (Tuesday 21 June 2005). Dr. Neri Laufer, from the Haddassah University Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel, told the conference that his team's work to identify a specific gene expression profile linked to later fertility would help understanding of the ageing process, as well as enabling the development of better treatments for infertility in older patients.



Dr. Laufer and colleagues studied a large group of 250 women over 45 who conceived spontaneously. Women are generally not fertile after this age due to ageing of the ovaries, so the scientists thought that there might be some special factor that was allowing these women to conceive. "Mostly they had had a large number of children and also a low miscarriage rate", he said "and these two factors indicated to us that they had a natural ability to escape the ageing process of the ovaries. We decided to see if we could find any differences in gene expression between 8 such women and another 6 women of the same age group who had finished their families at the age of 30."



Using gene chip technology, the scientists found that blood samples from the 8 women had a unique pattern of gene expression that did not exist in the control group. The two main groups of genes expressed in these women were involved in apoptosis (cell death) and in DNA repair mechanisms. "These women appear to differ from the normal population due to a unique genetic predisposition that protects them from the DNA damage and cellular ageing that helps age the ovary", said Dr. Laufer. "What we do not yet know is whether this reproductive success is linked with potential longevity." The women were all Ashkenazi Jews but Dr. Laufer's team does not believe that the gene profile is unique to this group. "We already have preliminary results demonstrating similar results from another group", he said. The team intends to study women from different ethnic, and hence genetic, groups and study their genetic fingerprints against those of the first group.



Identifying women with these genetic fingerprints will enable doctors to know which women are still fertile at an advanced age and may determine the counselling they require, said Dr.Laufer. "However, the question of motherhood over the age of 45 is a delicate and complex one. It is very dependent on the religious and cultural background of the women in question. Our first study group came from an ultra-religious sector which encourages natural conception and discourages contraceptive use. These women would in any event continue to challenge their reproductive system until menopause. But for other groups the ethical implications may be different and counselling on all the aspects of late motherhood will play an important part in determining what is best for the individual woman."



Contact: Mary Rice

marymrcommunication

European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology

Study Offers Hope For Women With ER-Negative Breast Cancer

Women who have estrogen (ER)-negative breast cancer may have more drug-treatment options than previously thought, a Creighton (pronounced Cray-ton) University study suggests. The study is reported in the Oct. 11 online version of the journal Oncogene.


"The prevailing thought is that estrogen signaling is not involved in the development or progression of ER-negative breast cancer and, as a result, hormonal treatments that may follow surgery or radiation are not an effective option for this type of cancer. However, our study suggests that estrogen-signaling is involved, and novel hormonal treatments may help a number of women with ER-negative cancer," said Zhao-Yi "Charlie" Wang, Ph.D., the articles's principal author.


Wang, a professor of cancer research in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and the Department of Pathology at Creighton University School of Medicine, described the findings as very promising. He added that more research is needed.


"About 25-30 percent of all breast cancers are ER-negative," he noted. "ER-negative breast cancers, especially triple-negative ones, are usually very aggressive; young African American women are at particular risk. This is potentially very promising news for these women."


For the study, researchers looked at specimens from 12 human cases of triple-negative breast cancer, known as such because this form of ER-negative cancer lacks estrogen and progesterone receptors and does not express the protein HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2).


Of the 12 cases, ER-a36, a novel estrogen receptor variant that Wang's laboratory identified and cloned in 2006 (U.S. Patent No. 7,745,230), was highly expressed in 10.


The researchers then investigated the mechanism by which non-genomic estrogen signaling, brought about by ER-a36, contributes to the malignant growth of triple-negative breast cancer cells. Their findings indicate that ER-a36 may play an important role as a diagnostic and prognostic marker to assist in the individualization of breast cancer therapy as well as in the development of new therapeutic approaches.


In addition to Wang, Zoran Gatalic, M.D., Creighton professor of pathology; Semir Vranic, M.D., a former Creighton research fellow; and Ling Ding, M.D., of Zhejiang University School of Medicine in China, were among the co-authors of the article.


The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Nebraska Tobacco Settlement Biomedical Research Program (LB-595 and LB-692).


Source: Creighton University

Antidepressant Use May Boost Fracture Risk, From Harvard Women's Health Watch

Evidence is accumulating that
depression is a risk factor for osteoporosis, reports the June 2007 issue
of Harvard Women's Health Watch. A recent study found that people ages 50
and over who regularly took antidepressants called selective serotonin
reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) had double the rate of fractures as people not
using such medications. Other research points to depression itself as a
source of endocrine changes that can damage bone.



Whether the danger comes from depression, the drugs used to treat it,
or something else, doctors are paying more attention to this association.
During the 1990s, depression began to emerge as a possible cause of bone
loss, rather than a result. Scientists studied women who didn't have
osteoporosis symptoms or even know they had the condition. They found lower
bone mineral density in those who were depressed. Moreover, the link was
found in both younger women and women past menopause. Other studies have
found a similar relationship, so investigators have been looking at
hormones and brain chemicals potentially involved in both depression and
bone loss.



Researchers working with an animal model found that depression triggers
the release of noradrenaline, which interferes with bone-building cells.
Moreover, they found that imipramine-a member of an older class of drugs
called tricyclic antidepressants-reversed both depression and depression-
induced bone loss.



It may be a long time before the depression-osteoporosis connection is
fully clarified. In the meantime, Harvard Women's Health Watch suggests
that you continue taking an antidepressant if you already use one;
depression is a serious illness that can have profound consequences. You
may also want to talk to your doctor about getting a bone density test, and
make sure you get adequate calcium.


Harvard Health Publications

health.harvard.edu/women

Videos Discuss Antiabortion Threats, Benefits Of Health Reform For Women

The following summarizes selected women's health-related videos.

 Maddow Examines Violent Threats: On Tuesday, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow discussed a potential connection between violent anti-government threats and antiabortion-rights activism. Maddow reports that a Washington man was arrested after leaving anti-health-reform messages that called Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) a "baby killer," while a Texas man was charged for threatening to use physical force to stop a Dallas clinic from performing abortions. The segment also includes an interview with Zachary Roth of Talking Points Memo, who noted that many abortion-rights groups reported an "uptick in this kind of violent language and rhetoric" after the murder of abortion provider George Tiller last year. However, it is not entirely clear if the two men who were arrested can be linked with the antiabortion-rights movement, he added (Maddow, "The Rachel Maddow Show," MSNBC, 4/8).

 Richards Discusses Health Reform: In an interview on MSNBC's "The Daily Rundown," Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Cecile Richards said that although abortion-rights groups "didn't like" the abortion restrictions in the health reform law, the "important thing is this is going to expand health care coverage for millions of women and their families." She added that the health reform debate helped remind abortion-rights supporters that "we don't have a pro-choice Congress" (Todd/Guthrie, "The Daily Rundown," MSNBC, 4/1).


Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.


© 2010 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.