Tag: new study

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Cancer gene mutation linked to earlier menopause

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(Reuters Health) – Women carrying BRCA mutations tied to breast and ovarian cancer may hit menopause a few years earlier than other women, according to a new study.

Doctors already discuss with those women whether they want immediate surgery to remove their ovaries and breasts, or if they want to start a family first and hold off on ovary removal.

“Now they have an additional issue to deal with,” said Dr. Mitchell Rosen, who worked on the new study at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center.

An estimated one in 600 U.S. women carries the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation.

Those mutations greatly increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. According to the National Cancer Institute, a woman’s chance of getting breast cancer at some point in her life increases from 12 to 60 percent with a BRCA mutation, and ovarian cancer from 1.4 percent to between 15 and 40 percent. Read full article.

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Women with migraine with aura advised of contraception risk

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Certain types of modern contraception could be risky for women who have migraines with aura, a new study has found.

According to research unveiled at this year’s meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, these females are more likely to experience deep vein thrombosis and other blood clot complications. Women have therefore been urged to bear this in mind when deciding how to proceed with family planning.

Dr Shivang Joshi, a specialist at Brigham and Women’s Falkner Hospital in Boston, commented: “Women who have migraine with aura should be sure to include this information in their medical history and talk to their doctors about the possible risks of newer contraceptives, given their condition.”

The study also showed that migraine with aura is second only to high blood pressure as the biggest cause of heart attacks and strokes. Read full article.

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‘Hidden’ HPV May Reactivate in Older Women, Study Suggests

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(HealthDay News) — Many older women infected with the human papillomavirus (HPV) in their youth may not “clear” it from the body as completely as once thought, a new study suggests.

The research hints that HPV infection in older women is often the reactivation of a strain picked up years ago, rather than a newly acquired sexually transmitted infection.

The study authors also found that HPV may be difficult to detect in the body more than one to two years after the initial infection.

“Women who fail to ‘clear’ [HPV] infections are known to be at high risk for cervical cancer, but what are the true long-term risks for the vast majority of women who appear to clear their initial infection? The current study addresses what does ‘clearance’ really mean,” said Dr. Rhoda Sperling, professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive science at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. She was not connected to the new study. Read full article.

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Womb Scratching Technique May Boost IVF Success

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What if a quick, cheap and relatively painless procedure could double the chances of becoming pregnant through in-vitro fertilization? British researchers say a simple scratch to the uterine lining might do just that, but some experts are skeptical.

A new review of eight previously published studies suggests women who have their wombs gently scraped a month before starting IVF are twice as likely to having babies. The procedure, called local endometrial injury, takes about 15 minutes and costs as little as $200. Read full article.

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New breast cancer clues found in gene analysis

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Scientists reported Sunday that they have completed a major analysis of the genetics of breast cancer, finding four major classes of the disease. They hope their work will lead to more effective treatments, perhaps with some drugs already in use.

The new finding offers hints that one type of breast cancer might be vulnerable to drugs that already work against ovarian cancer.

The study, published online Sunday by the journal Nature, is the latest example of research into the biological details of tumors, rather than focusing primarily on where cancer arises in the body. Read full article.

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‘Missing’ protein can kick-start male fertility

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Adding a missing protein to in fertile human sperm can ‘kick-start’ its ability to fertilise an egg and dramatically increase the chances of a successful pregnancy, a new study has claimed.

Researchers from Cardiff University have found that sperm transfers a vital protein, known as PLC-zeta (PLCz), to the egg upon fertilisation.

This sperm protein initiates a process called ‘egg activation’ which sets off all the biological processes necessary for development of an embryo. Read full article.