Strength In Women Research Articles

Static lifting strength in different lifting postures among Malaysian adults

This laboratory-based study aims to evaluate maximum static lifting strengths for one-handed (left hand or right hand) and two-handed exertions in four lifting types (back lifting, upper-body lifting, arm lifting, and shoulder lifting) across three horizontal distances (toes were anterior to, aligned with, and posterior to the exerted handle). This study recruited 48 men and 48 women, right-handed undergraduates aged 18 to 25 years. The results showed that the static lifting strength ratio of one-handed lifting to two-handed lifting ranged from 61% to 71%. No significant difference (p > 0.05) was observed between right-handed (dominant) and left-handed lifting strengths. This study showed a significant difference (p < 0.001) in men's and women's lifting strengths in all lifting conditions. This study also showed a significant difference (p < 0.05) in respondents with normal body mass index (BMI; <25) and abnormal BMI (BMI ≥ 25) in all lifting types. The lifting strengths in four lifting types across three horizontal distances were significantly different. The results showed that upper-body lifting with near horizontal distance (toes anterior to the exerted handle) has the highest reading of lifting strength. The results encouraged two-handed lifting due to higher lifting strength and less strain. The results also indicated the need to account for differences between the genders and BMI categories when disseminating lifting tasks. This study recommends that practitioners not overlook the effects of the lifting types and horizontal distances when evaluating one's lifting strength for screening purposes. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Analysis of pelvic floor musculature function during pregnancy and postpartum: a cohort study

To compare the measurements of women's pelvic floor musculature strength (PFMS) during pregnancy and postpartum period. Pregnancy and childbirth can have an influence on the muscles and pelvic floor and can cause morbidities of women's genito-urinary tract. A prospective cohort study. There were included 226 primigravidae women, attended by community health services in the city of Itapecerica da Serra, Sao Paulo, Brazil. The participants were followed in four stages: (1) within 12 weeks of pregnancy; (2) between 36-40 weeks of pregnancy; (3) within 48 hours after childbirth; (4) 42-60 days after childbirth. Data were collected from February 2007-August 2008. The pelvic floor musculature strength was evaluated by perineometry and digital vaginal palpation in stages 1, 2 and 4. The final sample included 110 women who completed all four stages of the study. The pelvic floor musculature strength of the women did not change significantly during pregnancy or after delivery (anova: p = 0·78). In all three examined stages, a low-intensity pelvic floor musculature strength was prevalent (in mmHg: stage 1 = 15·9; stage 2 = 15·2, stage 4 = 14·7), with scores from 0-3 on the Oxford scale. The pelvic floor musculature strength did not differ in relation to maternal age, skin colour, conjugal status, dyspareunia, stool characteristics, type of delivery, or conditions of the perineum. An interaction between maternal nutritional state and newborn's weight may affect the pelvic floor musculature strength (manova: p = 0·04). Pregnancy and childbirth did not reduce significantly pelvic floor musculature strength. The perineometry and digital vaginal palpation used to assess the pelvic floor musculature strength were well accepted by the women. In clinical practice, digital vaginal palpation is effective for supporting the diagnosis of urinary, intestinal and sexual dysfunctions. Perineometry use is particularly important together with the performance of perineal exercises with biofeedback in the treatment these disorders.

Breaking the Final Glass Ceiling: The Influence of Gender in the Elections of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Michelle Bachelet

The article extends the limited literature on women national leaders by providing a comparative study of two popularly elected women presidents: Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in Liberia and Michelle Bachelet in Chile. Both Bachelet and Johnson-Sirleaf rose to power in situations that lacked the circumstances identified by current literature as mitigating gendered barriers to national leadership: neither woman was connected to politically powerful families, they were elected in presidential systems, and they were elected in countries that lag behind regional leaders in terms of women's political inclusion. This comparison reveals important similarities in how both Bachelet and Johnson-Sirleaf incorporated gender into their campaign strategies. Both women pursued electoral strategies that combined attempts to confront gendered disadvantages and to take advantage of specific gendered opportunities present within their political contexts. Both women drew upon their personal biographies, highlighting their education and careers, and political experience to demonstrate that they had the traditionally masculine traits associated with political leadership. In addition, they also strategically appealed to gendered beliefs about women's unique capabilities and strengths and linked these perceived strengths to pressing political issues in both countries. Our study thus demonstrates the continuing salience of gender, even as its influence becomes more flexible and complex.

