Word: uteruses
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...what about women who are pregnant or have gone through menopause? Since they don't menstruate, how do they ward off bacteria? Profet notes that in the first six months of pregnancy and in some cases after menopause, the cervical entryway to the uterus is covered by a mucous plug. The mucus makes it hard for sperm -- and their nasty hitchhikers -- to enter the uterus, and thus reduces the need for a monthly blood flow. Profet suspects that doctors may be making a serious mistake by routinely regarding irregular bleeding as an endocrine problem to be stopped with hormone therapy...
...back her theory, Profet relies on electron-microscopy studies that show bacteria attached to the heads and tails of wriggling sperm. She also cites the existence of spiral-shaped arteries in the uterus. These specialized blood vessels constrict and dilate in a sequence timed to induce menstruation. And, she claims, the blood that washes over the uterine walls differs from blood that circulates throughout the rest of the body. Menstrual blood lacks ingredients that cause clotting and is rich in special immune cells called macrophages. Even so, says Debrovner, "there is no reason to believe that blood, no matter what...
...others had thought." As reported in Science, the researchers estimate that 1 in 200 people carries the defective gene. Of the 95% of them who will eventually develop cancer, 60% will get colon cancer and the rest will develop a variety of other malignancies, including tumors of the uterus, stomach, pancreas or urinary tract...
Hysterectomies are often necessary when a woman has a precancerous or a cancerous uterus. But, according to the study published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine, the operation is not mandatory for a variety of other benign conditions such as abnormal uterine growths, known as fibroids, or excessive uterine bleeding...
These conditions may effectively be treated by myomectomy, a surgical procedure in which growths are removed without removal of the uterus, by hormonal treatment, or even by over-the-counter medicines such as aspirin substitutes, the researchers write...