Years For Women Research Articles

More Than “Rations, Passions, and Fashions”: Re-Examining the Women's Pages in the Milwaukee Journal

The Milwaukee Journal is an example of a Midwestern metropolitan newspaper that featured an unnoticed but progressive women's section in the 1950s and 1960s produced by a group of women who were doing more than giving superficial treatment to food, family, fashion, and furnishings, derisively known as the Four F's. They were focused on a fifth F—feminism—quietly laying the foundation for the women's liberation movement years before marches and demonstrations drew widespread media attention to the cause. A reexamination of the soft news of the women's pages reveals a process of social change and demonstrates how the women of these sections were finding their own ways of redefining women's roles.

Associations of Trauma Exposure and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms With Venous Thromboembolism Over 22Years in Women.

BackgroundTrauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been linked to myocardial infarction and stroke in women, with biological and behavioral mechanisms implicated in underlying risk. The third most common cardiovascular illness, venous thromboembolism (VTE), is a specific health risk for women. Given previous associations with other cardiovascular diseases, we hypothesized that high levels of trauma and PTSD symptoms would be associated with higher risk of incident VTE in younger and middle‐aged women.Methods and ResultsWe used proportional hazards models to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs for new‐onset VTE (960 events) over 22 years in 49 296 women in the Nurses’ Health Study II. Compared to no trauma exposure, both trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms were significantly associated with increased risk of developing VTE, adjusting for demographics, family history, and childhood adiposity. Women with the most PTSD symptoms exhibited the greatest risk elevation: trauma/6 to 7 symptoms: HR=2.42 (95% CI, 1.83–3.20); trauma/4 to 5 symptoms: HR=2.00 (95% CI, 1.55–2.59); trauma/1 to 3 symptoms: HR=1.44 (95% CI, 1.12–1.84); trauma/no symptoms: HR=1.72 (95% CI, 1.43–2.08). Results were similar, although attenuated, when adjusting for VTE‐relevant medications, medical conditions, and health behaviors.ConclusionsWomen with the highest PTSD symptom levels had nearly a 2‐fold increased risk of VTE compared to women without trauma exposure in fully adjusted models. Trauma exposure alone was also associated with elevated VTE risk. Trauma and PTSD symptoms may be associated with a hypercoagulable state. Treatment providers should be aware that women with trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms may be vulnerable to VTE.

Looking beyond the rhetoric of an African Union year for women

At this year’s annual summit of the African Union, attending leaders declared 2015 the Year of Women’s Empowerment in acknowledgement of the increasing role women are playing in Africa’s development. The declaration comes as the continent prepares to kickstart the implementation of its 50-year development plan that was launched in 2013. Dubbed Agenda 2063, the plan is a pan-African vision that is expected to steer the continent towards “an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena”.

Women are Transmogrifying: History, Feminism and Australian Museums, 1975–2001

ABSTRACT1975 was United Nations International Women's Year. It was also the year of the Pigott Report, Museums in Australia. This report identified and encouraged the rise of history and its move into museums, which was then facilitated by state sesquicentennials and the Bicentennial of 1988. The period between 1975 and the opening of the National Museum of Australia in 2001 saw a major shift in the place of history in the public culture of Australia. This article traces the relationship between the rise of history, more specifically social history, in museums and the impact of feminism and feminists on those cultural institutions. It documents a period of activism and change, as debate raged about whose history was represented in exhibitions and collections and the field was transformed by the entry of professional history curators. The late 1980s and first half of the 1990s appear to have been a high point of public discourse about women, history and representation within the museum sector. However, feminism and feminists have had a significant impact on the practice of social history curatorship in Australia, and, in turn, on Australian public culture.

The Women's Legal Landmarks Project: Celebrating 100 Years of Women in the Law in the UK and Ireland

AbstractThis article by Rosemary Auchmuty and Erika Rackley introduces the Women's Legal Landmarks Project. The project is an interdisciplinary collaboration involving feminist scholars from law and other disciplines engaging in the process of identifying, researching and producing critical accounts of the key legal events, cases and statutes which represent significant turning points for women in the UK and Ireland. In creating the first scholarly anthology of legal landmarks for women spanning four jurisdictions and spanning eleven centuries, it seeks to contribute both to the development of the discipline of feminist legal history as well as societal understandings of the contribution women have made to public life and, more specifically, their involvement in the production of law, law reform and justice.

