Check Out the Talented Liza Lee!

I want to tell all of you about a very talented recording artist working with the Society for Women's Health Research, Liza Lee.

Here is the beginning of Liza's story:"What makes a thirty-one year old singer and songwriter want to donate all of the proceeds from her new jazz project to the Society for Women’s Health Research?

First of all, I have an aunt who is battling ovarian cancer. That has been my most recent wake up call. But my personal journey to finding the Society for Women’s Health Research was unexpected and precarious.

This is a path that I would rather not have ambled down except that it has led me here to a great organization working to improve the health of all women through research. I am glad to help increase awareness about the dire need for funds to research how illness, disease and medications uniquely affect women’s bodies.

Let me tell you about my journey.My name is Liza Lee. I am a New York City-based performer. Four years ago, in 2004, I had just released my first jazz CD, “Scarlet Mark.” This was an amazing time period in my life. “Scarlet Mark” was receiving great reviews, radio play and allowing me to do something that I love—perform live and tour. I could not have been more excited.

My dream of a fulfilling singing career had become a reality. Around this time I had the opportunity to travel to and perform in the Dominican Republic. It was a great experience, but while there I contracted what turned out to be Dengue Fever, which is similar to malaria. It took me several weeks to even begin to recover. I use the word “begin,” because I never did seem to recover fully. ..."

Read the rest of Liza's story here: http://www.womenshealthresearch.org/site/PageServer?pagename=story_lizalee

Liza Lee will be releasing her newest CD, Anima, on December 15. Liza will be donating one hundred percent of the proceeds of Anima to the Society for Women's Health Research!

I hope you will take a few moments to visit Liza's site and support her mission and vision: www.lizaleemusic.com Liza is truly an inspiration to all of us at the Society.

Thank you, Liza!

Women's Health Needs Presidential Leadership

Tonight in Oxford, Miss., we'll see the first of three scheduled presidential debates. The main topic for tonight's debate is foreign policy. As the campaign goes forward, we hope that you'll take women's health and other health care issues into consideration as you make your decisions about who to vote for in all of the races that will be contested on the first Tuesday of November.

Providing food for thought on this issue, below is a column from Society President Phyllis Greenberger, which was published by Lifetime in January. It outlines some of the major issues facing women's health research today.

Women's Health Needs Presidential Leadership
by Phyllis Greenberger, President and CEO
Society for Women's Health Research

For more than a decade, women's health advocates and a handful of dedicated leaders in Congress have been working to provide our nation's federal women's health offices with permanent statutory authorization.

These are important offices in key agencies like the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health.

They support and promote research on health conditions that affect women exclusively, differently or disproportionately than men. Their work is vital because, until the last 20 years, women of childbearing age were barred from participating in most medical research studies. As a result, we had very little concrete information about women's health. Most of the treatments prescribed for women were based on studies of men.

The situation today is improved, but much work remains to be done. The women's health offices are at the center of that process, guiding research and providing information to women across the nation, allowing them to make better-informed health-care decisions.

The women's health office at the FDA, for example, has funded numerous studies to better understand heart disease, which affects women more frequently and differently than men. Their brochures on women's health are among the most requested publications from the federal government's information clearinghouse in Pueblo, Colorado.

The women's health offices need permanent protection because they only exist now at the discretion of their agency's top official. They can be eliminated at any time or have their funding slashed. That was a real fear for the FDA office this year, when in February, reports surfaced that it would lose more than one-quarter of its operating budget in the middle of the fiscal year. It would have effectively shut down its operations, but public outcry helped prevent any cuts.

Protecting these offices should be a no-brainer. They do a great job protecting and promoting women's health on tiny budgets.

Unfortunately, the legislation to give them the support they need hasn't gained traction. The call to "support the women's health offices" doesn't capture the hearts and minds of legislators and citizens the way "fight cancer" or "cure diabetes" does. But the work of the women's health offices is no less important. Research is the foundation of all future treatments, and no treatment is effective without informed and engaged patients.

What can the presidential candidates do to help?

