Word: uteruses
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...fertile for only a short time at comparatively long intervals. The female human animal is an outstanding exception, with a fertile period of three to six days out of every 28. The cycle begins with the start of menstrual bleeding. For the first four or five days, her uterus sloughs off part of its lining (endometrium). This accomplished, her complex hormonal system sends a messenger chemical to her ovaries, telling them to ripen one of the 50,000 or more potential egg cells with which she was born. Usually, only one ovary responds, and on Day 10 or soon after...
...tube. If, en route, it meets a fresh and viable sperm, conception occurs, and the fertilized egg proceeds to the uterus for implantation in its wall and development into a baby. Soon after the egg is released, the automatic hormone mechanism sends another chemical messenger to the ovaries, telling them not to release any more ripe eggs-to guard against multiple or superimposed pregnancies. If there has been no fertilization, the uterus again gets ready to slough off its lining, and the cycle is repeated...
...INJECTIONS. A progesterone derivative, the Upjohn Co.'s Depo-Provera, has had FDA approval for six years as a treatment for disorders of the lining of the uterus. Its use as a contraceptive is still limited in the U.S. to experimentation by researchers. The dose, injected into a muscle and slowly released into the system, can be adjusted so that women might need an injection only once a month, or every three or six months...
...morning-after pill is not literally a contraceptive, since it does not work by preventing ovulation, or the union of sperm and ovum. Instead, it prevents implantation of the fertilized ovum (zygote) in the wall of the uterus, which normally occurs about six to seven days after conception...
...cause cancer? The answers are surprisingly clear. If a woman takes only the prescribed dose-but no more-the hormones seem to be perfectly safe. The only patients for whom they emphatically should not be prescribed appear to be those who have already had cancer of the breast or uterus, those with liver disease, and (just possibly) those who have had endometriosis (abnormal growth of the lining of the uterus...