An algorithm called the TwoDay method, developed by the Institute for Reproductive Health at Georgetown University and Italian fertility experts, is a simple way of establishing on which days in a woman's menstrual cycle she is fertile. The research was published in Europe's leading reproductive medicine journal, Human Reproduction on October 26, 2001. Analysing cervical secretion and time to pregnancy data obtained from a large multinational European database - the European Study of Daily Fecundability - they were able to demonstrate that intercourse is unlikely to result in a conception if vaginal dampness is not noticeable on that day or the day before. All a woman has to do is to notice when she has any vaginal dampness, not associated with menstruation, intercourse or disease. Women wishing to avoid pregnancy should avoid unprotected intercourse unless they have not had vaginal dampness for 2 days.
According to a study in the Oct. 19 issue of Science, sex may be a way for you to bring in the good and get rid of the bad. In other words, sex weeds out the bad genes that may have arisen in your DNA -- so-called "baggage" -- and allows good mutations to flourish in your offspring. To test this interesting theory, researchers William R. Rice, PhD, and Adam K. Chippendale looked at two different populations of fruit flies -- one that reproduced with sex and one reproduced without sex. Rice and Chippendale are from the department of ecology, evolution and marine biology at the University of California in Santa Barbara. They found that in flies that had sex, good gene changes were able to spread throughout the population faster than those deprived of the joy of sex. Generally, we think of mutations as being a bad thing, but, in fact, mutations can actually lead to good changes in our bodies. For example, at some point in history, a good gene mutation likely led to some people producing a lot of good "HDL" cholesterol, the kind that helps prevent heart disease. So science has come through once again: Medical research is giving you a reason to have sex -- you will be doing a service for the entire human race.
Keeping people active will reduce the chance to develop arthritis in addition to heart disease. Exercise can help older people avert a form of arthritis that can turn ordinary activities such as getting out of bed into a painful chore. Those who regularly walked or did weight training were less likely to lose abilities to perform activities of daily living. Brenda Penninx of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine and her colleagues looked at 250 participants ages 60 and older. When the study started, all could perform normal activities, despite osteoarthritis of the knee. Osteoarthritis is characterized by progressive deterioration of cartilage, and affects more than 80 percent of those who reach the age of 70. Results of the study were published in the Oct. 22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. The report is the first to demonstrate that exercise can help people avoid relying on others for help in these ordinary activities.
Women
have a new non-permanent birth control option. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration
has approved a new contraceptive device -- a vaginal ring that releases
a low dose of hormones to prevent pregnancy. The device, called Nuvaring,
is supposed to be worn three weeks out of every month and removed during
the woman's menstrual period in the fourth week. When used correctly, Nuvaring
is about as effective as other popular contraceptives, with a failure
rate of one or two out of every 100 women using it each year, The Associated
Press reports. However, if the ring slips out of place for more than
three hours, a woman must use a back-up method of birth control for
seven days after reinserting it, the AP says. Side effects of Nuvaring
could include vaginal discharge, infection and irritation, and as
with all hormone-based contraceptives there is a risk of developing blood
clots.
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