What is important that she realizes that there are some cognitive changes that take place during this phase in a woman’s life,’ said study-leader Dr. Miriam Weber.

Scientists find women in their fifties struggle with working memory, which is the ability to take in new information and manipulate it, such as calculating the amount of a tip after a restaurant meal.

‘She can find comfort in knowing that there are new research findings that support her experience. She can view her experience as normal.’

A team from the University of Rochester, in New York, put a group of women aged from 40 to 60 through a battery of cognitive tests.

It analyzed 75 women who were approaching or beginning menopause.

The study is one of only a handful to analyze in detail a woman’s brain function during menopause and to compare those findings to the woman’s own reports of memory or cognitive difficulties.

They underwent a series of cognitive tests that looked at several skills, including their abilities to learn and retain new information, to mentally manipulate new information, and to sustain their attention over time.

Women who had memory complaints were much more likely to do poorly in tests designed to measure working memory.

Scientists also found that the women’s reports of memory difficulties were associated with a lessened ability to keep and focus attention on a challenging task.

Study leader Dr. Miriam Weber said the menopause is a transition period that lasts years.

Generally anywhere from one-third to two-thirds of women during this stage of life report forgetfulness and other difficulties that they view as related to poor memory.

Dr. Weber has some advice for women suffering from menopausal memory problems.
‘When someone gives you a new piece of information, it might be helpful to repeat it out loud, or for you to say it back to the person to confirm it, it will help you hold onto that information longer,’ Dr Weber said.

The World Health Organization study suggests global abortion rates are steady, at 28 per 1,000 women a year.

Women are more vulnerable to dangerous infection or bleeding in these environments.

However, the proportion of the total carried out without trained clinical help rose from 44 percent in 1995 to 49 percent in 2008.

In developing countries, particularly those with more restrictive abortion laws, most abortions are unsafe, with 97 percent of abortions in Africa described this way.

In comparison, 95 percent of abortions in Latin America were deemed unsafe, falling to 40 percent in Asia, 15 percent in Oceania and 9 percent in Europe.

In the developed world, the proportion of pregnancies ending in abortion fell from 36 percent in 1995 to 26 percent in 2008.

Countries with restrictive abortion laws did not have a corresponding decrease in abortion rate – in some cases, the reverse was true.

Researchers used surveys, official statistics and hospital records to compile the figures often a difficult task in countries where abortion is illegal.

They concluded that while the abortion rate had fallen since 1995, that drop had now leveled off, and overall, the rise in world population meant that there were 2.2 million more abortions in 2008 compared with 2003.

Professor Beverly Winikoff, from Gynuity, a New York organization which pushes for access to safer abortion, wrote in the Lancet: “Unsafe abortion is one of the five major contributors to maternal mortality, causing one in every seven or eight maternal deaths in 2008.

Kate Hawkins, from the Sexuality and Development Program at the Institute of Development Studies, said: “Whether it is legal or illegal, women will seek abortions and obtain abortions.”

“This study showed that in 2008, 86 percent of abortions took place in developing countries and that nearly half of all abortions worldwide were unsafe in 2008.

Dr. Richard Horton, the Lancet’s editor, said: “These latest figures are deeply disturbing. The progress made in the 1990s is now in reverse.

“Condemning, stigmatizing and criminalizing abortion are cruel and failed strategies.”

Period pain is caused by hormones called prostaglandins, produced by the lining of the womb to make it contract.

Menstrual cramps or dysmenorrhea normally last for a couple of days and tend to be worse during teenage years, gradually easing off with age.

Contraceptive pills could help ease excruciating cramps that affect some women during their periods.

The Scandinavian study, reported in the journal Human Reproduction, found women on the pill reported slightly less severe period pains.

Dr. Lindh and her colleagues at Gothenburg University, Sweden, believe that the contraceptive pill prevents the production of these hormones and thereby reduces these
cramps.

One American survey suggested that the condition of women who suffers dysmenorrhea could cause lost working hours in the United States each year.

“Effective management of dysmenorrhea is beneficial for both the women affected and society.”

The Scandinavian study, reported in the journal Human Reproduction, found women on the pill reported slightly less severe period pains.