Cardiovascular risks associated with the use of drospirenone-containing combined oral contraceptives

ObjectivesThe “Long-term Active Surveillance Study for Oral Contraceptives” investigated the risks of long-term use of a 21-day regimen of drospirenone and ethinylestradiol (DRSP) compared to established oral contraceptives (OCs) in a routine clinical setting. Study designProspective, controlled, non-interventional cohort study conducted in seven European countries with three main exposure groups: new users of DRSP, levonorgestrel-containing OCs (LNG), and OCs containing other progestogens (Other OCs). All self-reported clinical outcomes of interest (OoI) were validated via attending physicians and relevant source documents. Main OoI were serious clinical outcomes, in particular cardiovascular events. Comprehensive follow-up procedures were implemented. Statistical analyses were based on Cox regression models. ResultsA total of 1,113 study centers enrolled 59,510 women. Overall 28%, 26% and 45% of these women used DRSP, LNG and Other OCs, respectively. Study participants were followed for up to ten years (mean value, 5.4years), which generated 318,784 woman-years (WY) of observation. Low loss to follow-up and drop-out rates of 2.9% and 16.8% were achieved. DRSP, LNG, and Other OCs showed similar incidence rates of venous thromboembolism. Corresponding hazard ratios (HRs) were close to unity. For arterial thromboembolic events (ATE) and initiation of antihypertensive treatment statistically significant lower risks were found for DRSP compared to LNG and Other OCs. ConclusionDRSP use was associated with similar general health risks and a low risk of ATE compared to OCs containing other progestogens. Implication statementThe 21-day regimen of drospirenone-containing combined oral contraceptives is associated with similar risk of VTE compared to other combined oral contraceptives as well as potentially with a lower risk of ATE.

‘This is education as the practice of freedom': Twenty Years of Women’s Studies at the University of Oxford

On 23 May 2015 students on the Women’s Studies Masters (M.St course) at the University of Oxford organised a conference to commemorate twenty years of Women’s Studies at Oxford, entitled: ‘Teaching to Transgress’: Twenty Years of Women’s Studies at Oxford. The conference consisted of a mixture of papers from leading academics in the field of Women’s Studies, as well as from postgraduate students currently enrolled on the M.St programme at Oxford, with the intention of giving young early career women the opportunity to present their research to a broad interdisciplinary audience.Since its foundation in 1995, the Women’s Studies course has strived to enact what the American feminist and activist bell hooks terms ‘education as the practice of freedom’.[1] Reflecting upon the discussions emerging from the conference, the conference organisers Charlotte De Val and Eleri Anona Watson ask: ‘what are the new and repeated challenges we face in fulfilling this practice of freedom?’ They also consider the changing scope of Women’s Studies as an academic field alongside present debates regarding its future in the UK and further afield. Examining debates of ‘possibility’ and ‘impossibility’ within Women’s Studies—that is to say, materialist versus post-structuralist critiques—in conjunction with questions of accessibility and ‘intellectual gatekeeping’, this article proposes that the future of Women's Studies is not the ‘apocalyptic’ vision that its critics would often have us believe. Indeed, one of the themes emerging from the conference was that as long as the field practices radical self-questioning and self-critique, Women’s Studies will maintain its academically and socially transformative potential.[1] bell hooks’s writings cover gender, race, teaching, education and media, emphasising the connections with systems of oppression. hooks is the author of pioneering works such as Ain’t I a Woman?: Black Women and Feminism (1981), Feminist Theory: From Margin to Centre (1984) and Writing Beyond Race: Living Theory and Practice (2013), and remains a leading public intellectual in feminist and educational studies.

