New Delhi: India has shown impressive gains in reduction of Maternal Mortality with 22% reduction in since 2013. Nearly one thousand fewer women now die of pregnancy-related complications each month in India.

With available testing for breast cancer risk genes, some women are learning at young ages that they are at high lifetime risk of breast cancer. Plastic surgeons play a key role in counseling and managing this group of high-risk young adults, according to a special topic paper in the recent issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

Researchers in China have discovered that an enzyme called UGT8 drives the progression of basal-like breast cancer, an aggressive form of the disease that is largely untreatable. But the study, recently published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, reveals that the widely used osteoporosis drug zoledronic acid inhibits UGT8 and prevents the spread of basal-like breast cancer in mice, suggesting that this drug could also be used to treat the disease in humans.

Few things are more daunting for first-time moms than the prospect of childbirth. They wonder: Will my baby be OK? What will labor and delivery be like? How painful will it be, and can I handle it? Moms who have been there offering the low-down on labor and delivery and their message is comforting. Yes, childbirth is painful. But it’s manageable. In fact, nearly half of first-time moms (46 percent) said the pain they experienced with their first child was better than they expected, according to a survey commissioned by the American Society of Anesthesiologists.