Month: December 2012

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HPV infections return at menopause in women of sexual revolution

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Signs of the cancer-causing human papilloma virus in women near or at menopause may be a reawakened dormant infection, suggesting a risk for women who came of age in the “sexual revolution” in the 1960s and 70s.

About 77 percent of the infections were detected in women who reported five or more sexual partners in their lifetime, according to a study in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. The findings released today suggest that reactivation of the sexually transmitted virus may increase around age 50 and be responsible for more later-life infections than new ones, researchers said.

The data raises a new concern for women now entering menopause, suggesting a significantly higher risk for HPV infections than those of the previous generation, researchers said. The findings may mean that women need to continue routine screening after age 40, said Patti Gravitt, one of the study authors.

“If we confirm this, we may want to re-evaluate our screening strategies and confirm they’re sufficient,” said Gravitt, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in a telephone interview. “If populations change their sexual behaviors, that will contribute to how we see age-specific HPV prevalence.”

HPV is found in about a quarter of teenage girls and about half of women 20 to 24, according to a 2007 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. There isn’t a good test for men. Previous studies have found that the virus isn’t detected in samples after about two years. Read full article.

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Nation’s First Sex-Ed Standardized Testing Shows Students’ Gaps

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The District of Columbia has released results for the nation’s first-ever standardized test that includes sex-education, showing that fifth- and eighth-graders have a lot to learn about their bodies.

The test, known as the 2012 District of Columbia Comprehensive Assessment System (DC CAS), was administered to fifth-graders, eighth-graders and high school students throughout the city. Results were posted today, and show that even though students answered an average of 62 percent of questions correctly, they have work to do.

“The results that we received will be very helpful in determining the improvements needed to be made for teacher professional development training and create challenging material that can further student’s  interest and knowledge in personal health,” Ayan Islam, communications specialist for the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, told ABC News.

Islam says the test is part of landmark state legislation passed in 2010, requiring agencies to provide more in-depth reporting and engagement of various community stakeholders with different interests.

More than 11,000 students from fifth-grade through high school were enrolled in health courses and then selected to take the 50-question exam in April. The exam measured students’ knowledge in health-related categories, including wellness, disease prevention, physical education and healthy decision-making. Read full article.

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Male Fertility Countdown

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Yet another study suggests sperm numbers are falling in rich countries.

AS HEALTH scares go, the idea that sperm counts are plummeting across the industrialised world, probably as a result of chemical pollution that has an adverse hormonal effect, takes some beating. In 1992 a meta-analysis of 61 papers, published in the British Medical Journal, suggested they had fallen by half in the preceding half-century, from 113m per millilitre of semen to 66m. Since then, the decline has apparently continued. The most recent paper, just published in Human Reproduction, by Joëlle le Moal, Matthieu Rolland and their colleagues at France’s Institute for Public Health Surveillance, is also one of the most comprehensive yet.

Its conclusions are stark. The sperm count of the average Frenchman, say the researchers, fell by 32.2% between 1989 and 2005. At the same time, the proportion of properly formed sperm also fell, from 60.9% to 52.8%.

This paper is an important contribution to a lively debate. For although the idea of falling sperm counts has entered the public mind as an established fact, fertility experts remain divided about just how big the effect really is. Not all studies have found drops. Though one of Parisians in 1995 suggested that counts were indeed falling, by about 2.1% a year, another, carried out in Toulouse, suggested that they weren’t. Read full article.

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Senate moves bill covering fertility care for vets

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Wounded veterans and their spouses who want to have children could get the government to pay for treatments such as in vitro fertilization under legislation beginning to move through Congress in the waning days of the session.
By voice vote, the Senate passed a bill Thursday to update the Veterans Affairs Department’s medical coverage for one of the signature wounds of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: trauma to a soldier’s reproductive organs.
Nearly 2,000 service members suffered such wounds between 2003 and 2011. But when wounded veterans went to the VA for medical help in starting a family, they were told the VA doesn’t provide that kind of care.
A similar bill is pending in the House. Supporters said the Senate’s action increases its chances of becoming law before Congress adjourns.
The chief sponsor, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said she has heard from veterans whose marriages have dissolved because of the stress of infertility, in combination with the stresses of readjusting to civilian life after severe injury.
“Any service member who sustains this type of serious injury deserves so much more,” she said.
With both chambers deadlocked on budget issues, even Murray was surprised the bill didn’t raise a single objection in the Senate. Any objection would have quashed it for the year.
As Murray spoke, Tracy Keil of Parker, Colo., watched from the gallery. Her husband, Staff Sgt. Matt Keil, was paralyzed from the chest down after he was shot in the neck in Iraq. The Keils were able to afford the nearly $32,000 it cost for in vitro fertilization and now have 2-year-old twins, Matthew and Faith. But knowing that many families cannot afford that on their own, the Keils have been lobbying Congress to expand the VA’s coverage. Read full article.

