Womens' health

The causes of chronic vulvar pain are many and when not accompanied by obvious physical signs they are difficult to unravel. Many common vulvar dermatoses can manifest without obvious erythema or mucocutaneous lesions, as can some less common disorders of both infectious and allergic origin. In addition localized and generalized...

The vagina is a dynamic and finely tuned ecosystem in which homeostasis depends on mutually beneficial interactions between a human female and her resident microorganisms, an ecosystem that can be thrown off balance by a wide variety of both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Although a functional equilibrium provides stability to...

Recent evidence suggests reduced levels of serotonin, which may be associated with premenstrual symptoms, among populations in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas. In this cross-sectional study, we examined the association between neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) and premenstrual symptoms. Participants were 640 female Japanese dietetic students aged 18–22 years, residing in 210 municipalities...

Recent evidence suggests that voluntary rhythmic movements such as chewing may increase blood serotonin and subsequently brain serotonin, which in turn acts to alleviate premenstrual symptoms. In this observational cross-sectional study, we tested the hypothesis that hardness (difficulty of chewing) of the habitual diet (i.e. dietary hardness) is associated with...

Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in pregnancy has traditionally been considered to be a rare event, but the combination of normal physiological changes of pregnancy and more prevalent cardiovascular risk factors are increasing its incidence in this population. The present report describes a 39 year-old woman that is seven weeks pregnant...

Objective: To explore the relationship between coping mechanisms and suicidal ideations among women who experience symptoms of postpartum depression. Design: This exploratory descriptive study used secondary data from a study of women who experienced symptoms of postpartum depression. Participants: Convenience and purposive sampling were used to obtain the community sample of...

A variety of post-translational protein modifications (PTMs) are known to be altered as a result of cancer development. Thus, these PTMs are potentially useful biomarkers for breast cancer. Mass spectrometry, antibody microarrays and immunohistochemistry techniques have shown promise for identifying changes in PTMs. In this review, we summarize the current...

Objective: To assess the performance of a test for breast cancer utilizing synchrotron x-ray diffraction analysis of scalp hair from women undergoing diagnostic radiology assessment. Design and Setting: A double-blinded clinical trial of women who attended diagnostic radiology clinics in Australia. Patients: 1796 women referred for diagnostic radiology, with no previous history...

Earlier studies have suggested an association between breast cancer aggressiveness and the presence of viral sequences resembling mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV). This study was to determine if inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) in the United States had a higher proportion of cases with these viral sequences than non-IBC patients and...

Purpose: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent regulator of angiogenesis and thereby involved in the development and progression of solid tumors. A 936C> T polymorphism in the VEGF gene has been associated with reduced VEGF plasma levels. Purpose of the present study was to analyze the potential association...

Oral daily and weekly bisphosphonates were considered, for several years, as the mainstay for the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis. However, the inconvenience of frequent dosing is known to negatively affect adherence to therapy in the long-term, hence outcomes. This has prompted the development of convenient oral bisphosphonate regimens that feature...

Denosumab is a human monoclonal antibody against RANKL. This antibody decreases bone turnover markers and increases bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal women. In phase 3 studies including more than 1100 women, denosumab achieved greater increases in lumbar spine, total hip, distal 1/3 radius, and total BMD than alendronate 70...

Pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) is doxorubicin HCl encapsulated in long-circulating STEALTH® liposomes (Doxil®). PLD achieves good response rates and many patients maintain long-lasting stable disease (SD), which is one of the advantages. In addition, the clinical benefit is high in platinum-resistant disease, and PLD is thus considered to be the...

Breast cancer remains the second leading cause of malignancy-related death in women in the United States, regardless of advances in novel therapeutic agents. High priority should be emphasized in research aimed at the study of pharmacological and natural compounds that may potentially prevent the development of breast cancer in susceptible...