The Mother/Child PapersandThe Book of Seventyby Alicia Ostriker

Reviewed by: The Mother/Child Papers and The Book of Seventy Jennifer Burd (bio) Alicia Ostriker ; The Mother/Child Papers and The Book of Seventy (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009) Now in her early seventies, poet Alicia Ostriker has two recent literary achievements to celebrate: the publication of her new book of poems, The Book of Seventy, from University of Pittsburgh Press, and the reissue of her 1980 poetry collection, The Mother/Child Papers, with a new preface by the author, also from Pittsburgh. Both were released in 2009. I first discovered Ostriker's work in the 1980s with my now dog-eared copy of Woman Under the Surface (Princeton, 1984). Now reading The Mother/Child Papers for the first time, a book in which the poet sculpts in familiar themes of women's strength, the joys and frustrations of parenthood, and shock and outrage over war and the destruction of the natural environment, I find myself delighting in the range of Ostriker's voice. To get at different sides of the personas in the poems, Ostriker uses more fluid forms than she does in much of her other work-forms that are like changing weather, with each reading likely to bring up new associations. For example, the pieces in the book's second section ("Mother/Child") alternate between the voice of a mother and that of her [End Page 116] child, nicely capturing the differences-the mother poems using less white space and more description, and the child's using more elliptical white space that dances around the words. However, in one poem in which the mother persona slips into her own "inner child" to express her feeling of being overtaken by her baby's neediness, her lines are spaced similarly to the child's: Click for larger view View full resolution Incubus. Leech. Scream. You confine me. Die. As many Ostriker devotees will know, throughout The Mother/Child Papers, the author weaves in themes touching on freedom and restriction, fear and compassion, domination and self-expression. In her preface to the book, she talks about how some of the poems were initially inspired by the thought that she was bringing a son into the world during a time of war (1970). The birth-a traumatic one for her in which she was drugged against her wishes-followed by a few days the U.S. military invasion of Cambodia and the shooting of four students at Kent State University by national guardsmen. The first section of the book, a poetic prose collage titled "Cambodia," effectively sets up a comparison between the military invasion of a country and the patriarchal, medical invasion of women's bodies and psyches. To capture my interest, what is typically labeled "political poetry" must still work first as poetry, a position with which Ostriker concurs: "Any poetry that is merely political-and nothing else-is shallow poetry," she writes in her book of essays, Dancing at the Devil's Party (2003, p. 8) In Ostriker's work, the "political" content reaches me precisely because the metaphors, line breaks, images, juxtapositions, and other thresholds of meaning move me to engage with the ideas the words convey. "I like to think that I love in political poetry whatever I love in poetry anyway," Ostriker writes, "Only I hope to be aware that 'whatever I love in poetry anyway' has, if I cut into it, a political dimension" (2003, p. 6). In The Book of Seventy, Ostriker embodies this idea by bringing the political down to the personal through her own continual becoming, at a fine level of detail that makes her poems sing. In many of the pieces, the author expresses the concerns of someone who sees the end of life drawing nearer, though we still sense the end for her is far off, as she feels the richness of life so fully. Using muscular rhythms, edgy line breaks, and sensual imagery, Ostriker infuses the poems with immediacy and ardor. And even when she occasionally draws on imagery traditionally suggestive of aging-"the fly buzzing on my windowsill" (from "Approaching Seventy"), autumn trees, and sunset for example-she embraces pain, loss, and beauty in unexpected ways. Her...

