Early full-term pregnancy is an effective natural protection against breast cancer in both humans and experimental rodents. The protective effect of an early pregnancy is, in part, linked to changes in circulating hormones that are involved in both normal breast development and breast cancer. For example, a reduction in circulating growth hormone (GH) has been shown to protect rats from carcino...

INTRODUCTION In Chinese traditional medicine, the stimulation of acupuncture point no. 67 - the bladder meridian - is recommended to favour cephalic version in case of foetal breech presentation. The point can be stimulated by an acupuncture needle, ginger application, fingertip pressure, laser or moxibustion; moxibustion is heat generated by a burning stick containing the herb Artemisia vulgar...

Compared to nulliparous women, parous women have an up to 50% lower lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. An endogenous mechanism to prevent the development of cancer is the destruction of tumor cells by T cells that recognize tumor-associated antigens (TAA). Since a number of TAA are also highly present in the breast and placenta of pregnant women, we investigated the induction and charac...

OBJECTIVE To investigate Swedish women's level of antenatal fear of childbirth at various gestational ages, and factors associated with intense fear and with preference for cesarean section. DESIGN A cross-sectional study. SETTING All antenatal clinics in four geographical areas. SAMPLE Thousand six hundred and thirty-five pregnant women at various gestational ages recruited during Septem...

BACKGROUND The use of interventions in childbirth has increased the past decades. There is concern that some women might receive more interventions than they really need. For low-risk women, midwife-led birth settings may be of importance as a counterbalance towards the increasing rate of interventions. The effect of planned place of birth on interventions in the Netherlands is not yet clear. T...

OBJECTIVE To study the association between duration of second stage of labour and risks of maternal complications (infection, urinary retention, haematoma or ruptured sutures) in the early postpartum period. DESIGN Population-based cohort study. SETTING AND SAMPLE We included 72 593 mothers with singleton vaginal deliveries at ≥37 weeks of gestation in cephalic presentation, using the obste...

Breast cancer risk has traditionally been linked to nulliparity or late first full-term pregnancy, whereas young age at first childbirth, multiparity, and breast-feeding are associated with a reduced risk. Early pregnancy confers protection by inducing breast differentiation, which imprints a specific and permanent genomic signature in experimental rodent models. For testing whether the same ph...

The breast attains its maximum development during pregnancy and lactation. After menopause the breast regresses in both nulliparous and parous women containing lobular structures that have been designated lobules type 1. Despite the similarity in the lobular composition of the breast at menopause, the fact that nulliparous women are at higher risk of developing breast cancer than parous women, ...