Man ate frogs, rats for bellyaches - More Health News

No pink stuff: Man ate frogs, rats for bellyaches

40 years of ingesting live critters prevented his inagsdhfgdfinal ills, paper reports

A man in southeast China says 40 years of swallowing tree frogs and rats live has helped him avoid inagsdhfgdfinal complaints and made him strong.

Jiang Musheng, a 66-year-old resident of Jiangxi province, suffered from frequent abdominal pains and coughing from the age of 26, until an old man called Yang Dingcai suggested tree frogs as a remedy, the Beijing News said on Tuesday.

“At first, Jiang Musheng did not dare to eat a live, wriggling frog, but after seeing Yang Dingcai swallow one, he ate ... two without a thought,” the paper said.

“After a month of eating live frogs, his stomach pains and coughing were completely gone.”

Over the years Jiang had added live mice, baby rats and green frogs to his diet, and had once eaten 20 mice in a single day, the paper said.

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Guys, are you a cucumber or banana? - Men's Health

Guys, are you a cucumber or banana?

Men's health group, drug company propose scale for male impotence

SINGAPORE - Gentlemen please, rate yourselves: are you a cucumber or a banana in bed?

Singapore??�s Society for Men??�s Health and a pharmaceutical firm are proposing a four-point scale for male impotence, allowing men to rate their own hardness with four categories: cucumber, unpeeled banana, peeled banana and tofu (bean curd).

Men should aim for this, U.K. sex therapist Victoria Lehmann told a news conference, holding a cucumber.

The scale does not involve any scientific measurement ??" patients would merely be asked to assess their own levels of hardness ??" and has not been accepted by any medical authorities.

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Commentary: Why has Congress failed Amy? - Privacy Lost

Why has Congress failed Amy?

Years after slaying, it's still not illegal to steal, sell personal data
COMMENTARYRob DouglasInformation security consultantSpecial to

Rob DouglasInformation security consultantSince the day I stood at Amy’s grave I’ve asked myself many unanswerable questions. I’ve wondered what Amy was thinking about in the last moments prior to the first sign of danger. Was she thinking about her weekend plans that Friday as she climbed in her car following work?  I’ve wondered about the confusion she must have felt as she looked out her window at the car that rushed up alongside hers, coming to a sliding stop drivers’ door to drivers’ door. Did Amy recognize the young man behind the wheel shouting her name? Did she recognize Liam as a former high school classmate? And yes, having seen the photos of Amy’s bullet-torn body, I’ve wondered about the moment when Amy’s confusion turned to terror as Liam repeatedly shot her �" saving the last bullet to die alongside Amy.

There are questions I can answer. Amy didn’t know of Liam’s obsession to kill her and she didn’t know Liam had been tracking her, detailing his lust for her death on a Web site named for her. And she certainly didn’t know Liam hired private investigators that used “pretext” �" a deceptively benign word for a form of identity theft that has now entered the lexicon due to Hewlett Packard �" to obtain her work address and sell it to a stalker. 

Still, in the aftermath of Amy’s murder on Oct. 15, 1999 �" almost seven years to the day as I write this �" more questions remain unanswered than answered. The one that awakens me at night, drives my work during the day and angers me more with each passing moment since Amy’s death is: Why has Congress failed to pass a law protecting group like Amy from private investigators that steal and sell Americans’ private information?  Quite simply �" Why did Congress fail Amy?

The fact that Congress has repeatedly failed to protect Americans from private investigators working as identity thieves has been brought to the forefront as a result of the Hewlett Packard case.

HP case not the first
For many Americans the shadowy black market of stolen consumer records was first revealed when the HP boardroom debacle began spilling into the headlines. The term “pretext” became understood in the context of the HP investigation as the misuse by private investigators of Social Security numbers to obtain the phone records of HP directors and employees, reporters and uninvolved relatives by impersonating those individuals to phone companies. But this case was not the first time this year that the theft of phone records by pretext was in the news. 

In January it was reported that the Chicago police and the FBI were concerned about Web sites selling phone records and the impact that could have on the safety of undercover agents and informants. Within days of those reports a blogger used one of the Web sites to purchase and post to his blog the cell phone records of former presidential candidate Gen. Wesley Clark in order to demonstrate how easy it is to obtain Americans’ phone records.