The editorial, however, points to research that suggests sex selection is more common among immigrants from India, China, Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines who already have at least one daughter.

An article in the issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) warns that Canada has become “a haven for parents who would terminate female fetuses in favor of having sons” due to advanced prenatal testing and easy access to abortion.

In 2004, Canada outlawed fertility practices that would increase the likelihood that an embryo will be a certain sex, or that would identify an in-vitro embryo by sex for any reason other than to diagnose a sex-linked disorder or disease.

CMAJ interim editor-in-chief Rajendra Kale said, “the Canadian medical establishment needs to go further, and make express rulings that would ban fetal sex disclosure before seven months, when it is too late for an abortion.”

He added that doctors should nevertheless “avoid painting all Asians with the same broad brush and doing injustice to those who are against sex selection,” but called for collective cooperation by women of all races.

“The execution of a ‘disclose sex only after 30 weeks’ policy would require the understanding and willingness of women of all ethnicities to make a temporary compromise,” he wrote.

“Postponing the transmission of such information is a small price to pay to save thousands of girls in Canada.”

Kale’s controversial proposal was welcomed by conservative groups but opposed by the pro-choice advocates who warned that the debate extends much further than sex-selective abortion in minority groups.

The Canadian Medical Association, the country’s largest doctors’ group with 70,000 members, stressed that editorial viewpoints are not necessarily those of the CMA.

Alexia Conradi, head of the pro-choice Women’s Federation of Quebec, agreed that abortive sex-selection is ‘unacceptable,’ but questioned the motivation of those who support formal measures to prevent it.

According to Jessica Arons of the left-wing Washington think-tank the Center for American Progress, the issue raises difficult questions for women’s advocates.

“Any types of restrictions on abortion are met with skepticism by the pro-choice community generally,” she said.

The team, led by Professor Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, found that the desire for sex reduces with age, particularly for women who have gone through the menopause, making them less sexually active.

The highest levels of sexual satisfaction were reported among the youngest and oldest women in the study.

Despite having a low sex drive, half of older women still claimed to achieve orgasms ‘most of the time’ during sex.

That may be because sex for the older woman can be about being in a loving relationship as much as it is about pure animal instincts, they suggest.

US scientists think this is because the women had sex as a means of affirmation or keeping their relationships healthy.

Researchers studied the sex lives of 806 ‘older women’ whose average age was 67 but included some in their 80s.

“Approximately half of the women aged 80 or older reported arousal and orgasm most of the time, but rarely reported sexual desire,” according to Prof. Barrett-Connor.

Results, published in The American Journal of Medicine, also showed it was possible to achieve sexual satisfaction just by touching or caressing a partner with whom the women had enjoyed a long-term relationship.

They said that as we get older merely feeling ‘emotional and physical closeness’ to a partner can be enough to provide sexual satisfaction.

Under normal circumstances, if the body temperature rises, the blood vessels under the skin dilate in order to lose heat, leading to reddening of the skin and sweating.

In women with hot flushes, this can occur at the smallest provocation or seemingly for no reason at all.

Mary Ann Lumsden, Professor of Medical Education and Gynecology at the University of Glasgow, believes patients who experience severe hot flushes may actually have an abnormality in the function of the blood vessels and may also contribute to the overactive response seen in many menopausal women.

Prof. Lumsden said, ‘What’s fascinating is that it appears to be the blood vessels themselves rather than what goes on in the brain that actually causes hot flushes.’

As part of the research, the scientists treated female patients with medications known to decrease the number of hot flushes.

Some were given an anti-depressant, which is designed to boost levels of serotonin, the so-called ‘happiness hormone’.

Others were given a drug typically used to treat high blood pressure while others a Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) while the rest were given a placebo.

HRT was found to be the most effective treatment, with 75 per cent noting an improvement, while the anti depressant drug improved flushing in over 60 per cent of patients, with the majority of those prescribed it wishing to continue with the drug. Drugs used to treat hypertension only worked in 40 per cent of the women.

However, if a patient suddenly stops taking the ant depressant in their treatment they can experience significant withdrawal symptoms including anxiety, low mood, insomnia and nausea.

