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vaginapaginaHey all,
Carrying on in our line of monthly sexual health news posts, we welcome you to our July edition. We've scanned the Internet high and low to bring you the most current and significant news developments of the past month, all in convenient digest form and straight to your LJ. :)
If you have a comment to leave about any or all of the news summaries, we'd love to hear from you. Discussion is a good thing!
Tori
For the VP Team
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contact_vp
PS -- You might have noticed the news post's new name. We've done this in an effort to be more reflective of all VP members: While we certainly do cover news updates that apply to women, not all of the developments in vaginal, sexual, or reproductive health are exclusive to women only. :)
_________________________________
Sex Gets Better with Age
News flash: Old people have sex. But then again, you knew that.
What you might not have known is that the sex they're having is better than ever.
According to a recent study that appeared in the British Medical Journal, 70-year-olds report that they're having sex more often than they were 30 years ago. On average, 16% more men reported having sex in 2001 than they were in 1971; almost 18% of women reported an increase. Additionally, more women reported having high sexual satisfaction while fewer of them said they'd never had an orgasm.
So the next time your grandma doesn't return your text message right away, remember: it might be for a good reason. ;)
Young Women's Breast Cancers Have More Aggressive Genes, Worse Prognosis
Although the observations of doctors and researchers have previously indicated that breast cancer in female patients under 45 is less responsive to treatment and more likely to recur, researchers at the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy may have begun to understand the scientific basis for this phenomenon.
Samples taken from an international population of almost 800 tumors showed that, in the samples from those under 45, almost 350 sets of genes were active that were not found in tumors from patients over the age of 65. According to senior researcher Kimberly Blackwell, M.D., "The genes that regulate things like immune function, oxygen supply and mutations that we know are related to breast cancer, such as BRCA1, were preferentially expressed in the tumors taken from younger women, but when we compared younger women's tumors to older women's tumors, we found those same gene sets were not expressed in the 'older' tumors."
Since this discovery, researchers have begun to develop treatments targeted at the unique genetic sets activated in younger patients' tumors. Blackwell hopes that identifying and understanding the genomic differences expressed in cancers found in young people with breast cancer will lead to more effective treatments for these younger patients.
Pros and Cons of the Pill Tricky for Black Women
A recent study has found that African-American women who take low-dose oral contraceptives may see an increase in markers of heart disease or diabetes risk. The study examined the effect of oral contraception on insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, and triglycerides in healthy, non-diabetic African-American women.
Researchers found that the women who were using oral contraceptives scored higher on a glucose tolerance test and had higher fasting triglyceride levels; they were also more insulin-resistant than the control group. Even when accounting for body mass index and other factors related to obesity, women who used oral contraceptives still had a higher incidence of insulin resistance and glucose intolerance.
"Assessing the risks and benefits of oral contraceptive pill use is complex and requires careful consideration in African Americans," the investigators concluded.
It should be noted that this study consisted of 104 women, only 21 of whom were taking oral contraceptives.
Killing Herpes Dead
While herpes isn't a death sentence, it can be a definite pain in the butt -- or mouth, penis, or vulva -- on occasion. To that end, anything that reduces the number of outbreaks a person experiences may be a good thing. Researchers from Duke University report that they may have found a new way to do this, one that involves killing herpes dead.
What can make herpes so pesky and tricky to treat is that it can lie latent or "asleep" in the body for long periods of time before eventually reactivating into another outbreak. While it's not possible to kill the inactive virus, Duke scientists have discovered the gene called LAT that controls MicroRNAs, the bits of genetic material that control what the virus does -- including whether or not it remains latent. "The presence of these active microRNAs keep the virus dormant... When the virus is activated by stress like UV (ultraviolet) light or a wound, production of (other) genes goes up."
So what does all this mean? If scientists can force the virus into an outbreak, it could then be treated -- and killed -- with antiviral medications. For outbreaks more complicated than a single cold sore, a class of drug called antagomirs could be used to create mirror images of parts of the microRNA, which could then be used to "silence" the microRNA and, consequently, the herpes virus.
________________________
Special thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
free_me07 and psycheknot for their writing contributions!
If you're interested in becoming involved in VP's monthly news update, please send an email to frolicnaked@vaginapagina.com. Thanks!
Carrying on in our line of monthly sexual health news posts, we welcome you to our July edition. We've scanned the Internet high and low to bring you the most current and significant news developments of the past month, all in convenient digest form and straight to your LJ. :)
If you have a comment to leave about any or all of the news summaries, we'd love to hear from you. Discussion is a good thing!
