The Voice of Menopause

One underexplored phenomenon of menopause is how the voice of women can change during the process, the result of falling levels of estrogen and progesterone. These changes are typically unwanted hoarseness, roughness and loss of vocal stability.

Voice production is a complex physiological process requiring "the precise coordination of multiple systems: respiration, phonation, articulation and resonance," said Yael Bensoussan, director of the University of South Florida Health Voice Center at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and co-senior author of a new published study.

Bensoussan and collaborators found that even small hormonal fluctuations can disrupt any of these elements, producing an adverse effect on vocal function. Vocal folds within the larynx rely on musculature, mucosal pliability and proper airflow from the lungs to create sound -- and the specific balance of tension and elasticity of the vocal cords plays a key role in vocal quality.

They suggested several potential remedial treatments: voice therapy, steaming and hydration to treat dry mucosal tissues, systematic hormone therapy and bilateral vocal fold injection augmentation, which involves injections into the vocal cords -- either with local or general anesthesia -- to "plump" them up.

While voice changes due to menopause do not pose a significant health risk, they may represent serious concerns to women who use their voices for a living, such as teachers, actors and singers.

Body of Knowledge

The average adult can inhale a maximum of approximately six liters of air, which is less than half the volume of a standard 12-inch child's balloon. Individual capacity varies depending on factors like age, gender and overall size. Not all air inhaled leaves. A small amount, known as residual volume, remains in the lungs to keep the organs inflated and prevent collapse.

Get Me That, Stat!

Fewer than 10% of women called back for more tests after a mammogram are found to have breast cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Stories for the Waiting Room

The overall suicide rate in the U.S. is holding steady at about 14 per 100,000 people, but it is changing within different racial groups, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Suicide rates among Black people in the U.S. rose 25% from 2018 to 2023, while rates among Hispanic people rose 10%. Suicide rates among white people decreased 3% in that same time.

Suicide rates were continuously highest among American Indian or Alaska Native people, but those rates did decline 15% between 2021 and 2023.

Doc Talk

Dilate: Live long

Phobia of the Week

Samhainophobia: Fear of Halloween. The name derives from Samhain, an ancient Celtic festival marking the end of the harvest season. It was a time believed to be when the veil between the living and the dead was thinnest, and more easily crossed both ways.

Never Say 'Diet'

The Major League Eating speed-eating record for assorted Halloween candy is four pounds, 1.9 ounces in six minutes, held by Matt Stonie, who did not have to go house-to-house and did not wear a costume. Lucky him.

Best Medicine

Have you ever noticed that when a doctor asks you where it hurts, they immediately put pressure on it?

Observation

"The reason I talk to myself is because I'm the only one whose answers I accept." -- Comedian George Carlin (1937-2008)

Medical History

This week in 1971, the first documented successful use of electricity to repair a bone fracture was reported by surgeons at the University of Pennsylvania. Electrical currents had been sporadically applied to heal bone since the early 1800s. In 1957, researchers explained the underlying dynamics. When human bone is bent or broken, it generates an electrical charge. The low-level, external electrical charge stimulates the body's internal repair mechanism.

Med School

Q: Who is the only woman to win an unshared Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine?

A) Rosalyn Yalow

B) Barbara McClintock

C) Linda Buck

D) Elizabeth Blackburn

A: B) Barbara McClintock for her discovery of mobile genetic elements in 1983. Yalow shared the 1977 prize for the development of radioimmunoassays of peptide hormones. Buck shared the 2004 prize for discoveries of odorant receptors, and Blackburn shared the 2009 prize for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase.

Curtain Calls

In 2011, two unnamed people were killed in an accident on a rural Quebec road when a "flying bear" collided with their SUV. The 440-pound black bear had been sent airborne by a car in front of the SUV after it had stepped into the road. The bear smashed through the windshield, hitting the driver and the passenger sitting behind the driver before exiting through the rear window. A passenger in the front seat received injuries but survived. The bear died.

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To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.