Increased and sustained physical activity in postmenopausal women: 2-year follow-up of a resistance training intervention.

Objectives: To assess whether levels of physical activity can be modified and sustained for 2 years in postmenopausal women with initially low physical activity levels participating in a randomised controlled trial.

Study Design: Postmenopausal women with vasomotor symptoms and low activity levels were randomised to a 15-week supervised full-body resistance training program three times/week or a control group maintaining low activity. After the intervention, controls were offered an introductory resistance training session and 15-week gym membership.

A 2-year follow-up to a randomized controlled trial on resistance training in postmenopausal women: vasomotor symptoms, quality of life and cardiovascular risk markers.

Background: Most women experience vasomotor symptoms (VMS) during the menopausal transition. A 15-week resistance training intervention (RTI) significantly reduced moderate-to-severe VMS (MS-VMS) and improved health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and cardiovascular risk markers in postmenopausal women. Whether a short RTI could have long-term effects is unknown.

Resistance training decreased abdominal adiposity in postmenopausal women.

Objective: To investigate if abdominal adipose tissue volumes and ratios change after a 15-week structured resistance training intervention in postmenopausal women with vasomotor symptoms (VMS).

Study Design: Sixty-five postmenopausal women with VMS and low physical activity were randomized to either three days/week supervised resistance training or unchanged physical activity for 15 weeks. Women underwent clinical anthropometric measurements and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at baseline and after 15 weeks.

Men born small for gestational age or with low birth weight do not improve their rate of reproduction over time: a Swedish population-based study.

Objective: To investigate whether the reduced reproductive rate among men born small for gestational age (SGA) or with low birth weight (LBW) is present after up to 44 years of follow-up.

Design: Population-based register study.

Setting: National registers in Sweden.

[Follow-up study of very low birthweight children in Sweden at the age of 27-28].

Studies show that very low birthweight can be an important risk factor for mental problems, disturbed fertility and neuroendocrine dysregulation. In a regional long-term study 56 of 86 adult individuals 27 to 28 years of age with a very low birthweight were compared with normal birthweight controls. Analyses of self-reported mental health, socio-demographic factors, sex hormone levels, and hair cortisol levels showed no significant differences between the groups.

Resistance training decreases plasma levels of adipokines in postmenopausal women.

Physical inactivity and the onset of menopause increase the risk of cardiovascular disease amongst postmenopausal women. We aim to investigate the effect of resistance training (RT) on plasma levels of selected cytokines, adipokines, myokines, and sex hormones in postmenopausal women with vasomotor symptoms. This was a sub-study of a randomised controlled trial investigating the effects of RT on vasomotor symptoms in postmenopausal women.

Interprofessional student teams focus on staff issues while learning about quality improvement.

There is a well-known gap between what we know and what we do within healthcare service processes. Models that facilitate quality improvement (QI) have seen used to eliminate these gaps. Knowledge and competence in QI work are necessary for every professional within the healthcare system and are ideally learned through interprofessional collaboration and introduced during undergraduate studies.

Birth characteristics in men with infertility.

Research Question: Are low birth weight, prematurity, being born small for gestational age, or both, associated with a higher risk of male factor infertility in adulthood?

Design: Retrospective study of a clinical sample of 892 men, diagnosed with an infertility factor (male, female, combined or unexplained) together with their female partner at a University Hospital clinic in Sweden between 2005 and 2010. Data on birth weight and gestational age at birth were retrieved from the Swedish Medical Birth Register. The distribution of non-optimal birth characteristics in relation to infertility factor was described.

Being born preterm or with low weight implies a risk of infertility and premature loss of ovarian function; a national register study.

Being born with non-optimal birth characteristics has several long-term consequences on health in general but also for the individual's reproductive pattern. In premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) the follicles are depleted or dysfunctional. This results in menopause before the age of 40, and for most of the affected women, it causes infertility.

Sexual function changes attributed to hormonal contraception use - a qualitative study of women experiencing negative effects.

To increase the understanding of women who experience negative effects on sexual function when using hormonal contraception. We performed 24 in-depth interviews with women who had previously experienced negative sexual function effects while using hormonal contraceptives. The thematic analysis method was used.

Does resistance training have an effect on levels of ferritin and atherogenic lipids in postmenopausal women? - A pilot trial.

The objective of this study was to determine if 15 weeks of resistance training (RT) can alter the levels of blood lipids, body iron status, and oxidative stress in postmenopausal women with vasomotor symptoms. Postmenopausal women enrolled in a randomised controlled trial were allocated to either a sedentary control group (n = 29) or a RT group (n = 26). Blood samples were taken at week-0 and week-15 for all participants.

Self-reported mental health and cortisol activity at 27-28 years of age in individuals born with very low birthweight.

Aim: To assess mental health outcomes of very low birthweight (VLBW, <1500 g) subjects to adulthood and to examine salivary cortisol and hair cortisol levels and their relation to birth characteristics and mental health.

Methods: A Swedish regional cohort of 56 VLBW subjects and 55 full-term controls were assessed at the ages 27-28 with adult self-reported scales and the mean of 2 days diurnal salivary cortisol and hair cortisol. The cohorts had been assessed at 15 years of age with youth self-reported scales.

A survey of young women's perceptions of the influence of the Levonorgestrel-Intrauterine System or copper-intrauterine device on sexual desire.

