Sex After Childbirth - Most Mothers Wait At Least 6 Weeks, Some Considerably Longer

Most first-time mothers wait until after 6 weeks postpartum to resume vaginal sex following childbirth and women who have an operative vaginal birth, caesarean section, perineal tear or episiotomy appear to wait longer, suggests a new study published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology...

Pregnant Women Infected With Syphilis Estimated At Over A Million World-Wide

Syphilis still affects large numbers of pregnant women world-wide, causing serious health problems and even death to their babies, yet this infection could be prevented by early testing and treatment, according to a study by international researchers published in this week's PLOS Medicine. Researchers, led by Lori Newman from the World Health Organization, estimate that in 2008, 1...

Drug Treating Sexual Pain Among Postmenopausal Women Approved By FDA

The drug Osphena (ospemifene) has just been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of moderate to severe dyspareunia, a symptom of vulvar and vaginal atrophy (VVA) that causes pain during sexual intercourse in postmenopausal women...

Intervention Reduces Pregnancy Risk In Teen Girls

Teen girls at increased risk of pregnancy reported more regular use of condoms, oral contraception, or both after participating in a youth development intervention. The finding came from a randomized controlled trial published Online First by JAMA Pediatrics. Among the industrialized countries, the highest rates of teen pregnancy and childbearing continue to be registered in the U.S...

Clinical Trial Evaluates Intervention To Reduce Pregnancy Risk Among Adolescent Girls

More consistent use of condoms, oral contraception or both was reported by a group of teenage girls who took part in a youth development intervention aimed at reducing pregnancy risk in high-risk adolescents, according to a report of a randomized controlled trial published Online First by JAMA Pediatrics, a JAMA Network publication...

HIV-Related Research And Programming Has Excluded Homosexuals In Africa For Three Decades

HIV-related research and programming has excluded same-sex attracted men in Africa for three decades. Their exclusion cannot be accounted for by the assertion that they are unreachable, says Norwegian researcher. 'The first HIV-related study among African men who are attracted to men was carried out in 2005, fully 25 years into the HIV epidemic...

Calcium Supplements Lead To Heart Disease

Men who take calcium supplements are more likely to die of heart disease than those who do not take supplements. The finding came from a new study by a team of experts led by Qian Xiao, from the National Institutes of Health, and supports prior research from last year which indicated that calcium supplements are linked to a higher risk of heart attack...

Bystanders Who Are Crime Drama Viewers Are More Likely To Aid Sexual Assault Victims

Viewers of primetime crime dramas, like NCIS, CSI or Law & Order, are more inclined than non-viewers to see themselves intervening on behalf of the victim of a sexual assault, according to recent research at Washington State University...

Male Spatial Superiority May Be A Result Of Natural Selection

Males and females differ in a lot of traits (besides the obvious ones) and some evolutionary psychologists have proposed hypotheses to explain why...

Time Spent Sitting Related To Risk Of Chronic Diseases

The more you sit, the higher your risk of chronic diseases. Kansas State University researcher Richard Rosenkranz, assistant professor of human nutrition, examined the associations of sitting time and chronic diseases in middle-aged Australian males in a study that is published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity...

Probiotic Helps Male Mice Build Healthy Bones

In what could be an early step toward new treatments for people with osteoporosis, scientists at Michigan State University report that a natural probiotic supplement can help male mice produce healthier bones. Interestingly, the same can't be said for female mice, the researchers report in the Journal of Cellular Physiology...

HIV-Infected Russians Show Increased Sex And Drug Risk Behaviors Following Recent Marijuana Use

Researchers from Boston Medical Center (BMC) and Boston University's School of Medicine (BUSM) and School of Public Health (BUSPH) have found that in Russian HIV-infected risky drinkers, marijuana use is associated with other increased risky behaviors involving drug use and sex...

Sexual Reproduction And Clues To Chromosome Crossovers

Neil Hunter's laboratory in the UC Davis College of Biological Sciences has placed another piece in the puzzle of how sexual reproduction shuffles genes while making sure sperm and eggs get the right number of chromosomes...

STDs Are An Epidemic In The U.S., CDC Warns

In step with Valentine's Day, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that the U.S. has around 110 million cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs or STIs), amounting to 20 million new infections each year, and it is only getting worse. The announcement followed two new studies just released by the CDC...

Morning-After Pill Use Increases In U.S.

Morning-after pill use has notably increased in the United States. About 1 in 9 younger women have taken the pill after sex. The finding came from the first government report to analyze emergency contraception since it received approval 15 years ago. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) released the results on Thursday...

"Significant" Proportion Of HIV Positive Patients May Not Be Telling NHS Staff About Their Infection, UK

A significant proportion of HIV positive patients may not be disclosing their infection to NHS staff, when turning up for treatment at sexual health clinics, suggests preliminary research published online in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections...

Birth Control Pills The Most Acceptable Form Of Contraception By Teen Girls According To Parents

Parents are more accepting of their teenage daughters using birth control pills than any other form of contraception, including condoms, according to a recent study from UC San Francisco (UCSF)...

Boys' Academic Achievement Hindered By Negative Stereotyping

Negative stereotypes about boys may hinder their achievement, while assuring them that girls and boys are equally academic may help them achieve. From a very young age, children think boys are academically inferior to girls, and they believe adults think so, too...

Genetic Predisposition To Brain Injury After Preterm Birth May Be Sex-Specific

In a study to be presented on February 14 between 1:15 p.m., and 3:30 p.m. PST, at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting ™, in San Francisco, researchers will report that variation in a gene involved in inflammation is associated with developmental problems after preterm birth in females, but not males...

