15 Factors That Affect a Woman's Fertility

Trouble getting pregnant? Here are some possible causes of female infertility.

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5 Tips for Staying Active With Kids and Family

When it comes to heart health, it's important that we think not only of our own cardiovascular health but also that of future generations. A study last year found that obese children and teens have as much plaque in their arteries as a 45-year-old adult, setting them up for heart disease and other serious health conditions much earlier than their parents.

If you've got kids, of course you want to make sure they grow up fit and healthy. But you also know it's hard to juggle work, family, and physical activity—for you alone, never mind for you and your kids. Setting a healthy example is a good start; research shows that parents who are physically active increase the likelihood that their kids will be active as well. But if you're looking for ways to get your kids involved, check out these tips.

1. Plan outdoor activities
Set aside one day a weekend to do something active as a family: swimming in the summer, sledding or hiking in the winter, or biking in the spring and fall. Taking along a picnic lunch—and splurging on some healthy snacks after a good workout—will help the day go by without a complaint.

2. Take classes together
Ask around at fitness clubs and community centers in your area about yoga or aerobics classes offered to parents and kids together. If your little one is too young to participate, look for classes that help you burn calories with your baby by incorporating them into your yoga moves or pushing them along during stroller workouts. No kids? Check out partner yoga or even "doga"—yup, yoga for you and your dog.

3. Redo your family room
Too often, family rooms are the center of laziness in a home: a comfy couch, a video-game console, a shelf full of DVDs, and nothing to encourage fitness or physical activity. There are ways to add in subtle reminders, however, without overhauling your entire room or dragging in a giant piece of workout equipment. Set a time limit on weekly television and incorporate these Skinny House essentials to keep your whole family moving.

4. Make chores fun
Instead of relegating each member of the family to doing separate chores by themselves, turn chores into a game you can all do together. Race to see how fast you can get the house cleaned, and then try to beat your old time the next week. Play music while you're doing laundry, and enlist the kids to sing and dance while helping to fold and put clothes away. Take the dog for walks together, and squeeze in some running, roller-skating, or jump rope while you're at it.

5. Make over your meal plan
This isn't necessarily a fitness tip, but it's also worth mentioning: Families that eat healthier also tend to have other healthy habits, such as regular physical activity. If you want to slim down after having a baby or just want to eat better overall, get your entire family involved and you're more likely to succeed. Take kids to the farmers market, let them pick their own fruits and vegetables, and involve them in the food preparation. They're much more likely to enjoy their meals—and to clean their plates.

Get more ideas for fitting fitness into a busy schedule here.

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Happily ever after: Scientists arrange protein-nanoparticle marriage

Researchers have discovered a way to easily and effectively fasten proteins to nanoparticles -- essentially an arranged marriage -- by simply mixing them together. The biotechnology is in its infancy. But it already has shown promise for developing an HIV vaccine and as a way to target cancer cells.

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Reducing global tobacco use

Although global efforts to cut tobacco use have had some success, more can be done to reduce the number of deaths from smoking, according to a new commentary. More than 170 countries have signed the World Health Organization's (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control agreement since it was adopted in 2005. However, smoking rates are still high in many low- and middle-income countries compared with Canada and other high-income countries where efforts to curb smoking have been more successful.

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Strong currents promote release of Arctic greenhouse gas

Ocean and Earth Science researchers reveal how the interplay between ocean currents and marine microbiology serve to regulate potentially damaging emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane, created beneath the Arctic Ocean.

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Use of radiotherapy after prostate cancer surgery declining, despite evidence of benefit

Despite strong evidence and guidelines supporting its use, post-surgical radiation therapy for prostate cancer patients at risk of recurrence is declining in the United States. This study finds fewer than 10 percent of patients at risk of recurrence received postoperative radiotherapy within six months of surgery in the U.S.

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Higher-than-expected pediatric cancer rates identified in two Florida areas

Higher-than-expected rates of pediatric cancers have been identified in the Miami metro area and an area west of the Everglades in a series of five statistical analyses. Comparisons across analyses reveal characteristics of the detected patterns, including the number of cases (two), types of cancer (leukemia or brain/central nervous system cancer) and the racial composition and timing of the cluster west of the Everglades.

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Putting the 'education' in 'educational' apps

New apps developed for children come online every day and many of them are marketed or labeled as 'educational' -- but how can we tell which of these thousands of apps will actually help children learn? In a comprehensive new report, a team of researchers integrates research from scientific disciplines like psychological science, linguistics, and neuroscience to provide an evidence-based guide that parents, educators, and app designers alike can use to evaluate the quality of so-called 'educational' apps.