The researchers also found that patients who are prone to hot flushes have more risk factors for heart disease.

The founder of the company French Jean-Claude Mas is being sought in Costa Rica for offenses concerning ‘life and health.’

France’s health ministry advised 30,000 women with breast implants made by now-bankrupt PIP to have them removed.

French Health Minister Xavier Bertrand was particularly concern that the founder of the company has to be made accountable of his actions.

“By not using the specified product, they sought to make money, and this is the worst thing, out of women’s health,” said Bertrand. “Clearly he must be found along with everyone else who had an interest in this company.”

France’s state medical insurance would be readying their complaints against those responsible alleging criminal fraud and deceit, as well as seeking compensation.

The total cost for removing and replacing the implants through reconstructive surgery, is estimated at around 60 million euros (US$ 78 million).

The French health ministry advised women who refuse to heed the call, to have a breast scan every six months.

In April last year, PIP was shut down and its products banned after it was found to have been using non-specified silicone material in their products that can cause high implant rupture rates.

Though there is no proven cancer risk the prostheses could rupture, in more than 65 countries, mainly in South America and western Europe, received implants produced by PIP.

Women who suffer the physical and emotional symptoms of PMS, is banking on their sensitivity to the hormone, allopregnanolone.

Allopregnanolone is released in the body after ovulation and during pregnancy, and when changes occur in the course of the menstrual cycle.

Most women are more sensitive to allopregnanolone immediately after menstruation, and less sensitive before. They usually suffer no PMS complaints.

However, women who suffer severe symptoms of PMS experience the opposite, a high sensitivity before their period, which may mean they have less ability to adapt to hormonal variations.

A high sensitivity to allopregnanolone before menstruation results in mood swings and heightened emotions before menstruation.

The study, by Dr. Erika Timby at the Umeå University, Sweden, is a breakthrough in understanding PMS.
During her doctoral dissertation, women were given allopregnanolone in doses that elevated the amount in their blood to levels normally seen during pregnancy.

Researchers recorded a fatiguing effect in the form of slower eye movement and increased feeling of tiredness.

Dr Timby said: “We have studied few women, but this is one of the first studies to examine the effects of this particular metabolite from the corpus luteus hormone in humans.

“Greater knowledge of the underlying mechanisms of pronounced PMS can ultimately provide clues for new methods of treatment.”

Poor oral health can make women susceptible to gum disease that can affect chances of conception as told in a fertility conference in Sweden.

On said conference it was emphasized of how women with gum disease took for seven months to conceive, compared to the usual five months on women with healthy gums.

The suspected cause of delay is inflammation caused by oral bacteria, which may have a knock-on effect on tissue in the reproductive system, doctors believe.

This is the first time gum disease has been identified among the factors that affect the chances of a pregnancy, said chief investigator Roger Hart, a professor of reproductive medicine at the University of Western Australia in Perth.

Hart cautioned that women trying for a baby should now add a trip to their dentist to the check list along with stopping smoking and drinking, maintaining a healthy weight and taking folic acid supplements.

Periodontal disease can delay the time it takes to conceive by two months on average, an effect similar to that of obesity in women, the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) heard at its annual meeting.

The evidence comes from a medical study conducted in western Australia on a group of 3,416 pregnant woman, most of them young and of Asian background.

Last month a Saudi woman was arrested and detained for driving because she drove the car without a driving license. In Saudi Arabia driving licenses are only issued to men.

The Secretary of State Hillary Clinton but all praise accorded to these women who are brave enough to impose their human rights to drive.

It was the first public comment of Mrs. Clinton on the issue. “What these women are doing is brave, and what they are seeking is right,” Mrs Clinton told reporters.

However, she underlined that she was not interfering in the internal affairs of Saudi Arabia, a key US ally in the Middle East.

Washington had so far opted for quiet diplomacy on the issue of Saudi women’s rights.
But with more Saudi women defying the driving ban and the call by activists for Mrs Clinton to speak out, it was no longer possible to stay silent.

The prohibition of women not to drive is not enforced by law, but is a religious edict imposed by conservative Muslim clerics in the country.

It is one of a number of severe restrictions on women in Saudi Arabia.