Womens Corner

Use of certain antidepressants during pregnancy can lead to life-long changes in anxiety-related behaviour in their offspring and protect them from anxiety-related disorders when they turn adults, research has found.

“The implications of these findings are that with additional investigation, it may be possible to identify specific antidepressants that are safer for pregnant women,” said study senior author Anne Andrews, professor of psychiatry and chemistry and biochemistry at University of California, Los Angeles.

A new study has revealed that women who are exposed to high levels of fine particulate matter specifically during pregnancy-particularly during the third trimester-may face up to twice the risk of having a child with autism than mothers living in areas with low particulate matter.

According to the study by researchers from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), the greater the exposure the greater the risk.

It may seem a bit bizarre but researchers have found that how often you step on the scale to measure weight is linked to weight loss – the more is the frequency, the faster you slim down.

The more frequently dieters weighed themselves the more weight they lost, and if participants went more than a week without weighing themselves, they gained weight, the findings showed.

“The more often you weigh yourself the more weight you lose,” said lead author Elina Helander from Tempere Univeristy of Technology in Finland.

More than half of all US children will likely live with unmarried mothers at some point before they reach 18, said a study by researchers from the Princeton University and the Harvard University, the US.

The absence of a biological father increases the likelihood that a child will exhibit anti-social behaviour like aggression, breaking rules and delinquency.

“These children are 40 percent less likely to finish high schools or attend colleges,” the team noted.

Since 1965, the percentage of children raised by unmarried mothers has gone up significantly among all groups.

A federation of elected women representatives today pressed for a slew of demands, including 50 per cent reservation in local governance, saying it would ensure equality.

A 10-point charter of demands has been submitted to Tamil Nadu government, the representatives, working under the banner ‘Muahzkkam,’ told reporters here.

The demands include 50 per cent reservation for women in local bodies, a special board at the district level to address cases of violence against women and such elected representatives, besides another special board to deal with caste discrimination.

A new study has revealed that women are indeed better at empathy than men.

After pooling data from thousands of in-depth interviews with Australians, the researchers found that women were far more likely to feel their partner’s emotional pain than men, News.com.au reported.

It was found that when a negative event befalls their partner, women tend to experience an emotional effect roughly 24 per cent as large as if the event happened to them, while for men the percentage is much lower at just seven per cent.

Researchers have found that domestic violence could affect children even before they are born.

Children born to abused pregnant women could show emotional and behavioural trauma symptoms within the first year of their lives.

Symptoms include nightmares, startling easily, being bothered by loud noises and bright lights, avoiding physical contact and experiencing trouble being happy.

People may not find average-looking faces most attractive but they are considered to be the most trustworthy, researchers say.

During an experiment, they found that typically average-looking faces are considered more trustworthy than attractive ones.

“Face typicality likely indicates familiarity and cultural affiliation. These findings have important implications for understanding social perception, including cross-cultural perceptions and interactions,” explained lead researcher Carmel Sofer from Princeton University in New Jersey and Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands.

A new study has revealed that people tend to believe average-looking faces, who aren’t seen as the most attractive, while assessing trustworthiness.

The research indicated that being “average,” which was often considered a bad thing, wins when people assess the trustworthiness of a face.

A study of over a million women has shown that women who had their first menstrual cycle at age 10 or younger, or age 17 or older, may be at higher risk of developing heart disease, stroke, and complications of high blood pressure.

Having the first menstrual cycle at the age of 13 appears to be the safest, according to the study.

“The size of our study, the wide range of ages considered, and the vascular diseases being examined made it unique and informative,” said study lead author Dexter Canoy from University of Oxford.

Microsoft Corporation (I) Pvt Ltd, which runs ‘Bing.Com’ search engine, today submitted before the Supreme Court that it never advertised any pre-natal sex selection technologies on its website in violation of Indian laws.

The internet giant, in its fresh additional affidavit, however, said it will be “unfair and illegal” to expect that it will block all contents which can be reached through its search engine. Moreover, blocking contents of others is not “technically feasible”, it said.

If you can follow pre-holiday skin care regime religiously, why not post-holiday too? Outdoor activities are fun, but they also leave behind sun tan and take away the glow. Let your tan stay, but don’t compromise on the skin radiance.

Here are a few tips to help repair skin and get your glow back, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Scrub your body
Sunscreen protects skin from harmful sun rays, but can make the skin look dull. A gentle scrub can help in regaining the shine.

A new survey has revealed that 81 percent of mothers feel pressured to bounce back to their pre-pregnancy weight within three months of giving birth.

Survey explained that now-a-days mothers are so conscious about their post-pregnancy weight that they try every possible thing to get rid of the baby fat as soon as possible just like Scarlett Johannsen, Mila Kunis and all the Hollywood yummy mummies, the Daily Star reported.

