Women's health
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Cervical cancer is fourth most common cancer among women with four-fifths of the global burden in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Persistent infection with one of the high-risk types of human papillomaviruses (HPV), particularly HPV 16/18, is the central cause of cervical neoplasia. Progress in developing feasible, alternative screening methods in LMICs and HPV vaccines have further improved cervical cancer prevention prospects. While existing screening programs in high-income countries should be re-organized, in view of the downstream effects of national HPV vaccination programs, LMICs should introduce national programs to vaccinate single year cohorts of girls aged 9-13 years with two or three doses and screen 30-35-year-old women with HPV testing to pragmatically decrease their high disease burden.
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Intimate partner abuse (IPA) is experienced by around one in three women at some stage during their lifetime, and has serious health consequences. This paper reviews how clinicians can best identify when a woman is experiencing IPA, and provide appropriate care and assistance. ⋯ Better training is needed for clinicians in these areas. Future research is needed to compare identification methods, and further assess psychological, advocacy and safety planning interventions, primary prevention and perpetrator interventions.
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Among women under 30 years of age, around 20% report recurrent sexual pain. Although the amount of studies investigating sexual pain has increased, little is known about the role of psychosocial factors. The present study used the fear-avoidance model from musculoskeletal pain as a theoretical frame of reference, and examined fear-avoidance beliefs, avoidance behaviors, pain catastrophizing and symptoms of anxiety and depression among women (18-35 years) reporting sexual pain. ⋯ The data are in line with, and give further support to, a fear-avoidance perspective in female sexual pain, emphasizing the role of fear and avoidance of pain/sex.
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The only untreatable subgroup of female infertility is absolute uterine factor infertility (AUFI), which is due to congenital or surgical absence of a uterus or presence of a nonfunctional uterus. The solitary option for a woman with AUFI to become a biological mother today is through a gestational surrogate mother, a procedure that is prohibited in Sweden and large parts of the world. Uterus transplantation (UTx) is a potential future treatment of AUFI. ⋯ Here, we summarize the primate UTx experiments that have paved the way for the human UTx cases, which are described and analyzed in more detail. We also estimate how many women of fertile age are affected by AUFI and describe the causes. The ethics around UTx is complex and is also addressed.