TOWARDS AN ISLAMIC FRAMEWORK OF WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

It is worth recalling that the globalization of gender equality started quite recently with the United Nation declaring 1975 as the International Women's Year at the world conference held at Mexico City. Sequel to this the decade 1976-1985, was declared the Decade for Women, during which international agencies as well as some governments focused attention on what came to be popularly referred to as 'women issue." After that the second UN conference on women was held in Copenhagen in 1980. The decade as crowned by Nairobi Conference on Women in 1985. Then, the Cairo International Conference on population and development in 1994 came which seemed to focus on independence and autonomy of women even with a family context. Indeed several conferences, conventions and activities of a host of international agencies took place during the 1985-1994 to prepare the grounds and minds for the famous Beijing Conference in 1995. It was in Beijing, more than anywhere, where the issue of empowerment was focused and made such an indispensable condition for world progress and development.

A 3-year multicentre randomized controlled trial of etonogestrel- and levonorgestrel-releasing contraceptive implants, with non-randomized matched copper-intrauterine device controls.

Is there any difference in the clinical performance of the 3-year one-rod etonogestrel (ENG)- and the 5-year two-rod levonorgestrel (LNG)-releasing contraceptive implants during 3 years of insertion, and between implant and intrauterine device (IUD) contraception, in particular complaints possibly related to hormonal contraceptives? The cumulative contraceptive effectiveness after 3 years and method continuation through 2.5 years were not significantly different between ENG and LNG implants, but both outcomes were significantly worse in the non-randomized age-matched group of IUD users than in the combined implant group. ENG- and LNG-releasing implants are safe and highly efficacious contraceptives with pregnancy rates reported to be 0.0-0.5 per 100 women-years (W-Y). No head-to-head comparative study of the two implants has been undertaken, and little information is available on comparisons of complaints of side effects of implant and copper IUD users. This was an open parallel group RCT with 1:1 allocation ratio of the ENG and the LNG implants with non-randomized control group of women choosing TCu380A IUD to address lack of reliable data on common side effects typically attributed to the use of progestogen-only contraceptives. After device(s) placement, follow-ups were at 2 weeks, 3 and 6 months, and semi-annually thereafter for 3 years or until pregnancy, removal or expulsion of the implant/IUD occurred. The study took place in family planning clinics in Brazil, Chile, Dominican Republic, Hungary, Thailand, Turkey and Zimbabwe. Women seeking long-term contraception were enlisted after an eligibility check and informed consent, and 2982 women were enrolled: 1003, 1005 and 974 in the ENG-implant, LNG-implant and IUD groups, respectively; 995, 997 and 971, respectively, were included in the per protocol analysis reported here. ENG and LNG implants each had the same 3-year cumulative pregnancy rate of 0.4 per 100 W-Y [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.1-1.4]. A weight of ≥70 kg at admission was unrelated to pregnancy. Method continuation rates for ENG and LNG implants at 2.5 years were 69.8 (95% CI 66.8-72.6) and 71.8 per 100 W-Y (68.8-74.5), and at 3 years 12.1 (95% CI 5.2-22.0) and 52.0 per 100 W-Y (95% CI 41.8-61.2), respectively. Bleeding disturbances, the most frequent reason for method discontinuation, were significantly more common in the ENG group [16.7 (95% CI 14.4-19.3)] than in the LNG group [12.5 (95% CI 10.5-14.9)] (P 0.019). The 3-year cumulative loss to follow-up was lower in the ENG- than in the LNG-implant group, 8.1 (95% CI 6.4-10.2) and 14.4 per 100 W-Y (95% CI 12.1-17.1), respectively. The median duration of implant removal was 50 s shorter among women with ENG than among women with LNG implant (P < 0.0001). In the observational comparison between IUD and implant users, the 3-year relative risk for pregnancy in IUD group compared with the combined implant group was 5.7 per 100 W-Y (95% CI 4.4-7.3) (P = 0.0003). The 3-year expulsion rate of the IUD was 17.8 per 100 W-Y (95% CI 14.5-21.9), while the discontinuation rate for bleeding disturbances was 8.5 (95% CI 6.7-10.9). Frequency of complaints of headache and dizziness was not significantly different between implant and IUD users (P = 0.16 and 0.77, respectively), acne and bleeding irregularities were more frequent among implant users (P < 0.0001), while heavy bleeding and lower abdominal pain occurred more often among IUD than implant users (P < 0.0001). Few women were ≤19 years old or nulligravida, the proportion of implant users ≥70 kg was <20% and <8% were obese. Findings of the study can inform policy makers and clinicians about choice of implant, but also about TCu380A IUD in relation to implants. UNDP/UNFPA/WHO/UNICEF/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (HRP), Department of Reproductive Health and Research (RHR), World Health Organization (WHO). This report contains the views of an international expert group and does not necessarily represent the decisions or the stated policy of the WHO. ISRCTN33378571 registered on 22 March 2004. The first participant was enrolled on 12 May 2003.

