Women Health Online

When a new tobacco-free policy was instituted at an Ohio women’s substance abuse treatment center, both smokers and non-smokers were more likely to leave treatment early in the first few months after the policy change, a new study found.

The results don’t mean treatment centers shouldn’t try smoking bans, according to the researchers, but they do highlight the challenges involved with implementing a new policy that goes against years of conventional thinking.

Researchers found that the number of patients who completed a program at the women’s treatment center decreased 28 percentage points – from 70 to 42 percent – following the center’s implementation of a tobacco-free policy.

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The best teacher for a young mother is her baby, contend experts who train social workers to interact with first-time moms.

“We like to think of babies as ‘ordinary miracles,’” said Victor Bernstein, a research associate at the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. But adjusting to a baby can take work, and the task of social workers often is to help young mothers learn to focus on an infant’s needs, say Bernstein and other SSA experts. “Mothers are not only important to their kids, but kids are really important to their mothers,” Bernstein said.

For instance, a social worker may ask permission to pick up a newborn, ask the mother to call out the child’s name, and then watch as the baby turns to her voice, Bernstein said.

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Bioavailability of folic acid found to be similar in both formulations

Folic acid, an essential vitamin formulated to be part of a multivitamin + DHA liquid softgel capsule, is absorbed and available within the body in amounts similar to folic acid formulated for solid tablets, according to a study presented in a late breaking session at the Experimental Biology (EB) 2011 annual meeting. Different formulations, fillers and coatings of vitamin products may affect the degree or rate at which the product dissolves and releases its contents, which can alter the vitamin’s absorption into the body and its bioavailability, a calculation of how much of a given dose of a compound reaches the blood stream to circulate within the body and have a potential effect.

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Research by the National Association For Continence (NAFC) about nocturia in middle-aged American women appears in the current issue of Urologic Nursing, the official journal of the Society of Urologic Nurses and Associates (SUNA). The purpose of this research was to assess the severity of overactive bladder (OAB) and nocturia in middle-aged American women, their attitudes about seeking treatment and the impact of symptoms of OAB, including nocturia, on quality-of-life.

The American Urological Association (AUA) defines nocturia as “the need to urinate at least twice during the night.” This definition was used by NAFC in this study to analyze the impact of nocturia.

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“If there is anything that this disease has done to improve my life, it taught me at a young age how to take care of myself.” – Nikki Peterson, 24 years old, diabetes for 14 years.

Like Nikki, women with diabetes must adapt to their unique, individual challenges associated with their disease. From sexual dysfunction and reproductive concerns, to oncological risks, to depression, many women find the disease itself is a small part of the bigger picture of living with diabetes.

In this one-of-a-kind book, Robert E. Jones, M.D., FACP, FACE, professor of internal medicine in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of Utah School of Medicine, and Kathleen B.

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