Their public, committed support for permanent authorization of the women's health offices can be the spark this legislation needs to become law in 2008. And if that doesn't work, as president, their powerful leadership from the White House can help usher the bill to passage.

Supporting the women's health offices may seem like a small or symbolic gesture, but it represents a broader commitment to advancing women's health, ensuring that the right research is conducted and that patients, regardless of their gender, race or age, receive the information and health care they need.

You can learn more about the Women's Health Office Act by visiting the Society's website, where you can send an e-mail to your members of Congress and express your opinion on this issue.

Heart Health Legislation for Women Making Progress in Congress

The House Energy and Commerce Committee in the U.S. Congress passed the HEART for Women Act by voice vote this afternoon. This is great progress for federal legislation that will help fight heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases in women, our number one killer.

During the hearing for this bill, Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) singled out the Society for Women's Health Research for it support of this important legislation and for its work to help it move forward.

The Society has been working with the American Heart Association, the Association of Black Cardiologists, and WomenHeart on this bill.

You can read a joint press release from these organizations on our Web site. At the bottom of the press release, there is a link to a page where you can write your own members of Congress in support of this legislation, which will improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart disease in women.

Here is what Society President Phyllis Greenberger had to say in the release: "Finally, the day has come when women's heart health will receive the hearing it deserves before Congress. Research and effective treatment for women with heart disease continues to lag. Advancing this legislation is critical to ensuring that women and their doctors will some day have the right tools for prevention and treatment of this leading killer."

Psoriasis: More than Skin Deep

By Jennifer Wider, M.D.
Society for Women’s Health Research

Psoriasis is a chronic disease of the immune system that affects the skin. As many as 7.5 million Americans suffer from psoriasis, according to the National Institutes of Health. Unlike other diseases of the immune system which affect women more often than men, psoriasis occurs about equally in men and women.

Psoriasis is not contagious and cannot be spread from person to person. There are five known forms of the disease. “The most common form, plaque psoriasis, appears as raised, red patches or lesions covered with a silvery white buildup of dead skin cells called scale,” explains Bruce F. Bebo, Jr., Ph.D., director of research and medical programs at the National Psoriasis Foundation in Portland, Ore.

For some people, psoriasis can be a nuisance, for others, it can be debilitating. The symptoms vary from person to person and can include:

• Red, itchy patches of skin that are covered with silver-colored scales.
• Dry, irritated or cracked skin that can bleed when scratched.
• Disorders of the fingernails or toenails including thickened or ridged nails. The nails can become brittle and in some cases, detach from the nail beds.

Most cases of psoriasis wax and wane and include flare-ups which last for a few weeks to months. Some people will go into remission for months to years. But in most cases, the psoriasis will reappear. Psoriasis can also lead to psoriatic arthritis, which can cause pain and swelling in the joints. Roughly one-tenth to one-third of people with psoriasis will also have psoriatic arthritis, according to the National Psoriasis Foundation. Psoriatic arthritis can lead to joint erosion and get in the way of daily functioning.

Although it affects both genders equally, recent studies show that there may be a racial or ethnic link. “It seems that psoriasis is most common in Caucasians and slightly less common in African Americans. Worldwide, psoriasis is most common in Scandinavia and other parts of northern Europe. It appears to be far less common among Asians and is rare in Native Americans,” Bebo points out.

Research has identified some differences between the sexes in psoriasis related to smoking and alcohol consumption.

Smoking increases the risk of developing psoriasis and can make the disease more severe, especially in women, but the risk goes down if you stop smoking. Alcohol appears to affect psoriasis in men more strongly than in women. Researchers don’t know why, but alcohol consumption appears to be a risk factor for psoriasis in men but not women and it may lower treatment response in men.

The cause of psoriasis isn’t fully clear. The disease is related to a malfunction in the immune system, which results in T-cells attacking healthy skin cells. What triggers the T-cell malfunction isn’t known, but many researchers cite genetic and environmental factors as possibilities. The most noteworthy risk factor for psoriasis is family history. Roughly 30 percent of people with psoriasis have a close relative with the disease.