Smoking Behaviors Among Urban and Rural Pregnant Women Enrolled in the Kansas WIC Program

Smoking during pregnancy is associated with poor birth outcomes. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is a public nutritional assistance program for low-income pregnant women and their children up to age five. This study examined differences in smoking behavior among women enrolled in the Kansas WIC program. A secondary analysis was conducted using the Pregnancy Nutrition Surveillance System dataset of enrolled women between 2005 and 2011. Geographic residency status was obtained through application of the Census tract-based rural-urban commuting area codes. Chi square tests of association were used to assess differences. Multi-variable binary logistic regression was used to assess maternal characteristics and smoking 3months prior to pregnancy. Total sample size averaged 21,650 women for years 2005 through 2011. Low-income, rural pregnant women smoked at significantly higher rates before, during, and after pregnancy. High smoking rates have remained unchanged since 2008. The following characteristics were associated with reduced odds of smoking 3months prior to pregnancy: being 17 years old or younger, Hispanic, a high school graduate, urban location, normal body mass index, no live births prior to current pregnancy, and using multi-vitamins. Results from this study indicate that the WIC population in rural areas may have different needs regarding smoking cessation programming than the urban WIC population. Findings help inform WIC program administrators and assist in enhancing current smoking cessation services to the Kansas WIC population.

The Diplomatic History of Global Women's Rights: The British Foreign Office and International Women's Year, 1975

This article explores the British Foreign Office's engagement with International Women's Year (IWY) in 1975, an event which has been viewed as a milestone in histories of transnational feminist activism, and a moment when the status of women became part of mainstream thinking about development, human rights and global security. Much of the existing literature on IWY dwells on the role of non-state actors, especially women's NGOs active at the United Nations (UN). In contrast, this article shifts the lens on to state actors, in order to ask what role diplomats, politicians and ministries of foreign affairs played in the construction of ‘women’ as a global political subject in the late twentieth century. It finds that the Foreign Office's reading of IWY was refracted through the prism of Cold War power politics and postcolonial struggles. Gender politics was conceptualised as essentially a proxy for these larger ideological battles, an approach dating back to Britain's semi-clandestine anti-communist propaganda campaigns after the Second World War. British women's NGOs, by contrast, insisted that women's activism should be accorded an independent dynamic of its own, imagining the possibilities of gender-based solidarities operating across political, social and economic divides. IWY and the subsequent UN Decade for Women tempered this idealism and set the international women's movement on a political learning curve. But, as the article will suggest, the 1970s was also a moment when state elites were forced to confront a new kind of global politics, the repercussions of which for the conduct of foreign policy and diplomatic relations only further fine-grained archival research can fully reveal.

