Most US women face stroke risk

Sexually active teenage girls infected around the time of birth with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, are more likely to have cervical infections and abnormal Pap test results,new research shows.Extensive research has examined the reproductive health outcomes among teenagers who acquire HIV infection through sex,senior investigator Dr.Susan B.Brogly of Harvard School of Public Health in Boston said.In contrast,this is the largest cohort study,and the first to publish on rates of genital infections,cervical lesions,and pregnancy among girls who had been living with HIV since birth,she said.Their results will be published in the June issue of the American Journal of Public Health .

Men can also experience hot flashes like menopausal women-if they undergo chemical castration.New findings have verified a way to detect hot flashes.This could help develop treatments against these uncomfortable events in patients who endure chemical castration for medical reasons.Chemical castration involves hormonal drugs that suppress testosterone and therefore the male sex drive.The procedure is employed as a punishment for male sex offenders in some American states and also performed on prostate cancer patients to help deplete testosterone and thus slow the disease.

The bark of certain yew trees can yield a medicine that fights cancer.Now scientists find the dirt that yew trees grow in can supply the drug as well, suggesting a new way to commercially harvest the medicine.Scientists originally isolated the drug paclitaxel-now commonly known as Taxol-in 1967 from the bark of Pacific yew trees (Texus brevifolia) in a forest near the Mount St.Helens in Washington.This yew also yields related compounds known as taxanes that can be converted to paclitaxel.Research since then has revealed other yew species generate paclitaxel and taxanes as well,as do some fungi and certain hazelnut varieties.

Elderly people who are depressed are more likely to become diabetic than those who are not,according to a study that suggests depression may play a role in causing the most common form of diabetes.Writing in the "Archives of Internal Medicine," the researchers said people with a high number of symptoms of depression were about 60% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes,formerly called adult-onset diabetes,than people not considered depressed.Unlike some other studies examining a link between depression and diabetes,this one looked at the effects not only of single bouts of depression but also of chronic depression and depression that worsened over time.It found an increased risk for diabetes in each of those scenarios.

Viewing disturbing news footage on television could intensify stress and trauma, according to a latest study.A month before the terrorist attacks on 9/11 in the US,sleep and memory researcher Ruth Propper, at Merrimack College in North Andover,Massachusetts,US,began teaching a class in which students had to record their dreams on the mornings that they remembered them.On the day after the attacks she distributed a questionnaire to the class asking them about their activities the day before,including how much television they watched.The researchers say their dream analysis shows that viewing television coverage of a traumatic event can intensify stress and trauma. Some psycholgists,however, object to this conclusion,contending that dreams do not necessarily reflect a person's mental state.

The more alcoholic drinks that men have at any time of day-not just before bedtime-the greater are the risks of breathing problems druing sleep, a new study shows.However, this effect was not seen among women.Sleep-disordered breathing has been associated with high blood pressure and blood vessel disease,and many studies have found that drinking alcohol before going to sleep increases the likelihood of abnormally shallow breathing or even episodes in which breathing stops,Paul E Peppard and colleagues from the University of Wisconsin-Madison report.

Research on two continents signaled more bad news for menopause hormones,offering the strongest evidence yet that they can raise the risk of breast cancer and are tied to a slightly higher risk of ovarian cancer.New US government numbers showed that breast cancer rates levelled off in 2004 after plunging in 2003-the year after millions of women stopped taking hormones because a big study tied them to higher stroke and breast cancer risks.Experts said the levelling off shows that the 2003 drop in the cancer rate was real and not a fluke.The trend was even stronger for the most common form of the disease-tumours whose growth is fuelled by hormones .

The first dozen Parkinson's patients to have holes drilled in their skulls for a novel gene therapy attempt weren't harmed-and hints at some improvement have researchers embarking on a larger study to see if the treatment really may work.Doctors reported initial results of the closely watched experiment at a neurology meeting,but cautioned that it's far too soon to raise hopes. It helps using a nerve grwoth factor to try to resuce dying brain cells.Some 1.5 million Americans have Parkinson's, a disease that gradually destroys brain cells that produce dopamine, a chemical crucial for the cellular signaling that controls muscle movement. Too little dopamine causes increasingly severe tremors and periodically stiff or frozen limbs.

Men and women solve spatial problems differently, with women having a tendency to use landmarks for navigation,says a study.Spatial problems are those in which the learner is unable to understand the concept of directions:up,down,left,right and so on.In one of the first research studies to assess gender differences in cognitive performance in non-human primates,experts compared normal female and male monkeys to see how they solve spatial problems. Researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center,Atlanta,found the tendency to use landmarks for navigation was typical only of females.

Never found a pair of jeans that fits you just right? Have you looked and looked for that perfect fit? Now you have an answer.Go to zafu.com that helps women find jeans from major name brands that exactly match their shape and size. Zafu takes you through a series of questions designed to pin down various aspects of your body shape and your desired pair of pants-everything from your size and weight to how much your jeans typically gape at the waist-and then shows options with links to buy from merchants' websites.In 2006,it featured among "Time's" top 25 websites.

Every time they repainted the lines on the road, you'd have to buy a new car. Occasionally,your car would die on the road for no reason.Accept,restart,drive on. You could only have one person in the car at a time, unless you bought a 'Car 95' or 'Car NT'.But then you'd have to buy more seats. Macintosh would make a solar car, twice as reliable, five times faster, easier to drive-but it would only run on five per cent of the roads. Mac car owners would get expensive Microsoft upgrades, making their cars slower. People would get excited about the Microsoft car's 'new' features, forgetting that they were available in other cars for several years.

Extra vitamin supplements can reduce the risk of having an underweight or undersized baby, and all pregnant women in developing countries should take them,researchers said.But the team, reporting in the New England Journal of Medicine ,said the supplements did not lower the likelihood of premature birth or losing the foetus before birth.The study,conducted in Tanzania,involved 8468 pregnant women who received iron and folic acid supplements. Half were given supplements containing vitamins C,E and a mix of B vitamins.The foetal death rate stayed around 5% and the rate of premature delivery was nearly 17% regardless of whether the mothers got the vitamins.

Experiencing a mild traumatic brain injury may increase the risk of developing a sleep disorder, and a good portion of these appear to be based on disturbances in the body's normal circadian rhythm, according to the results of a new study."As many as 40 to 65% of patients with minor traumatic brain injury complain of insomnia,"L.Ayalon, of the University of California,San Diego, and colleagues write in the medical journal "Neurology".

What is DVT? Deep Vein Thrombosis(DVT) is a condition in which ablood clot forms in the deep veins, usually in the legs. It could be fatal if a part of the clot breaks off and blocks blood vessels in the lugs, a condition called pulmonary embolism. Worldwide,in the last five years, DVT has claimed more lives than AIDS/HIV,breast cancer,prostate cancer and road accidents combined! Causes:DVT can be either hereditary or acquired. People with a family history should get themselves tested to figure out if they have the tendency. In cases of acquired DVT,one factor or a combination of factors like dehydration, immobility,oral contraceptive pills, hormonal therapy,etc,may be the cause. Symptoms:If the clot occurs in the brain, there's persistent headache and alteration in vision.In the lungs,there could be breathing problems. If DVT occurs in the leg,the symptoms could include pain,swelling and/or discolouration of the affected part. Prevention:According to some eminent haematologist