Black women are more likely than white women to schedule a uterine-sparing treatment for leiomyomas

Background: To evaluate differences in the proportion of uterine fibroid (UF) treatments that are uterine-sparing between Black women and White women and identify factors that could explain disparities. Methods: Women at age 18-54 years who were enrolled from 10 clinical sites in the United States into the Comparing Options for Management: Patient-Centered Results for UFs (COMPARE-UF) treatment registry completed questionnaires before their UF procedure. UF symptoms and quality of life were assessed by questionnaires. Details on UF imaging and treatment (hysterectomy, myomectomy, or uterine artery embolization [UAE]) were collected from each patient's medical record. Random-effects logistic regression was used to assess the association between race and the odds of having a uterine-sparing procedure versus hysterectomy. Subgroup analyses compared each uterine-sparing procedure with hysterectomy. Results: In this cohort of 1141 White women and 1196 Black women, Black women tended to be younger (median 41.0 vs. 42.0 years) and report worse symptoms, pain, and function on every scale compared with White women. Black women were more likely to have had a prior UF treatment compared with White women (22.8% vs. 14.6%). White women had more hysterectomies (43.6% vs. 32.2%) and myomectomies (50.9% vs. 50.2%) versus Black women. Black women had more UAEs (15.1% vs. 4.7%) than White women. After adjusting for clinical site and other variables, Black women had greater odds than White women of having a myomectomy (odds ratio [OR] = 2.41, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.63-3.56) or a UAE versus hysterectomy (OR = 4.24, 95% CI = 2.41-7.46). Conclusion: In these participants, Black women were more likely to schedule a uterine-sparing UF treatment and a nonsurgical UF treatment than their White counterparts; this may not be true for all women. Longer comparative effectiveness studies are needed to inform women about the durability of UF treatments. Greater understanding of factors influencing treatment selection is needed as are studies that include women without access to tertiary care centers. Clinical Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT02260752 (enrollment start: November 2015)

Improved search for solar chameleons with a GridPix detector at CAST

We report on a new search for solar chameleons with the CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST). A GridPix detector was used to search for soft X-ray photons in the energy range from 200 eV to 10 keV from converted solar chameleons. No significant excess over the expected background has been observed in the data taken in 2014 and 2015. We set an improved limit on the chameleon photon coupling, beta(gamma) less than or similar to 5.7 x 10(10) for 1 < beta(m) < 10(6) at 95% C.L. improving our previous results by a factor two and for the first time reaching sensitivity below the solar luminosity bound for tachocline magnetic fields up to 12.5 T

Pregnancy counselling clinic: A questionnaire survey of intimate partner abuse

This article is not available through ChesterRep.This article discusses a study of the prevalence and nature of physical and sexual partner abuse experienced by women who request a termination of pregnancy (TOP). 312 questionnaires were completed by women attending a pregnancy counselling clinic located within a large district general hospital in the north west of England

Tree-ring based reconstructions of northern Patagonia precipitation since AD 1600

Long-term reconstructions (400 years) of seasonal and annual precipitation variations were developed for northern Patagonia east of the Andes using a new set of 16 tree ring-width chronologies from Austrocedrus chilensis (D.Don) Endl. Reconstructions, which capture between 41 and 50% of the precipitation variance, show that the twentieth century contains the most extreme long periods of wetness and dryness in the past 400 years. Since about AD 1910, the reconstructions are also characterized by an increase in interannual variability and one of the highest rates of extreme events within the last 400 years. A prominent oscillation on the order of 2-2.1 years in length has been identified in the reconstructions using spectral analysis. Quasi-Biennial Oscillations have been shown to be very marked in some circulation indices of the Southern Hemisphere. Although significant oscillations within the preferred frequency domain of El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) are present in the reconstructions, no clear trod consistent responses to ENSO have been observed. Correlations of reconstructions with mean sea-level pressure around South America for the interval AD 1912-1984, reveal the influence of subtropical and high-latitude features of the atmospheric circulation on precipitation variations in northern Patagonia. Droughts result from an intensification of the subtropical Pacific anticyclone off the Chilean coast and the deepness of the circum-Antarctic trough over the South Orkney-Antarctic Peninsula sector. Mean sea-level pressure reconstructions for the South Atlantic sector of the Southern Oceans were used to evaluate the temporal stability of the relationships between northern Patagonia precipitation and high-latitude climatic variations since AD 1750. The influence of high-latitude circulation on precipitation appears to be more significant during the twentieth century, which in turn may respond to an intensification of wavenumbers 3 on the mean planetary wave structure over the Southern Hemisphere. Recent increase of precipitation variability in northern Patagonia may reflect stronger interactions between middle- and high-latitude atmospheric circulation in the Southern Hemisphere during the twentieth century