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Vampire squid discovery shows how little we know of the deep sea

Among soft-bodied cephalopods, vampire squid live life at a slower pace. At ocean depths from 500 to 3,000 meters, they don't swim so much as float, and they get by with little oxygen while consuming a low-calorie diet of zooplankton and detritus. Now, researchers have found that vampire squid differ from all other living coleoid cephalopods in their reproductive strategy as well.

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Pancreatic cancer breakthrough: Scientists turn cancer cells into normal cells

Scientists have found a novel avenue for therapeutic intervention of the "silent cancer." A new research study has shown that pancreatic cancer cells can be coaxed to revert back toward normal cells by introducing a protein called E47. E47 binds to specific DNA sequences and controls genes involved in growth and differentiation. The research provides hope for a new treatment approach for the more than 40,000 people who die from the disease each year in the United States.

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Clues to why older people get more tendon injuries

New research into how tendons age has found that the material between tendon fiber bundles stiffens as it gets older and that this is responsible for older people being more susceptible to tendon injuries.

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Big bottoms aren't everything to male baboons

While the female baboon's big red bottom may be an eyesore to some, it has an aphrodisiac effect on her mates. Biologists have long thought that baboon males prefer females with bigger backsides as the mark of a good mother, but a new study reveals that the size of a female's swollen rump doesn't matter as much as previously thought.

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Drugs stimulate body’s own stem cells to replace the brain cells lost in multiple sclerosis

Scientists have identified two topical drugs (miconazole and clobetasol) capable of stimulating regeneration of damaged brain cells and reversing paralysis in animal models of MS.

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Don’t judge a book -- or a plant -- by its cover

The kwongan is a type of bushland that is only found in South-West Australia and is exceptionally rich in terms of biodiversity, despite existing on some of the most infertile soils in the world. Its unique nature enabled the researchers to discover that plants use an amazing variety of root strategies to obtain nutrients from these poor soils. "Ecosystems all around the world are being altered at an alarming rate. In order to protect biodiversity as best as we possibly can, we need to understand how these systems work. To achieve that goal, our study shows that it's important to go beyond what's immediately visible to study what nature has hidden below ground," an author of the new study says.

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Efficient method of producing metallic nanoparticles

A new, cost-efficient method of producing various types of metallic nanoparticles has been developed by researchers. Nanoparticles can be used in applications such as conductive and magnetic inks, medical diagnostics and drug dosing, tailoring the electrical and magnetic properties of polymers and energy technology.

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Discovery of gene that determines cocoa butter melting point to have far-reaching effects

The discovery of a gene involved in determining the melting point of cocoa butter -- a critical attribute of the substance widely used in foods and pharmaceuticals -- will likely lead to new and improved products, according to researchers.

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Successfully managing fatigue in people with multiple sclerosis

Fatigue is one of the most commonly reported and debilitating symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS) and can significantly reduce an individual's quality of life. Unlike the tiredness that we all experience sometimes, fatigue in those with MS can have a hugely negative impact -- it can limit or stop people from doing day-to-day activities and things that really matter to them. It is the main reason why people with MS stop working. Research has been tackling the challenge of managing fatigue in people with MS, with encouraging results.

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LGBT-competent physicians are scarce at US academic medical practices, study finds

Only 9 percent of US academic medical practices have procedures for connecting patients to LGBT-competent physicians, and only 4 percent had policies for identifying those physicians. In addition, only 15 percent had lists of LGBT-competent physicians, a new report says.

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Theoretical framework for graphene physics established

A team of researchers has established a theoretical framework to understand the elastic and electronic properties of graphene. Graphene, a single-atom-thick sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb-like lattice, is one of the simplest materials with unrivalled mechanical and electronic properties. The material has been hailed by scientists as an extremely good conductor of electrons due to its strength and its light weight.

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Darwin, Wallace, and the overlooked third man

The horticulturist who came up with the concept of 'evolution by natural selection' 27 years before Charles Darwin did should be more widely acknowledged for his contribution, states a new paper by a geneticist.

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Cancer gene unintentionally ends the life of cancer cells, turns off life supporting genes

Myc cancer gene makes cells to commit suicide by repressing life supporting "well-being" genes, a new study suggests. These findings provide new opportunities to develop drugs, which could switch Myc from a cancer driver gene to a deadly assassin of the cancer cells, and encourages a rethinking of how to unmask cancer vulnerabilities, scientists say

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Technology can transfer human emotions to your palm through air, say scientists

Human emotion can be transferred by technology that stimulates different parts of the hand without making physical contact with your body, a study has shown. For example, short, sharp bursts of air to the area around the thumb, index finger and middle part of the palm generate excitement, whereas sad feelings are created by slow and moderate stimulation of the outer palm and the area around the 'pinky' finger.

