For arachnophobes, it's difficult to kill a spider as it scurries across the floor. Those who are scared to fly might not ever set foot on a plane. While nothing physically stops people with these aversions, a mental barrier can keep them from the task at hand.

A new study reveals that women who smoke are at greater risk of developing major depressive disorder. The study has been published today the British Journal of Psychiatry.

Women who have a history of dieting or other restricted eating practices are at risk of gaining an inappropriate amount of weight during pregnancy.

Pregnant women who are part of an Asian-white couple face an increased risk of gestational diabetes as compared with couples in which both partners are white, according to a new study from Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Objective and subjective measures show that postmenopausal women slept longer than premenopausal women but felt less satisfied with the quality of sleep

Women who diet "habitually" prior to becoming pregnant tend to gain more weight during pregnancy and "regard themselves as less accountable for their weight while pregnant," according to researchers at the University of North Carolina.

Women's muscles may require longer, more intensive rehabilitation after bed rest and cast immobilization, as reported today by the Institute for Neuromusculoskeletal Research at the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine (OU-COM).

A Louisiana representative has proposed a controversial solution to "generational welfare," which would pay women on welfare to get sterilization. John LaBruzzo said he thought of the idea because of his constituents' outrage over paying for welfare.

Findings may have implications for how women are treated for fractures; more rehabilitation may be required to recover from immobilization or bed rest

Secondhand smoke significantly increased the risk of women developing peripheral artery disease (PAD) in a Chinese study, researchers reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Women with breast cancer who are treated with lumpectomy and radiation report a high level of overall quality of life several years after treatment that is comparable to a general sampling of the adult women U.S. population according to a survey conducted by physicians at Fox Chase Cancer Center.

For women whose breast cancer has spread to their lymph nodes, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan could replace exploratory surgery as the method for determining whether those women need radiation therapy to treat their disease, according to a study to be presented during the annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) which opens today in Boston.