Cervical Cancer Prevention Week

Dears!

Do you know that worldwide, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women under the age of 44 after breast cancer. In Europe, approximately 60,000 women are diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer each year and 30,000 women die from the disease. In Ireland, approximately 300 women are diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer each year and over 90 women die from the disease. The cervix is the lower tubular part of the uterus that opens into the vagina. Cervical cancer accounts for nearly 20 percent of cancer related deaths in women in India. It is usually caused by an infection of the human papilloma virus (HPV). The virus spreads through sexual contact. The infection sometimes disappears on its own. In other cases, it causes changes in the cervical cells that could lead to cancer.

Regular screening is the most effective way to prevent cervical cancer. Though this test may not be 100% accurate, it helps to detect early changes in the cervix which can be easily treated. Cervical screening involves a simple test, known as a smear test, to detect changes to the cells of the cervix which could develop into cancer. A sample of cells are taken from the cervix and sent to a lab to be examined for any abnormalities.

Different countries have different cervical cancer screening recommendations. According to the 2010 European guidelines for cervical cancer screening, the age at which to commence screening ranges between 20–30 years of age, "but preferentially not before age 25 or 30 years", depending on burden of the disease in the population and the available resources. Currently most European countries suggest or offer screening between the ages of 25-64. Screening is typically (and in England) offered every 3 years form ages 25–49, every 5 years from ages 50–64 and in women 65+ only in those who have not been screening since age 50 or had recent abnormal results.
This screening frequency is not possible in most low-resource settings. In these countries, decisions regarding screening frequency must be made based upon available resources. The greatest impact on cervical cancer reduction appears to result from screening women aged 30 to 39 years.

History

The test was invented by and named after the prominent Greek doctor Georgios Papanikolaou who started his research in 1923. Aurel Babeş of Romania independently made similar discoveries in 1927. However, it should be noted that Babeş method was radically different from Papanicolaou's. Papanicolaou's name was repeatedly submitted to the Nobel Committee and rejected every time. The Nobel Committee delegated the in-depth investigation of Papanicolaou's merits and demerits to the late Professor Santesson, who was at that time the head of pathology at the Stockholm Cancer Institute (the Radiumhemmet). The investigator discovered Babeş' contributions that had never been cited by Papanicolaou and duly reported this fact to the Committee, which then rejected Papanicolaou's Nobel award.

Important:

When should screening for cervical cancer with Pap smear be started?

Screening for cervical cancer should start three years after the first sexual intercourse or after the age of 21, whichever is earlier.

How frequently should Pap smear be done?

Pap smear should be repeated every 1 to 3 years till the age of 65 years. Following this, the doctor will decide whether you still need the test based on whether you are sexually active or if your previous tests were abnormal.

What are the various screening procedures for cervical cancer?

Cervical cancer screening is usually done by obtaining a Pap smear. In this procedure, some cervical cells are obtained with a swab from the cervix and sent to the laboratory to check for cancerous changes. Other new techniques for cervical cancer screening include visual interpretation with acetic acid (VIA) and human papilloma virus (HPV) DNA testing. VIA allows immediate diagnosis and treatment. Thus, the patient does not need to be recalled to collect the report once the test is done. It also required minimal training of the paramedical staff to carry out this test. HPV is often associated with cervical cancer, thus detecting HPV DNA helps in finding women at increased risk for cervical cancer.

Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine

The human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine prevents infection caused by human papilloma virus associated with the development of cervical cancer. Gardasil and Cervarix are the two HPV vaccines which are currently available on the market. In many countries HPV vaccination is approved for use in males. 

#sharethewisdom
Through CervicalCheck, women aged 25 to 60 can avail of free regular smear tests from over 4,700 registered practitioners of their choice in Ireland. The Pearl of Wisdom campaign that was created in Ireland highlights these important messages and encourages women to check when their next free smear test is due, or avail of their first test if they have not yet done so.
The Pearl of Wisdom pin is the European symbol of cervical cancer prevention. During the Pearl of Wisdom campaign, the IFPA and CervicalCheck distribute 20,000 pins to women across Ireland through local health promotion networks. They ask women to wear a pin during the campaign week to to show their solidarity with women affected by cervical cancer and to highlight the importance of regular cervical screening.
The Pearl of Wisdom campaign 2016 takes place from Sunday 24th to Saturday 30th January and will be officially launched on Monday 25th January.
To read more about this campaign here: http://www.ifpa.ie/Cervical-Cancer/Pearl-of-Wisdom-Campaign

                                      Take care of yourself! Be healthy! Everything is in our hands!