Tori
For the VP Team
contact_vpPS -- You might have noticed the news post's new name. We've done this in an effort to be more reflective of all VP members: While we certainly do cover news updates that apply to women, not all of the developments in vaginal, sexual, or reproductive health are exclusive to women only. :)
_________________________________
Sex Gets Better with Age
News flash: Old people have sex. But then again, you knew that.
What you might not have known is that the sex they're having is better than ever.
According to a recent study that appeared in the British Medical Journal, 70-year-olds report that they're having sex more often than they were 30 years ago. On average, 16% more men reported having sex in 2001 than they were in 1971; almost 18% of women reported an increase. Additionally, more women reported having high sexual satisfaction while fewer of them said they'd never had an orgasm.
So the next time your grandma doesn't return your text message right away, remember: it might be for a good reason. ;)
Young Women's Breast Cancers Have More Aggressive Genes, Worse Prognosis
Although the observations of doctors and researchers have previously indicated that breast cancer in female patients under 45 is less responsive to treatment and more likely to recur, researchers at the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy may have begun to understand the scientific basis for this phenomenon.
Samples taken from an international population of almost 800 tumors showed that, in the samples from those under 45, almost 350 sets of genes were active that were not found in tumors from patients over the age of 65. According to senior researcher Kimberly Blackwell, M.D., "The genes that regulate things like immune function, oxygen supply and mutations that we know are related to breast cancer, such as BRCA1, were preferentially expressed in the tumors taken from younger women, but when we compared younger women's tumors to older women's tumors, we found those same gene sets were not expressed in the 'older' tumors."
Since this discovery, researchers have begun to develop treatments targeted at the unique genetic sets activated in younger patients' tumors. Blackwell hopes that identifying and understanding the genomic differences expressed in cancers found in young people with breast cancer will lead to more effective treatments for these younger patients.
Pros and Cons of the Pill Tricky for Black Women
A recent study has found that African-American women who take low-dose oral contraceptives may see an increase in markers of heart disease or diabetes risk. The study examined the effect of oral contraception on insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, and triglycerides in healthy, non-diabetic African-American women.
Researchers found that the women who were using oral contraceptives scored higher on a glucose tolerance test and had higher fasting triglyceride levels; they were also more insulin-resistant than the control group. Even when accounting for body mass index and other factors related to obesity, women who used oral contraceptives still had a higher incidence of insulin resistance and glucose intolerance.
"Assessing the risks and benefits of oral contraceptive pill use is complex and requires careful consideration in African Americans," the investigators concluded.
It should be noted that this study consisted of 104 women, only 21 of whom were taking oral contraceptives.
Killing Herpes Dead
While herpes isn't a death sentence, it can be a definite pain in the butt -- or mouth, penis, or vulva -- on occasion. To that end, anything that reduces the number of outbreaks a person experiences may be a good thing. Researchers from Duke University report that they may have found a new way to do this, one that involves killing herpes dead.
What can make herpes so pesky and tricky to treat is that it can lie latent or "asleep" in the body for long periods of time before eventually reactivating into another outbreak. While it's not possible to kill the inactive virus, Duke scientists have discovered the gene called LAT that controls MicroRNAs, the bits of genetic material that control what the virus does -- including whether or not it remains latent. "The presence of these active microRNAs keep the virus dormant... When the virus is activated by stress like UV (ultraviolet) light or a wound, production of (other) genes goes up."
So what does all this mean? If scientists can force the virus into an outbreak, it could then be treated -- and killed -- with antiviral medications. For outbreaks more complicated than a single cold sore, a class of drug called antagomirs could be used to create mirror images of parts of the microRNA, which could then be used to "silence" the microRNA and, consequently, the herpes virus.
________________________
Special thanks to
free_me07 and psycheknot for their writing contributions!If you're interested in becoming involved in VP's monthly news update, please send an email to frolicnaked@vaginapagina.com. Thanks!
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no subject
Date: 2008-08-13 03:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-13 03:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-13 08:02 pm (UTC)[* I made that word up. I think.]
no subject
Date: 2008-08-13 08:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-13 03:50 am (UTC)I'm the midst of dealing with finding out what's wrong with my
breasts right now...and being in high high percentile of getting it
and such with our family history and everything. It's not great news.
Irregardless, at least, it will make help those of us who don't get taken
seriously because of our age...and remind women to get checked because it's not the disease it used to be. Women are getting it younger and younger. The Stats page quoted as young as fifteen years old.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-13 03:52 am (UTC)kudos
Date: 2008-08-13 01:18 pm (UTC)Also, thanks for the blurb on sex and age! Too many people my age (59) seem to feel it necessary to feed the youthful misconception that age equals less intimacy and sex. Think about the example that is being set for your children or younger generations. Why not be a bit more open about it? eg let the grandmas and moms hint that they had more fun things to do than to check text msgs.
Terry