Reflections of men and women in advanced old age on being born the other sex

ABSTRACTThe study reported in this paper is part of the Umeå 85+ project in Sweden. The aim was to investigate gender perspectives among ‘the oldest old’, by asking men and women in advanced old age living in a sparsely populated area of northern Sweden to reflect on how life might have been if they had been born the other sex. Thematic narratives from nine men and seven women were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The content of these narratives was resolved into eight categories in two domains, respectively men's and women's reflections about being born the opposite sex. The narratives of both the men and women indicated that they were satisfied with their actual birth sex. The men were aware that if they had been born female, they would probably have experienced more hard work and had a more restricted life, and they were conscious of both women's relative powerlessness and their greater ability to manage and organise work within the home. The women's narratives described a femininity characterised by longing for a state of being unconcerned when young, and their narratives also displayed awareness of women's physical strength and that men's lives had also been hard.

Isokinetic and isometric muscle strength in a healthy population with special reference to age and gender

Muscle strength is an excellent indicator of general health when based on reliable measurements. Muscle strength data for a healthy population are rare or non-existent. The aim of the present study was to measure a set of normal values for isometric and isokinetic muscle strength for all the major joint movements of the body and, from these data, to create a basis for comparison of the muscle strength of an individual with the expected value in a normal population. A randomly selected group, aged 20-80 years, from the Copenhagen City Heart Study were studied. The group was subgrouped according to age and gender. Isometric and isokinetic muscle strength was measured in each subject across the main joints in the body. A statistical model was developed that encompassed the three main muscle groups: upper limbs, trunk and lower limbs. Muscle strength in healthy men decreases in a linear fashion from the age of 25 years down to between 54% and 89% at the age of 75 years, and seems not highly dependent on any other parameter than age. For women, the muscle strength is dependent on weight and is only related to age from around 40 years of age. The decrease in muscle strength from the age around 40 to 75 years is 48-92%. For most muscle groups, men are 1.5-2 times stronger than women, with the oldest men having strength similar to that observed among the youngest women. We developed a model to compare the isometric and isokinetic muscle strength of all the major joint movements of an individual with values for a healthy man or woman at any age in the range of 20-80 years. In all age groups, women have lower muscle strength than men. Men's muscle strength declines with age, while women's muscle strength declines from the age of 41 years.