Women of the Year Award

Due to the 25. Anniversary of the Women of the Year Awards, Glamour announces a big event to honor “trailblazers and newsmakers from across the worlds of entertainment, fashion, politics, business, and more”. Today it will take place in the Carnegie Hall in New York City.

I would like to introduce you to the honorees:

Reese Witherspoon
When Reese Witherspoon met with seven Hollywood studio execs a few years ago, she was stunned to learn just one was developing a film with a woman in the lead. So she cofounded a production company, Pacific Standard, and began buying up books and scripts with female protagonists. Wild and Gone Girl, its first two films, earned stars Rosamund Pike, Laura Dern, and, yes, Witherspoon herself Oscar nominations—and the films banked more than $400 million at the box office. Now she’s breaking into a full-on sprint toward equality: Pacific Standard has 32 projects in the works that put women front and center. With her producing business booming, Witherspoon felt that she could take on another challenge this year: a fashion brand. She launched Draper James, a Southern-inspired clothing and home line, with a flagship store in Nashville.

Victoria Beckham
Victoria Beckham’s hard work and meticulous design have turned her first collection of 10 dresses into a fashion empire. The silhouettes of her collections are so classic and flattering that just about every celeb in Hollywood—from Oprah to Jennifer Lawrence—has a VB dress in her closet. The mother of four brings her work ethic to giving back too. As an international goodwill ambassador for UNAIDS, she has raised millions to benefit HIV and AIDS charities including amfAR, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, and Mothers 2 Mothers.

 
Misty Copeland
In June, Misty Copeland was promoted to principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre, the first African American ballerina to reach that level in the elite classical ballet company’s 75-year history. Her memoir, Life in Motion, made the New York Times best-seller list; her “I Will What I Want” commercial for Under Armour went viral; and she’s doing all she can to reach communities with little exposure to ballet.



Elizabeth Holmes
At 20, Elizabeth Holmes dropped out of Stanford University to devote every waking moment to her fledgling business. Its goal? Both to revolutionize ordinary blood tests, and to change the control average citizens have over their health. Today, Holmes, 31, is the youngest self-made female billionaire in the world.




Caitlyn Jenner
A year ago Caitlyn Jenner did not have a name. The Olympic hero turned reality star patriarch was still living a phantom existence, her changing appearance igniting a tabloid frenzy around the rumor she’d run from for most of her 66 years: that she was transgender. But after years of feeling she had to hide who she is at all costs, she is determined to be relentlessly open. And today, she’s finding new meaning in her life. She helped launch I Am Cait, the docuseries meant to educate the public and, crucially, herself; the show has featured advocates addressing important issues like suicide—a tragic 41 percent of trans or gender-nonconforming Americans have attempted to take their own life.


Team USA
Every summer has an anthem, a song that captures the cultural mood of that moment in time. This year it was the galvanizing chant—“I believe that we will win!”—of the U.S. national team at the FIFA Women’s World Cup. The team didn’t just win; they dominated. And the fight they’re fighting isn’t just about soccer—it’s about equality. Many of the players are outspoken about their sport’s historical tendency to shortchange women.

Charleston Strong: The Peacemakers
Even in a violent year, a year that brought an average of at least one mass shooting a day and saw protests flooding the streets over racial injustices, the massacre at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, stunned the nation. But for Alana Simmons, 26, Nadine Collier, 47, Bethane Middleton-Brown, 45, Felicia Sanders, 58, and Polly Sheppard, 71, the shooting wasn’t just another headline. It was an act of hatred that took the lives of their loved ones and, for two of them, nearly their own. Today, these women are teaching the world by example the healing strength of peace and unity: from starting social media movements, to advocating for gun control, to asking how we can raise our children to better appreciate differences.

But in my opinion the most remarkable honoree is Cecile Richards. 

