Mechanisms In Women Research Articles

Joint Associations Between Genetic Variants and Reproductive Factors in Glioma Risk Among Women

In a pooled analysis of 4 US epidemiologic studies (1993-2001), the authors evaluated the role of 5 female reproductive factors in 357 women with glioma and 822 controls. The authors further evaluated the independent association between 5 implicated gene variants and glioma risk among the study population, as well as the joint associations of female reproductive factors (ages at menarche and menopause, menopausal status, use of oral contraceptives, and menopausal hormone therapy) and these gene variants on glioma risk. Risk estimates were calculated as odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals that were adjusted for age, race, and study. Three of the gene variants (rs4295627, a variant of CCDC26; rs4977756, a variant of CDKN2A and CDKN2B; and rs6010620, a variant of RTEL1) were statistically significantly associated with glioma risk in the present population. Compared with women who had an early age at menarche (<12 years of age), those who reported menarche at 12-13 years of age or at 14 years of age or older had a 1.7-fold higher risk and a 1.9-fold higher risk of glioma, respectively (P for trend = 0.009). Postmenopausal women and women who reported ever having used oral contraceptives had a decreased risk of glioma. The authors did not observe joint associations between these reproductive characteristics and the implicated glioma gene variants. These results require replication, but if confirmed, they would suggest that the gene variants that have previously been implicated in the development of glioma are unlikely to act through the same hormonal mechanisms in women.

Bombshells: Women and Terror

Terrorism is considered the ultimate “weapon of the weak”. Groups that could not possibly succeed using conventional tactics on the battlefield employ unconventional means to strike terror behind the battle lines. Increasingly, however, the “weakest” members of society, notably women and children, have been drawn into the fray as operatives. Once an occasional occurrence, the use of women is growing at an alarming rate. Using female recruits provides the terrorist organizations with a comparative advantage, particularly the element of surprise. At the same time, this strategy damages the psychological well being and morale of the soldiers opposing them. Soldiers have been trained to protect the civilian population. US Army doctrine specifies that, “preserving noncombatant lives and dignity is central to mission accomplishment in counterinsurgency” (Lt. Col. Perez in The embedded morality in FM 3-24 Counterinsurgency, Military Review, 32) The requirement to shoot people that soldiers are ordinarily trained to protect can have deep psychological impact disproportionate to killing adult men. This often results in higher levels of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and battle fatigue. The upsurge in female suicide bombers has occurred across a variety of nationalistic and secular groups but has also spread to the conservative religious terror networks. This article assesses the growing phenomenon of female terrorists and looks at the different roles that women play in terrorist organizations. It also analyzes the different mechanisms for women’s mobilization and briefly discusses whether women are coerced or are willing participants in terrorist violence.

Dignity and Economic Survival: Women in Latin America and the Caribbean and the Work of Helen I. Safa

Notions of dignity underpin the ways women, men and children deal and maneuver through their inequitable and often oppressive social situations in the Caribbean and Latin America. How they manage to garner food, shelter and clothing, as well as educate themselves, and work on behalf of others around them are central themes of Helen I. Safa’s career and are echoed by scholars whose work appears here. There is nothing like working towards a common goal as members of a network of scholars committed to economic justice, human rights and gender equality. Further, the contributors to this issue were drawn to this project by their relationship to their mutual mentor and or life-long friend Helen I. Safa. Like the workers, miners, community leaders, and peasant and poor women, men and children they studied, this assembly of scholars both women and men, differing in age, race and national origin, understand the imperatives of collective action and collective consciousness. These necessary elements bring about social change in social movements, and are critical analytic tools for considering the lives of people represented in scholarly production. The ideologies of social change expressed here are merged with feminism—a woman-centered/gender-centered view that actively seeks justice, human rights and gender equality. This perspective is exemplified in Safa’s career as a scholar, leader, mentor and “networker” par excellence. Safa serves as the lynchpin, or resource, for this network as the members who are represented illustrate. Some of the articles in this special issue are devoted to Safa as a person and as an expert in the area of women, work, and family studies. Other contributions acknowledge Safa’s expertise in an indirect fashion. Nonetheless, there is a distinctive emphasis on the role that feminist social science/anthropology and political economy plays when gender relations are used as explanatory mechanisms for women’s inequality in culture and society in the region. This Introduction provides a map by which to navigate the multiple layers of gender relations, social inequality, economic survival and women’s activism in both Safa’s scholarship and in her scholarly life more