We Intend to Move Together

The story of women's participation in the ecumenical movement can indeed be described as a pilgrimage of justice and peace, as well as a story of mission. From the earliest days of ecumenism--whether in its formal, institutional structures or in the lively work and witness of local communities around the globe--questions about women's role in the churches have been intertwined with questions about the social, economic, and cultural forces that affect women's lives. With changing emphasis shaped by particular time and context, the consistent thread in the journey has been a will to respond to the call to participate in God's mission in the world in ways that contribute to wholeness and fullness of life for all God's people and to the flourishing of creation. While not always named or recognized as such, gender justice has been at the heart of this journey. Consistently, women have been seeking ecumenical space in which the diverse experiences of women, their voices and visions, and the conditions of injustice and oppression that have been the lot of many women around the world can be lifted up and addressed. And in that space, women have claimed their own agency of resistance and transformation. The story of women's work and witness in the World Council of Churches (WCC) is only one facet of this journey. Each church family and world communion could tell its own story and each local context has had times of ecumenical witness and action--often connected with global programs, but also representative of particular local needs and issues. Nevertheless, the WCC has played a key role since its inception in linking ecumenical women in local contexts with international networks and global currents. A review of WCC programmes and structures committed to the journey of gender justice reveals both the rich heritage of ecumenical women's work and the challenges and gaps that continue. Affirming the "service and status of women" In the 1940s, when the WCC was still in the process of formation, Twila Cavert, a Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) leader from the US, together with other women, gained the support of WCC leaders for a pre-assembly women's meeting and a survey of woman leaders worldwide about their vision for the work of women in the whole church. (1) The questionnaire netted detailed replies from women in 58 countries, and prompted the Reformed Church of France to request that the question of women's role be placed on the agenda of the first assembly in Amsterdam in 1948. There, the study report on "The Life and Work of Women in the Church" was received and its recommendation for a permanent commission to undertake ecumenical inquiry into issues related to women's ministry was accepted. Susannah Herzel writes of the significance of these first steps for the participation of women in churches around the world: "So the infiltration had begun. Member churches of the ecumenical movement had agents of change in their midst, and the troubling questions would be increasingly difficult to ignore." (2) The material generated by the study was developed into a book by Kathleen Bliss, published in 1952 as The Service and Status of Women in the Churches, (3) Interpreting the reports through the framework of women's various types of service--voluntary, full-time and professional, ordained, and participation in church governance--Bliss examined the contributions and limitations of each area of endeavour. She asked whether the churches were making the best use of women's gifts, or helping women to participate as Christians in the changes taking place in society as a whole. Writing during a period of flux in women's public and private roles, Bliss urged churches to recognize the implications of changing family and employment patterns. She asserted that "what is needed is ... an imaginative act of understanding ... [of the] ... revolutionary change in the place of women in society." (4) These reports from around the world provided evidence that responses to women's ministries ranged from indifference to active opposition. …

Cognitive functioning during long-term tamoxifen treatment in postmenopausal women with breast cancer.

Endocrine therapy is widely used-often for many years-in women with breast cancer. Yet little is known about cognitive functioning after long-term use of tamoxifen. We examine cognitive sequelae, approximately 3 years after diagnosis, in postmenopausal women with breast cancer who were treated with adjuvant tamoxifen. Data from participants who underwent surgical operation with or without radiotherapy, participants who received adjuvant tamoxifen, and healthy controls were collected. Neuropsychological tests were administered, and participants completed questionnaires on health-related quality of life (Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 and Breast Cancer-Specific Quality-of-Life Questionnaire), menopausal symptoms (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast endocrine symptom subscale), and anxiety and depression (Hopkins Symptom Checklist). In total, 107 women participated (adjuvant tamoxifen group, n = 20; surgical operation/radiotherapy group, n = 43; healthy control group, n = 44). Women in the adjuvant tamoxifen group had received tamoxifen for a mean (SD) of 31.5 (18.6) months (range, 15-79 mo) and performed worse on verbal memory than the surgical operation/radiotherapy group (P < 0.05) and the healthy control group (P < 0.05). Participants in the adjuvant tamoxifen group performed worse on measures of fluency than healthy controls (P < 0.05). Furthermore, women in the adjuvant tamoxifen group reported worse cognitive functioning (P < 0.05) than women in the surgical operation/radiotherapy group or the healthy control group. Our results provide insights into cognitive functioning in women who receive long-term adjuvant tamoxifen treatment. By adding the surgical operation/radiotherapy group, we could control for the mental and physical influences of the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. Cognitive domains that rely on verbal abilities (verbal memory and fluency) seem to be at risk for deterioration after treatment with tamoxifen.

