Drexel University College of Medicine
Women’s Health News
Women’s Health Quiz: What makes you Unique?
This quiz was provided by the MayoClinic.com. Answers to the quiz can be found on the back page of the Women’s Health newsletter.
1.
True or False: Women have stronger bones than men do.
2.
True or False: More women than men die of heart disease each year in the United States.
3.
True or False: Uterine fibroids increase your risk of uterine cancer.
4.
True or False: Women who drink alcohol regularly are more susceptible to liver damage.
5.
How many calories a day does the average, sedentary woman need to maintain her weight?
A) 1,000
B) 1,200
C) 1,600
D) 2,200
6.
Which of the following aren’t signs or symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)?
A) Cramps and Abdominal Pain
B) Gas and Bloating
C) Constipation
D) Hemorrhoids
7.
True or False: Postpartum Depression usually affects first-time mothers
8.
Approximately how many new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed each year in the United States?
A) 2,000
B) 20,000
C) 200,000
D) 2 million
9.
True or False: Premenstrual Syndrome (PNS) can’t be treated. You just have to get used to the discomfort.
10. True or False: As a woman, you don’t need to worry about hair loss.
History of Women in Medicine: Dorothea Dix
Born at Hampden, Maine, on the 4th of April 1802. Her parents were poor and shiftless, and at an early age she
was taken into the home in Boston of her grandmother, Dorothea Lynde, wife of Dr. Elijah Dix. About 1821 she
opened a school in Boston, which was patronized by the well-to-do families; and soon afterwards she also began
teaching poor and neglected children at home. But her health broke down, and from 1824 to 1830 she was chiefly
occupied with the writing of books of devotion and stories for children. In 1831 she established in Boston a model
school for girls, and conducted this successfully until 1836, when her health again failed. In 1841 she became interested in the condition of jails and almshouses, and spent two years in visiting every such institution in Massachusetts, investigating especially the treatment of the insane poor. Her memorial to the state legislature dealing with the abuses she discovered
resulted in more adequate provision being made for the care and treatment of the insane, and she then extended her work into many other
states. By 1847 she had travelled from Nova Scotia to the Gulf of Mexico, and had visited 18 state penitentiaries, 300 county jails and houses
of correction, and over 500 almshouses. Her labors resulted in the establishment of insane asylums in twenty states and in Nova Scotia and
Newfoundland, and in the founding of many additional jails and almshouses conducted on a reformed plan. In 1853 she secured more adequate
equipment for the life-saving service on Sable Island, then rightly called "the graveyard of ships." In 1854 she secured the passage by Congress
of a bill granting to the states 12,250,000 acres of public lands, to be utilized for the benefit of the insane, deaf, dumb and blind; but the measure was vetoed by President Franklin Pierce. After this disappointment she went to England for rest, but at once became interested in the condition of the insane in Scotland, and her report to the home secretary opened the way for sweeping reforms. She extended her work into the
Channel Islands, and then to France, Italy, Austria, Greece, Turkey, Russia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium and a part of Germany. At the outbreak of the American Civil War she offered her services to the Federal government and was appointed superintendent of
women nurses. After a lingering illness of six years she died at Trenton, New Jersey, on the 17th of July 1887.
V O LU M E 5 , I S S U E 2
F E BR U A RY 2 00 9
V O LU M E 5 , I S S U E 2
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Certain Facial Injuries Point to Domestic Violence
THURSDAY, Jan. 22 (HealthDay News) - Distinct patterns of facial injury occur in
women who suffer domestic violence,
U.S. researchers report. The findings
could help health-care workers identify
victims of intimate partner violence, they
added. Dr. Oneida A. Arosarena, of the
Temple University School of Medicine in
Philadelphia, and colleagues reviewed the
medical and dental records of 326 women
(average age 35)
treated for facial
trauma. Of the 45
(13.8 percent) patients who were
assault victims, 18
were documented
victims of domestic
abuse, while 24 of
the 26 remaining
assault
victims
could not or did not
identify their attackers. Other common causes of facial injuries among the women in the study in-
cluded motor vehicle crashes (42.6 percent), falls (21.5 percent), and unknown or
undocumented causes (10.7 percent). The
researchers found that assault was typically associated with jaw (mandible) fractures, complicated cheekbone fractures
(zygomatic complex fractures), cracks or
breaks in bones surrounding the eyes
(orbital blow-out fractures), and brain
injury. "Specfically, higher than expected
numbers of zygomatic complex
fractures, orbital
blow-out
fractures and intracranial
injuries
were found in
intimate partner
violence,"
the
study
authors
wrote. "Victims
assaulted
by
unknown or unidentified assailants were more likely to
have mandible fractures than were other
assault victims." The study was published
in the January/February issue of the Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery. Between
88 percent and 94 percent of domestic violence victims seek medical attention for
injuries to the head and neck, and 56 percent
of them those have facial fractures.
