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More Women Are Breastfeeding, With Room For Growth

According to the 2013 Breastfeeding Report Card released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in July, a high rate of mothers are attempting to breastfeed their infants, and are breastfeeding their infants for longer. In 2010, around 75% of new mothers began breastfeeding.  Also in 2010, about 50% of babies were still being breastfed at 6 months old, and 27% at 1 year old. This is a significant increase from 2000, when these statistics were 35% and 16%, respectively.

Original Article

Hot Flashes: Not Just During Menopause

We all know of hot flashes and night sweats as the most common and bothersome symptoms of menopause. Hot flashes can range from tolerable to debilitating, seconds to minutes, and infrequent to consistent. What most women don’t know, however, is that hot flashes can happen during and before menopause, too.

A survey conducted by researchers at Group Health, a healthcare system located in the Pacific Northwest, asked a diverse group of women whether they have experienced hot flashes and/or night sweats. The women ranged from 45 to 65 years old, regularly menstruated (no skipped cycles), were not on exogenous hormones, and came from a variety of ethnic backgrounds.

Original Article

Strong Bones with Calcium and Hormones

After the age of 30, the creation of new bone cannot keep up with the rate of bone loss in your body. The estrogen depletion that comes with menopause results in an increased risk for low bone mineral density, osteopenia and osteoporosis. For 5-10 years after menopause, this bone density loss accelerates into a gradual weakening of your bones and can lead to an increase in the risk for fractures and other injuries.

Original Article

Anesthesia On the Brain

New research is surfacing that links anesthesia to inhibited cognitive developments in children under four. Significant brain development occurs in young children at this time, and ketamine—a common anesthetic—has been shown to affect the brain’s learning ability. Studies began back in 2003 when Merle Paule, Ph.D., director of the Division of Neurotoxicology at the FDA’s National Center for Toxicological Research, began observing the effects of ketamine on young rhesus monkeys, since this species closely resembles humans in physiology and behavior.

Original Article

President-Elect of the American Medical Association To Speak at the 2013 Oncofertility Conference

Dr. WahThe Oncofertility Consortium is proud to announce that Robert M. Wah, MD, reproductive endocrinologist, ob-gyn, and president- elect of the American Medical Association (AMA), will be speaking at the 2013 Oncofertility Conference on the evening of September 9th. Dr. Wah practices and teaches at the Walter Reed National Military Center in Bethesda, MD, and the National Institutes of Health. As division head and vice chairman of the Navy’s largest ob-gyn training program, Dr.

Original Article

Menopause and Memory: Women Know What They Do Not Know

The need for health care varies greatly over a lifespan, with older adults having significantly more health-related needs and costs than younger individuals. Women, in particular, often face a myriad of health problems as they transition through menopause.  Sadly, despite the fact that every woman will go through menopause, very little is understood about the physical and mental changes that occur during this period of life.  In addition, women may struggle to find pharmaceutical solutions, which can safely provide proven relief without the worry that those available will increase their likelihood of other health and mental complications.

Original Article

Tomorrow’s VGR: Psychological Aspects of Fertility Preservation

lawson.cfmTomorrow, August 8th, we are excited to be hosting Angela Lawson, PhD, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, for our Virtual Grand Rounds (VGR) at 10 AM CDT, entitled, “Psychological Aspects of Fertility Preservation.” The decision to participate in fertility preservation treatment after a cancer diagnosis is psychologically complex. Dr.

Original Article

Are You At Risk of Contracting Swimmer’s Itch This Summer?

You may have heard of swimmer’s itch—it’s an itchy skin rash that occurs after swimming in fresh shallow waters during the early summer. Maybe your kids have come home from camp with an itchy rash in areas their bathing suit didn’t cover them? Even though swimmer’s itch is reported worldwide, most cases in the US occur in northern states, particularly in those bordering the Great Lakes, including Illinois.

Original Article

Facelifts: are they about age or beauty?

Facelifts Don’t Turn Ducks into Swans

Blinded ratings of before-and-after pictures of individuals who underwent facelifts confirmed that the patients looked younger, but did not make them any more attractive.

In a study conducted by plastic surgeons at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, 50 raters were asked to guess the ages of patients in the photographs and to rate their attractiveness on a 10-point scale. No rater saw both the “before” and “after” pictures of any individual patient.

On average, the raters estimated that patients were 2.1 years younger than their real ages before surgery, and 5.2 years younger afterward, for a net benefit of 3.1 “years saved,” reported A. Joshua Zimm, MD, and colleagues, online in JAMA Facial & Plastic Surgery.

Original Article

Drug Use in Pregnant Women Reveals an Increase Since 2000

Recent data from the Treatment Episode Data Set reveal that 4.8% of female substance abuse admissions (between the ages of 15 to 44) are pregnant at the time of entry. While this percentage has remained fairly stable since 2000, the percentage of these pregnant women reporting drug abuse has increased to 63.8%, an increase of almost 13% since 2000. Non-pregnant female admissions in the same age range reveal a similar pattern for drug use, while percentages for both groups reporting alcohol abuse has decreased.

Original Article

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