The Truth Behind Cupid's Arrow

We've heard the clichés: "It was love at first sight," "It's inner beauty that truly matters," and "Opposites attract." But what's really at work in selecting a romantic or sexual partner? University of Notre Dame Sociologist Elizabeth McClintock studies the impacts of physical attractiveness and age on mate selection and the effects of gender and income on relationships...

ER Departments Rarely Treat Pregnant Women For Sexually Transmitted Infections

Many pregnant women with sexually transmitted infections aren't getting the treatment they need when they visit emergency rooms, according to a new Michigan State University study that highlights a wholly preventable risk to unborn children and raises questions about current medical guidelines...

Men Experiencing Permanent Stress At Increased Risk For Type 2 Diabetes

Men who reported permanent stress have a significantly higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes than men who reported no stress. This is the finding of a 35-year prospective follow-up study of 7,500 men in Gothenburg, by the University of Gothenburg, Sweden...

Obese Women Taking Certain Contraceptive May Be At Increased Risk For Type 2 Diabetes

A first-of-its-kind study by researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) indicates that healthy, obese, reproductive-age women who use long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) containing the hormone progestin have a slightly increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes when compared to those who use non-hormonal contraception...

Preventing HIV, STDs With The Help Of Social Media

Facebook and other social networking technologies could serve as effective tools for preventing HIV infection among at-risk groups, new UCLA research suggests...

Preventing HIV, STDs With The Help Of Social Media

Facebook and other social networking technologies could serve as effective tools for preventing HIV infection among at-risk groups, new UCLA research suggests...

Human Cytokine In Semen Exploited By HIV To Promote Its Own Transmission

A new report suggests that the concentration of one human cytokine, interleukin 7 (IL-7), in the semen of HIV-1-infected men may be a key determinant of the efficiency of HIV-1 transmission to an uninfected female partner...

Male Obesity Can Impact Offspring's Cancer Risk

Maternal diet and weight can impact their child's health even before birth - but so can a father's, shows a study published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine...

Middle-Aged Men May Need More Protein To Maintain Muscle Mass

People tend to lose muscle mass as they age; researchers are investigating ways to delay or counteract age-related muscle loss...

Childhood Emotional Abuse Dramatically Strong Among Male Alcohol-dependent Individuals

Individuals who drink excessively or are alcohol dependent (AD) have reduced central serotonergic neurotransmission, which can have an impact on planning, judgment, self-control, and emotional regulation. Childhood maltreatment has also been found to have a negative impact on central serotonergic neurotransmission...

Cash Transfer Program For Reducing HIV Risk

With a goal to reduce HIV risk behaviors, researchers investigated whether gay men and male sex workers in Mexico City would participate in a conditional cash transfer program that encourages HIV prevention education and regular testing. A new study in the European Journal of Health Economics reports the price that would get more than 75-percent participation: $288 a year...

Cash Transfer Program For Reducing HIV Risk

With a goal to reduce HIV risk behaviors, researchers investigated whether gay men and male sex workers in Mexico City would participate in a conditional cash transfer program that encourages HIV prevention education and regular testing. A new study in the European Journal of Health Economics reports the price that would get more than 75-percent participation: $288 a year...

A Sedentary Lifestyle Can Reduce Sperm Quality

Over recent years, the overall quality of semen has declined, which is most likely due to the increase in sedentary lifestyles among young men, according to a recent study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the relationship of physical activity with sperm count...

Men Taking Long-Acting Chronic Pain Meds 5 Times More Likely To Have Low Testosterone Levels

Low testosterone levels occur five times more often among men who take long-acting instead of short-acting opioids for chronic pain, according to a new Kaiser Permanente study published in The Clinical Journal of Pain...

Safe Sex Practices Among African American Women

Researchers have found that African American women exhibit a higher risk for sexually transmitted infections including HIV/Aids...

Husbands Who Share Housework Have Less Sex

Husbands who help out with household chores have less sex than men in so-called "traditional" marriages where housework is done by exclusively by the wife, researchers from the USA and Spain reported in the journal American Sociological Review. In faithful relationships, the wife whose husband is involved in housework obviously has less sex too, the authors added...

Long-Term Urinary, Sexual And Bowel Function Side Effects Tracked In Prostate Cancer

A new study comparing outcomes among prostate cancer patients treated with surgery versus radiotherapy found differences in urinary, bowel and sexual function after short-term follow-up, but those differences were no longer significant 15 years after initial treatment. The study, led by first author Matthew Resnick, M.D...

Tenofovir Gel Wins Out In Drug Absorption Study, But HIV Prevention Trials Say Differently

A novel head-to-head study looking at differences in how the antiretroviral (ARV) drug tenofovir gets absorbed in the body as either an oral tablet or a vaginal gel found tenofovir gel can achieve substantially higher concentrations of active drug in vaginal tissue than the oral tablet, suggesting that tenofovir gel should be highly effective in protecting women against HIV tr...

Attitudes Toward HPV Vaccination For Boys

A new Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) study has found that low-income and minority parents/guardians were receptive toward vaccinating boys against Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). However, racial/ethnic differences emerged in attitudes regarding school-entry mandates. The findings appear online in the journal Clinical Pediatrics...

Research Helps To Explain Early-Onset Puberty In Females

New research from Oregon Health & Science University has provided significant insight into the reasons why early-onset puberty occurs in females. The research, which was conducted at OHSU's Oregon National Primate Research Center, is published in the current early online edition of the journal Nature Neuroscience...