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Throwing light on how to conduct a personalized pancreas cancer clinical trial

Leaders of an ongoing pancreatic cancer clinical trial known as the Individualized Molecular Pancreatic Cancer Therapy or 'IMPaCT' trial, have been learning ways to bring about about a new paradigm of personalized cancer care for pancreatic cancer and other aggressive cancer types.

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Pulsing light may indicate supermassive black hole merger

As two galaxies enter the final stages of merging, scientists have theorized that the galaxies' supermassive black holes will form a 'binary,' or two black holes in such close orbit they are gravitationally bound to one another. In a new study, astronomers present direct evidence of a pulsing quasar, which may substantiate the existence of black hole binaries.

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Immunotherapy combination promising for untreated patients with advanced melanoma

The combination of two immunotherapies for first-line treatment of advanced melanoma induces better responses and far longer progression-free survival than giving one of those drugs alone, new research shows. Further, the combination was effective in the portion of melanoma patients--the majority--who currently have few effective treatment options.

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Researchers formulate new yogurts with high protein content, higher satiating capacity

Anew yogurt with high protein content and higher satiating capacity has been developed, opening up an alternative in the design of new nutritional control strategies. One researcher involved says that protein is the most effective macronutrient in obtaining a satiating effect, “that is what makes the formulation of dairy products with higher protein content able to help moderate food consumption”.

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Broccoli sprout extract promising for head and neck cancer prevention

Broccoli sprout extract protects against oral cancer in mice and proved tolerable in a small group of healthy human volunteers, according to new research.

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For many US teachers, the classroom is a lonely place

Compared to their peers around the globe, US teachers continue to work largely in isolation, engaging less often in collaborative teaching and feedback that can transform teaching and learning, according to an expert on teaching and school leadership.

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Schools must track academic progress of homeless students, researchers argue

Schools must track the academic progress of homeless students with as much care as they track special education, Title I and English language learner students, according to researchers. And funds earmarked to help homeless youth should buy more than backpacks and bus tokens.

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Investigational personalized cellular therapy tolerated well by patients with advanced mesothelioma, ovarian and pancreatic cancers

Genetically modified versions of patients’ own immune cells successfully traveled to tumors they were designed to attack in an early-stage trial for mesothelioma and pancreatic and ovarian cancers. The data adds to a growing body of research showing the promise of CAR T cell technology.

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Immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab shows early promise for mesothelioma patients

The PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab, a cancer immunotherapy drug, shrank or halted growth of tumors in 76 percent of patients with pleural mesothelioma, a rare and deadly form of cancer that arises in the outer lining of the lungs and internal chest wall, according to a new study. Patients diagnosed with the disease, which is tied to exposure to asbestos, have a median survival rate of about one year.

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Ancient crucible steel weapon found in Eastern Europe

Sometimes old friends give you a surprise. Russian archaeologists were conducting a routine examination of an old sabre unearthed seven years ago in Yaroslavl - when it turned out to be possibly the oldest crucible steel weapon in Eastern Europe.

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Clinical trial for personalized kidney cancer vaccine

A research center has enrolled its first patient in a phase 3 clinical trial that uses a person’s own kidney cancer cells to make a vaccine tailored to kill those cells.

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Clinical trial offers patient ‘best shot’ at fighting kidney cancer

The pain Anne Holmes felt in her arm was actually kidney cancer that had spread. She joined a phase 3 clinical trial. The trial tests a new approach that strips the invisibility cloak from spreading kidney cancer cells; it will use Holmes' own cells to create a vaccine tailored for her cancer cells.

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Seeking new targets for ovarian cancer treatment

Identifying molecular changes that occur in tissue after chemotherapy could be crucial in advancing treatments for ovarian cancer, according to research from Magee-Womens Research Institute and Foundation and the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute presented today at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2015.

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Immune therapy tested in study of women with triple-negative breast cancer

Early data in a preliminary human study show that an experimental immune system drug is generally safe and well tolerated in women with metastatic, triple-negative breast cancer, a persistently difficult form of the disease to treat.

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Tumor genome sequencing shows the most frequently altered gene in bladder cancer: Telomerase reverse transcriptase

Researchers have reported that the telomerase reverse transcriptase gene promoter was altered in 69 percent of 54 cases of bladder cancer. Telomerase reverse transcriptase alterations frequently co-occur with alterations in recently identified bladder cancer genes such as STAG2 and KDM6A.

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A common nerve protein elevated in aggressive neuroblastomas

A protein produced by nerve cells appears to be elevated in the blood of those with an aggressive form of neuroblastoma. The finding could potentially lead to a prognostic test for the disease or be used to monitor its progress.