"Because intimate partner violence accounts
for 34 percent to 73 percent of all facial
injuries in women, facial plastic surgeons
and other health-care providers who treat
patients with maxillofacial injuries are in a
unique position to identify these victims and
refer them to local domestic violence service programs for safety planning, information and referrals, support services and advocacy, depending on the victims' needs and
choices," the researchers wrote.
Why Saying No to Foods May Be Harder for Women
TUESDAY, Jan. 20 (HealthDay News) -New research on the brain suggests that
women unconsciously have a tougher
time resisting their favorite foods than
men do. "This gives us another piece to
put into this puzzle," said Dr. Gene-Jack
Wang, the study's author, who speculated
that women may have more trouble saying no to food because they sometimes
have to eat for two. "Maybe evolution
leads them to this because of their important mission to have a baby," said Wang,
a senior scientist at Brookhaven National
Laboratory and professor of psychiatry at
Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New
York. According to Wang, the new study
aimed to understand why some people
don't stop eating when they're full. Your
body tells you that you've eaten enough
by sending a signal to your brain from the
gut, he explained, "but if you go to the
buffet, sometimes you just cannot stop."
This wasn't a big problem throughout
history because people rarely had a
chance to eat more than they needed,
Wang said. But modern society has
changed that, he said, especially over the
past 30 to 40 years as obesity has become
much more common in the United States.
For the study, which appears in this week's
issue of the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, the researchers asked 13 women
and 10 men about
their favorite foods.
The participants said
they liked a variety
of dishes and desserts, including lasagna, pizza, brownies, ice cream and
fried chicken. Then,
after they fasted for
20 hours, the researchers presented them
with their favorite foods; the dishes were
even warmed up, if appropriate, to make
them more tempting. The men and women
were allowed to smell and taste the food
but not eat it. Then, in an experiment, they
were told to try to inhibit their desire to eat
the food. Meanwhile, PET scans examined their brain activity. The researchers
found that certain areas of the brain became more active in both the men and
women when they were tempted with food.
The brain areas that lit up control emotions
such as motivation. Also, both men and
women succeeded in making themselves feel
less hungry by
inhibiting
their
desire to eat the
food. But the brain
scans suggested
that the women's
brains were still
acting as if they
were hungry. In
other words, the
women may have
thought they were
less hungry, but
their brains didn't seem to be entirely on
board. What's going on? Hormones could
play a factor in women, Wang said, because
they need to eat more when they're pregnant.
The research could help scientists understand
why some people can't resist certain kinds of
high-calorie food, Wang said. "Some people
cannot inhibit themselves, and we need to
help those people."
W OM EN ’ S H E A L TH N E W S
P A GE 3
It Pays to Eat Less as You Age
TUESDAY, Jan. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Eat less, weigh less. While it may sound painfully obvious, nutrition experts have been divided over whether cutting calories leads to long-term weight loss, because the practice can sometimes boomerang, triggering binge
eating and weight gain. But, new research suggests that eating less can pay big dividends, particularly as you age. Publishing in the
current issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion, researchers from Brigham Young University reported that the middleaged women they studied had more than twice the risk of significant weight gain if they didn't cut back on food consumption. "Some
suggest that restrained eating is not a good practice," BYU professor Larry Tucker, the study's lead author, said in a university news
release. "Given the environmental forces in America's food industry, not practicing restraint is essentially a guarantee of failure." The
researchers followed 192 middle-aged women for three years and compiled information on their lifestyles, health and eating habits.
