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It’s Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month and two medical organizations are taking a stand to emphasize the importance of colorectal screening in women in hopes of further improving early detection and reducing deaths from the disease. Both the American College of Gastroenterology and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) have released statements to increase the use of colorectal screening options in women.

Most adults in the United States have experienced vaginal sex, but the number of younger adults reporting no sexual contact has increased since 2002, according to the March issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Health Statistics Report.

Among women with heavily pretreated metastatic breast cancer, eribulin mesilate may significantly improve survival compared to currently available treatments, according to a study published online March 3 in The Lancet.

More North Americans are obese today than were 20 years ago, and the prevalence of obesity in Canada is about 10 percentage points lower than it is in the United States, according to a data report issued March 2 by the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics.

Postmenopausal women who used to smoke or who currently smoke appear to be at a higher risk of invasive breast cancer than postmenopausal women who never smoked, according to a study published online March 1 in BMJ.

High body mass index (BMI) and low levels of physical activity are associated with increased risk of triple-negative and estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancers in postmenopausal women, according to a study published online March 1 in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

That’s what one team of researchers sought to determine as they explored its use in the case of laparoscopic hysterectomy.

Adherence to a Mediterranean diet is associated with a reduced risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and has beneficial effects on its individual components, according to a meta-analysis published in the March 15 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Women are willing to wait longer with their symptoms to delay a more invasive procedure for uterine fibroids compared to how long they would delay a noninvasive one, according to a study published online March 1 in Radiology.

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.

The risk of false-positive results is lower with digital mammography compared to screen-film mammography, with no significant difference in the cancer detection rate between the two, according to a study published in the February issue of Radiology.

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.