Power Feminism, Mediated: Girl Power and the Commercial Politics of Change

In 1993, Naomi Wolf presented a divisive polemic on In Fire with Fire, (1) a New York Times notable book and national bestseller, Wolf called for a new approach to address shortcomings she perceived in the feminist movement. She cited a chief concern: that was out of touch with the average woman's needs and mindset. Wolf claimed that most women did not identify with feminism, stating that the feminist movement relied too heavily upon scare tactics in seeking support. As a result, she argued, failed to inspire women. Where did women find inspiration, then? In some cases, Wolf said, they relied on the media. She claimed that women more often found role models they identified with in the mainstream media than in feminist discourse, for women are fed up with the reminders of their own oppression. We are moved far more effectively by appeals to our strength, resourcefulness, and sense of responsibility (2)--appeals that she noted were increasingly common in the mass media of the 1990s. As evidence for her claim, Wolf wrote that during the Gulf War, women were inspired by imagery of female soldiers. She argued, If the woman behind you at the checkout counter at Wal-Mart can crush a foreign enemy, and probably disable an unarmed domestic assailant, what can you not do?'' (3) Wolf listed Roseanne Arnold, Queen Latifah, and Janet Reno (4) as iconic role models for mainstream women, praising media texts such as Thelma and Louise, Gone With the Wind, 9 to 5, Fried Green Tomatoes, and Cheers (5) for offering appealing new representations. Wolf claimed that the strong women in these media texts were derivative of archetypal strong women--the Greek goddess Diana, the Queen of Sheba, and Nike, Winged Victory--that were reawakening in the female psyche.'' (6) Wolf made a case that in the popular imagination, the idea of women's strength and was successfully supplanting a popular conception of women as victims. Wolf praised modern iconic strong women and ancient archetypes as exemplars of feminism. She conceived of as a positive form of feminist thought and engagement that begins with the assumption that women have enormous power, (7) both financially and politically. Wolf argued that women can use this to effect sweeping change in society--working within the system, using the master's tools, rather than outside of it as radicals. (8) Thus, Wolf revealed her opposition to Marxist and neo-Marxist feminist perspectives. In the wake of Fire with Fire's commercial success, the strong woman ascended in U.S. popular culture, reflecting changing cultural ideas about women, strength, and power. Representations of heroic women in such television shows as Xena: Warrior Princess (1995-2001), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003), Charmed (1998-2006), and Alias (2001-2006) (9) helped rectify the media's symbolic annihilation of women, (10) in discourse with Wolf's contributions to These characters took ownership of the enormous power that Wolf ascribed to all women, wielding it compellingly and garnering loyal audiences. Whether Wolf's assessment of the feminist movement was right or wrong (and I gravitate towards the latter, in part because her stance on victimhood is reductionistic and problematic), she had correctly assessed the powerful woman's appeal and resonance. For several years, archetypically strong women like Xena were the pulse of the television landscape, and their narratives implicitly reinforced feminist ideals, cycling them repeatedly through the media environment. However, the fantasy/science-fiction orientation of these shows meant that these television programs usually depicted feminist ideals through their characters' behaviors, generally eschewing clear engagement with feminist issues. This individualistic emphasis reflected a key characteristic of the feminism that Bonnie Dow has analyzed: specifically, prime-time television's longstanding tendency to focus on feminist identity, rather than feminist politics. …

Women as primary caregivers in Mexico: challenges to well-being

The purpose of this contribution is to review the peer reviewed literature from the last 20 years regarding the role of Mexican women in the family, and to describe the psychosocial and health challenges they face. We analyze the current problems and recent improvements in three areas: reproductive health, nutrition, and mental health, and we discuss how the role of caregiver may influence or be influenced by these health issues. We emphasize the cultural context, women's role as caregivers, the challenges they face, and the strength and resilience these women exhibit. We conclude that it is imperative that we modify the way in which Mexican women's needs are assessed, interpreted, and confronted, along with a definite need for concrete proposals that take into account both women's challenges and strengths, and the cultural context and national reality.

Diclofenac Potassium Attenuates Dysmenorrhea and Restores Exercise Performance in Women With Primary Dysmenorrhea

We assessed the efficacy of diclofenac potassium, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, in alleviating menstrual pain and restoring exercise performance to that measured in the late-follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. Twelve healthy young women with a history of primary dysmenorrhea completed, in a random order, laboratory exercise-testing sessions when they were in the late-follicular (no menstruation, no pain) phase of the menstrual cycle and when they were experiencing dysmenorrhea and receiving, in a double-blinded fashion, either 100 mg of diclofenac potassium or placebo. We assessed the women's leg strength (1-repetition maximum test), aerobic capacity (treadmill walking test), and ability to perform a functional test (task-specific test). Compared with placebo, diclofenac potassium significantly decreased dysmenorrhea on the day of administration (Visual Analog Scale, P < .001 at all times). When receiving placebo for menstrual pain, the women's performance in the tests was decreased significantly, compared with when they were receiving diclofenac potassium for menstrual pain (P < .05) and compared with when they were in the late-follicular phase of the menstrual cycle (P < .05 for treadmill test, P < .01 for task-specific test and 1-repetition maximum test). Administration of diclofenac potassium for menstrual pain restored exercise performance to a level not different from that achieved in the late-follicular phase of the cycle. In women with primary dysmenorrhea, menstrual pain, if untreated, decreases laboratory-assessed exercise performance. A recommended daily dose of a readily available nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, diclofenac potassium, is effective in relieving menstrual pain and restoring physical performance to levels achieved when the women were in the late-follicular (no menstruation, no pain) phase of the menstrual cycle.

