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PREGNANCY + POSTPARTUM
Checking New Mom’s Blood Pressure at the Pediatrician
What: It’s common sense, but a study found that when you screen new moms for high blood pressure during the many well-baby visits at the pediatricians office, more cases of preeclampsia get identified. A study of over 1,000 moms had 5% get flagged for postpartum preeclampsia when tested at the pediatrician’s office, compared to just 2% of the control group.
Why it matters: Postpartum preeclampsia can be deadly, and America has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the developed world.
Source: AJMC
MENSTRUATION
Turning Menstrual Blood into Gel
What: Virginia Tech researchers set out to find a fix for heavy period flow by developing a substance that turns blood into gel. They found it, using a mix of seaweed and a sugar alcohol commonly found in foods.
Why it matters: “In experiments simulating menstruation with actual blood, the addition of the powder prevented more leakage from a pad and much more spillage from a cup compared to their typical counterparts. These ingredients are also biodegradable and already widely added to other products, including food.”
Source: Gizmodo
ABORTION ACCESS
Texas Spends Over $100 Million on Fake, Anti-Abortion Healthcare, Doesn’t Know Where Money Went
What: An investigation from ProPublica and CBS found that taxpayer dollars in Texas for so-called crisis pregnancy centers have jumped from $5 million in 2005 to $140 million last year. And with that massive jump they “found that the system that funnels a growing pot of state money to anti-abortion nonprofits has few safeguards and is riddled with waste.” One example? The centers can bill the state $14 every time they hand out a few diapers—even if they were donated.
Why it matters: Republican legislators around the country are considering setting up similar programs: “Last year, Tennessee lawmakers directed $20 million to fund crisis pregnancy centers and similar nonprofits. And Florida enacted a 6-week abortion ban while including in the same bill a $25 million allocation to support crisis pregnancy centers. John McNamara, a longtime leader of Texas Pregnancy Care Network, has been working to start similar networks in Kansas, Oklahoma and Iowa. He’s also reserved the name Louisiana Pregnancy Care Network.”
Source: CBS and ProPublica
CARDIOVASCULAR
Women Lose More Years to Heart Attacks Than Men
What: Researchers looked at 335,000 people who had a first-time heart attack between 1991 and 2022, and then compared their life expectancies to 1.6 million people who did not have a heart attack. They then calculated the difference in life expectancy between those who had a heart attack and those who did not and found big differences between groups.
Why it matters: “Women and young individuals lost the most life expectancy when they had a heart attack. If the cardiac function was impaired after the infarction, the effects were even greater. For example, a 50-year-old woman with impaired cardiac function loses an average of 11 years in 2022 compared to an 80-year-old man with normal cardiac function who loses an average of 5 months in life expectancy,” said author Christian Reitan.
Source: Medical Xpress
WELLNESS + BEAUTY
Injectable Breast Implants? Not Science Fiction
What: Harper’s Bazaar explores the latest injectables—for the breasts. Mia Femtech is “…the first-ever injectable and biocompatible implants, which have been engineered to achieve a subtle but significant one-to-two-cup proportionate result.” The procedure happens with just local anesthesia, and one consultant plastic surgeon says there are fewer complications than traditional implants because “the breast tissue remains attached to the chest wall and the implant is simply nested in the breast tissue.”
Why it matters: Breast augmentation is the top elective plastic surgery around the world.
Source: Harper’s Bazaar
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