Bacterial Vaginosis

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most common of three vaginal infections that fall under the category known as vaginitis. The other two infections are trichomoniasis, a sexually transmitted disease, and the fungal infection commonly known as a yeast infection.

BV is the least understood and most often ignored or misdiagnosed of these conditions. However, it is gaining more attention as more research shows that untreated BV can lead to significant health complications, including premature delivery, postpartum infections, clinically apparent and subclinical pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), post-surgical complications (after abortion, hysterectomy, cesarean section and other reproductive procedures), increased vulnerability to HIV infection and, possibly, infertility. As many as one-third of pregnant women in the United States have BV.

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HIV/AIDS

n June 5, 1981, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published the first report alerting the medical community to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS — acquired immune deficiency syndrome — a disease that fatally attacks the immune system. Since then, AIDS has since become a major global epidemic.

What distinguishes HIV from most other viruses is that antibodies produced by the immune system cannot kill HIV. Once a person is infected, HIV remains in the blood forever. After a silent but intense battle that can last 10 years or more, the virus weakens the immune system to the point that it can no longer protect the body from infections. These opportunistic infections, such as pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP), mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) and cytomegalovirus (CMV), are the late-stage conditions that define AIDS. In addition, patients with HIV face an increased risk of contracting certain cancers and neurological disorders.

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Cervical Cancer Preventative Health Vaccination

Gardasil is a recently Australian developed vaccination that treats two particular strains of the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). These strains, 16 & 18, are the cause of around 70% of all cervical cancers.

HPV is a sexually transmitted infection, mostly effecting women aged between 20 - 24. Almost all abnormal pap smears are caused by HPV and in many cases it clears itself, however if the virus persists and is left undetected it can lead to cervical cancer.

Gardasil prevents the infection from HPV strains 16 & 18 if individuals are vaccinated before they are infected with the virus.

All medicines considered for funding by the Australian Government must first be approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) this guarantees that they are safe and clinically effective.

Following the Governments commitment to cover the costs of the vaccination itself, at Healthy Women Medical Centre, we can administer the cervical cancer vaccination to anyone up to the age of 26.

Proper Sleep May Help Clear Arteries

December 23 (HealthDay News) -- A good night's sleep may be just what your arteries need.

So finds a new five-year study in which middle-aged people who had an extra hour of sleep each night were less likely to have artery-stiffening calcium deposits.

But the study results shouldn't send people off to bed prematurely or have them popping sleeping pills, cautioned Diane Lauderdale, associate professor of health studies at the University of Chicago Medical Center, who led the study.

"We don't know why there is an association," Lauderdale said. "And until we know why, we can't tell whether it is a causal association."

The report was published in the Dec. 24/31 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Lauderdale and her colleagues have been following a group of young adults for years, studying their heart arteries from a number of angles. The latest report linked the sleeping habits of 495 participants, ages 35 to 47, with the incidence of artery calcification, measured by CT scans.

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TriLipix Approved to Help Lower Cholesterol

December 16 (HealthDay News) -- The Abbott Laboratories drug TriLipix (fenofibric acid) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to help lower cholesterol.

TriLipix is among a class of drugs called fibrates, and it can be used alone or in combination with a statin, such as Lipitor, Zocor or Crestor.

The drug was studied in 2,698 people with so-called "mixed dyslipidemia," a condition characterized by above-normal levels of LDL (bad cholesterol) and triglycerides, and below-normal levels of HDL (good cholesterol). Clinical studies showed TriLipix used in combination with a statin helped people control all three lipids better than use of the statin alone, Abbott said in a news release.

Common side effects of TriLipix included headache, heartburn, nausea, muscle aches, and increased levels of certain muscle and liver enzymes measured by blood tests.

People with liver, gallbladder, or severe kidney disease shouldn't take TriLipix. The drug should also be avoided by nursing mothers, Abbott said.

Essential Fatty Acids -- The Key To Health, Part II

Balancing EFAs and Anti-Oxidants.
Because EFAs are polyunsaturated, containing two or more double chemical bonds, they are prone to rancidity, not merely in foods but also in the human body. Rancidity occurs when the double bond is broken by oxygen, producing an oxidized fatty acid. Oxidized fatty acids not only taste badly, they behave badly, disrupting the normal functioning of the cell membranes of which they are a part. Oxidized fatty acids are rapidly generated from the process called free radical-induced cell damage.

To protect EFAs from harmful oxidation, it is essential to consume adequate levels of dietary anti-oxidants, especially vitamin E. Consumption of a nutrient-dense diet will assure a higher-than-average intake of all anti-oxidants. Depend-ing upon the specific foods chosen, however, where those foods have been grown, the efficiency of digestion and absorption, the need for EFA supplementation, and the pres-ence of inflammation within the body, supplementation of the diet with additional anti-oxidants may be necessary. For people who supplement their diets with fish oils or flax oil, a minimum anti-oxidant supple-ment should include vitamin E (four hundred units per day), selenium (one hundred micrograms per day), and vitamin C (one thousand milli-grams per day), in addition to--not instead of--a nutrient-dense diet.

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