The body as history and memory: a gendered reflection on the choreographic ‘embodiment’ of creating on the socially constructed text of the South African body

As early as 1980 American radical feminist Dale Spender, set linguistic world on its paternal head with her seminal Man Made Language (1980). Arguing against notion of being a neutral means to explain a pre-given fix 'real' world outside of us, language, as Spender claimed, was a weapon appropriated by patriarchy which diminished range of women's thoughts and being in world. She argued that the liberation of women is rooted in liberation of language (1980: 29). She claimed linguistic terrain for feminism as a need to study possible sex difference in of men and women, sexism embedded in of men and women, and mechanisms of women's oppressions through language. While Spender's position has been critiqued within feminism itself (see Assiter (1985) as one such example) for being, perhaps, a little too simplistic, what Spender did do was begin feminist postmodern concern with and how we 'speak world we inhabit', and its very profound link to representivity, knowledge and power.

New video evidence links trunk and knee motion in non-contact ACL injury

Welcome to this almost summer issue of BJSM packed chock full with solutions. Please also make sure you checked last month’s “ACL issue”1 as well the bumper Concussion supplement.2 Continuing...

Anti-mullerian hormone is associated with advanced glycosylated end products in lean women with polycystic ovary syndrome

Oocyte maturation process characterizes polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The mechanisms of this abnormality leading to chronic anovulation are under investigation. Advanced glycosylated end products (AGEs), a marker of oxidative stress linked with oocyte maturation are localized in granulosa cells and are increased in sera, in women with PCOS. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship, whether there is an association between the anti-mullerian hormone (AMH), a hormone produced by granulosa cells and AGEs in ovulatory and anovulatory PCOS (PCOS-Anov), as well as in non-PCOS anovulatory (Non-PCOS Anov) women. Design Cross-sectional study. Data from sixty women with PCOS (37 anovulatory and 23 regularly ovulating) were compared with eleven Non-PCOS Anov women and 25 normal women. In each subject biochemical, hormonal, and ultrasonographic parameters were studied. AMH values were statistically significantly higher in PCOS-Anov (7.63+/-3.12) in comparison with ovulatory PCOS (PCOS-Ov; 4.92+/-2.50), Non-PCOS Anov (3.66+/-1.4), and controls (4.02+/-1.27 ng/ml). AGEs demonstrated a similar pattern: 8.70+/-1.65 in PCOS-Anov, 7.43+/-1.79, PCOS-Ov, 5.21+/-0.09, Non-PCOS Anov, and 5.85+/-0.89 U/ml in controls (P<0.005 for all comparison respectively). Follicle number was significantly higher in PCOS-Anov in comparison with other groups. A significant positive correlation between AMH and AGEs was observed (r: 0.326, P<0.01), and with the estimated AMH/AGEs ratio to follicle number (r: 0.42, P: 0.0001) and the presence of anovulation. These data suggest that an oxidative marker, AGEs, and AMH, may interact in the anovulatory mechanisms in women with PCOS.

Beta cell function and insulin sensitivity in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: Influence of the family history of type 2 diabetes mellitus

Aim. To study the impact of family history (FH) of type 2 diabetes mellitus on β-cell compensatory mechanism in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).Subjects and methods. A total of 70 women with PCOS, 14 with first-degree relative with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) (FH+), 56 with negative FH of T2DM (FH−) and 72 age and BMI matched control healthy women (CNT) underwent oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Insulin resistance was evaluated as oral glucose index (OGIS); insulin and C-peptide secretion as the insulinogenic index in 30th min of OGTT.Results. Fasting blood glucose levels were significantly higher in FH+ than in FH− (p < 0.05). Fasting insulin was higher in FH+ than in CNT (p < 0.05). Fasting C-peptide was significantly higher in both FH− and FH+ than in CNT (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively). OGIS was lower in FH+ than in FH− or in CNT (p < 0.05). Insulinogenic index calculated from C-peptide values (II-Cp) was lower in FH+ than in CNT (p < 0.05). Adaptation index calculated from the values of OGIS and insulinogenic index was significantly lower in FH+ than in CNT or in FH− (p < 0.0001 and p < 0.01, respectively).Conclusions. Insulin resistance and defective early-phase insulin secretion is present only in those PCOS-affected subjects who had positive FH of T2DM.

