Estrogen receptor (ER) antagonists are generally thought to inhibit estrogen action through competitive inhibition, resulting in receptor binding to antagonist rather than agonist. However, microarray analyses reveal a group of genes for which ER agonist and antagonist cooperatively regulate expression, suggesting additional models of combined agonist/antagonist action must exist. In conjunctio...

Many women experience bothersome vasomotor and vaginal symptoms during the menopausal transition. Decreasing levels of estrogens during menopause are also associated with reduced bone density and an increased risk of osteoporosis. Combined estrogen/progestin therapy (hormone therapy) effectively treats menopausal symptoms and prevents bone loss, but has been associated with some safety and tole...

BACKGROUND Estrogen deficiency due to natural menopause or surgical menopause has been suggested to have an adverse effect on insulin resistance. Testosterone and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) as well as estrogen are also associated with insulin resistance in women. However, to date, the associations of estradiol, testosterone and SHBG with insulin resistance according to estrogen level h...

Sirolimus (SR) is used as an immunosuppressant drug to prevent organ rejection in kidney transplants. It is chemically a macrolide and isolated from the bacterium Streptomyces hygroscopicus in a soil sample. Of recent, it has potent antiproliferative properties and useful in the treatment of certain types of cancer. In our objective of the study, SR is chemically conjugated with Methoxy-polyeth...

BACKGROUND Several studies demonstrate that estrogen treatment improves cerebral blood flow in ischemic brain regions of young ovariectomized (OVX) rats. Estrogen receptor-α (ER-α) may mediate estrogen's beneficial actions via its effects on the cerebral microvasculature. However, estrogen-derived benefit may be attenuated in aged, reproductively senescent (RS) rats. Our goal was to determine t...

BACKGROUND In longitudinal studies, greater mammographic density is associated with an increased risk for breast cancer. OBJECTIVE To assess differences between placebo, estrogen, and three estrogen-progestin regimens on change in mammographic density. DESIGN Subset analysis of a 3-year, multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. SETTING Seven ambulatory study center...

Walsh • Focus on cardiovascular health C disease is the leading cause of death in the United States today. Fully 52% of women will die of cardiovascular disease, far exceeding the percentage who will die of all cancers combined, and far in excess of the 4% who will die of breast cancer.1 It has been known since the initial findings of the Framingham Study, however, that women have a 20-year adv...

OBJECTIVE Although oral estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) in postmenopausal women improves endothelial function, it also increases plasma C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) concentration. The proinflammatory effect of oral ERT may explain the increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) associated with this treatment. Recent observational studies have demonstrated that a lower...

BACKGROUND The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) and other clinical trials indicate that significant health risks are associated with combination hormone use. Less is known about the effect of hormone therapy on health-related quality of life. METHODS The WHI randomly assigned 16,608 postmenopausal women 50 to 79 years of age (mean, 63) with an intact uterus at base line to estrogen plus proges...