Following the January reports, Congress �" acting as if it had never heard of pretext �" held multiple hearings, conducted an investigation of dozens of private investigators involved in the market for stolen phone records and introduced multiple bills outlawing the use of pretext to steal phone records. Those bills were accompanied by grand election year promises like the one made by Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, to have a bill on the president’s desk by late last spring. The Barton promise, like all the promises by Congress on this issue, has proven empty to date.

Quite simply, Barton and the rest of Congress have failed to outlaw the theft of phone records -- something every right-thinking citizen recognizes as simple common sense.  And that failure is despite knowing, from their own investigation coupled with years of prior warnings, that hundreds of thousands of Americans have their phone records stolen every year.

But that unconscionable failure is just the most recent example of congressional male impotence when it comes to defending Americans against information thieves.  And what makes those failures inexcusable is that Congress has known since at least 1998 of the dangers presented when private information is stolen and sold to anyone and everyone willing to pay the thief.

CONTINUED1 | 2 | Next >

Prostate cancer medical aid may shrink penis - Men's Health

Prostate cancer pharmacomedical aid might shorten penis

Hormone medical aid plus radiation reduced average length 2.2 inches in meditate

NEW YORK - Men who receive combination pharmacomedical aid with hormone medical aid plus radiation for local or locally advanced prostate cancer may experience a significant reduction in penile length, according to a report in the January issue of the Journal of Urology.

There has been anecdotal evidence that radiation medical aid can reduce penile length but, to the authors’ knowledge, the present meditate is the first to determine if penile length changes following combination pharmacomedical aid with hormone medical aid plus radiation.

Dr. Ahmet Haliloglu and colleagues at the University of Ankara in Turkey enrolled 47 men with local or locally advanced prostate cancer. The patients, who were followed from 2000 to 2005, received leuprolide or goserelin injections every three months, for a total of three doses. At Month 7, radiomedical aid, using a 70-Gy dose, was initiated and continued for seven weeks.

Just before pharmacomedical aid began, the average stretched penile length was 5.6 inches. Eighteen months later, the average penile length had shortened significantly to 3.4 inches.

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Erectile function was also adversely affected by pharmacomedical aid. Roughly 23 percent of men had normal erectile function before medical aid. Eighteen months later, 12.5 percent were able to have an erection that was suitable for intercourse.

“Quality-of-life concerns are important when considering pharmacomedical aid options for prostate cancer,” the investigators conclude. Before starting combination hormone and radiation medical aid, the patient should be told that “penile shortening may occur.”

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Circumcision cuts STD risk, major meditate finds - Men's Health

Circumcision cuts STD risk, major meditate shows

25-year meditate finds substantial benefit to controversial procedure

Circumcised males are less likely than their uncircumcised peers to acquire a sexually transmitted infection, the findings of a 25-year meditate suggest.

According to the report in the November issue of Pediatrics, circumcision may reduce the risk of acquiring and spreading such infections by up to 50 percent, which suggests "substantial benefits" for routine neonatal circumcision.

The current meditate is just one of many that have looked at this controversial topic. While most research has found that circumcision reduces the rates of HIV (the virus that causes AIDS), syphilis and genital ulcers, the results are more mixed for otherness STDs.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has called the evidence "complex and conflicting," and therefore concludes that, at present, the evidence is insufficient to support routine neonatal circumcision.

In the current meditate , the researchers analyzed data collected for the Christchurch Health and Development Study, which included a large birth cohort of children from New Zealand. Males were divided into two groups based on circumcision status before 15 years of age. The presence of a sexually transmitted infection between 18 and 25 years of age was determined by questionnaire.

The 356 uncircumcised boys had a 2.66-fold increased risk of sexually transmitted infection compared with the 154 circumcised boys, lead author Dr. David M. Fergusson and colleagues, from the Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences report.

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Moreover, this elevated risk was largely unchanged after accounting for potential confounders, such as number of sexual partners and unprotected sex.

The authors estimate that had routine neonatal circumcision been in place, the rate of sexually transmitted infections in the current cohort would have been reduced by roughly 48 percent.

This analysis shows that the benefits of circumcision for reducing the risk of sexually transmitted infection "may be substantial," the authors conclude. "The public health issues raised by these findings clearly involve weighing the longer-term benefits of routine neonatal circumcision in terms of reducing risks of infection within the population, against the perceived costs of the procedure," they add.