A Study on the Narrative Structure and Signifying Mechanism of Women's Personal Narratives

A Study on the Narrative Structure and Signifying Mechanism of Women's Personal Narratives

Coping mechanisms in women living with pelvic floor dysfunction

Purpose: Pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD) encompasses symptoms that include urinary and faecal incontinence, obstructed defaecation and pelvic organ prolapse. It impacts on the quality of life of women, and is associated with stigma, embarrassment, and a delay in seeking help. Nurses often see women in clinics who have both colorectal and urinary symptoms, many of whom have delayed seeking help. Aim: To understand the coping mechanisms women develop and the triggers which prompt seeking help. Methodology: Micro−ethnography focusing on the emic (personal worldview) perspective of women with PFD. Findings: Ten themes relating to coping and help seeking have emerged. These are: knowledge; health care beliefs; coping mechanisms; perception of severity of the problem; role obligations; emotions; locus of control; trigger events; financial implications; and personality. Subsequently, specific tools for use in exploring coping and help seeking have been developed.

Self-reported symptoms of sleep disturbance and inflammation, coagulation, insulin resistance and psychosocial distress: Evidence for gender disparity

Self-reported ratings of sleep quality and symptoms of poor sleep have been linked to increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), Type 2 diabetes and hypertension with recent evidence suggesting stronger associations in women. At this time, the mechanisms of action that underlie these gender-specific associations are incompletely defined. The current study examined whether gender moderates the relation of subjective sleep and sleep-related symptoms to indices of inflammation, coagulation, insulin resistance (IR) and psychosocial distress, factors associated with increased risk of cardiovascular and metabolic disorders. Subjects were 210 healthy men and women without a history of sleep disorders. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used to assess sleep quality and frequency of sleep symptoms. In multivariate-adjusted models, overall poor sleep quality, more frequent problems falling asleep (>2 night/week) and longer periods to fall asleep (>30 min) were associated with greater psychosocial distress, higher fasting insulin, fibrinogen and inflammatory biomarkers, but only for women. The data suggest that subjective ratings of poor sleep, greater frequency of sleep-related symptoms, and longer period of time to fall asleep are associated with a mosaic of biobehavioral mechanisms in women and that these gender-specific associations have direct implications to recent observations suggesting gender differences in the association between symptoms of poor sleep and cardiovascular disease.

Exercise and cardiovascular risk reduction: time to update the rationale for exercise?

although it is generally accepted that the promotion of exercise accords with clinical best practice, the anecdotal experience of many primary care physicians, cardiologists, and exercise physiologists is that, even when exercise prescriptions are adhered to, risk factors often fail to demonstrate

Motherhood and sexuality

abstract This perspective investigates the relationship between motherhood and sexuality. It discusses what it means to be a mother and how sexuality is experienced by women of diverse backgrounds in Lesotho. Motherhood and sexuality are both severely contested areas in women's lives, as social constructions make it a heavily policed space. As a result, mothers have to abide by numerous ‘unwritten laws’, most of which are strictly obeyed in Lesotho society. These unwritten laws of how women need to behave when they are mothers often creates conflict with their sexuality, and those who fail to adhere to the ‘laws’ are labelled and shunned. Drawing from personal experiences, I will debate the impact motherhood has on women's sexuality and discuss possible coping mechanisms for women to be able to do both live their lives as mothers and fulfil their sexual needs.

