Current Women's Health Reviews - Volume 4, Issue 1, 2008

“Since the human race began, women have delivered for society. It is time now for the world to deliver for women” [1]. In October 2007 the Conference Women Deliver brought together almost 2,000 participants from 109 countries to look for joint actions to improve global maternal outcome. Many important initiatives were joined together and also relevant publications emerged previously and after the Conference. I Read More

In Mexico and Central America, women typically experience menopause up to 10 years earlier than their U.S. counterparts. This may be due in part to numerous pregnancies, long periods of lactation, poor nutrition, extreme environment, and the heavy workload of the Maya women. Unlike Western culture, there is no stigma associated with aging and the menopausal period in the Mayan culture. In fact, menopause is consid Read More

Oxidative stress (OS) occurs with an overabundance of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and the inability of scavengers, i.e. antioxidants, to neutralize excessive loads of ROS. OS has a role in the etiopathologenesis of many factors causing natural infertility. Infertility is a problem of great magnitude affecting 6 million American women. The etiologies of unexplained infertility and recurrent pregnancy loss remain uncl Read More

Tobacco smoking is a widely recognized health hazard and a major cause of preventable morbidity and mortality, but smoking remains prevalent in our society. Approximately 30% of women and 35% of men of reproductive age smoke. But more importantly, the incidence of smoking is increasing among adolescents and specifically teenage girls. Recently, substantial harmful effects of cigarette smoke on the ability to be Read More

Endometriosis is a multifactorial and enigmatic disease since the causal clusters of conditions leading to one of the four stages of the malady comprise, but are not limited to, anatomical, pathological, genetic and immunological dysfunctions. Since the early 80's, immunologic parameters appear associated with the evolving entity of the disease influencing directly or indirectly the pathophysiology factor(s) implicated. We h Read More

Objective: To assess the potential for malignancy in ultrasonographic low-score persistent ovarian formations in postmenopausal women. Methods: In the Department of Gynecology of a University Hospital, an expectant management was offered to a cohort of 86 postmenopausal patients with unilocular persistent ovarian formations between 50 and 100 mm diameter. After informed consent, they were prospectively followed b Read More

Epithelial ovarian cancer is the most lethal of gynecologic malignancies in the United States and while current therapies are successful for many years, cure remains elusive. Angiogenesis is the physiological process of new blood vessel growth, and a normal process in growth, development, and wound healing. However, angiogenesis is also a fundamental step in the transition of tumors from a dormant state to a malignant st Read More

Angiogenesis is the growth of new vessels and plays an essential role in tumour progression, expansion and metastasis. It is a multiple process that depends upon cooperation and interaction between a variety of cells, growth factors and other molecules. There is a large body of evidence in the literature that angiogenesis has prognostic relevance in certain tumors, including breast cancer. It is becoming increasingly apparent th Read More

Labor and Delivery; United States; 2005: SM, a 24 year old Asian female with a monochorionic diamniotic twin gestation at near term has been pushing for 4.5 hours. The presenting twin is in an occipito-transverse position at +2 station. The second twin is in a cephalic presentation and showing variable decelerations.