Biomarkers of breast cancer are necessary for prognosis and prediction to chemotherapy. Prognostic biomarkers provide information regarding outcome irrespective of therapy, while predictive biomarkers provide information regarding response to therapy. Candidate prognostic biomarkers for breast cancers are growth factor receptors, steroid receptors, Ki-67, cyclins, urokinase plasminogen activator, p53, p21, pro-...

High bone turnover disorders are characterized by excessive osteoclastic activity resulting in loss of bone mass and quality, fractures, deformities, debilitating pain, loss of mobility and hypercalcemia. These complications have a major impact in quality of life, and control of osteoclast activity is critical to reduce or prevent these skeletal...

Inadequate patient handoffs have been an area of focus for patient safety improvement. Insufficient communication and risks or “shortcuts” taken by staff members during handoffs could negatively affect the safety of patients in a department of obstetrics and gynecology. Other factors that contribute to inadequate handoffs are the caregiver feeling...

Pathological grade is a useful prognostic factor for stratifying breast cancer patients into favorable (low-grade, well-differentiated tumors) and less favorable (high-grade, poorly-differentiated tumors) outcome groups. Under the current system of tumor grading, however, a large proportion of tumors are characterized as intermediate-grade, making determination of optimal treatments difficult. In an...

Garry Walsh Reader in Inflammation and Immunity, University of Aberdeen Scotland, United Kingdom.

Background: Chemotherapy for breast cancer often deteriorates quality of life, augments fatigue, and induces neutropenia. Mistletoe preparations are frequently used by cancer patients in Central Europe. Physicians have reported better quality of life in breast cancer patients additionally treated with mistletoe preparations during chemotherapy. Mistletoe preparations also have immunostimulant properties...

Lapatinib is an oral dual tyrosine kinase inhibitor against epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and HER-2/neu (HER2). The success of trastuzumab in breast cancer prompted investigations of lapatinib in breast cancer, which revealed that lapatinib has effectiveness similar to that of trastuzumab. Clinical trials showed that lapatinib is effective for...

As vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays a central role in tumor growth, invasion and metastasis, inhibiting tumor angiogenesis by blocking the actions of VEGF is a rational therapeutic strategy. Drugs targeting the VEGF system are currently in development and at the most advanced stage of development is bevacizumab. The...

The ERBB2 or HER2 receptor is overexpressed in 25% of breast cancers and is associated with poor prognosis. Trastuzumab, a monoclonal antibody targeting HER2 has been demonstrated to improve survival when combined with chemotherapy for the treatment of HER2 overexpressing metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Further studies have endeavoured to clarify...

Preeclampsia is a major cause of maternal mortality worldwide, with many preventive strategies tested. In this review we intend to provide a synthesis of available studies of these strategies that have been tested, including systematic reviews. We will not be performing systematic review of the studies here. Of these strategies...

Estrogen is a well-known risk factor for breast cancer. Current models of breast cancer risk prediction are based on cumulative estrogen exposure but do not directly reflect mammary estrogen metabolism or address genetic variability between women in exposure to carcinogenic estrogen metabolites. We are proposing a mathematical model that forecasts...

This is a case report of a 35 year old female with diagnosed Immune Thrombocytopaenic Purpura (ITP) that was strangely followed by acute myeloid leukaemia at 10 months post diagnosis of ITP. She was managed as ITP using prednisolone 45 mg daily for 10 months with good response. She also...

Activation and signalling of estrogen receptor (ER) and COX-2 represent two important pathways in breast cancer cell regulation. Activation of either pathway is associated with breast cancer cell proliferation and eventually malignant progression. Raloxifene analogue, Ly117018, a selective estrogen receptor modulator and celecoxib, a specific COX- 2 inhibitor have been...

Monica Milani, Gautam Jha and David A. PotterDepartment of Medicine, Division of Hematology Oncology and Transplantation, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.Abstract The majority of breast cancers express the estrogen receptor and depend on estradiol (E2) for their growth. Hormonal therapy aims at depriving estrogen signaling either by using selective...