Physiological Adaptations to Strength and Circuit Training in Postmenopausal Women With Bone Loss

Strength training (ST; high intensity/low volume/long rest) has been used in several populations, including children, young adults, and older adults. However, there is no information about circuit weight training (CWT; low intensity/high volume/short rest) in apparently healthy postmenopausal women. The purpose of the present study was to analyze the effects of high-intensity ST and circuit training on isometric strength (IS), upper limb dynamic strength (ULS) and lower limb dynamic strength (LLS), muscle activation of quadriceps (EMG quad), maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max), time to exhaustion (TE), and bone mineral density (BMD). Twenty-eight postmenopausal women were divided into 3 groups: 1) ST group (STG, n = 9, 45-80% 1 repetition maximum (1RM), 2-4 sets, 20-6 reps), 2) circuit training group (CTG, n = 10, 45-60% 1RM, 2-3 sets, 20-10 reps), and 3) a control group (CON, n = 9, no exercise). Significance level was defined as p <or= 0.05 for all analyses. After 24 weeks of training, increases were observed in STG and CTG. However, whereas in the STG, the IS (32.7%), ULS (28.7%), LLS (39.4%), EMG quad (50.7%), VO2 max (22%), and TE (19.3%) increased, CTG showed changes only in IS (17.7%), ULS (26.4%), LLS (42.2%), VO2 max (18.6%), and TE (16.8%). BMD did not change in any experimental group. In the CON, there were no changes in the variables analyzed. Our results suggest that ST and circuit training positively affect postmenopausal women's muscular strength, muscular activation, and cardiorespiratory fitness, with no changes in BMD.

Human adaptations for the visual assessment of strength and fighting ability from the body and face

Selection in species with aggressive social interactions favours the evolution of cognitive mechanisms for assessing physical formidability (fighting ability or resource-holding potential). The ability to accurately assess formidability in conspecifics has been documented in a number of non-human species, but has not been demonstrated in humans. Here, we report tests supporting the hypothesis that the human cognitive architecture includes mechanisms that assess fighting ability-mechanisms that focus on correlates of upper-body strength. Across diverse samples of targets that included US college students, Bolivian horticulturalists and Andean pastoralists, subjects in the US were able to accurately estimate the physical strength of male targets from photos of their bodies and faces. Hierarchical linear modelling shows that subjects were extracting cues of strength that were largely independent of height, weight and age, and that corresponded most strongly to objective measures of upper-body strength-even when the face was all that was available for inspection. Estimates of women's strength were less accurate, but still significant. These studies are the first empirical demonstration that, for humans, judgements of strength and judgements of fighting ability not only track each other, but accurately track actual upper-body strength.

Once-Monthly Oral Ibandronate Improves Biomechanical Determinants of Bone Strength in Women with Postmenopausal Osteoporosis

Bone strength and fracture resistance are determined by bone mineral density (BMD) and structural, mechanical, and geometric properties of bone. DESIGN, SETTING, AND OBJECTIVES: This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled outpatient study evaluated effects of once-monthly oral ibandronate on hip and lumbar spine BMD and calculated strength using quantitative computed tomography (QCT) with finite element analysis (FEA) and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) with hip structural analysis (HSA). Participants were women aged 55-80 yr with BMD T-scores -2.0 or less to -5.0 or greater (n = 93). Oral ibandronate 150 mg/month (n = 47) or placebo (n = 46) was administered for 12 months. The primary end point was total hip QCT BMD change from baseline; secondary end points included other QCT BMD sites, FEA, DXA, areal BMD, and HSA. All analyses were exploratory, with post hoc P values. Ibandronate increased integral total hip QCT BMD and DXA areal BMD more than placebo at 12 months (treatment differences: 2.2%, P = 0.005; 2.0%, P = 0.003). FEA-derived hip strength to density ratio and femoral, peripheral, and trabecular strength increased with ibandronate vs. placebo (treatment differences: 4.1%, P < 0.001; 5.9%, P < 0.001; 2.5%, P = 0.011; 3.5%, P = 0.003, respectively). Ibandronate improved vertebral, peripheral, and trabecular strength and anteroposterior bending stiffness vs. placebo [7.1% (P < 0.001), 7.8% (P < 0.001), 5.6% (P = 0.023), and 6.3% (P < 0.001), respectively]. HSA-estimated femoral narrow neck cross-sectional area and moment of inertia and outer diameter increased with ibandronate vs. placebo (respectively 3.6%, P = 0.003; 4.0%, P = 0.052; 2.2%, P = 0.049). Once-monthly oral Ibandronate for 12 months improved hip and spine BMD measured by QCT and DXA and strength estimated by FEA of QCT scans.