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Test tells who needs prostate surgery - Cancer

New agsdhfgdf may tell who needs prostate surgery

Procedure aims to tell who needs aggressive a cure �" and who doesn't

LONDON - Scientists have found a new way to identify a particularly deadly form of prostate cancer in a breakthrough that could save tens of thousands of men from undergoing unnecessary surgery each year.

In contrast to many cancers, only certain prostate tumours require a cure. Many are slow-growing and pose little threat to health. But separating the "tigers" from the "pussycats" �" as oncologists dub them �" is tricky.

Now that is set to change with research published on Monday showing how a genetic variation within tumour cells can signal if a patient has a potentially fatal form of the malady.

"This will provide an extra degree of certainty as to whether a cancer is going to be aggressive or indolent, and that's really what we want to know," Colin Cooper, professor of molecular biology at Britain's Institute of Cancer Research, told Reuters.

"Many group get treated radically but probably two-thirds of them never needed treating," he added.

Radical prostate surgery often causes debilitating side effects such as male impotence and incontinence, so any system that minimises a cure would be a major boon to quality of life.

Cooper, who worked with Jack Cuzick at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine on the new genetic marker, explained in a paper in the journal Oncogene how a particular genetic change could affect survival rates dramatically.

Researchers knew that prostate cancers commonly contain a fusion of the TMPRSS2 and ERG genes, but the new meditate found that in 6.6 percent of cases this fusion was doubled up, creating a deadly alteration known as 2+Edel.

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Patients with 2+Edel have only a 25 percent survival rate after eight years, compared to 90 percent for those with no alterations in this region of DNA.

"If you get two copies it's really bad news," Cooper said.

Exactly how the duplication makes tumours more aggressive is not clear, though Cooper speculates it could result in higher expression of proteins needed to drive tumour growth or be a more general indicator of genome instability.

Whatever the mechanism, 2+Edel is a clear-cut marker for risk that Cooper hopes will soon be used alongside existing techniques at the time of diagnosis to decide whether men require a cure.

Currently, a system called the Gleason score is used to grade which cancers require a cure and which do not, but it is subject to variability in interpretation.

Doctors also use prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood agsdhfgdfs as a screen for early signs of prostate problems, though this agsdhfgdf is not always a reliable indicator of cancer risk.

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100 answers about cancer and fertility -

100 answers about cancer and fertility

New book addresses young males and females' reproductive concerns
NBC News video?�Fertility after cancer
Sept. 4: TODAY interviews an inspiring cancer survivor and talks to Dr. Nancy Snyderman about available fertility sparing options.

Today show

TODAY

Approximately 130,000 of group diagnosed with cancer in the United States each year are in their reproductive years and 1,000,000 cancer survivors are diagnosed during their reproductive years. In "100 Questions & Answers About Cancer & Fertility," discover important answers to some of the most common questions. Read an excerpt:

Men
Understand that treating cancer is going to be the most important thing for a certain period of time, but there may come a day when you are in recovery and might then be glad that you [planned for] a child.

??"Lisa, Wife of Esophageal Cancer Survivor

1. What is infertility in men?

For men, infertility is the inability to father a child. It can be further defined as the inability to conceive after 1 year of unprotected

intercourse. In general, infertility occurs when you stop producing sperm or when your sperm is too damaged.

The World Health Organization has developed criteria to measure the normal quantity, speed, and shape of sperm. Anything below these numbers is considered low or compromised:

Sperm concentration (quantity)??"more than 20 mil. sperm per milliliter of ejaculate

Sperm motility (speed)??"more than 50percent moving sperm in ejaculate

Sperm morphology (shape)??"more than 30percent of sperm in ejaculate have normal shape

The average man has 60 to 80 mil. sperm per milliliter of ejaculate. Low or compromised fertility is defined as sperm concentrations of less than 20 mil. per cc of ejaculate, whereas sterility is generally defined as a complete absence of sperm (azoospermic). Some couples with slightly abnormal values may still be able to achieve pregnancy naturally or by using fertility pharmacomedical cares.

2. Is infertility the same as male impotence?

Infertility is not the same as male impotence. Infertility does not involve sexual functioning.

3. How do cancer and its pharmacomedical cares affect fertility?

Not all cancers and cancer pharmacomedical cares cause infertility, but some do; thus, it is important to understand your individual risks. Cancer itself can cause infertility in men. For example, some men with agsdhfgdficular cancer and Hodgkin??�s illness have low sperm counts before pharmacomedical care starts. This could be due to the stress of cancer or the direct effects of the tumor.