Taos of late 50: A review on postmenopausal oral discomfort in women

Menopause, the cessation of menses, is a normal physiologic event experienced by women. It is not an illness or a deficiency. After a woman's reproductive years, there is a 5- to 10-year period of menopause-related alterations in hormone patterns. These patterns terminate in a sharp decline of female hormone levels. The lack of ovarian estrogens appears to be associated with the onset of several postmenopausal diseases, most notably osteoporosis and heart disease. Oral discomfort has been reported as a complaint among postmenopausal women. It includes occurrences of pain, burning sensations, altered taste perception and dryness of the mouth. On this background this paper presents a review on the postmenopausal discomfort in women.

Incident bacterial vaginosis (BV) in women who have sex with women is associated with behaviors that suggest sexual transmission of BV.

Female same-sex partnerships provide a unique opportunity to study the pathogenesis and transmissibility of bacterial vaginosis (BV) because it can be diagnosed in both members of the partnership. We conducted a nationwide community-enrolled cohort study of women who have sex with women, including women coenrolled with their regular female sexual partner (FSP), to investigate the BV incidence rate and factors associated with incident BV. Women who have sex with women, without prevalent BV in a cross-sectional study, were enrolled in a 24-month cohort study involving 3-monthly questionnaires and self-collected vaginal swabs that were scored by the Nugent method. We assessed the BV incidence rate per 100 woman-years (WY) and used univariate and multivariable Cox regression analysis to establish factors associated with BV acquisition. Two hundred ninety-eight participants were enrolled in the cohort; 122 were coenrolled with their regular FSP. There were 51 incident cases of BV (rate, 9.75/100 WY; 95% confidence interval [CI], 7.41-12.83). Incident BV was associated with exposure to a new sexual partner (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR], 2.51; 95% CI, 1.30-4.82), a partner with BV symptoms (AHR, 3.99; 95% CI, 1.39-11.45), receptive oral sex (AHR, 3.52; 95% CI, 1.41-8.79), and onset of BV symptoms (AHR, 2.80; 95% CI, 1.39-5.61). Women coenrolled with their BV-negative partner had a greatly reduced risk of incident BV (AHR, 0.26; 95% CI, .11-.61), and high concordance of Nugent category (74%), which was predominantly normal vaginal flora throughout follow-up. These data highlight the strong influence of sexual relationships and behaviors on BV acquisition and the vaginal microbiota. They provide epidemiological evidence to support exchange of vaginal bacterial species between women and the concept that BV is sexually transmitted.

Pregnancy outcomes in women growing up with perinatally acquired HIV in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

IntroductionIn the United Kingdom and Ireland more than 40% of individuals living with perinatally acquired HIV are now aged >16. Globally, increasing numbers of women with perinatally acquired HIV are becoming pregnant, but data on fertility and pregnancy outcomes is scarce. We present pregnancy outcome data for this emerging cohort.MethodsPregnancies in diagnosed HIV-infected women in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and children diagnosed with HIV, are reported to the National Study of HIV in Pregnancy and Childhood. We analyzed data on pregnancies in women diagnosed aged ≤13 with perinatally acquired HIV, reported by June 2014.ResultsA total of 759 females born before 2001, diagnosed with perinatally acquired HIV aged ≤13 years, and in care in the UK and Ireland have been reported. Forty-four of these (6%) have had at least one pregnancy reported, with nineteen 2nd and four 3rd/4th pregnancies. Women's year of birth ranged from 1985 to 1996; 60% of women were UK/Irish-born and 39% African-born. Twenty one percent were diagnosed at <2 years, 39% at 2–7 and 41% at 8–13 years. Nine pregnancies were conceived in 2005–07, 22 in 2008–10 and 36 in 2011–13. Median age at conception of first pregnancy was 19 years. CD4 count was >500 cells/µL in 36% of first pregnancies, 350–499 in 15% and <350 in 49%. Women were on antiretroviral therapy (ART) at conception in 71% of pregnancies. There were 51 singleton live births, 2 miscarriages, 9 terminations and 5 continuing to term. In 17 live births to women not on ART at conception, median gestational age at start of ART was 17 weeks (range 3–29). HIV viral load was <50 copies/mL near delivery in 64% of live births, 51–1000 in 31% and >1000 in 5%. Forty four percent of live births were delivered by elective caesarean section (CS), 27% by emergency CS, 27% by planned vaginal delivery and with one unplanned vaginal delivery. Of 29 live births with viral load <50, 31% were delivered by elective CS, 17% by emergency CS and 52% by vaginal delivery. Fifteen percent of infants were delivered at 32–36 weeks gestation, and 2% at 30 weeks; 16% weighed 1.5–2.5 kg and 16% weighed <1.5 kg. Among 38 of the 51 infants where infection status is already reported, one is perinatally infected.ConclusionsCurrently at least 6% of perinatally infected women in care in the UK and Ireland have experienced one or more pregnancies. Linking paediatric, pregnancy and second generation data will enable further monitoring of pregnancy outcomes in this newly emerging population.

