Article on Gender in Global Health

Dear WHOM Colleagues,

Fresh off the lovely AAHM meeting in Atlanta (kudos to the program committee and the local organizing committee!), I found this piece in my in-box upon getting home.  Among the findings of the reported study, for example, is the fact that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation “had no provision for gender in any of its strategy documents.”  So, still lots of work to do!

Best to all,

–

Monica H. Green

Professor of History

School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies

Box 874302

975 S. Myrtle Ave

Arizona State University

Tempe, AZ  85287-4302

U.S.A.

Monica.green@asu.edu

https://webapp4.asu.edu/directory/person/384868

http://healthanddisease2012.acmrs.org/

http://www.slu.edu/department-of-theology-home/center-for-digital-theology/projects/tradamus/case-testers

Article: Vaccine for Preventing Pregnancy

Dear WHOMers,

Just stumbled on this today and thought it might be of interest to others.  (Indeed, the whole world!)

–

Monica H. Green

Professor of History

School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies

Box 874302

975 S. Myrtle Ave

Arizona State University

Tempe, AZ  85287-4302

U.S.A.

Monica.green@asu.edu

https://webapp4.asu.edu/directory/person/384868

http://healthanddisease2012.acmrs.org/

———

Making of a vaccine preventing pregnancy without impairment of ovulation and derangement of menstrual regularity and bleeding profiles Review Article
Contraception, Volume 87, Issue 3, March 2013, Pages 280-287
G.P. Talwar

The story of making a vaccine against human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) for control of fertility is briefly reviewed. The choice of hCG was made on the consideration that it is not involved in the cascade of hormones leading to ovulation; hence, antibodies against hCG would neither disturb ovulation nor normal production of sex hormones by the female. It would not react with any other tissue of the body because no organ of a healthy noncancerous female expresses hCG.International Committee for Contraception Research played a historic role in testing its immunogenicity, safety and reversibility in women in Finland, Sweden, Chile and Brazil. The Population Council also conducted valuable long-term studies (5 years) in New York in 63 rhesus monkeys, which demonstrated the lack of pathological consequences of antibodies cross-reactive with species luteinizing hormone.

The first-ever efficacy trials on a birth control vaccine established high efficacy (one pregnancy in 1224 cycles) of anti-hCG antibodies at and above 50 ng/mL titers. Fertility was regained in the immediate next cycle, at titers falling below 35 ng/mL.

A recombinant vaccine, hCGβ-LTB, has been made, which is highly immunogenic in mice. It is due to undergo toxicology studies prior to resumption of clinical trials. An additional utility of this vaccine is likely in advanced-stage terminal cancers expressing hCG/subunits.

Article Outline

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Rendering hCG-β immunogenic
• 3. Safety and reversibility
• 4. Enhancement of immunogenicity
• 5. Is partial cross-reaction with hLH problematic?
• 6. Examination of sera for cross-reactive hazardous antibodies from women immunized with hCG- β-TT/DT and hCG-β CTP-DT
• 7. Phase II efficacy trials
• 8. Lack of deleterious side effects on progeny
• 9. Revival of the anti-hCG vaccine
• 10. Ectopic expression of hCG/subunits by cancers
• Acknowledgments
• References

Free Access to Special Issue on Politics of Women’s Health in South Africa

Dear All,

Greetings from Stellenbosch!

For the next 2 weeks our Agenda journal special issue on “The Politics of Women’s Health in South Africa” will be available online for free:

Correspondence about this project is welcomed off-list.

Kind Regards

Mandisa

***
Mandisa Mbali, DPhil (Oxon)
Lecturer
Social Anthropology
Stellenbosch University

Article on Verina Morton Jones

Many WHOM members have encouraged and supported me in this research over many years, so wanted to share the news that some of my research on Verina Morton Jones has finally made it into print! Thanks.

 

Susan

 

Susan K. Rishworth, MLS, MA, CA

Archivist

American College of Surgeons

633 N. St. Clair Street

Chicago, IL 60611

312-202-5270

srishworth@facs.org

 

 

 

http://www.nmanet.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=262&Itemid=389

Ms. online women’s health issues

Hello,

I’m now a guest blogger for Ms. online covering women’s health issues, and I thought I’d let interested authors on this list know. If you have a book that came out recently (or one that can be directly tied to present current events), please query me personally about sending me a copy and press materials. As the mother of two sons under 2, my reading time is limited, so I will only have you send me a book if I can promise I can read it.

But this blog does give me a good excuse to carve out time for important books, and maybe plant a seed for others to cover them also. I know as the author myself that it can be challenging to get mainstream media coverage for a feminist health book.

FYI, here are my first two postings, about the meager state of federal-funding for migraine, and its effect on migraine sufferers (mostly women) on a day-to-day level:

My Headache and I on the Hill

Migraine: the North Korea of Disabilities

All best,

Paula Kamen

(author of Her Way, All in My Head and Finding Iris Chang)  Chicago, IL

PS: I’m also writing one about how GIs coming back from the wars with major migraine problems is spurring new research on the disease. If there are any historians who know about how veterans have influenced research in rehabilitation issues, please email me off list. Thanks!

Article on Egyptian midwives

Dear WHOM Colleagues,

In case you want to add some global dimension to your teaching on women’s healthcare, a wonderful study on Egyptian midwives is available for free access:

Off to Work At Home: Egyptian Midwives Blur Public-Private Boundaries

Author: Abugideiri, Hibba

Source: Hawwa , Volume 6, Number 3, 2008 , pp. 254-283(30)

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/haw/2008/00000006/00000003/art00002

Also, in case the word isn’t spreading, all issues of Medical History are now available for open access on PubMed Central.  (Lots of other medical journals are there, too, and some older ones have valuable medical-historical pieces.)

Happy teaching!

Monica Green

Professor of History

Arizona State University

Tempe, AZ  85287-4302

Monica.green@asu.edu

Article on Swine Flu and Student Health

Dear Colleagues,

Just wanted to let you all know about an article on swine flu and student health that I just had published at History News Network.