The analysis revealed that women who didn't practice more restraint while eating were 138 percent more likely to put on 6.6 pounds or
more, the news release said. Columbia University researcher Lance Davidson, who was not involved with the study, said the findings
underscore a key principle of weight control. "Because the body's energy requirements progressively decline with age, energy intake
must mirror that decrease or weight gain occurs," Davidson said. "Dr. Tucker's observation that women who practice eating restraint
avoid the significant weight gain commonly observed in middle age is an important health message." Tucker said the benefits of cutting back on what you eat aren't limited to your reflection in a mirror. Healthful eating equals better health, he said. "Weight gain and
obesity bring a greater risk of diabetes and a number of other chronic diseases," he said. "Eating properly is a skill that needs to be
practiced." Tucker offers these tips for better eating:
Record what you eat and how much.
Put less food on your plate.
Eat more fruits and vegetables.
The U.S. food pyramid recommends at least five servings each day.
Secondhand smoke tied to fertility problems
NEW YORK - Women who have ever been around smokers regularly may have more difficulty getting pregnant than those who have
not, a new study suggests. The findings, researchers say, offer one more reason for women to kick the smoking habit. Studies have
found that women who smoke raise their risk of a number of pregnancy complications, as well as their infants' risk of health problems.
Less is known about the dangers of secondhand smoke, though some studies have linked exposure during pregnancy to an elevated risk
of miscarriage. In the new study, of more than 4,800 women, researchers found those who'd grown up with a parent who smoked were
more likely to report they'd had difficulty becoming pregnant — defined as having to try for more than 1 year. In addition, women
who'd been exposed to secondhand smoke in both childhood and adulthood were 39 percent more likely to have suffered a miscarriage
or stillbirth, and 68 percent more likely to have had problems getting pregnant. "These statistics are breathtaking and certainly (point) to
yet another danger of secondhand smoke exposure," said lead researcher Luke J. Peppone at the University of Rochester, New York.
"We all know that cigarettes and secondhand smoke are dangerous," he added. "Breathing the smoke has lasting effects, especially for
women when they're ready for children." Overall, Peppone's team found 11 percent of the women had difficulty becoming pregnant,
while one third had a miscarriage or stillbirth. The risk of these problems tended to climb in tandem with the number of hours per day
that a woman was exposed to secondhand smoke — a pattern that suggests a cause-effect relationship. Secondhand smoke contains a
host of toxic compounds that could potentially harm a woman's reproductive health, Peppone and his colleagues note. Tobacco toxins
may damage cells' genetic material, interfere with conception, raise the risk of miscarriage, or inhibit the hormones needed for conception and a successful pregnancy. Copyright 2009 Reuters.
Resolving to Break an Addictive Habit?
TUESDAY, Dec. 30 (HealthDay News) -- No matter the addiction -- drugs, gambling, shopping, smoking, alcohol
or more -- people who want to kick their habit in the new year might find help in a new Harvard University publication. "Overcoming Addiction: Paths toward recovery" offers guidance for breaking unwanted addictive habits. The advice applies
universally, because what all addictions have in common, the Harvard experts say, is the way the brain responds to pleasurable experiences. To break the pattern, they recommend the following steps to increase the chances of success:

Seek help and create a support network. Start with your doctor or a community mental health center for advice, a plan and -- if
necessary -- medication to help with the break. Ask family, friends and co-workers for encouragement and backup.

Set a quit date. Some people find it helpful to choose a significant date -- a birthday or anniversary, perhaps.

Change your environment. Removing reminders and temptations from your home and workplace can make the break easier. For
example, ridding the home of alcohol, bottle openers and wine or drink glasses might help a person trying to stop drinking. Don't
let others bring reminders into the home. And, if necessary, break relations with people who enable your condition.

Learn new skills and activities. Find something to replace the addiction and help conquer urges. Many people find that exercise is
a good substitute activity to help fight temptation.

Review your past attempts at quitting. Note what worked, what didn't and what might have led to falling back into old habits.
The Women’s Health Education Program
Women’s Health Education Program
Drexel University College of Medicine
2900 Queen Lane, Room 228
Philadelphia, PA 19129
Phone: 215-991-8450
Fax: 215-843-0253
http://www.drexel.edu/whep
Begun in 1993 as a vanguard innovative educational center to address holistic, contextual comprehensive care to women and girls, the Women’s Health Program of Drexel University College of
Medicine is part of a nationally designated Center of Excellence in Women’s Health. In addition to
curricular efforts, community health outreach programming, and community participatory health
services research, WHEP maintains an existing resource listing that includes articles, books, videotapes, and journals, that address sex and gender medicine.