Abstract 3326: Parallel EMT pathways mediated by epidermal growth factor, EpCAM and mesenchymal cadherins in benign endometriotic lesions and endometrial cancer

Abstract The endometrium is the major target of oncogenesis in the uterus. Endometrial tissue undergoes several cycles of disintegration and repair during women's reproductive years. The involvement of repair mechanisms that include transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) pathway may entail epithelial msenchymal transition (EMT) known to be involved in tissue repair. This suggests that the EMT program is inherent in endometrial epithelial cells and may be subverted during the development of invasive disease, whether benign such as endometriosis or malignant such as endometroid endometrial carcinoma. We therefore examined candidate mechanistic modulators of EMT in normal and malignant endometrial epithelial cells as well as endometrial carcinoma samples using cell signaling, gene expression and epigenetic regulation methodologies. Our evidence strikingly show that although both TGF-beta and epidermal growth factor (EGF) stimulated primary normal endometrial epithelial cell invasiveness, EGF was the main inducer of EMT in these cells. EGF also strongly induced EMT in endometrial cancer cells. In normal and malignant cells, Raf-1/MAPK mediated EGF actions. Interestingly, EGF stimulated epithelial adhesion molecule (EpCAM) cleavage and internalization of its intracellular domain EpICD into the nucleus to activate EMT-related genes such as mesenchymal cadherins. This was associated with loss of the epithelial marker E-cadherin and upregulation of its negative regulator Snail1. The involvement of EMT in aggressive endometrial malignancy was further confirmed in a permissive transcriptional epigenetic profile of mesenchymal cadherins in endometrial cancers with poor survival compared to a silenced epigenetic signature in less aggressive tumors. This epigenetic regulation including DNA methylation and histone modification was mediated by EpCAM, as shown in EpCAM-knockdown endometrial cancer cells, suggesting that EpCAM binding to target promoters maintains an open transcriptional conformation. Combined, our data suggest that while plasticity is required for endometrial regeneration during the menstrual cycles, committed epigenetic signatures may alter the path of normal tissue repair to aberrant growth associated with benign tumors or malignant growth. In concert, activation by cell signaling such as EGF/EpCAM may determine the extent of invasiveness and disease progression. Citation Format: Ya-Ting Hsu, Joseph Liu, Peter A. Binkley, Robert S. Schenken, Rajshwar R. Tekmal, Tim H.-M. Huang, Nameer B. Kirma. Parallel EMT pathways mediated by epidermal growth factor, EpCAM and mesenchymal cadherins in benign endometriotic lesions and endometrial cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 3326. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-3326

Repeated use of pre- and postcoital hormonal contraception for prevention of pregnancy.

