For information on studies being conducted at UT Southwestern visit www.utsouthwestern.edu and enter Studies in the search field.

Women's Health Resources is a service from the National Library of Medicine's Specialized Information Services (SIS). It was developed to support the mission of the NIH's Office of Research on Women's Health. The site includes resources from key NLM and NIH information repositories on important issues in women's health, as well as pre-defined searches of PubMed. [posted 3/08]

Please note that the above searches of PubMed do not provide access to all of the full-text available via UT Southwestern Medical Center Library. A quick-and-easy workaround is to first open PubMed using the Library's special link (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?dr=abstract&otool=utswmlib ), and then click on the search links.  This trick saves the Library's settings so that you will see the FindIt!@Library icon, thus leading you to the full-text.

Most Online Info on Breast Cancer Accurate Can you identify false or inaccurate online breast cancer information? According to a recent study published in Cancer, most breast cancer data found online is accurate - only 1 in 20 breast cancer Web pages had inaccuracies. However, sites that featured complementary and alternative medicine were 15 times more likely to contain false or misleading health information. While many consumers look to online sites for sites that identify the credentials of authors who claim to publish particular studies, the researchers of the present study caution that none of these criteria ensure accuracy. Although the researchers were unable to find a combination of criteria that allowed them to differentiate the Web sites with accurate information from the ones with inaccurate information, they hope to use such quality criteria in order to develop a tool to help consumers screen for sites with misinformation. Their recommendations? Be skeptical, make sure that what you read is applicable to your specific medical well-being, and don't take action without consulting a clinician. Health Online[from AWIS Washington Wire 02/14/08]

Heart Disease Deaths Declining in Women According to a recent studyanalyzing the number of heart disease deaths of American women in 2005, conducted by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health, women are living longer and healthier lives, and dying of heart disease at much later ages than in the past years. While this sounds like good news, serious challenges do remain - one in four women die from heart disease. Women of color have higher rates of some risk factors for heart disease and are more likely to die of the disease. More than 80 percent of middle-aged women have at least one risk factor and many of them don't know it. In 2002, NHLBI introduced The Heart Truth's Red Dress as the national symbol for women and heart disease awareness, which sparked a national movement that has united partners to promote the common goal of a greater awareness of heart disease and better heart health for all women. About half of women recognize the Red Dress as the national symbol for women and heart disease and about half of women are aware that heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women. Raising Heart Health Awareness among Women Nationwide [from AWIS Washington Wire 02/14/08]

Women's health report card, state by state  The National Women's Law Center, in collaboration with the Oregon Health and Science University, has evaluated the health of women in all fifty states on the basis of both status and policy indicators. Of particular interest are several key findings: that no state received an overall grade of "satisfactory," and that of 27 benchmarks set, only three were met by all states-and two of them were already met in 2004. While the outlook seems dismal, several states are doing much better than others. Is yours one of them? [from AWIS Washington Wire 10/31/07] http://hrc.nwlc.org [posted Dec. 19, 2007]

Sister Study Seeks Participants to Help Find the Environmental and Genetic Causes of Breast Cancer The Sister Study needs 50,000 women whose sisters had breast cancer, to enroll now, in order to help discover the environmental and genetic causes of breast cancer. Conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Sister Study is committed to enrolling a diverse population of women to ensure the results represent and benefit all women. Currently, the Sister Study has enrolled 36,000 of its 50,000 participant goal.  For more information visit www.sisterstudy.org or www.estudiodehermanas.org. Call toll-free 1-877-4SISTER. Deaf/Hard of Hearing call 1-866-TTY-4SIS.  [from AWIS Washington Wire June 2007]

Research Shows Women are Apathetic in Discussing Medication with Doctors Research shows that drug side-effects are different in men than in women due to the nature of the female body. Women have smaller organs, higher body fat, and less blood flow than men. However, many women do not discuss these gender-linked differences with their doctors; which could be the difference between successful and unsuccessful treatment.   For more info: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=81128 [from AWIS Washington Wire June 2007]

Women's Health Fellowship Directory The 2007 Directory of Residency and Fellowship Programs in Women's Health lists residencies and fellowships in women's health.  Developed by the Association of Academic Women's Health Programs.  Copies can be obtained by going to: www.liebertpub.com/jwh.

Special section on women's health in the journal Science: Womens Health Once neglected, studies of women's health are finally coming of age, due in large part to the efforts of the Women's Health Initiative (see related Editorial by V. Simon). In a collection of articles published with the 10 June 2005 issue, Science and its online companion sites explored the many dimensions of women's health. In a special section of Science, News and Review articles offered insights into female-male differences in areas such as drug metabolism, HIV/AIDS susceptibility, cardiovascular disease, and mental health -- and discussed conditions specific to women including endometriosis and preeclampsia (a circulatory disturbance between mother and fetus). Two Policy Forums debated the refusal by some pharmacists to dispense prescriptions for contraception, and a Book Review highlighted a recent volume on pregnancy loss by Science correspondent J. Cohen. The Signal Transduction Knowledge Environment focused on estrogen signaling as it relates to cancer and vascular health, as well as on signaling associated with infection by human papillomaviruses; articles in the Science of Aging Knowledge Environment explained how understanding male-female differences in longevity and the course of age-related diseases might improve health care for both sexes. Finally, Science's Next Wave offered perspectives from three women scientists who returned to work after illness and, through GrantsNet, a sampling of current funding opportunities for research on women's health. Posted July 2005.

Women's Health Initiative Studies: Website explaining the 15 year research program to address the most common problems in life for postmenopausal women. To access study, click Women's Health Initiative Studies. posted April 2004

The American Heart Association has consolidated information for professionals on women and cardiovascular disease. Find guidelines, physician tools, patient education materials, statistics, special reports, and more.

National Action Plan on Breast Cancer
A public/private partnership coordinated by the PHS Office on Women's Health. Click here to visit the website. posted Oct'04

Guide to Med Student Electives in Women's Health
A list of current and proposed medical school electives in women's health and gender-specific medicine. Click here to visit the webpage.

Directory of Residency and Fellowship Programs in Women's Health
The Office on Women's Health within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service has developed a directory to foster increased public and health care professional awareness about established programs in the expanding field of post-graduate training in women's health.

Office of Research on Women's Health (OWH)  is a part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the government's champion and focal point for women's health issues, and works to redress inequities in research, health care services, and education that have historically placed the health of women at risk.

Information for Health Professionals and their patients...The Link Between You and Women's Health
posted Oct.04