A University of Pittsburgh study has found that women are more “election averse” than men.

“Past research has shown that women seem to be under confident of their ability to hold office. We tried to examine scientifically what the factors were in the decision making process,” said Jonathan Woon, associate professor of political science.

Along with associate professor Kristin Kanthak, Woon enlisted 350 undergraduate Pitt students to participate in the lab experiments.

In the first phase, men and women were divided into random groups and given a task of adding up numbers.

Scientists have designed the world’s first ‘bionic bra’ that automatically adjusts itself in response to the breast movement to provide more comfort to the wearer.

Researchers from the University of Wollongong in Australia have created a new prototype of the bra, made using
intelligent components.

The advent of approaches such as 3D printing has enabled us to assemble structures containing new sensing technologies
to more accurately monitor movement and new artificial muscle technologies to control it,” Professor Gordon Wallace,

A new survey has revealed that 81 percent of mothers feel pressured to bounce back to their pre-pregnancy weight within three months of giving birth.

Survey explained that now-a-days mothers are so conscious about their post-pregnancy weight that they try every possible thing to get rid of the baby fat as soon as possible just like Scarlett Johannsen, Mila Kunis and all the Hollywood yummy mummies, the Daily Star reported.

While for many women, pregnancy is a happy time, for almost one in four, it turns out not to be so enjoyable as they face emotional, physical and sexual violence by none other than their own close partners, alarming research has found.

he Spain-based study reflects the reality of other countries with similar socio-cultural environments, the researchers noted.

While 21% of women suffer emotional violence during pregnancy, 3.6% encounter physical or sexual violence, the finding showed.

It is mandatory for certain class of public companies to appoint at least one woman director on their boards under the companies law, government said on Friday.

“The Companies Act 2013 and the rules framed thereunder mandate listed and unlisted public companies having paid up share capital of Rs 100 crore or more or a turnover of Rs 300 crore or more are required to appoint at least one woman director on the board of directors,” Arun Jaitley said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Occupational sitting is associated with an increased likelihood of obesity among black women, independent of occupational and leisure time physical activity, according to a new study.

Few studies have examined the association between occupational sitting and body mass index (BMI), particularly among diverse populations, said researchers from the Washington University in St Louis.

Failed relationships and emotional health threaten menopausal women’s interest in sex more than levels of the male hormone testosterone and other naturally-occurring reproductive hormones, a study says. While testosterone is the main sex hormone in men, women also have small amounts of it as ovaries naturally produce testosterone.

Women
Women’s libido is not hampered by testosterone

Actress Scarlett Johansson says breastfeeding has helped her to get back in shape after the birth of her first child.

The 30-year-old star and her beau Romain Dauraic welcomed their daughter Rose Dorothy in September, reported Daily Mirror.

“It’s the best way to get back in shape. I do the whole bit. I’m nursing and I love it,” the ‘Lucy’ star said.

Johansson said she even loves changing nappies.

“The love is just unbelievable. It’s very overwhelming,” she added.

The ‘Under The Skin’ star is said to have secretly married her partner Romain Dauriac in October.

A new research has revealed that breastfeeding can reduce the chance of the mother getting breast cancer by up to 20 per cent.

Researcher Graham Colditz from Washington University School of Medicine’s cancer centre said that broader uptake of breastfeeding and completing up to 12 weeks of breastfeeding for each baby can significantly reduce the subsequent risk of breast cancer.

The study said that breastfeeding is a powerful strategy to reduce the risk of several aggressive breast cancer subtypes, with a relative risk reduction of approximately 10 per cent to 20 per cent.

Concerned over condition of a girl child in the society, Haryana government today said it was planning a welfare scheme to empower them so that they are not taken as burden on their parents.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar expressed concerns over skewed sex ratio in Haryana and termed female foeticide as “social curse” which he said could only be wiped out if a woman protests against it, as her husband had to accept her decision.

The sex ratio in Haryana is 837 in below six years of age.

A new research has revealed that prenatal exposure to elevated levels of two common chemicals found in the home, di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP) and di-isobutyl phthalate (DiBP), are associated with substantial reductions in the IQ of children.

The study at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health is the first to report a link between prenatal exposure to phthalates and IQ in school-age children.

Online lingerie store Zivame has announced the launch of four new TV infomercials addressing some of the most common lingerie faux pas prevalent in India.

Each infomercial will be of 10 seconds long and will be telecast for a month on leading Hindi and English general entertainment, movies, cookery and music channels.

The insights for the infomercials have been drawn from a survey conducted by Zivame to study lingerie habits of its customers as well as from customer feedback and knowledge it has gathered over the years.