•  Muslim lawmakers in Aceh, Indonesia may soon forbid women from wearing tight trousers. Ramli Mansyur, regent of the district, says women who flout the law may have their pants "destroyed" and he has set aside 7,000 skirts for women unable to afford "proper attire." •  Ever wondered how much you'ree getting paid to sit on the toilet? WorkPoop.com helpfully calculates exactly how much money per year you are make by hiding out in the stall at work. •  As the average age of motherhood has risen, so has the number of cases of Down syndrome detected in the womb, according to a new study. However, fewer children are being born with Down syndrome, since the majority of women do not choose to carry the screened fetus to term. •  A new study shows that Israeli Jews who survived World War II are at a higher risk for developing cancer than other Jews. Researchers speculate this may be due in part to the hardships endured in the Holocaust. •  Women may be catching up to men in one unfortunate area: Heart disease. Up until recently, more men suffered from heart disease than women, who are protected by our hormone fluctuations, but with rising rates of obesity, women are making gains on men. •  Amazing writer (and personal girlcrush) Alice Munro revealed last week that she has had heart bypass surgery and "just had cancer." For the sake of great literature, get well soon! •  According to new statistics, there is a gap between the number of women in top positions in large law firms and the number of men. Above the Law has a few theories to explain the dearth of women rainmakers. • A rape victim who was assaulted 13 years ago testified yesterday against Richard Thomas, who is also accused of raping a 12-year-old girl in 2004. DNA confirms that Thomas raped both women. •  A recent study suggests that anxiety during pregnancy may have an impact on the size of the baby. They found that women who suffered from severe chronic anxiety during pregnancy are more likely to have smaller babies than those who only reported low to moderate anxiety. • Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice have come together to write an op-ed for Politico detailing women's economic gains in the US and stating, "we must extend to all societies the universal right of women to choose their own fortunes." • According to a small study, extra testosterone makes men more miserly. The effect of seeing the Ghost of Christmas Past was not studied. • The city of Seoul is making an active effort to become more "woman friendly" through changes in a dozen sectors, from restrooms to workplaces. But many women feel that not enough has been done. "Personally I don't know where those 'women-friendly' places are," says one Korean woman. "I never see them." • 

[Hyderabad, October 27. Image via Getty]

Ten-month old B. Lakshmi, who successfully underwent pediatric cardiac surgery, is cared for by her mother at South Asia's first exclusive children's heart hospital in Hyderabad on October 27, 2009. Nearly 152 000 children are born with cardiac conditions in India every year. AFP PHOTO / Noah SEELAM (Photo credit should read NOAH SEELAM/AFP/Getty Images)

University of Utah researchers asked 276 couples who had been married for 20 years to answer questions about their relationship and studied their health, reports Reuters. The women with strained marriages were more prone to depression and metabolic syndrome, which includes the symptoms of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, thick waist, and abnormal blood sugar. Medical researchers still debate whether these factors should be grouped together as a single syndrome, but, as Live Science explains, researchers chose to study them because there is no question that these symptoms are linked to heart disease.

Scientists found that, although men in marriages with a high level of conflict may be depressed, they do not show increased symptoms of metabolic syndrome. Doctors expected that stress in relationships would translate into mental and physical problems for both sexes, and were surprised by the results because heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women. Researchers said they need to learn more about the connection between heart health and emotional distress, but that for now it makes more sense for women to focus on traditional factors known to influence heart health. "There is good evidence they [women] should modify some of the things that affect metabolic syndrome – like diet and exercise," said Professor Tim Smith, who co-lead the research, "but it's a little premature to say they would lower their risk of heart disease if they improved the tone and quality of their marriages – or dumped their husbands."

[Image via eHow.]

A Strained Marriage Can Hurt The Heart [Reuters]
Bad Marriages Strain Women's Hearts, But Not Men's [Live Science]

• According to a new government study, a few extra pounds won't kill you! [ABC News]
  
• Or they will kill you! Science daily says the overweight risk dying from cardiovascular disease, and the underweight have increased mortality from a shitload of other diseases! [Science Daily]
  
• Guess what? A TON of other things besides your weight can make you kick the bucket. If you're angry a lot, you'll probably have stroke. If you pee in the ocean, you'll get eaten by a shark. Here's a list of 48 other things you probably shouldn't do unless you want to die. [MSNBC]
  
• Your kids could die if they eat the beads from an Australian toy called Bindeez. Ingesting the toy was found to mimic the effects of roofies! [Wall Street Journal]

• Oh hey guys, that HIV vaccine we gave you? Yeah, it might make you more susceptible to the disease. Whoops! [Wall Street Journal]
• Hm, you probably shouldn't go abroad either, because you might get stabbed by your roommate and/or her sketchy Italian boyfriend and/or someone else. [ABC News]
• Or you might just get bedbugs. Amazingly itchy! [USA Today]
• Well at least there are still adorable puppies out there, and apparently 86% of people spend more time with their puppies than they do with their children. Awww. [Pet Health Care]

They should also try to combat the other possible causes of heart disease, including smoking, obesity, a sedentary lifestyle. Every time we read one of these new studies we consider just never leaving the house. And eating nothing but kale.

