Sexual Health
Allergic diseases don’t affect fertility in women
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Women with asthma, hay fever or eczema are no less fertile than their peers who don’t suffer from these allergic conditions, UK researchers report. In fact, they may be slightly more likely to have children.
“This is an important finding for women with allergic disease and their clinicians,” Dr. L. J. Tata of the University of Nottingham and colleagues write in their report, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Male births declining in the U.S. and Japan
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Mother Nature has always ensured that male births outnumber female ones, but the gap has been gradually narrowing over the past three decades in the U.S. and Japan, according to a new study.
Researchers suspect the decline in male births can be explained, at least in part, by paternal exposure to environmental toxins, such as certain pesticides, heavy metals, solvents or dioxins—chemical byproducts produced during incineration or the manufacture of other chemicals.
Only one drug type now knocks out gonorrhea in US
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Due to drug resistance, one class of antibiotics should no longer be used to treat gonorrhea, officials with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced Thursday.
They no longer recommend antibiotics called fluoroquinolones—which include ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, and levofloxacin—for treatment of gonorrhea because fluoroquinolone-resistant gonorrhea is now widespread in the United States.
Gay men seen prone to have eating disorders
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Gay and bisexual men may be at far higher risk for eating disorders than heterosexual men, while women seem to be equally affected regardless of their sexual orientation, a new study suggests.
Researchers surveyed 516 New York City residents; 126 were straight men and the rest were gay or bisexual men and women. The results showed that more than 15 percent of gay or bisexual men had at some time suffered anorexia, bulimia or binge-eating disorder, or at least certain symptoms of those disorders—a problem known as a “subclinical” eating disorder.
Childhood obesity triggers early puberty
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Childhood obesity in the United States appears to be causing girls to reach puberty at an earlier age, for reasons that are not clear, a study said on Monday.
The report from the University of Michigan’s Mott Children’s Hospital said a multiyear study following a group of 354 girls found that those who were fatter at age 3 and who gained weight during the next three years reached puberty, as defined by breast development, by age 9.
Sexual health funds being diverted
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Sexual health clinics are suffering because money they have been allocated is being diverted elsewhere, campaigners said on Thursday.
Two thirds of primary care trusts diverted money intended for sexual health care to other services or to reducing debt over the last year, said a survey by HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust and other groups.
Vasectomy may put men at risk for type of dementia
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Northwestern University researchers have discovered men with an unusual form of dementia have a higher rate of vasectomy than men the same age who are cognitively normal.
The dementia is Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA), a neurological disease in which people have trouble recalling and understanding words. In PPA, people lose the ability to express themselves and understand speech. It differs from typical Alzheimer’s disease in which a person’s memory becomes impaired.
18 million men in the United States affected by erectile dysfunction
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Lifestyle changes could improve male sexual function
More than 18 million men in the United States over age 20 are affected by erectile dysfunction, according to a study by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The prevalence of erectile dysfunction was strongly linked with age, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and a lack of physical activity. The findings also indicate that lifestyle changes, such as increased physical activity and measures to prevent cardiovascular disease and diabetes, may also prevent decreased erectile function. The study is published in the February 1, 2007, issue of the American Journal of Medicine.
“Physicians should be aggressive in screening and managing middle-aged and older patients for erectile dysfunction, especially among patients with diabetes or hypertension,” said Elizabeth Selvin, PhD, MPH, lead author of the study and a faculty member in the Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Department of Epidemiology. “The associations of erectile dysfunction with diabetes and cardiovascular risk factors may serve as powerful motivators for men who need to make changes in their diet and lifestyle.”
Analysis confirms ED drugs OK for diabetic men
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Viagra and similar drugs used to treat erectile dysfunction, often referred to as ED, work for men with diabetes and appear to be safe, according to a research review being published Wednesday.
Diabetes is one of the most common causes of ED, and experts estimate that diabetic men are about three times more likely than other men to deal with erection problems at some point.
Flavoured condom ad in bad taste, say Indian censors
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Indian authorities want to stop the daytime airing of a television advertisement promoting flavoured condoms saying it is obscene and in bad taste, a newspaper reported on Friday.
The advert promotes DKT’s “XXX” strawberry, chocolate and banana flavoured condoms with the catch-phrase “What is your flavour of the night?”
But the Advertising Standards Council of India and the Censor Board have asked the government to bar the advert from being broadcast during the day, especially during the popular Champions Trophy international cricket tournament.
Social factors preclude condom use by teens
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Social and cultural factors, not just unavailability or ignorance, influence why young people do not use condoms, researchers said on Friday.
Some sexually active under 25s associate condoms with a lack of trust, while others believe carrying them could imply sexual experience, which might be a plus for men but not necessarily for women.
Many men in relationships also pay for sex
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Many men who pay for sex are already in relationships, the findings of a small UK study show.
The study “raises awareness of the risks taken by men who pay for sex, and the risks they are also placing on their partners,” co-author Dr. Tamsin Groom, a specialist registrar in sexual and reproductive health at The Sandyford Initiative in Glasgow, Scotland, told Reuters Health.
“Routine questions about commercial sexual contacts could allow targeted health promotion and harm minimization for this group of men, protecting their partners - both unsuspecting and commercial,” Groom and co-author R. Nandwani write in the journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases.
Hip hop music fans have more sex
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Fans of hip hop music are likely to have had more sexual partners in the last five years while many of those who prefer classical strains will have tried cannabis, according to a study released on Thursday.
Psychologist Adrian North from the University of Leicester surveyed 2,500 Britons to find out how their musical tastes related to their lifestyles and interests.
He said the results showed said it was possible to discover clues about what people were like simply from the music they liked.
Low condom use blamed in Southern Africa AIDS crisis
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Southern Africa’s AIDS pandemic, the world’s worst, is being fueled primarily by low condom use among people with multiple concurrent sexual partners and low levels of male circumcision, a new study said on Monday.
The report by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) said men’s sexual attitudes and behaviors, intergenerational sex and high levels of gender and sexual violence also were to blame for the rapid spread of the disease.
It urged regional leaders—often accused of moving too slowly against the AIDS crisis—to encourage condom use and the reduction of the number of multiple sexual partners, as well as prepare for the possible roll-out of programs to expand male circumcision as a bulwark against HIV infection.
UK teens ignorant about condom use
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Even the few British teenagers who wear condoms do not use them effectively, a study published on Thursday said. The study said several of the teens admitted putting the condom on too late or taking it off too early.
The three most common reasons for condom use were to prevent pregnancy, avoid making a mess and prolonging sex—avoiding sexually transmitted diseases was barely mentioned.
Of the 1,400 teens in the study, 373 said they had used a condom in their most recent sexual experience. Six percent said they put the condom on after vaginal penetration and an equal number said they continued penetrative sex after removing it.