Diagnosing psoriasis is often done in a doctor’s office. “No special blood tests or diagnostic tools exist to diagnose psoriasis. The physician or other health care provider usually examines the affected skin and decides if it is from psoriasis. Less often, the physician examines a piece of skin (biopsy) under the microscope,” explains Bebo.

There are several therapies for psoriasis available to patients, which focus on reducing skin inflammation and plaque formation. Looking to the future, there are “a number of new treatments in the psoriasis pipeline,” Bebo said, which may help reduce the burden of this chronic and disabling disease. The types of treatments in development include biologics, monoclonal antibodies and immune system modulators.

Women with psoriasis who are pregnant, may become pregnant, or are breastfeeding should discuss carefully with their doctors their treatment options, as some treatments for psoriasis may cause birth defects. There is, however, some good news for pregnant women. Research has shown that hormonal changes during pregnancy may lead to improvements in psoriasis symptoms, providing temporary relief.

For more information, you can visit the National Psoriasis Foundation online at http://www.psoriasis.org/.

Group B Strep Infection: A Lurking Danger for Unborn Babies

The below article is part of the Society for Women's Health Research's biweekly news service.

Jennifer Wider, M.D.
Society for Women’s Health Research

Most women will take the necessary precautions to protect the health of their newborn babies. They will consume prenatal vitamins, curtail certain behaviors like smoking and drinking and eat healthy foods. But other risks exist, and some women may not even be aware of them.

Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is the most common cause of life-threatening infections in newborn babies. Often referred to as Strep B or group B Strep, it is a bacterial infection which can easily pass from a mother to her baby during delivery. Unfortunately, most infected women don’t realize they carry the bacteria.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Ga., roughly 25 percent of pregnant women carry the bacteria that cause GBS, but may never know it because they often have no symptoms. The bacteria is one of the many common bacteria that live in our digestive tracts and in women it may also live in the genital tract, but it is not transmitted by sexual contact.

Despite the often silent nature of the bacteria in otherwise healthy adults, it can trigger a GBS infection, which can cause fevers, irritability, lethargy and failure to thrive in newborns when transmitted from a mother to child during birth. It can also progress rapidly into breathing problems, heart and blood pressure instability, blood infections, pneumonia, meningitis, and even death.

If a woman carries GBS in the gut or vagina, the likelihood a baby will become infected is about 50 percent without antibiotic being given by vein to the mother during labor until delivery, according to Carol J. Baker, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics, Molecular Virology & Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.

It is important to remember that even if a mother tests positive for GBS, her newborn may not get the disease. Roughly one out of every 100-200 babies born to mothers with GBS will get sick. But because the effects are so devastating, it is important to take precautions.

The key to preventing transmission of GBS to newborns is screening because it is difficult to predict who will be affected, especially in normal pregnancies. “If the pregnancy is uncomplicated and the delivery is at 37 weeks or more, the only predictor of GBS disease in the baby is maternal colonization,” Baker said, referring to the build up of the bacteria in the women’s system.

According to Baker, “the risk increases if the mother had a urinary tract infection with GBS before delivery, the mother has ruptured membranes more than 18 hours before delivery [premature water break] or the mother’s womb is infected with GBS before delivery -- the signs are fever, tender abdomen, high white blood count in the blood.”

This is why the CDC recommends that a pregnant woman get tested for GBS when she is 35 to 37 weeks pregnant. The test is quick, painless, and involves a taking a sterile swab of the vaginal and rectal areas. If the test comes back positive, intravenous antibiotics are recommended.

“Women should receive penicillin or cefazolin for those allergic to penicillin by vein at least four hours before delivery,” Baker said. “If the baby is born before culture screening has been done, women should ask their doctor to perform cultures and treat if necessary” when labor begins before the 37th week.

It is important for women to talk to their doctors about their GBS status. The benefits of screening, detection and treatment are clear. Infants whose mothers are group B strep carriers and do not get antibiotics have over 20 times the risk of developing disease than those who do receive treatment.

You can learn more about this issue from Group B Strep International (GBSI), an organization that promotes international awareness and prevention of Group B Strep disease in babies before birth through early infancy. GBSI is on the Internet at www.groupbstrepinternational.org.