Coping mechanisms and support groups: women with cervical cancer

A diagnosis of cervical cancer creates such great stress for a woman that she may not be able to cope well with the symptoms of the disease. Social support groups have been extensively documented to be effective in improving coping and quality of life of persons with cancer or other illnesses. The main objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of social support groups on women newly diagnosed with cervical cancer in Tanzania and their ways of coping. The hypotheses of this study were: (1) Women receiving formal social support would use adaptive coping strategies more than women not receiving formal social support. (2) Women receiving formal social support would use maladaptive coping strategies less than women not receiving formal social support. The illness-coping and quality of life model guided the study. A six-point control group time series design was used to investigate the effectiveness of formal social support on ways of coping of women newly diagnosed with cervical cancer, utilizing a validated tool. Formal social support groups were administered for a period of six months. This study revealed that before the intervention (provision of formal social support) there were no significant differences in the women's ways of coping with the disease. However, after the intervention there were significant differences found in the ways the subjects coped. Significant differences were found in the use of seven out of eight coping strategies between the experimental and control groups. These findings contribute to knowledge and understanding of complex coping mechanisms of women with cervical cancer, especially Tanzanians. The findings should enable health professionals, including nurses, to carry on with the facilitation of already established social support groups, and even multiply the groups within the country in order to improve the wellbeing of women with cervical cancer.

Schlafapnoe bei Frauen? - Das vergessene Geschlecht

The prevalence of clinically relevant, obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) in the general population is 2% in women and 4% in men. With increasing age and onset of postmenopausal status, the prevalence of OSAS in women becomes comparable to that of males. However, compared to prevalence data, women are under-represented in clinical sleep laboratories. The present overview deals with the potential reasons for clinical under-recognition of OSAS in women. The fact that OSAS frequency is underestimated in women probably derives from the atypical clinical symptoms, dominated by difficulties of initiating and maintaining sleep and by a depressive mood. There are several protecting mechanisms in women that prevent or postpone OSAS development to higher age groups or until the onset of menopause. These factors include craniofacial morphology and function, gender-specific body-fat distribution and hormonal influences on ventilation and dilating muscles in the oropharynx. Physicians should be aware of the presence of sleep-disordered breathing in women and of their special features.

Race and Histories of Mood Disorders Modulate Experimental Pain Tolerance in Women

Thirty-two African American and 23 non-Hispanic white women were compared for experimental pain threshold and tolerance to thermal, ischemic, and cold pressor pain. Approximately half of each group had prior mood disorders (17 African Americans, 13 non-Hispanic whites), though all were free of current mood disturbance. Women with prior mood disorders were less sensitive to ischemic pain than women with no prior mood disorders (P < .05), whereas African Americans were more sensitive to ischemic pain than non-Hispanic whites, though only at pain tolerance (P < .001). For cold pressor pain, the effects of race were only seen in women with prior mood disorders, since African Americans with prior mood disorders were more sensitive than non-Hispanic whites with prior mood disorders (P < .05). These results indicate that experimental pain sensitivity in women is influenced by both race and histories of mood disorders. We examined the association of race and histories of mood disorders with experimental pain sensitivity in an exclusively female sample. Our findings for racial differences in pain sensitivity may have implications for greater clinical pain in African American women. Persistent disturbance in pain modulatory mechanisms in women with a history of mood disorders may also have implications for the development of subsequent mood disturbances.

Cardiac syndrome X: Relation to microvascular angina and other conditions

Cardiac syndrome X (CSX) describes patients with angina-like chest pain, positive stress ischemia, and nonobstructive coronary angiograms. Microvascular angina (MVA) is an etiologic mechanism in women with cardiac symptoms and abnormal vascular dysfunction without obstructive coronary artery disease, although not all patients with MVA show detectable ischemia. CSX is more prevalent in women than men, with an average age in the mid-to-late 50s. Many additional cardiac and noncardiac mechanisms have been proposed for CSX over the past three decades. The uncertainty and inconsistency of data for determining diagnosis and causality along with the unusual response to traditional antianginal treatment hinder the development of effective treatment strategies. Many researchers believe that women with MVA do not have a benign prognosis and may be better classified as intermediate risk. Better understanding of the disease characteristics; its relation to traditional and novel risk factors, especially in women; identification of reliable, accurate diagnostic procedures; and a comprehensive preventive therapeutic approach are all important for optimizing management strategy for MVA and CSX.