Objectives: Few studies, with contradictory results, evaluate intrauterine contraceptives (IUC) and sexual function specifically. This study compares perception of sexual desire related to IUC use and aspects of sexual function in women who use the Lng-IUS with those using the Cu-IUD.

Study Design: A secondary analysis regarding IUC use based on a larger cross-sectional survey of contraceptive use in Sweden, conducted in 2013.

Resistance training for hot flushes in postmenopausal women: A randomised controlled trial.

Objectives: To investigate the effect of 15 weeks of resistance training on the frequency of moderate to severe hot flushes in postmenopausal women.

Study Design: Postmenopausal women with at least 4 moderate or severe hot flushes or night sweats per day day were randomized to a 15-week resistance training intervention or unchanged physical activity. Participants did not exercise regularly at baseline and had not used any therapy for hot flushes two months prior to study entry.

Diagnostics of DNA fragmentation in human spermatozoa: Are sperm chromatin structure analysis and sperm chromatin dispersion tests (SCD-HaloSpermG2 ) comparable?

Men affected with idiopathic infertility often display basic spermiogramme values similar to fertile individuals, questioning the diagnostic impact of the World Health Organization (WHO) thresholds used. This study explored sperm DNA fragmentation in single ejaculates from 14 fertile donors and 42 patients with idiopathic infertility providing semen for assisted reproductive techniques in a university fertility clinic. Each ejaculate was simultaneously studied for sperm DNA fragmentation by the flow cytometer-based sperm chromatin structure analysis (SCSA) and the new light-microscopy-based sperm chromatin dispersion assay (SCD-HaloSpermG2 ), before and after sperm selection for in vitro fertilisation with a colloid discontinuous gradient.

Use of hormone therapy (HT) among Swedish women with contraindications - A pharmacoepidemiological cohort study.

Objectives: To assess how women in Sweden with breast cancer (BC), endometrial cancer (EC), and/or pulmonary embolism (PE) were dispensed menopausal hormone therapy (HT).

Study Design: A retrospective study of Swedish women aged 40 years or more on 31 December 2005 (n = 2,863,643), followed through to December 2011. The study analysed three mandatory national healthcare registries: the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register, the National Inpatient Register and the Cancer Register.

Women born with very low birth weight have similar menstrual cycle pattern, pregnancy rates and hormone profiles compared with women born at term.

Background: Individuals born very preterm or with very low birth weight (VLBW) have a reduced likelihood to reproduce according to population-based register studies. Extremely low-birth weight born adults had a lower reproduction rate for both men and women in a follow-up study.

Aim: To investigate if being born with VLBW is associated with differences in the reproductive health, i.

CGRP Is Critical for Hot Flushes in Ovariectomized Mice.

Hot flushes are common and troublesome symptoms of menopause. The neuropeptide calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) is increased in plasma during hot flushes but it has not been clear if CGRP is causally involved in the mechanism underpinning the flushes. Here, we examined the effect of interventions with CGRP in a mouse model of hot flushes based on flush-like temperature increases triggered by forced physical activity in ovariectomized mice.

The prevalence of primary ovarian insufficiency in Sweden; a national register study.

Background: The current estimates of the prevalence of primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) are very variable, but are in most studies believed to be around 1%. It is also very likely tat the prevalence of POI differs between countries and over time. We therefore aimed to assess the prevalence of primary ovarian insufficiency in Sweden.

Sexual function and combined oral contraceptives: a randomised, placebo-controlled trial.

Objective: The effect of combined oral contraceptives (COCs) on female sexuality has long been a matter of discussion, but placebo-controlled studies are lacking. Thus, the aim of the present study was to investigate if an oestradiol-containing COC influences sexual function.

Design: Investigator-initiated, randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial where 202 healthy women were randomised to a combined oral contraceptive (1.

A long-term follow-up study of men born with very low birth weight and their reproductive hormone profile.

Unlabelled: Environmental factors during the fetal period may adversely affect reproductive functions in men being born with very low birth weight (VLBW, <1500 g). The objective of this prospective, controlled cohort study was to investigate if VLBW men have an altered reproductive hormone profile compared with men born at term. The study group initially consisted of all VLBW boys live-born between 1 February 1987 and 30 April 1988 in the south-east region of Sweden (n = 47).

Immune profile in relation to sex steroid cyclicity in healthy women and women with multiple sclerosis.

To prospectively study systemic in vivo immunological effects of sex hormones, using different phases of oral combined hormonal contraceptives (CHC), and the natural menstrual cycles in both healthy women and in women with multiple sclerosis (MS), blood samples from sixty female MS patients and healthy controls with and without CHC were drawn in high and low estrogenic/progestogenic phases. Expression of Th-associated genes in blood cells was determined by qPCR and a panel of cytokines and chemokines was measured in plasma. High hormone level phases were associated with increases in Th1 (TBX21) and Th2 (GATA3) associated markers, as well as the B cell-associated chemokine CXCL13, while the inhibitory regulator CTLA-4 was decreased.

Precision of MRI-based body composition measurements of postmenopausal women.

Objectives: To determine precision of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) based fat and muscle quantification in a group of postmenopausal women. Furthermore, to extend the method to individual muscles relevant to upper-body exercise.

Materials And Methods: This was a sub-study to a randomized control trial investigating effects of resistance training to decrease hot flushes in postmenopausal women.