Until recently, antidepressants—especially selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)—were considered fairly safe for pregnant women. But late last year, citing evidence from several sources, the FDA warned that infants of women who took the SSRI paroxetine (Paxil) during the first trimester had an increased risk of birth defects and might develop transient withdrawal symptoms. Fortunately, studies of other SSRIs and tricyclic antidepressants indicate they are relatively safe, reports the March issue of the Harvard Mental Health Letter.
(more…)
A plant that gave ancient Britons and Celts their blue war paint, has been found to be a rich source of the anti-cancer compound, glucobrassicin, traditionally associated with broccoli. Glucobrassicin has been found to be effective against breast cancer. The war paint, a blue dye, is obtained from Woad, a member of the Brassicaceae family.
(more…)
Heart disease kills half a million American women each year. But most women still worry more about their husbands’ hearts than their own. Do you know your key risk factors? Find out here.
(more…)
The heat being experienced in many parts of the nation these days is tough enough for the average healthy person, but for the estimated 21 million Americans with diabetes, special precautions may be required, according to experts at Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.
(more…)
Women who undergo surgery due to an early pregnancy failure usually are treated in an operating room, often under general anesthesia, but a new study raises questions about whether women prefer that approach.
(more…)
Every year, nearly 300,000 people worldwide are diagnosed with oral cancer. This type of cancer has the highest incidence in people who use tobacco, including cigarettes, but the means by which tobacco promotes the development of oral cancer is unknown. Researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (USDA HNRCA) at Tufts University are investigating whether nutritional factors may be involved. A causal link has not been established, but their results provide early insights into the complex relationships among oral cancer, smoking, and two groups of nutrients: folates and select antioxidants.
(more…)
Women approaching menopause should maintain or achieve a healthy body weight to reduce their risk of developing breast cancer, researchers at Harvard Medical School recommend.A. Heather Eliassen and her colleagues found that women who gained weight in adulthood have an increased risk of developing the disease after menopause.
(more…)
Exercise may slow age’s impact on brain function, helping maintain whip-smart cognitive ability well into the senior years and preventing dementia-like illness, a new review of the data shows. While there are varying opinions on the brain benefits of exercise and activity, “our review of the last 40 years of research does offer evidence that physical exercise can have a positive influence on cognitive brain functions in older animal and human subjects,” wrote the study authors from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
(more…)
Can you imagine being able to eat whatever you want and not gain weight? Well it could soon be a reality. All researchers need is for a new anti-obesity vaccine to work as well in people as it does in animals. Soon weight loss may be available in a vaccine bottle. It’s a breakthrough that may lead to a vaccination against obesity.
(more…)
Brazilians are devoted to plastic surgery, but they prefer to go under the doctor’s knife in a hospital, and they usually go back to Brazil to do it, many said yesterday in Framingham.
(more…)