If you’re interested in more information, please see our resources on the WHEP website at http://
webcampus.drexelmed.edu/whep/index.html
If you’re looking for information about girls’ or women’s health topics; information about health
fairs or community activities or health education research; or just information about our bulletin
boards or how to get involved, please stop by and visit us at room 228 Queen Lane, or call/email us
anytime for more information.
Answers to the Women’s Health Quiz on the first page:
Women’s Health
Seminar Series
Held Tuesday
1.
False: Peak Bone mass—the maximum bone density and strength a person can attain—is lower
for women than it is for men. This, in addition to the rapid bone loss that occurs with loss of
estrogen at menopause, contributes to a greater risk of osteoporosis among women than among
men.
2.
True: Despite many women’s fear of breast cancer, heart disease is actually the number 1 killer
of women in the United States. In 2002, heart disease claimed the lives of 358,014 women,
compared with 340,933 men.
3.
False: Uterine fibroids are the most common type of noncancerous tumor in women of reproductive age. Up to three-quarters of women have uterine fibroids, but most don’t realize it,
because they generally have no symptoms.
4.
True: Women who drink achieve a higher concentration of alcohol in the blood than do men.
This is partly because women have a greater proportion of fat and a lower proportion of water
content in the bodies than men do. Women also have a smaller amount of an enzyme in the
stomach that’s needed to process alcohol, leading to a quicker buildup of alcohol in the bloodstream.
5.
The correct answer is B. The energy your body derives from the foods you eat is measured in
calories. Energy needs vary considerably according toy ou activity level, body size, sex, and
age. On average, the daily calorie goals are as follows: 1,600 for children ages 2-6. most
women, and some older adults; 2,000 for the average adult; 2,200 for older children, teenage
girls, active women, and most men; 2,800 teenage boys and active men.
6.
The correct answer is D. Women are more likely than men to experience IBS. If you have
IBS, you may feel gassy, bloated, crampy, or constipated. You might also experience abdominal pain, loose stools, or a feeling of incomplete bowel movement.
7.
False: Postpartum depression can affect a woman after any birth, regardless of whether it’s her
first child or not. A woman with postpartum depression experiences sadness, despair, anxiety,
and irritability, and may be unable to perform daily activities. In its mildest form, postpartum
depression is known as the “baby blues.” In its most severe form, postpartum depression can
manifest itself as postpartum psychosis. This condition is rare, occurring after one or two of
every 1000 births, but it can be very dangerous. The delusions, paranoia, and mood swings
associated with postpartum psychosis can cause a woman to harm herself or others, including
her new baby. This condition requires immediate medical attention.
8.
The correct answer is C. After skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer among
women in the United States. Early detection of breast cancer is key to survival. Annual mammograms, beginning at age 40, clinical breast exams, and an overall awareness of your breast
health are your best defenses in preventing or detecting breast cancer in its earliest, most curable stage.
9.
False. Treatment is available for PMS. Signs and symptoms include: breast tenderness, abdominal bloating, irritability, mood swings, teariness, depression, anxiety. Treatments for
PMS range from lifestyle changes, such as aerobic exercise and reductions in caffeine, salt and
alcohol, to over the counter drugs and supplements, birth control pills, and selective serotonin
reuptake inhibitors—a type of antidepressant.
Evenings,
5:30PM—7:00PM
SAC B,
Queen Lane Campus
and videoconferenced to the New
College Building
(refreshments are served
at both sites)
Open to anyone
interested in attending.
For more information, please visit
our office, call, or email.
10. False. Baldness isn’t just a guy thing. Women can experience hair loss, too. Gradual thinning
of your hair is a normal part of aging. However, excessive hair loss from your scalp can be the
result of heredity, poor nutrition, certain medications, or underlying medical conditions such as
thyroid dysfunction. The most common type of hair loss, androgenic alopecia, can be treated
with minoxidil (Rogaine). Hair transplants and scalp surgery are available to treat certain other
forms of hair loss.