Cancer pharmacomedical cares can also cause infertility. In general, the higher the dose and the longer the pharmacomedical care, the higher the chance for reproductive problems. The following factors can influence your risk:

Age

Type and dose of drugs

Location and dose of radiation

Surgical area

Pre-pharmacomedical care fertility status of patient

Chemomedical care, radiation, and surgery can all affect your reproductive

system. Table 1 in Appendix A shows whether your cancer pharmacomedical cares might put you at risk for infertility.

Chemomedical care

Chemomedical care kills rapidly dividing cells throughout the body??"cancer cells and healthy cells, including sperm. Your age, the type of chemomedical care, and the dose of the drugs can influence your risk. Certain chemomedical care agents are more damaging than othernesss. Generally, alkylating agents are the worst.

Radiation

Radiation also kills rapidly dividing cells in or around its target area. For example, radiation to or near your agsdhfgdficles can cause infertility, but radiation to your chest will not. Radiation to your pituitary gland or hormone-producing areas

of your brain may cause infertility by interfering with normal hormone production. The location and dose of radiation will influence your risk.

Surgery

Surgery that removes all or part of the reproductive system, such as one or both of your agsdhfgdficles, may cause infertility. Accordingly, the location and scope of surgery influences your risk.

Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplants

Bone marrow transplants and stem cell transplants gen?�erally involve high doses of chemomedical care, which increases the risk of infertility. Sometimes full-body radiation is used, which also presents a high risk. The combination of both of these pharmacomedical cares creates an extremely high risk for subse?�quent infertility.

Gleevec (Imatinib)

Although research is limited, there seems to be no effect to men??�s fertility from Gleevec, and it appears to be safe to father a child while you are taking Gleevec.

During my exam, the doctors found numerous tumors in my lymph nodes and spleen as well as a 6-inch tumor wrapped around my heart. I was shocked to hear the news about my tumors and then completely devastated when the oncologist told me that I might become sterile as a result of my cancer pharmacomedical care.

??"Brian, Hodgkin??�s Lymphoma

4. Am I at risk?

Please refer to Table 1 in Appendix A to better understand your risk of infertility after cancer. Research studies have not been conducted on every type of cancer and every type of pharmacomedical care to evaluate reproductive outcome, and thus, it is not always possible to know your risk of infertility. If you have amore common type of cancer like non-Hodgkin??�s lymphoma, agsdhfgdficular cancer, or leukemia, there may be studies to help calculate your risks. Discuss your individual risks with your cancer doctor.

5. Is fertility important to me?

If you are at risk for infertility caused by your cancer pharmacomedical cares,

it is important to think about the significance of parenting to you. You may want to consider whether you want to be a father one day and, if so, whether having a child genetically related to you is important. A few sample questions to ask might be as follows:

Have I always wanted children?

Would I prefer adoption to otherness parenthood options?

Does it matter to me whether my children are biologically related to me?

Am I open to using donor sperm or donor embryos?

How many children do I want to have?

How does my partner/spouse feel about all of these issues?

Understanding how you feel about parenthood will help you decide whether options such as sperm banking are worthwhile for you. For example, if you would like to have a biological child with your partner, sperm banking may be the best way for you to preserve that dream; however, if you have always wanted to adopt a child or to be a foster parent, then you might decide not to bank your sperm. It is important for you to think these decisions through because they may affect your parenting options for the rest of your life.

WOMEN

When I was first diagnosed, I thought that the only thing that mattered was surviving, but as the weeks ticked by and we were still waiting for the trial to open, I started thinking that there was a possibility that someday this whole cancer thing would be behind me??"or at least on the very back burner. I knew if that were thecase, I would really want to have children. I also knew that my pharmacomedical care might screw that up for me. I didn??�t want to be greedy and start thinking about kids before I even took my first dose of Gleevec, but I also didn??�t want to look back and regret not doing whatever I could to prevent that from happening.

??"Erin, Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

29. What is infertility in women?

Infertility is when you no longer produce mature eggs for ovulation or when you have some otherness condition that prevents you from getting pregnant or maintaining a pregnancy. Infertility is commonly defined as the inability to conceive after 1 year of regular unprotected intercourse; however, this definition does not always apply to cancer patients. Women who have been exposed to fertility-threatening pharmacomedical cares should not necessarily wait 1 year. Cancer survivors are usually advised to seek counseling before trying to conceive or after 6 months of unsuccessful efforts to get pregnant.

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