Women Health Online

A new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health shows that community members correlate an increase in HIV vulnerability among adolescent girls with weak structural support systems. While adolescent girls are three to four times more likely than adolescent boys to be living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, few studies have examined the reasons community members believe girls are so vulnerable to HIV. The findings are published in the journal Social Science & Medicine.

Carol Underwood, PhD, lead author of the study and assistant professor at the Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Department of Health, Behavior and Society, explained, “This study represents one of the few efforts to explore community members’ perceptions of vulnerability to HIV.

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Is it possible that the next generation will have good opportunities and prospects to help develop new life-prolonging technologies? Could our children live up to 150 years, and their grandchildren – be able to celebrate a millennium?

According to a British research, the director of which is Aubrey de Grey, such an opportunity will appear, but only in prospect. The scientist believes that the first step towards this goal has already been made, as for the past 25 years many technologies have been developed to help slow down the aging process.

A case was recorded when a man lived till 150. Now he is, of course, no longer alive. B

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“I’ve been eating a lot. All day long,” Melanie Brown says. The singer-songwriter who shot to international stardom in the mid-’90s as “Scary Spice,” the edgy, big-haired member of the best-selling, award-winning British pop group the Spice Girls, is expecting her third child and sharing a common mom-to-be confession. “I don’t stop. I eat when I want and what I want.”

Stopping is something the 35-year-old Brown, commonly referred to as Mel B, seems nearly incapable of doing. Since embarking on a solo career in 2001, she has released two albums, written a best-selling autobiography, appeared as Mimi in the Broadway production of , won the hearts of fans on the fifth season of , hosted the second season of Oxygen’s hit weight-loss show , and starred in her own reality series, , on the Style Network.

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What finally washed away Kari Adams’s denial was the flood of tears streaming down her dad’s face. Frightened by Kari’s plunging weight, her family had been begging the 41-year-old mother of two to seek help for months. But nobody could convince Kari that anything was wrong – until she saw her dad’s tears.

“That’s when it hit me,” she said. “He never cried before in my whole life.”

Kari’s story echoes that of many other middle-aged women in America. Major transitions and traumatic mid-life events — crumbling marriages, job losses or kids going off to college — can rekindle eating disorders that had begun years before.

“It’s rare that an eating disorder shows up completely out of the blue in mid-life,” said Douglas Bunnell, vice president and director of out-patient clinical services at The Renfrew Center, where Kari eventually sought help. The more common scenario, Bunne

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THURSDAY, July 14 () — Chemicals called phthalates and bisphenol-A (BPA) that are found in solvents, plastics and numerous household products may alter levels of thyroid hormones in the body, according to a new study.

Thyroid hormones play a role in many critical bodily functions, including reproduction and metabolism.

Researchers from the University of Michigan School of Public Health used data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to compare thyroid levels and traces of phthalates and BPA in urine samples of 1,346 adults and 329 teenagers.

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