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Breast cancer incidence rates among non-Hispanic (NH) white women in the United States stabilized between 2003 and 2007 after a sharp decline between 2002 and 2003 that followed a drop in the use of postmenopausal hormone therapy, according to a study published online Feb. 28 in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

There is a lack of sex-specific data relating to the safety and effectiveness of high-risk cardiovascular devices prior to U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, according to a review published online March 1 in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

Health care professionals can play a big role in helping overweight patients lose weight and maintain weight loss, starting with acknowledging their overweight status in the first place, according to two studies published in the Feb. 28 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

According to government estimates, the incidence of ovarian cancer is almost 13 per 100,000 women per year, and most cases are diagnosed in an advanced stage. As such, proper treatment is critical to ensure survival. However, Dr Melissa M. Thrall, fellow in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Washington, found that less than 40% of women reliant on Medicare receive standard care.

Primary care physicians are the entry point for care for many patients. They are often responsible for determining when additional expertise is needed and to which specialist a patient should go for additional care. Although studies have shown that gynecologic oncologists can improve surgical and survival outcomes for patients with ovarian cancer, the referral rate from primary care physicians to gynecologic oncologists remains relatively low.

Female childhood cancer survivors should be encouraged to breast-feed as a health behavior that is protective against many late effects of cancer treatment, according to a review published online Jan. 21 in the Journal of Cancer Survivorship.

For women taking postmenopausal hormone therapy, breast cancer risk is greater among users of estrogen-progestin formulations, and those who begin treatment earlier, according to a study published online Jan. 28 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The U.S. teenage birth rate has resumed its decline, reaching a historic low in 2009, according to a report published in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) February Data Brief.

Overnight closed-loop insulin delivery appears to be safe among pregnant women, according to a study published in the February issue of Diabetes Care.

One serum blood test is sufficient to diagnose hyperprolactinemia, and dynamic testing of prolactin secretion should be avoided, according to new guidelines published in the February issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Alcohol intoxication elevates subjective sleepiness and disrupts sleep objectively in women more than in men, regardless of family history of alcoholism, according to a study published online Feb. 15 in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

Use of oral bisphsphonates ofr more than one year in postmenopausal women is associated with a 59 percent decrease in the relative risk of colorectoal cancer, according to a study published online Feb. 14 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Premenopausal women who schedule regular mammograms may benefit by undergoing screening during the first week of their menstrual cycle, according to research published in the February issue of Radiology.

Both patients and physicians can bring qualities to a clinical encounter that result in its being perceived as difficult, and patients involved in these types of encounters have worse short-term outcomes, according to research published online Jan. 25 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Evidence shows that combined oral contraceptives are contraindicative in women who have migraines with auras (MA) due to increased risk of ischemic stroke. So what can these women do?

Approximately 5% of women who seek medical assistance for menorrhagia from their primary care physicians or gynecologists never make their way to a hematologist, even though many of these women have such underlying hemostatic abnormalities as decreased von Willebrand factor (VWF), platelet dysfunction, and decreased coagulation factors. These women in turn are in danger of experiencing bleeding complications during surgery, childbirth, or other invasive procedures.

Adequate breast-feeding of a baby exposed to diabetes in utero may protect against childhood adiposity, according to a study published in the March issue of Diabetes Care.

Emotional distress some women experience prior to undergoing fertility treatment appears to have no bearing on the likeihood that the treatment will result in a successful pregnancy, according to a literature analysis published Feb. 23 in BMJ.

In women with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive early breast cancer, treatment with trastuzumab for one year after chemotherapy is associated with significant disease-free survival at a four-year follow-up, according to a study published online Feb. 25 in The Lancet Oncology.

Hormone therapy only protects against dementia if it is taken at a certain time in life, according to study findings.

Escitalopram, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of anxiety and depression, significantly reduces the frequency, severity, and bother of hot flashes, according to study findings.

The US Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning about an association between saline and silicone gel-filled implants and anaplastic large cell lymphoma.

In the latest study to attempt to determine whether cigarette smoking increases or decreases a woman's risk for breast cancer, researchers from Harvard University found that active smoking, particularly before giving birth for the first time, modestly increases the risk for the disease.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recently issued a committee opinion stating that although the absolute risk associated with planned home births is low, published medical evidence shows that it is associated with a 2- to 3-fold increase in the risk for newborn death compared with planned hospital births.

Two serial sonographic abdominal circumference measurements are enough to reliably predict the absence of fetal overgrowth in women with gestational diabetes mellitus, according to a new study.

An analysis of data from 6,391 physicians in the 2004-2005 Community Tracking Study showed that during this period ob/gyns' mean hourly wages were $83.

Strategies used by obstetricians to prevent perinatal infections have changed over time.

Using data from more than 144,000 in vitro cycles, British researchers Scott Nelson and Debbie Lawlor developed a mathematical "prediction" model to calculate the likelihood of a live birth after IVF.