Frequency and Perceived Effectiveness of Strategies to Survive Abuse Employed by Battered Mexican-Origin Women

This study documented the frequency and perceived effectiveness of battered Mexican-origin women's usage of formal and informal help and personal strategies to survive abuse. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 75 battered Mexican-origin women. Consistent with survivor theory, results indicated that participants sought help multiple times from several formal and informal help sources; some (i.e., shelter, family) were perceived more effective than others (i.e., lawyer, in-laws). Participants engaged in various personal strategies to survive abuse; some (i.e., using faith/religion) were rated more effective than others (i.e., placating the batterer). Responses to open-ended questions suggest why specific help sources and strategies were/were not effective and provide socioculturally specific suggestions for improving services. This study illuminates battered Mexican-origin women's strengths and barriers that impede their survival efforts. Contributions include focusing on a subset of battered Latinas and documenting the frequency and perceived effectiveness of a wide array of help sources and strategies.

Elisabeth (review)

Reviewed by: Elisabeth Alisa C. Roost Elisabeth. Music by Sylvester Levay. Book and lyrics by Michael Kunze. Originally adapted and directed by Koike Shuichiro. Snow Company, Takarazuka Revue Company. Takarazuka Grand Theatre, Takarazuka, Japan. 5 June 2007. Takarazuka Revue Company performs musical revues and Western-style musicals with all-female casts for predominately female audiences. With five different companies, ten shows a week at a permanent house outside of Osaka that seats over 2,000, a second theatre in Tokyo, tours throughout the country, and occasional international performances, the group is a commercial and cultural phenomenon: performing to over 2.5 million people a year, it has also inspired a video game, several anime series, and a number of YouTube clips. In a country where the mass culture of digital entertainment and manga (comic books) dominates the youth scene and traditional culture is revered but rarely attended, Takarazuka has a unique niche, appealing primarily to young women through fairly conventional live theatre productions. Unlike the all-male kabuki and noh theatres, Takarazuka has little recognition outside of Japan. The companies perform various styles, from Broadway shows like West Side Story to a musical adaptation of War and Peace, to Las Vegas–style dance revues, to all-women kabuki/noh pastiches. Elisabeth, a German musical with music by Sylvester Levay and book and lyrics by Michael Kunze, is a plot-driven show with little character development mostly in the English-language style of sung-through mega-musicals, with many reprises of catchy songs. Elisabeth has been in Takarazuka's repertoire, with only minor costume changes, for over a decade. It amalgamates numerous theatrical and popular traditions and demonstrates a somewhat unusual approach to cross-dressing that focuses on women's strength while eschewing sexualized objectification. The production additionally evokes many elements of youth culture, including rock concerts, manga, and anime. Unselfconsciously theatrical and almost completely earnest, it employs myriad commercial techniques (manipulating the amplification levels; large-scale, repeated use of stage fog; hydraulic lifts toward heaven; and obviously mechanical manipulation of scenery) with only a single hint of the irony or pastiche that seems so common in many Western musicals today. An epic tale based on the life of Elisabeth of Bavaria, the show begins as her murderer—an anarchist—is undergoing a trial in purgatory. Claiming that Elisabeth (Yuri Shirahane) and Death (Natsuki Mizu) always loved each other, the anarchist stages Elisabeth's life as his defense. Throughout her life, Elisabeth and Death continually flirt with mutual love. Toward the end of her life that attraction becomes overwhelming; at one point, Elisabeth finally asks Death to take her, but Death refuses, wanting not just her life but an affirmation of her love. This only happens after the murder, as the couple transcends toward heaven, dressed all in white on a hydraulic platform evoking, Cats-like, a tire with the requisite fog and lights. While originally written for both male and female performers, the Takarazuka production of Elisabeth subverts Western expectations about the sexualized nature of cross-dressing. While men wrote the original show and adapted and directed it for the Takarazuka Revue Company, Elisabeth employs crossgender casting without the familiar objectification of women for a presumably male viewer: the company portrayed male roles in a passionate, dramatically committed, and esthetically minimal style by altos in tailored but not tight clothes (the performers of male roles are known as otokoyaku), while sopranos in skirts portrayed women (musumeyaku). The musumeyaku dancers freely wore skimpy outfits; there was no need to hide any voyeuristic elements under the guise of cross-dressing. The makeup and wigs emphasized European facial characteristics, but all the women had a strong "feminine" style. No stubble, facial hair (with the exception of one mustache), or lines tried to trick the eye; close-up photos demonstrate that the male characters clearly are played by conventionally "attractive" women, although a willing suspension of disbelief worked to make the male characters believable. The representation of Death seemed inspired by manga and anime: black leather, high boots, long blond hair turning green at the edges, green lips, and intricate embellishments along one hand. Death generally read as an effeminate male character, but sometimes...

