GenderBiology.net

Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Women: Evidence-Based Guidelines for: 2007 Update

SOURCE:  American Heart Association Guideline

DATE:  March 2007

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

Evidence-based guidelines for cardiovascular disease prevention in women: 2007 update.
Circulation. 2007 Mar 20;115(11):1481-501. Epub 2007 Feb 19. Review. No abstract available. Erratum in: Circulation. 2007 Apr 17;115(15):e407.   Full text via American College of Cardiology

See also other AHA Guidelines for Women here .

Impact Of Exercise On Body Fat Is Different For Boys And Girls

SOURCE: Medical News Today

DATE:  March 30, 2007

EXCERPT:  "The impact of exercise on body fat differs for boys and girls, suggests research published ahead of print in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. "  more

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

Hussey J, Bell C, Bennett K, O'dywer J, Gormley J.  The relationship between the intensity of physical activity, inactivity, cardiorespiratory fitness and body composition in 7-10 year old Dublin children. Br J Sports Med. 2007 Mar 29; PMID: 17395610

Heart Disease In Women

SOURCE: Medical News Today

DATE: March 15, 2007

EXCERPT: "Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among women. Analyses suggest clinically relevant differences between women and men in terms of prevalence, presentation, management and outcomes of the disease, but little is known about why these differences exist. "  more

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

Pilote L, Dasgupta K, Guru V, Humphries KH, McGrath J, Norris C, Rabi D, Tremblay J, Alamian A, Barnett T, Cox J, Ghali WA, Grace S, Hamet P, Ho T, Kirkland S, Lambert M, Libersan D, O'Loughlin J, Paradis G, Petrovich M, Tagalakis V.  A comprehensive view of sex-specific issues related to cardiovascular disease. CMAJ. 2007 Mar 13;176(6):S1-44. Review. Erratum in: CMAJ. 2007 Apr 24;176(9):1310.

 

Kirby Mental Health Report Turns a Blind Eye to Women

SOURCE: Canadian Women's Health Network Magazine

DATE:  March 13, 2007

EXCERPT: "In May 2006, the Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, chaired by Senator Kirby, released a new three-year study on mental health, mental illness and addiction in Canada. Out of the Shadows at Last reveals massive gaps in Canadian mental health care which aggravate illness and offload care to families—particularly women.  ...  Yet despite the mounting evidence – as well as Canada’s many commitments to using Gender-Based Analysis (GBA) in policy and program development – federal health studies somehow remain gender-blind. Out of the Shadows is no exception. Its inattention to differences in women and men’s bodies and social conditions leaves little hope that its proposed solutions will address women’s mental health needs."  more

Women and Health Protection Wins Intervener Status in DTCA Charter Challenge

SOURCE: Canadian Women's Health Network Magazine

DATE:  March 13, 2007

EXCERPT: "Women and Health Protection (WHP), as part of a coalition of nine national organizations, has been granted intervener status (party standing) in the Charter Challenge case of CanWest Mediaworks against the federal government on the issue of direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA). ...  As WHP has pointed out, women, and young women in particular, are increasingly the target of pharmaceutical advertising campaigns. However, in many cases there is little or no understanding of the longer term risks of medications that are increasingly hyped as cure-alls for some of the natural processes of women’s bodies. Improper use of drugs is sometimes overtly promoted in advertising messages as well, as was the case with the recent advertising campaign for Xenical, a prescription drug for obesity which last year was marketed widely to Canadian women suggesting use for mild (cosmetic) weight loss."  more

CIHR Introduces New Policy on Gender and Sex-Based Analysis

SOURCE: Canadian Women's Health Network Magazine

DATE:  March 13, 2007

EXCERPT: "The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) has made an important new addition to its general grants and contributions policy. As of June 2006, CIHR funding applicants have been asked to demonstrate the use of gender and sex-based analysis (GSBA) in their research proposals. This is good news for women as it increases the likelihood that new research will factor in women’s and men’s biological and social differences or similarities.   ...  To facilitate this process, the CIHR has also released a Guide to Gender and Sex-Based Analysis in Health Research."  more

Thinking About Gender and Wait Times

SOURCE: Canadian Women's Health Network Magazine

DATE:  March 13, 2007

EXCERPT: "This summer saw the release of the Final Report of the Federal Advisor on Wait Times, the first major document investigating an issue that has generated increasing anxiety in Canada over recent years. Although gender-based analysis (GBA) did not fall within Federal Advisor Dr. Brian Postl’s mandate, the Report acknowledges the pressing need to apply GBA in health care reform research to ensure that appropriate high quality care is available to all men and women, boys and girls. The report supports this call with a recommendation that ongoing wait times research adopt a broad approach to GBA."  more

Stroke treatment outcome better for men than women

SOURCE:  MedlinePlus: Reuters Health

DATE: March 12, 2007

EXCERPT: "For people who suffer a stroke and are treated quickly with the clot-buster drug rtPA to open up the blocked brain artery, recovery of function is likely to be better for men than women, new research shows. However, more men than women die from the stroke."   

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

Elkind MS, Prabhakaran S, Pittman J, Koroshetz W, Jacoby M, Johnston KC; GAIN Americas Investigators. Sex as a predictor of outcomes in patients treated with thrombolysis for acute stroke. Neurology. 2007 Mar 13;68(11):842-8. PMID: 17353472

Frequently Asked Questions about Pharmacogenetics

SOURCE:  National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)

DATE:  March 1, 2007

EXCERPTS:  "In the future, doctors may be able to prescribe the right dose of the right medicine the first time for everyone [including women]. This would mean that patients receive medicines that are safer and more effective for them, speeding recovery and reducing adverse drug reactions (estimated at 100,000 deaths and 2 million hospitalizations annually in the United States1). In this way, taking individual genetic profiles into account when developing and prescribing medicines would lead to better health care overall.

This echoes the vision of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael O. Leavitt, who states in his 500-Day Plan2 that he foresees “a nation in which…medications are safer and more effective because they are chosen based on the patient’s personal characteristics.”" 

....

"NIH launched the Pharmacogenetics Research Network (PGRN), a nationwide collaboration of hundreds of scientists focused on understanding how genes affect the way a person responds to medicines. Since its inception, PGRN scientists have studied genes and medications relevant to a wide range of diseases, including asthma, depression, cancer, and heart disease. A key component of the PGRN is the Pharmacogenetics Knowledge Base, an online resource that contains pharmacogenetic data from the PGRN and others, and is freely available to the research community. 

The PGRN was launched with grants totaling $140 million over 5 years. An additional $150 million is allocated for the period of 2005-2009. The PGRN is funded largely through the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, with additional support from the National Cancer Institute, the National Library of Medicine, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, The National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Human Genome Research Institute, and the Office of Research on Women’s Health."   more   

Depression Risk Higher in Girls with Low Birth Weight

SOURCE: National Institute of Mental Health Science Update

DATE:  March 9, 2007

EXCERPT: "Girls' risk for developing depression after puberty increased significantly if they had low birth weight, in a study funded in part by NIMH. Yet low birth weight didn't appear to be just one more risk factor for depression. Rather, it seemed to increase the risk effects of other adversities."  more

RELATED PUBMED LINK:

Costello EJ, Worthman C, Erkanli A, Angold A. Prediction from low birth weight to female adolescent depression: a test of competing hypotheses. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2007 Mar;64(3):338-44. PMID: 17339522