Progesterone

Progesterone suppositories, the most common treatment for premenstrual syndrome (PMS), are not significantly effective for the condition that afflicts up to 7 million American women, University of Pennsylvania researchers said last week in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. The researchers studied 168 women who reported various PMS symptoms, including irritability, mood swings and breast tenderness--the largest such study ever conducted.

This post has been corrected. See note at the bottom for details. African American women have higher rates of a type of breast cancer that isn't dependent for growth on the hormones estrogen or progesterone. They also have a higher rate of childbearing than do white American women. A new study finds there is likely a link between those two facts -- that bearing a baby to term raises the risk for this type of cancer, called estrogen or progesterone receptor-negative breast cancer.

The start of labor has always been something of a mystery. How does the body know when it's time to send junior out of his or her watery cocoon and into the real world? Clues have trickled in over the last several decades. A study published this week identifies another piece of the puzzle. Hormones are known to be involved as a trigger to labor. But researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center discovered that small molecules called microRNAs work with hormones to control the onset of labor.

For the first time, the Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved a drug to reduce the risk of premature delivery, although it required the manufacturer to conduct more studies to demonstrate the drug's efficacy. The agency gave the nod to a synthetic form of the hormone progesterone, which is normally produced during pregnancy, that can be injected into women who have already had a spontaneous preterm birth. The weekly injections, to be marketed under the name Makena, are for use only in women who are carrying a single fetus and who have no other risk factors for an early delivery.

Re the Sheryl Massip trial: One day, we'll understand the biochemistry of postpartum depression and regard today's attitudes (as reflected by the verdict in the Massip case) as Neanderthal. It's amazing how much hormones affect our moods, perceptions, even our behavior. It's unfortunate that Massip's attorney wasn't allowed to present evidence from other, more "progressive" cultures--i.e., England and France. In England, preventive injections of the hormone progesterone administered immediately after birth are not uncommon.

This post has been corrected. See note at the bottom for details. African American women have higher rates of a type of breast cancer that isn't dependent for growth on the hormones estrogen or progesterone. They also have a higher rate of childbearing than do white American women. A new study finds there is likely a link between those two facts -- that bearing a baby to term raises the risk for this type of cancer, called estrogen or progesterone receptor-negative breast cancer.

Healthy middle-aged women who take hormones to ease the misery of hot flashes and night sweats have fewer depressive symptoms, less anxiety and tension, and better and more sex than those who do not, according to a new study. Though the long-term effects of hormone replacement therapy could not be measured by the new research, it did offer some reassuring findings. It suggested that some women's cholesterol profiles and metabolic function might improve on hormone replacement therapy and that blood pressure did not rise during or after a relatively brief stay on hormone replacement.

In the nearly 11 years since researchers first rang alarm bells that women on hormone replacement therapy faced an increased risk of breast cancer, some have suggested that taking estrogen and progestin to treat symptoms of menopause might not be so dangerous after all. Though it was generally agreed that woman who took the two hormones to curb their hot flashes and night sweats upped their chances of developing the disease, many studies suggested that...

Like a lot of young women, Kelsey Webb, 25, has been off and on birth control pills since she was 18. Every time she started taking them, she gained 5 to 10 pounds. "My normal weight is around 125 pounds. On the pill, I would get up to 130 or 135," says Webb, who is 5 feet, 5 inches tall. FOR THE RECORD: Birth control pills: A package of articles about birth control pills in the March 21 Health & Wellness section said Dr. Ricardo Azziz, an obstetrician and gynecologist specializing in endocrine disorders, is president of the Medical College of Georgia.

When a woman stops making estrogen, her body notices. Hot flashes, night sweats, moodiness, foggy thinking — all can be part of the menopausal package. At first blush, the solution seems obvious: Take extra hormones, and the symptoms of menopause should vanish. Over the decades, millions of women have taken some form of hormone therapy to relieve symptoms of menopause or to prevent the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis. The treatment typically included Premarin, estrogen isolated from the urine of pregnant mares, combined with Provera, a synthetic version of the hormone progesterone.

The start of labor has always been something of a mystery. How does the body know when it's time to send junior out of his or her watery cocoon and into the real world? Clues have trickled in over the last several decades. A study published this week identifies another piece of the puzzle. Hormones are known to be involved as a trigger to labor. But researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center discovered that small molecules called microRNAs work with hormones to control the onset of labor.

Pediatricians who specialize in the treatment of premature infants have made remarkable gains. Twenty years ago, a baby born 12 weeks early in the United States would have had little chance of surviving; today, that baby's chances of survival are more than 90%. In spite of this progress, the issue of prematurity remains a great concern because the number of children born too early is on the rise. Between 1981 and 2002, the rate of premature births in the United States increased almost 30%.

Progesterone suppositories, the most common treatment for premenstrual syndrome (PMS), are not significantly effective for the condition that afflicts up to 7 million American women, University of Pennsylvania researchers said last week in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. The researchers studied 168 women who reported various PMS symptoms, including irritability, mood swings and breast tenderness--the largest such study ever conducted.

Re the Sheryl Massip trial: One day, we'll understand the biochemistry of postpartum depression and regard today's attitudes (as reflected by the verdict in the Massip case) as Neanderthal. It's amazing how much hormones affect our moods, perceptions, even our behavior. It's unfortunate that Massip's attorney wasn't allowed to present evidence from other, more "progressive" cultures--i.e., England and France. In England, preventive injections of the hormone progesterone administered immediately after birth are not uncommon.

Pediatricians who specialize in the treatment of premature infants have made remarkable gains. Twenty years ago, a baby born 12 weeks early in the United States would have had little chance of surviving; today, that baby's chances of survival are more than 90%. In spite of this progress, the issue of prematurity remains a great concern because the number of children born too early is on the rise. Between 1981 and 2002, the rate of premature births in the United States increased almost 30%.

I have traveled to the Palm Springs Life Extension Institute in search of Dr. Edmund Chein. Instead I find Tiffany Caranci. Tiffany is 20 years old and looks exactly how you might expect a 20-year-old named Tiffany to look: platform heels, low-slung skirt, hair streaked blond and black. She's brazenly sexy, and so very young. I am a man and not very young.