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Who’s Mom? Legally, biologically, it’s no easy answer

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Artificial reproductive technologies have made familiar terms outdated and inadequate. Supreme Court could clarify parents’ rights later this year with rulings in two gay marriage cases.

In a classic 1960 children’s book, a baby bird toddles up to one critter after another asking, “Are you my mother?”

For some babies today, there’s no simple answer — biologically or legally.

Advances in artificial reproductive technologies, mean a baby could have three “mothers” — the genetic mother, the birth mother and the intended parent, who may be a woman or a man.

Mother here may not be mother there. Mother nowmay not be mother later. Statutes on surrogacy, adoption, divorce and inheritance vary state by state, court by court, decision by decision. For non-traditional couples, the patchwork of laws makes it even more complex. New York allows gay marriage but forbids surrogacy, while Utah permits surrogacy but bans gay marriage. 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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Finding A Child Online: How The Web Is Transforming Adoption

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When Eric James and his partner, Zerxes Spencer, decided to adopt last year, they signed on with Adoptions Together, a reputable agency close to their home in Maryland. They attended the agency’s seminars to learn about the process, met other “waiting parents” and formed personal bonds with the staff. But there was just one problem.

“When we entered the pool, we were looking at generally a two- to three-year wait,” says James. “And about six months in they reached out to let us know the wait actually would be probably much longer than that.”

Why? He was told that many pregnant women are bypassing agencies and seeking prospective parents across the country through the Internet.

In fact, a new study that’s among the first of its kind finds that the Internet is transforming adoption by opening up the way would-be parents and birth mothers find each other. Some welcome the shift, although the report also suggests it raises ethical concerns.

James’ predicament shows how even people who don’t intend to can find themselves using the Internet for adoption. To speed up their search, his agency advised him and Spencer to get online. Read full article.

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Why do women get hot flashes during menopause?

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Hot flushes affect millions of people, and not just women. Yet, it is still unclear what causes the episodes of temperature discomfort, often accompanied by profuse sweating.

Now a team of researchers around Dr. Naomi Rance, a professor in the department of pathology at the UA College of Medicine, has come closer to understanding the mechanism of hot flushes, a necessary step for potential treatment options down the road. This research was published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The team identified a group of brain cells known as KNDy neurons as a likely control switch of hot flushes. KNDy neurons (pronounced “candy”) are located in the hypothalamus, a portion of the brain controlling vital functions that also serves as the switchboard between the central nervous system and hormone signals.

“Although the KNDy neurons are a very small population of cells, our research reveals that they play extremely important roles in how the body controls its energy resources, reproduction and temperature,” said Melinda Mittelman-Smith, who led the study as part of her doctoral thesis. “They are true multitaskers.”

By studying KNDy neurons in rats, the research team created an animal model of menopause to elucidate the biological mechanisms of temperature control in response to withdrawal of the hormone estrogen, the main trigger of the changes that go along with menopause. Read full article.

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Fertile Gals Look & Sound More Attractive: Study

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Men find women more attractive near ovulation, when they’re most fertile, suggests the largest study yet to look at whether a gal’s allure changes over the course of her menstrual cycle.

The findings are plausible, the scientists note, since the ratings of attractiveness were related to hormonal shifts, which may cause facial and vocal changes in women.

The research, detailed online Nov. 15 in the journal Hormones and Behavior, adds to the idea that a women’s cycle is linked with various physiological and behavioral changes. For instance, earlier studies have found that when fertile, women’s sexual desire increases, as does their preference for strong-jawed men. Past studies have also shown men find fertile ladies’ dance moves more attractive, as well as her voice and smell, with one well-known 2007 study showing erotic dancers brought in better tips during the fertile phase of their cycle. Read full article.