Partner Abuse and Women's Substance Problems

In this exploratory study, a convenience sample of 125 mostly low-income women of color who were in treatment for problems associated with misusing substances responded to standardized measures and researcher-developed questions about their use of substances and experiences with partner abuse. Most of the women stated that their substance problems began after their first incident of partner abuse and that their misuse of substances occurred before and after specific incidents of partner abuse. The women also described various strengths they had used to cope. Screening for substance problems and partner abuse in all settings, as well as the use of women's strengths in treatment, is suggested.

The Strength of Women and Truth: The Tale of the Three Bodyguards and Ezra's Prayer in First Esdras

Most commentators believe the Tale of the Three Bodyguards in 1 Esdras 3–4 serves, simply and primarily, to enhance the status of Zerubbabel, the early leader of the returned exiles. A consideration of a number of thematic and rhetorical links between the Tale of the Three Bodyguards (1 Esdras 3:1–4:41[63]) and Ezra’s prayer-sermon recounted later in the book (1 Esdras 8:65–87; Eng.=8:74–90), however, demonstrates that the story also functions to undergird the response of Ezra and his associates to the intermarriage crisis recounted in 1 Esdras 8:65–87 (Eng.=8:68–90). The rhetoric of especially Zerubbabel’s speeches on women and Truth (1 Esdras 4:13–41) effectively anticipates and mitigates the reader’s possible moral objections to the expulsion of the foreign women. This suggests that a major reason 1 Esdras was composed was to weigh in on Jewish debates in the Hellenistic period regarding intermarriage with Gentiles.

Pelvic-Floor Strength in Women With Incontinence as Assessed by the Brink Scale

The purpose of this study was to describe how clinical pelvic-floor muscle (PFM) strength (force-generating capacity) is related to patient characteristics, lower urinary tract symptoms, and fecal incontinence symptoms. Data were obtained from 643 women who were participating in a randomized surgical trial for treatment of stress urinary incontinence. Patient demographic variables, baseline urinary and fecal incontinence symptom questionnaires, urodynamic data and urinary diary data, pad test results, and standardized assessment of pelvic organ support were compared with PFM strength as described by the Brink scoring system. Bivariate analysis of factors associated with the Brink scale score was done using analysis of variance and linear regression. Multivariate analysis included patient variables that were significant on bivariate analysis. The mean Brink scale score was 9 (SD=2) and did not vary widely in this large, but highly select, patient sample. We found a weak, but statistically strong, relationship between age and Brink score. Brink scores were not related to diary and pad test measures of incontinence severity. Overall, PFM strength was good in this sample of women with stress incontinence. Scores tended to be similar, and it is possible that the Brink scale does not reflect real clinical differences in PFM strength.

