As the grant-making arm of Women's ,Health Research at Yale (WHR), the Ethel F. Donaghue Women's Health Investigator Program has provided over $3 million to Yale-affiliated researchers dedicated to studying women's health and sex-specific factors in health and disease.
The researchers hail from a wide variety of scientific disciplines and the following is a mere sampling of the kind of innovative research the program has supported.
Peter Salovey, professor of psychology and epidemiology and public health
Although mammography is generally regarded as the most effective tool for detecting breast cancer early and preventing cancer death, many women do not have regular mammograms. To motivate women to use routine mammography screening, experts believe more effective public health messages are needed.
Salovey and his research team examined the persuasiveness of health messages when they are matched to individuals' information-processing styles. They found that messages and recommendations about health behaviors, such as mammography, are most effective when customized to an individual's preferred way of gaining new information.
These findings have important implications for the ways in which health care professionals provide health information.
Marina R. Picciotto, associate professor of psychiatry, and pharmacology and neurobiology
Studies show that women have a more difficult time quitting smoking than men and are also more likely to be depressed. The goal of Picciotto's research is to understand the relationship between these two health concerns for women.
Picciotto and her laboratory found evidence that genetics plays a role in whether female animals are more likely to show depressive-like behavior than male animals. In addition, they found that certain nicotine-responsive molecular structures in the brain are related to both depressive behavior and the pleasant effects of nicotine, suggesting that smoking may be used to decrease depressive symptoms. The team also discovered that female, but not male, mice prefer to drink a nicotine solution rather than water, perhaps indicating that female mice are more sensitive to nicotine. Further, mice that have had their ovaries removed no longer prefer nicotine, say the researchers, suggesting that sex-specific hormones such as estrogen may be important in maintaining smoking behavior.
This work demonstrates that understanding the interaction of genetics, brain chemistry and sex hormones will lay the foundation for developing new treatments that are more effective in helping women to stop smoking.
Sara Rockwell, professor of therapeutic radiology
Women with breast cancer are increasingly turning to alternative medicines to supplement their traditional cancer treatment or to treat conditions for which traditional medicines are not recommended (i.e., estrogen to treat menopausal symptoms). Black cohosh is an over-the-counter herb often used to treat menopausal symptoms by women who have stopped taking hormone replacement therapy. This herb is advertised as safe and effective for the treatment of menopausal symptoms. Yet, such over-the-counter agents do not require the approval of the Food and Drug Administration and have not been the subject of rigorous scientific inquiry.
Rockwell's research is designed to investigate the effect of black cohosh on breast cells. Preliminary results indicate that when black cohosh is used with traditional types of chemotherapy, it can either increase or decrease the effectiveness of the treatment, depending on the specific type of chemotherapy used. It is also possible that black cohosh increases the levels of toxicity associated with traditional chemotherapy drugs. With the use of complementary and alternative medicines on the rise, researchers believe it is critically important to determine whether these agents are safe so that patients can make informed decisions about their treatment.
Dr. Karl L. Insogna, professor of internal medicine, section of endocrinology
Insogna and colleagues found that the amount of protein women eat profoundly affects how efficiently calcium is absorbed by the intestinal tract.
Specifically, studies show that at dietary protein intake levels just below the current recommended dietary allowance, calcium is poorly absorbed. Scientists say that since many Americans have low-protein diets, problems with calcium being adequately absorbed may be more prevalent than is recognized in the adult population. This is considered particularly important for postmenopausal women, for whom the risk for osteoporosis is greatest. This finding is confirmed by Insogna's related research -- in large, population-based studies, women who habitually consume low-protein diets have lower bone mass.
Soy has recently gained popularity as an important source of protein. Insogna's laboratory has shown that diets based exclusively on soy (vegetable) protein, rather than animal protein, may actually reduce calcium absorption. The basis for this finding is currently being studied and raises the question of how to use soy and other sources of protein in our diets. Insogna's work shows that the amount and type of protein in one's diet has important long-term consequences for skeletal health, and this work may result in revised dietary guidelines on optimal protein and calcium intake for bone health.
Dr. Viola Vaccarino, assistant professor of epidemiology and public health
Of the more than 300,000 coronary artery bypass procedures performed annually in the United States, over 80,000 are performed on women. However, possible sex differences in the risks and benefits of a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) were previously unknown.
Vaccarino and her colleagues explored differences in recovery from CABG in both women and men. In this study of over 1,000 individuals receiving the CABG procedure, Vaccarino found that women experience more difficulty recovering after leaving the hospital than do men. Within the first two months after the surgery, women reported more physical problems and side effects (such as infection) than men, lower levels of physical functioning, more depressive symptoms, and were almost twice as likely as men to be readmitted to the hospital. These results were found even after accounting for pre-existing conditions and risk factors, and preliminary findings at six-month follow-up appear to confirm these results.
Vaccarino's future studies will look at the causes of these sex differences and at developing interventions that can improve the health of women after CABG surgery.
T H I S
Breast cancer
For example, there are individual differences in the willingness to attribute the responsibility for maintaining good health to oneself or to health professionals (health locus of control). His research demonstrated that women who received messages consistent with their health locus of control were more likely to obtain a mammogram at 6 and 12 month follow-up vs. women who received messages that were not consistent with their health locus of control.
Depression and smoking
Alternative medicine
Osteoporosis:
Heart disease
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