Women Health

An independent advisory panel recommended Wednesday that silicone gel implants be made available to all women who want to enlarge their breasts or have breast reconstruction after cancer surgery. If approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the panel's recommendation would reverse an 11-year restriction that limited the device's availability only to breast cancer survivors and other women willing to participate in closely supervised clinical trials.

Allen Lein, 89, a founding faculty member of the UC San Diego School of Medicine and an expert on female reproductive health, died March 26 of heart failure in Austin, Texas. Born in New York City, Lein attended the University of Chicago and earned bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in zoology, with a focus on endocrinology, from UCLA. During World War II, he served as an Army aviation physiologist in the War Research Program. He later studied in France as a Guggenheim Fellow.

The issue of women's rights and reproductive health caused delegates at a U.N. development summit here to stumble briefly Tuesday in their mad dash to wrap up a global plan to reduce poverty and simultaneously protect the planet. Final negotiations on the plan were completed Monday.

St. John's Regional Medical Center will offer a women's health fair today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event will feature information on topics including mental health, HIV and AIDS, weight management and financial management. Tests and screenings will be available, including mammograms for $55, blood panels for $15 to $25, pap smears $15 and colorectal cancer screenings $5.

Women who have a few alcoholic drinks a week have an almost 15% lower chance of developing high blood pressure than teetotalers, new research shows. However, the study also found that consuming more than about 1 1/2 drinks daily increases the high blood pressure risk by 30% compared with nondrinkers. The increased risk was associated equally with wine, beer and hard liquor.

Mammography continues to be an effective way to reduce deaths from breast cancer, according to a new analysis of long-term data, and women should continue to undergo regular screening, several national medical organizations said Thursday.

The second annual Women's Health Symposium will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Poinsettia Pavilion, 3451 Foothill Road. The event will include sessions on domestic violence, hormone-replacement therapy, adoption, domestic partnership laws and grandparents' rights. Keynote speakers are Gayle Olinekova, a former world-class marathon runner and author, and Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara).

Too much vitamin A may increase the risk of hip fractures in older women, according to a study researchers say suggests the need to reevaluate the levels in supplements and fortified food. Vitamin A is important for such things as healthy skin and hair and bone growth. But in the study published in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Assn.

Local AIDS activists won a landmark court case against the South African government Friday, forcing the state to make a key drug available to thousands of HIV-positive pregnant women. Activists who packed the public gallery of the Pretoria High Court cheered and hugged one another as Judge Chris Botha ruled that the government is obliged to provide the antiretroviral drug nevirapine to all HIV-positive women giving birth in public hospitals.

The Food and Drug Administration made an unprecedented about-face Monday, approving a gel that promises less internal scarring for women undergoing certain surgeries--even though regulators originally deemed the product too risky. The FDA initially had rejected Lifecore Biomedical Inc.'s Intergel, which promises to reduce internal scarring from some gynecologic operations.