Is Menstruation Obsolete? argues that regular monthly bleeding is not the "natural" state of women, and that it actually places them at risk of several medical conditions of varying severity. The authors maintain that while menstruation may be culturally significant, it is not medically meaningful. Moreover, they propose that suppressing menstruation has remarkable health advantages.
Because of cultural changes, shorter durations of breast feeding, and birth control, the reproductive patterns of modern women no longer resemble that of their Stone age ancestors. Women have...

The first half of the twentieth century was of one of the most turbulent periods in Europe's history. While social theorists challenged orthodox ways of thinking about the establishment of a "good society," scientists offered up new visions of the workings of the universe. Women fought for increased power within the altered social landscape, and change and controversy reigned in the worlds of art and culture. The chaos of world politics ushered in the two great wars, which would forever alter Europe's position in the world.
Europe, 1890-1945 offers a concise, accessible overview...

This book, by two of the most distinguished figures in fertility and reproduction research, answers all the most common questions about menaupause and andropause, and hormone resupplement therapy (HRT) for menopausal women. It offers explanations of all aspects of this subject, presenting balanced and reliable information about benefits, risks, and prospects for this field. Segal invented Norplant, the first long-term implantable contraceptive, and as the leader of Reproductive Biology at the Population Council, he orchestrated and coordinated the research and trials leading to basically...

See preceding entry (CIA world factbook). Data was compiled from open Soviet literature, translated, and formatted to imitate the CIA version. Contains data on 249 countries, in the same categories as stated for the CIA version. Disparities in the reported figures on the two discs might be of intere

The search for a reversible male contraceptive has centered upon the suppression of sperm production or sperm motility. Gossypol, a natural substance extracted from the cotton plant, appears to cause both of these effects. Its ability to reduce spermatogenesis in men is undeniable and has been demonstrated in both large studies in China and a smaller confirmatory study in Brazil. These investiga tions have revealed the remarkable fact that with gossypol, it is possible to separate an effect on the testis' gamete-producing function from an effect on its hormone-producing function. Thus, it is...

Over the past decade, the AIDS pandemic has propagated so widely and exerted such a dev- astating impact that one may properly ask the question, Why not concentrate all AIDS efforts on disease control alone? Why link AIDS with women's reproductive health? What is the scientific basis for this linkage? And how might AID control and women's health objectives be promot- ed simultaneously? These questions constitute the principal themes addressed in this monograph. The 15 chapters in this volume are intended to provide state-of-the-art reviews of key interac- tions between AIDS and women's...

This volume is devoted to the chemistry, immunology, molecular biology, and physiology of the human chorionic gonadotropin, heG. For this glycoprotein molecule the course from discovery to chemical deciphering covered about fifty years. It was in 1928 that Ascheim and Zondek reported that urine from pregnant women contains something that stimulates the ovaries of mice or rats. This provided the basis for the famous A-Z test for pregnancy and for the "rabbit test" modification introduced by Friedman. As researchers sought to find more sensitive responses to heG, they used a wide variety of...