Repeated use of postcoital hormonal contraception is not currently recommended due to the higher risk of side effects and lower contraceptive effectiveness compared to other modern methods of contraception. However, emerging evidence indicates renewed interest in a regular coitally-dependent method of oral contraception. We evaluated the existing data on safety and effectiveness of pericoital use of levonorgestrel and other hormonal drugs to prevent pregnancy. To determine the effectiveness and safety of repeated use of pre- and postcoital hormonal contraception for pregnancy prevention. We searched until 1 September 2014 for trials that tested repeated pre- and postcoital use of hormonal drugs for pregnancy prevention. Databases included CENTRAL, MEDLINE, and POPLINE. We searched for current trials via ClinicalTrials.gov and ICTRP. For the initial review, we also searched EMBASE, CINAHL, and LILACS, and wrote to researchers to identify other trials. We considered published and unpublished studies of repeated postcoital or immediately precoital use of hormonal drugs for contraception with pregnancy as an outcome. Two authors independently confirmed eligibility and extracted data from the included studies. We calculated confidence intervals (CI) around individual study Pearl indices using a Poisson distribution. We presented individual study estimates and pooled estimates and their 95% CI, where appropriate. We found 22 trials that evaluated pericoital use of LNG and other hormonal drugs on a regular basis to prevent pregnancy. The studies included a total of 12,400 participants, and were conducted in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The drugs and doses evaluated included levonorgestrel (LNG) 0.75 mg (11 studies), LNG in doses other than 0.75 mg (4 trials), and hormones other than LNG (7 trials). Outcomes included pregnancy rates, discontinuation, side effects, and acceptability.Pericoital levonorgestrel was reasonably efficacious and safe. The pooled Pearl Index for the 0.75 mg dose of LNG was 5.4 per 100 woman-years (95% CI 4.1 to 7.0). The pooled Pearl Index for all doses of LNG was 5.0 per 100 woman-years (95% CI 4.4 to 5.6). Other hormonal drugs appeared promising but most of them were not studied extensively. Menstrual irregularities were the most common side effects reported. However, the studies provided no consistent evidence of a relationship between bleeding abnormalities and either frequency of pill intake or total dose of the drug. Non-menstrual side effects were reportedly mild and not tabulated in most studies. Most women liked the pericoital method in spite of frequent menstrual irregularities. The studies of pericoital LNG regimens provided promising results but many had serious methodological issues.Most reports were decades old and provided limited information. However, we considered the evidence to be moderate quality because of the large number of participants from diverse populations, the low pregnancy rates, and the consistent results across studies. Rigorous research is still needed to confirm the efficacy and safety of pericoital use of LNG as a primary means of contraception among women with infrequent intercourse. If the method is shown to be efficacious, safe and acceptable, the results may warrant revision of the current World Health Organization recommendations and marketing strategies.

Decreased birth weight, length, and head circumference in children born by women years after treatment for hyperthyroidism.

Whether hyperthyroidism influences the birth characteristics of children born several years after treatment is unknown. The objective of the study was to compare birth characteristics in singleton newborns delivered by women previously treated for Graves' disease (GD), toxic nodular goiter (TNG), or nontoxic goiter (NTG). This was a nested case-control design within a national cohort registry study from 1950 through 2006. The study was conducted at a university and a hospital center in collaboration. The birth characteristics of newborns (n = 3421) delivered in a cohort of 43 633 women treated for GD or toxic nodular goiter by radioiodine or surgery (exposed group) at least 1 year prior to pregnancy were compared with newborns (n = 2914) of 45 655 mothers, previously operated for NTG (unexposed group). The primary outcome was birth weight, length, and head circumference. The secondary outcome was malformations, gestational age, and type of hyperthyroidism. The birth weight of exposed children was 3431 ± 607 g (mean ± SD) compared with the unexposed, 3520 ± 641 g (P < .001). The cumulative odds ratio (OR) for lower birth weight was 1.29 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.16-1.43]. The average birth length for the exposed children was 50.0 ± 2.7 cm compared with the unexposed of 50.4 cm ± 2.6 cm (P < .01) [cumulative OR 1.25 (95% CI 1.13-1.37)]. The head circumference was 34.5 ± 1.9 cm among exposed and 34.7 ± 1.8 cm, respectively (P < .001), with an OR of 1.24 (95% CI 1.13-1.35). No differences in birth characteristics were observed between children born after maternal GD or toxic nodular goiter. Previous GD or TNG may influence the birth characteristics several years after radioiodine or surgical treatment.

WE-G-16A-01: Evolution of Radiation Treatment Planning

WE-G-16A-01: Evolution of Radiation Treatment Planning