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Harvard Women's Health Watch: September 2009

Articles in this issue:

Botox: Beyond cosmetic fixes

The procedure that revolutionized wrinkle treatment has myriad medical uses, many still experimental. What's the evidence?

At one time, most of us knew about botulinum toxin mainly as the source of deadly botulism food poisoning. Produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, the toxin is one of the most lethal substances on earth. Ingested, it can paralyze muscles throughout the body, including those that control breathing. Yet on a smaller scale, the same mechanism can do a body good. Injected into muscle tissue, for example, botulinum toxin can ease debilitating spasms and pain.

The many faces of Botox Today, most ...

Anaphylaxis: An overwhelming allergic reaction

Swift action is needed to short-circuit potentially deadly symptoms.

Sarah Lyman had no reason to worry when her husband John left the house for a jog after lunch: he looked his usual healthy self. Twenty minutes later, she got word that he had collapsed by the side of the road — fighting for breath. At the hospital, she learned that the cause was anaphylaxis (also called anaphylactic shock or allergic shock), likely brought on by the lobster salad they'd eaten for lunch. Fortunately, John was treated in time and survived. That he was allergic to shellfish was news to ...

In the journals: Link found between migraines with aura and late-life brain lesions in women

In the journals Link found between migraines with aura and late-life brain lesions in women Migraine is a chronic headache disorder characterized by intense pain (typically beginning on one side), sensitivity to light (photophobia) or sound (phonosensitivity), and often nausea and vomiting. Women are three to four times more likely to be affected than men. In some people with migraine, headache pain is preceded by neurological symptoms called an aura, which consists mostly of visual disturbances such as sparkles, jagged lines, blind spots, and halos. Some people suffer from difficulty speaking or numbness in the face or extremities.

A study ...

In the journals: Soy extracts don't improve bone density in older women

Adding a soy protein or isoflavone supplement did not prevent bone loss or encourage bone growth in postmenopausal women.

In the journals: Endometrial ablation is shown to be safe and effective

Women who are considering having a hysterectomy to relieve heavy menstrual bleeding may find microwave endometrial ablation a less invasive option.

By the way, doctor: Is a tanning bed safer than sunlight?

Q. Does tanning in a tanning bed cause less damage than natural sunlight?

A. It doesn't matter whether you get it from the sun or from artificial sources such as sun lamps and tanning beds — ultraviolet (UV) radiation is linked to skin cancers (including basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma) and to other sorts of skin damage, particularly premature skin aging (photoaging).

UV radiation is one part of the spectrum of light that reaches the earth from the sun. At the UV end of the spectrum, the wavelengths are too short to be visible to the naked ...

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