Chicago, IL, USA. Women who develop cerebral aneurysms are less likely to have taken the oral contraceptive pill or hormone replacement therapy, suggesting taking estrogen could have a protective effect, says research.

Cerebral aneurysms, weaknesses in the brain's blood vessel walls cause the vessels to balloon, occur more frequently in women. It has been suggested that female hormones may play a role in their development.

Washington, DC, USA. The US Federal Court of Appeals for DC overturned an August 2010 ban on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, paving the way for broader explorations of how stem cells function and regenerative medicine to harness stem cells and treat a wide range of birth conditions and currently incurable diseases.

The Obama Administration, which had attempted to lift the ban in 2009, welcomed the ruling, as have the nation’s top researchers.

San Francisco, CA, USA. Men and women had starkly different immune system responses to chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with men showing no response and women showing a strong response, in two studies by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC) and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

While a robust immune response protects the body from foreign invaders, such as bacteria and viruses, an over-activated response causes inflammation, which can lead

Winston-Salem, NC, USA. Meditation produces powerful pain-relieving effects in the brain, as found when healthy volunteers who had never meditated attended classes to learn a meditation technique known as focused attention.

Focused attention is a form of mindfulness meditation where people are taught to attend to the breath and let go of distracting thoughts and emotions.

Providence, RI. Two new studies of standard quality metrics at medical centers operated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) show that the system has made substantial improvements in quality, in some cases providing substantially better care than is available in private insurance plans.

But for all its improvements, the VA hasn’t been able to close a gap between the health outcomes of white and black patients.