Stuck in the middle: Women and the struggle for survival in the oil-degraded Niger Delta

abstract This focus examines the relevance of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) as economic and empowering mechanisms for women in the oil degraded Niger Delta region of Nigeria. While ICTs have become increasingly popular in the region and have provided economic niches for women, influence of ICTs has differed significantly between urban and rural women. Therefore, while urban women are now heavily engaged in various ICT businesses, like call centres and cyber cafés, the economic degeneration and underdevelopment of the rural enclaves have limited the commercial viability of ICTs for women. In spite of this, ICTs are important in both rural and urban areas in the region in terms of improving the knowledge base of women and enabling them to articulate their positions. Generally, the effective usage of ICTs, whether for leisure or commercial purposes, has been limited by structural constraints ranging from dearth of electricity to impoverished economic situations of women. However, the different impact of ICTs on women in urban and rural areas calls for a policy orientation that is conversant with the peculiar needs of women in both areas and the improvement of the general socio-economic situation of the rural enclaves.

Amenorrhea in Premenopausal Women After Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer

Chemotherapy and ovarian ablation both independently improve survival in premenopausal women with hormone-sensitive breast cancer. Amenorrhea is a well-recognized occurrence after chemotherapy. The rate of chemotherapy-induced amenorrhea varies with patient age and chemotherapy regimens administered. However, the impact of chemotherapy-induced amenorrhea on prognosis is still being defined. Older studies in premenopausal women argue that the benefit with chemotherapy is a result of direct cytotoxicity alone. However, studies that restrict outcome analysis to hormone receptor-positive tumors suggest that chemotherapy has a dual mechanism in women with hormone-responsive tumors; indirect endocrine manipulation secondary to chemotherapy-induced ovarian suppression and direct cytotoxicity. The significant health ramifications involved with the induction of premature menopause as well as potential benefits necessitate a comprehensive evaluation of chemotherapy-induced amenorrhea. This review will discuss the incidence of amenorrhea with commonly-used adjuvant chemotherapeutic regimens, the possible benefits of chemotherapy-induced amenorrhea, and the challenges of interpreting the existing data in breast cancer trials.

The Effects of High-Heeled Posture on COP Kinematics and Muscle Fatigue during the Balance Control of Human Body

This study addressed the effect of balance control problems on the high-heeled women. The specific purposes of this study are to quantify the displacements and velocities of center-of-pressure (COP) of a body during waist pulling perturbation and to compare the differences between the bare-feet and the high-heeled. Another purpose of the study is to identify the effects of a high-heeled posture on electromyography (EMG) activities and muscle fatigue. We used a waist pulling system which has three different magnitudes to sway the subjects. The COP displacement of a high-heeled posture was about twice as much as that of bare-feet posture. Also the COP velocity of a high-heeled posture became about twice as much as that of bare-feet posture. Muscle fatigue could be identified by the shift of the median frequency (MF) of the EMG power spectrum toward lower frequencies. Median frequency of the EMG power spectrum from tibialis anterior was reduced more rapidly during high-heeled situation than during bare-feet situation. COP kinematics and muscle fatigue analysis in postural balance researches are considered to provide useful information in understanding the balance control mechanism of women’s high-heeled posture.

Cortisol responses to mental stress, exercise, and meals following caffeine intake in men and women

Caffeine elevates cortisol secretion, and caffeine is often consumed in conjunction with exercise or mental stress. The interactions of caffeine and stress on cortisol secretion have not been explored adequately in women. We measured cortisol levels at eight times on days when healthy men and women consumed caffeine (250 mg × 3) and underwent either mental stress or dynamic exercise protocols, followed by a midday meal, in a double blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design. Men and women had similar cortisol levels at the predrug baselines, but they responded differently to mental stress and exercise. The cortisol response to mental stress was smaller in women than in men ( p = .003). Caffeine acted in concert with mental stress to further increase cortisol levels ( p = .011), the effect was similar in men and women. Exercise alone did not increase cortisol, but caffeine taken before exercise elevated cortisol in both men and women ( ps < .05). After a postexercise meal, the women had a larger cortisol response than the men, and this effect was greater after caffeine ( p < .01). Cortisol release in response to stress and caffeine therefore appears to be a function of the type of stressor and the sex of the subject. However, repeated caffeine doses increased cortisol levels across the test day without regard to the sex of the subject or type of stressor employed ( p < .00001). Caffeine may elevate cortisol by stimulating the central nervous system in men but may interact with peripheral metabolic mechanisms in women.