It is a big signal to the society of the USA and the politicians that the work of Planned Parenthood and Cecile Richards is a big contribution to women's right to decide and to a equal society. Women and families in America need PP and the governement should continue supporting them:
 
One in five women will use Planned Parenthood services during their lifetime—for sexually transmitted infections, breast and cervical cancer screenings, birth control, emergency contraception, and more. In 2015, controversy around these issues reached fever pitch, and some in Congress called to defund Planned Parenthood—a move that would mean nearly 700,000 people could lose access to their only source of health care. But Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, won’t back down.











These are women who campaign for themselves and for others. With their work they support millions of women and they point out the situations of many. I hope they are an inspiration for girls and women to stand up. The truth is: We all are women of the year!

Beautiful and healthy #1 : Products that will increase your metabolism and will keep you healthy

It is said that we are what we eat. But what should we eat if we want to be healthy and good-looking? I would like to share with you a list of some products that scientist agree on their good effect. I was trying to find some new science researches on that so let’s take a look on that and maybe you will decide to add some of these products to your daily nutrition. 

1. Onion. Did you know that in onion peel you can find a substance called quercetin that has been known to have anticholesterol, antithrombotic and insulin-sensitizing properties? These days’ studies investigated the effect of quercetin-rich onion peel extract on antioxidants amount and weight loss for obese women too. Results showed that onion consumption significantly reduced waist and hip circumference for obese women. To add more, dangerous active oxygen forms were reduced, so it proved that onion can be used as an effective antioxidant.

2. Grapefruit. In the last study, consumption of grapefruit was associated with higher intakes of vitamin C, magnesium, potassium, dietary fiber, and improved diet quality. Grapefruit may provide a healthful option for adults striving to meet fruit recommendations.

 3. Polygonum minus or locally known in Malaysia, as "kesum" is rich in micronutrients and natural antioxidants. However, its beneficial effect on outcome associates with oxidative stress including cognitive function is yet to be discovered. But supplementation of kesum is safe to be consumed for 6 weeks, with potential benefits to attention, short-term memory, improved quality of life, and mood, as well as IQ.

4. Yogurt. There is a latest research that was investigating effects of high-protein vs. high- fat snacks on appetite control The purpose of this study was to determine whether a high-protein afternoon yogurt snack improves appetite control, satiety, and reduces subsequent food intake compared to other commonly-consumed, energy dense, high-fat snacks. These data suggest that, when compared to high-fat snacks, eating less energy dense, high-protein snacks like yogurt improves appetite control, satiety, and reduces subsequent food intake in healthy women. So probably it could be a good choice for those who want to reduce their daily calorie intake.

5. Cocoa! Chocolate and other cocoa products are not all alike. They differ between themselves in term of nutrients, calories, and bioactive constituents. Therefore, some of them are unhealthy foods, whereas others do not affect health and still others are healthy foods. If you decide to eat chocolate, you should prefer to choose this one with bigger amount of cocoa, because it has less fatty calories and also it can even make your metabolism work faster and reduce harmful oxygen forms amount in the blood.

 6. Calcium is known to have a good impact on bones (so for a good posture as well), but there are also some evidences that calcium supplementation may decrease blood pressure and consequently cardiovascular disease.

7. Decreased appetite and the improvement of the quality of sleep could have a significant impact on the nutritional status. There is such thing as melatonin supplementation that has a beneficial effect on the quality of sleep and reduction of body weight. It may be stated that the results of the studies of many researchers indicate that melatonin can be safely and permanently used in combined treatment of obesity in postmenopausal women. 

8. Fruits and vegetables! The benefits in researches were greater for fruits compared to vegetables and strongest for berries, apples/pears, tofu/soy, cauliflower, and cruciferous and green leafy vegetables. A stronger association were found between increased intakes of higher fiber, lower glycemic index (lower carbohydrate quality) vegetables and weight change, consistent with experimental evidence suggesting an influence of these factors on satiety, fat storage and energy expenditure. Many vegetables were inversely associated with weight change, but starchy vegetables such as peas, potatoes, and corn had the opposite association in which increased intake was associated with weight gain. Although these vegetables have nutritional value (potassium, vitamin C, vitamin B₆, iron, fiber, and protein), they have a higher glycemic index that could explain their positive association with weight change.

No matter what we will choose to eat, the most important thing is to listen to our body. 

You have some questions? Doubts? Experience to share? You need to find more healthy products that will improve your life quality or other topics on beauty/health/nutrition you want to read about? Please, feel free to write some comments below.