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Tiniest circuits: Light-controlled molecule switching

Researchers have succeeded in light-controlled molecule switching. Scientists are working on storing and processing information on the level of single molecules to create the smallest possible components that will combine autonomously to form a circuit. Researchers can switch on the current flow through a single molecule for the first time with the help of light.

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Is there such a thing as 'pure' autism? Genetic analysis says no

The search for genes that contribute to the risk for autism has made tremendous strides over the past 3 years. As this field has advanced, investigators have wondered whether the diversity of clinical features across patients with autism reflects heterogeneous sources of genetic risk.

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Cold Spot suggests largest structure in Universe: A supervoid 1.3 billion light years across

In 2004, astronomers examining a map of the radiation left over from the Big Bang discovered the Cold Spot, a larger-than-expected unusually cold area of the sky. The physics surrounding the Big Bang theory predicts warmer and cooler spots of various sizes in the infant universe, but a spot this large and this cold was unexpected.

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Bioasphalt: From microalgae to 'green roads? '

Microalgae offer a highly promising alternative to petroleum products without competing for resources used in the food industry. They have now been used for the first time to make asphalt. Researchers have proven the viability of bioasphalt, demonstrating its close similarity to the "real" asphalt used to pave roads.

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Insects inspire next generation of hearing aids

An insect-inspired microphone that can tackle the problem of locating sounds and eliminate background noise is set to revolutionize modern-day hearing aid systems, scientists say. Despite remarkable advances in sound analysis in hearing aids, the actual microphone itself has remained essentially unchanged for decades. Current directional microphone technology adds cost, weight and power requirements to hearing aids compromising their design.

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Detecting lung cancer at an early stage: 'Spectral histopathology' facilitates prognosis regarding tumour aggressiveness

A new diagnostic method, namely spectral histopathology, facilitates marker-free detection of individual subtypes of lung cancers. It is an automatable imaging process which, by classifying specific forms of lung cancer, facilitates a prognosis regarding a tumor’s aggressiveness. The team compares the results of traditional diagnostic procedures with those of spectral histopathology in a new article.

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Pruning of blood vessels: Cells can fuse with themselves

Cells of the vascular system of vertebrates can fuse with themselves. This process, which occurs when a blood vessel is no longer necessary and pruned, has now been described on the cellular level by researchers.

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Most americans say medical marijuana shouldn't be used by kids or in front of kids – legal or not

Medical marijuana and children don’t mix, most Americans say. While nearly two-thirds of people agree that their state should allow medical marijuana for adults, half as many -- just over a third -- say it should be allowed for children, according to a new poll representing a national sample of adults in the U.S.

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Overnight fasting may reduce breast cancer risk in women

A decrease in the amount of time spent eating and an increase in overnight fasting reduces glucose levels and may reduce the risk of breast cancer among women, report researchers. Women who fasted for longer periods of time overnight had significantly better control over blood glucose concentrations. The data shows that each three hour increase in nighttime fasting was associated with a 4 percent lower postprandial glucose level, regardless of how much women ate.

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Is the amyloid hypothesis the right path to find a treatment for Alzheimer's disease?

There is both risk and reward in focusing Alzheimer's disease research on inhibiting amyloid production, according to a new article. The article reviews the significant body of research proposing that the accumulation of beta amyloid in the brain is the Alzheimer's disease trigger that must be inhibited.

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Animal study shows why long-time consumption of soyfoods reduces breast cancer recurrence

Women diagnosed with breast cancer are often told not to eat soyfoods or soy-based supplements because they can interfere with anti-estrogen treatment. But new research could eventually impact that advice, because in animals, a long history of eating soyfoods boosts the immune response against breast tumors, reducing cancer recurrence.



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Getting foster youth through college will take structured support, study concludes

The college graduation rate for students who have lived in foster care is 3 percent, among the lowest of any demographic group in the country. And this rate is unlikely to improve unless community colleges institute formal programs to assist foster youth both financially and academically, concludes a new study.



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Leading doctors warn that sepsis deaths will not be curbed without radical rethink of research strategy

Medical and public recognition of sepsis--thought to contribute to between a third and a half of all hospital deaths--must improve if the number of deaths from this common and potentially life-threatening condition are to fall, leading physicians say in a new article.



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Literacy app improves school readiness in at-risk preschoolers

Using mobile apps in preschool classrooms may help improve early literacy skills and boost school readiness for low-income children, according to research. "Guided use of an educational app may be a source of motivation and engagement for children in their early years," said the study's author. "The purpose of our study was to examine if a motivating app could accelerate children's learning, which it did."



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