Size at birth and its relation to muscle strength in young adult women

To assess the relationship between development in utero, assessed by birth weight, and muscle strength in young adult women as assessed by grip strength. A total of 1563 participants aged 20-40 years in the Southampton Women's Survey had their grip strength measured during pregnancy. At recruitment to the survey the women had been asked to recall their birth weight or obtain it from their parents. For 536 women born in Southampton, birth weight was obtained from hospital records. Grip strength was related to birth weight using multiple linear regression analysis, adjusting for age, height, weight and reported physical activity. Grip strength increased with age, height, weight, physical activity and birth weight. In the mutually-adjusted model, grip strength increased by 1.10 kg per kilogram of birth weight (95% CI: 0.58-1.61 kg). In women with hospital birth weight data the relationship strengthened to 1.44 kg per kilogram of birth weight (95% CI: 0.50-2.38 kg). Grip strength in women in their twenties and thirties is at or approaching its peak. The association between grip strength and birth weight was remarkably similar to findings from other studies of women at younger and older ages. This indicates that in utero development has consequences for muscle strength throughout the life course, even allowing for the increase to peak muscle strength and then its decline as a woman ages.

Maximal eccentric and concentric strength discrepancies between young men and women for dynamic resistance exercise.

Although research has demonstrated that isokinetic eccentric (ECC) strength is 20-60% greater than isokinetic concentric (CON) strength, few data exist comparing these strength differences in standard dynamic resistance exercises. The purpose of the study was to determine the difference in maximal dynamic ECC and CON strength for 6 different resistance exercises in young men and women. Ten healthy young men (mean +/- SE, 25.30 +/- 1.34 years), and 10 healthy young women (mean +/- SE, 23.40 +/- 1.37 years) who were regular exercisers with resistance training experience participated in the study. Two sessions were performed to determine CON and ECC 1 repetitions maximum for latissimus pull-down (LTP), leg press (LP), bench press (BP), leg extension (LE), seated military press (MP), and leg curl (LC) exercises. Maximal ECC and maximal CON strength were determined on weight stack machines modified to isolate ECC and CON contractions using steel bars and pulleys such that only 1 type of contraction was performed. Within 2 weeks, participants returned and completed a retest trial in a counterbalanced fashioned. Test-retest reliability was excellent (r = 0.99) for all resistance exercise trials. Men demonstrated 20-60% greater ECC than CON strength (LTP = 32%, LP = 44%, BP = 40%, LE = 35%, MP = 49%, LC = 27%). Women's strength exceeded the proposed parameters for greater ECC strength in 4 exercises, p < 0.05 (LP = 66%, BP = 146%, MP = 161%, LC = 82%). The ECC/CON assessment could help coaches capitalize on muscle strength differences in young men and women during training to aid in program design and injury prevention and to enhance strength development.

Towards a new feminist practice in Africa: The women writing Africa project1

This article looks at the Women Writing Africa project as both a response to prevailing assumptions about the African woman as abject and helpless, and as a positive reinforcement of women's agency in an African context. I read the two texts that represent the project thus far (Women Writing Africa: the Southern Region and Women Writing Africa West Africa and the Sahel) as indicative of a new African feminism, one that foregrounds women's writing, in all its forms, as a means whereby to re‐envision African women, to invoke women's writing as evidence of women's strength and diversity, and to re‐imagine the African continent as a place in which women have been active participants in its history and culture.