Birth Control Pill's Heart Risks Extend to Ex-Users [ABC News]

• A recent study suggests that women who suffer from panic/anxiety attacks [That would be me! -Ed.] have a higher chance of suffering a heart attack or stroke later in life. [USA Today]
  
• Can consensual sex become rape midway during the act? A Maryland court is trying to determine that in the case of a 18-year old woman who allowed a 16-year old boy to have sex with her so long as he stopped when she told him to. She claims she told him to stop and he continued for 5 to 10 more seconds. We know what Cosmo would say! [Baltimore Sun]
  
• Salon's Rebecca Traister reviews Susan Faludi's new book and contrasts it with Springsteen's new album. Just go read it. It's that good. [Salon]

• Did you hear? There's no better way to thank a baby momma for delivering that little bundle of taint-tearing joy than a "push present" in the form of a hideous charm bracelet. [MSNBC]
• Researchers claim that romantic partners copy one another's health habits, from quitting smoking to increasing exercise. Until our boyfriend flushes his pack of Parliament Lights down the toilet and does a downward dog, we call bullshit. [Live Science]
• A woman gave birth to two babies on the same day, but they aren't twins. Seems that she got pregnant twice over the course of two weeks. Mother Nature, you fucking creep us out. [Babble]
• Hooray, the Aurora, IL Planned Parenthood finally opened! [MSNBC]
• Women are more likely to suffer concussions than men playing the same sports, mainly because the way girls "play" is different. Also, helmets fuck up our hair. [ABC News]
• A bunch of breast cancer survivors strutted down the runway for a UK fashion show drawing attention to the disease and the search for a cure. Fierce! [Daily Mail]
• According to a recent poll, women are more afraid of getting Alzheimer's than cancer  umm, maybe because every study contradicts the next and it seems like there's nothing you can do about getting breast cancer... wait, sorry, what we're we saying? [Science Daily]

• Breaking News! Men go for hot women, according to a speed-dating study. Researchers found that the men in the study "tended to select nearly every woman above a certain minimum attractiveness threshold." However the women chose men whose attractiveness was on par with their own, because every chick knows a hotter dude will dump her in a ditch as soon as something sexier comes along. And this is how Brangelina was born. [CNN]
  
• Law enforcement is posting decoy ads on Craigslist in hopes of catching those who use the site to exchange money for sex. But how else is "Jews or Italians W/ Hot Faces Or Thick Cocks" supposed to find her dream guy? [NY Times]
  
• Oh fiddle dee dee! The hour-glass figure made famous by Sophia Loren, Scarlett O'Hara, and a few missing ribs is no more. Women's waists have grown seven inches in the last 50 years. Clearly we have feminism to blame for all that excess breathing room. [Daily Mail]

• Family therapy works better than individual therapy in treating bulimia. When Mommy insists that "no one loves a fatty" and Daddy says that ice cream is for losers, we can see why the 'rents might benefit from therapy too. [NY Times]
• Chronic stress may give some women fertility problems. So just relax, sit back, and spread 'em! [NY Times]
• One in 20 pregnant women smoke while one in 25 continue to drink even after they find out they're with child. Ladies, you have the rest of your lives to kill yourself with lung cancer and liver disease  let the child choose whether they want to party like it's 1999 after they come out of the womb, okay? [Daily Mail]
• A 14-year old girl stabbed her 16-year-old sister to death in a dispute over a guy. We repeat, over a guy. Sigh. This is depressing. Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield got into some cat fights over guys (remember Todd Wilkins?), but they never forgot the sisterhood. [Daily Mail]
• A serial stalker in the UK has been banned from being alone with any woman in Scotland for five years. Does it count as alone if he's 20 feet away, crouching behind a telephone pole? [BBC News]
• Women are more likely to die from major heart surgeries than men according to a study from the European Society of Cardiology. As a result, the group is reconsidering it's treatment of heart problems for women as the usual go-to-treatments like angioplasties and bypasses (which help men) are more likely to result in death in women. [MSNBC]
• Polycystic Ovary Syndrome is a leading cause of infertility but according to MSNBC there's a far greater price to pay  the acne and facial hair that sprouts as a result of increased testosterone. Totally fucking humiliating. [MSNBC]
• A Kansas teen died when she jumped onto the back of her boyfriend's SUV as he drove away with another girl  the cheating bf didn't bother to stop when he heard "something" fall of the back of his car. He's being charged with reckless murder  not to mention being the worst boyfriend ever. [KCTV.com]