First woman elected to head German Protestant Church

A divorced woman once described as "a cross between Mother Teresa and Demi Moore" was Wednesday elected head of Germany's Protestant church, the first woman to hold the post.

Margot Kaessmann, 51, received 132 of the 142 votes cast at the church's general assembly in Ulm, southern Germany. She now leads 25 million faithful across the country.

"Trusting in God's help, I accept the vote," she said.

Kaessmann, who was elected for a six-year term, was the only candidate for the post.

Kaessmann is known as an outspoken, tolerant and humorous leader, having once said: “Crabby Christians are a contradiction in themselves.”

In 2006 the mother of four was diagnosed with breast cancer, but has since recovered.

She also divorced her husband of 26 years in 2007, a decision that sparked initial reactions varying from “open criticism to the point of malice, contempt and hatred,” as she described it in a memoir published last September.

She was Germany's youngest bishop when she was consecrated in 1999 and has since survived an operation to remove breast cancer.

In 2003, the Frankfurter Allgemeine daily reported that she was known within the organisation as a "mixture of Mother Teresa and Demi Moore."

AFP

Violence against women on the rise on TV?

A group that monitors violence in prime-time television says it's concerned about women being more frequent targets.

The Parents Television Council released its report Wednesday. It says it counted more than 400 violent acts against women in prime time on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox shows in February and May this year. There were just under 200 during those months in 2004.

The council notes that acts against women are a small percentage of violence in prime time.

The report shows there were more than 3,900 total violent acts in prime-time during those two months this year, a 2 percent increase from five years ago.

Council president Tim Winter says he worries that violence on TV encourages violence in real life.

AP

Ways to prevent breast cancer

The article in the Independent says the best way to fight breast cancer is to detect it early and to take steps to prevent it.

The good news. Newly discovered gene
NRG1, a gene we all have, has been shown to act as a brake on the growth of tumours, stopping cancer cells from developing. Around one in two women with breast cancer has a damaged version of NRG1, effectively turning off the gene and thereby allowing cancer to develop.

The bad news
While genes are only responsible for a tiny percentage of breast cancers, it's worries about genetic susceptibility to breast cancer that particularly prey on women's minds.

For the increasing number of women who have a close relative diagnosed with breast cancer, there's a feeling that so many risk factors cannot be changed, with family history the number one cause for concern. But women are told they're also at greater risk if they have their first period at a younger than average age, if they are tall or thin, or if they have their first child over 30 or are childless – most of these factors beyond a woman's control.

Ways to prevent breast cancer

There's been overwhelming evidence for some years showing that taking an "often and early" approach to motherhood reduces the breast cancer. Indeed the increase in rates of breast cancer in newly prosperous countries such as India and China is thought to be largely linked to the trend in these countries for having children later in life.

Women who eat a low-fat diet have lower levels of female hormones in their blood – and this reduces the risk of breast cancer, especially in the years after the menopause when body fat is the richest source of oestrogen. There is also some evidence that the earlier you start, the greater the impact.

Soak in the sun. It's well known that breast cancer is most common in areas of the world that get the least sun. The reason seems to be that there's a correlation between breast cancer and low levels of vitamin D, which the body makes in response to the ultraviolet B rays of the sun, according to Canadian research.

Everyone needs to exercise – but it's particularly important for those at high risk of breast cancer. Recent research showed a reduction in the risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer in women who spent a minimum of three hours a week exercising from their teenage years onwards. And, once you're past the menopause, the importance of exercise becomes even more crucial.

Avoid drinking in excess. According to Cancer Research UK, drinking raises the risk of developing breast cancer – but only minimally, unless you're consuming seriously unhealthy amounts of booze.

Go for mammography. There are experts who claim that having a mammogram puts you at an increased risk of over-diagnosis and unnecessary treatment and therefore is not worthwhile. Most experts, however, say that one set of statistics should be your guide: mammography has so far detected 117,000 cancers, saving around 1,250 lives every year and bringing a 35 per cent reduction in mortality in the 50 to 69 year age group.

More women having heart problems - study

Well, women are fast moving towards equality with men in one dubious way. Getting heart attacks.

Heart attacks are becoming more common in middle-aged women, researchers say.

The traditional gender gap has narrowed over the past 20 years, with the risk in midlife rising in women and continuing to fall in men, it is claimed.

Smoking rates among women are said to be partly to blame, as fewer are quitting and so are suffering ill-effects at younger ages.

Data on 8,000 adults aged 35 to 54 was analysed between 1988 and 1994 and between 1999 and 2004.

In both study periods, men had more heart attacks than women in the same age group, but the gap narrowed over time.

In the first period, 2.5 per cent of men and 0.7 per cent of women reported a history of a heart attack. But in the later period, 2.2 per cent of men and 1 per cent of women did so.

The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, also found risk factors such as blood pressure and total cholesterol got worse in women, while improving in men.

Daily Mail