`It does not violate the Charter of Rights to restrict gay men from donating to sperm banks, says the Ontario Court of Appeal.
The ruling rejected the claim of a Toronto lesbian, known as Susan Doe, who argued that it violated her constitutional rights to exclude the semen of gay men, including that of a gay friend who was willing to help her become pregnant.
The ban, contained in the federal Processing of Semen for Assisted Contraception Regulations, is “rational and health based,” said a three-judge panel.’
‘Patients with premature ejaculation who used a topical anaesthetic spray were able to delay ejaculation for five times as long, according to a study in the February issue of the urology journal BJU International. [..]
“The men who were prescribed the TEMPE spray, which delivers a combination of lidocaine and prilocaine, managed to delay ejaculation by just under an extra four minutes after using the product” reports Professor Wallace Dinsmore from the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast.’
‘A woman in Brazil has given birth to a “giant baby” weighing 17lb (8kg) – twice the size of an average newborn.
Ademilton dos Santos is the heaviest boy ever born in Brazil, says the Brazilian Gynaecological Association. [..]
Mrs Santos, 38, has four other children – aged nine, 12, 14, and 15 – who were all of normal weight when they were born.
“She knew Ademilton would be a big baby, but not this big,” Ms Leal said. “She, her husband and the hospital staff were caught by surprise.” ‘
‘A 22-year-old woman sought medical care for a lesion in the plantar region of her left foot, a well-formed nipple surrounded by areola and hair. Microscopic examination of the dermis showed hair follicles, eccrine glands, and sebaceous glands. Fat tissue was noted at the base of the lesion. Clinical and histopathologic findings were consistent with the diagnosis of supernumerary breast tissue, also known as pseudomamma. To our knowledge, this is the first report of supernumerary breast tissue on the foot.’
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`A hospital building program in South Africa has been delayed to help pay for the country’s hosting of the 2010 football World Cup.
The construction of two hospitals in the remote Northern Cape has been held up for a year while funds are diverted to pay for the tournament.
Speaking to the BBC, the South African Treasury said spending on health was increasing but did not deny that the money had been transferred.’
`Here I would like to show, although I do not provide any warranty and can not give any guarantee, that isolating stem cells from the placenta is not more difficult than making a steak, and with proper preparation, investment and timing you can do it even at home or in a rent lab. The process is ethically non-controversial since the placenta is usually discarded after birth. Today, stem cell therapy is just a promising possibility, but in the not so distant future, self-aware citizens may manage their own stem cells, grow them in the garage, and store them in the fridge. If so, it could be a form of autonomous medical self-insurance. We are at the dawn of the bioDIY movement backed by open source science for anybody.’
`[..] New research demonstrates that habits of so-called magical thinking – the belief, for instance, that wishing harm on a loathed colleague or relative might make him sick – are far more common than people acknowledge.
These habits have little to do with religious faith, which is much more complex because it involves large questions of morality, community and history. But magical thinking underlies a vast, often unseen universe of small rituals that accompany people through every waking hour of a day.
The appetite for such beliefs appears to be rooted in the circuitry of the brain, and for good reason. The sense of having special powers buoys people in threatening situations, and helps soothe everyday fears and ward off mental distress. [..]
The brain seems to have networks that are specialized to produce an explicit, magical explanation in some circumstances, said Pascal Boyer, a professor of psychology and anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis.’
`We are surprised to see our work on reprogramming adult stem cells used to support arguments that research involving human embryonic stem cells is unnecessary. On the contrary, we assert that human embryonic stem cells hold great promise to find new treatments and cures for diseases. …
The work that we performed and that was cited in the White House policy report is precisely the type of research that is currently being harmed by the President’s arbitrary limitation on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research. …
We feel that the President’s restrictive policy has directly impeded research that provides a hope for cures for millions of Americans. …’
`Drinking tea can reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke, but only if milk is not added to the brew, German scientists have said.
Research has shown tea improves blood flow and the ability of the arteries to relax, but researchers at the Charite Hospital at the University of Berlin in Mitte found milk eliminates the protective effect against cardiovascular disease.
“The beneficial effects of drinking black tea are completely prevented by the addition of milk, said Dr Verena Stangl, a cardiologist at the hospital.’
`Jeffrey Sanger picked the optimal place to have a heart attack: his Fire Department paramedic class. [..]
The drama started when he felt chest pains as about a dozen paramedics prepared to begin a training session at the Emergency Medical Service Training Center in Fort Totten, Queens. He suspected it was just indigestion, and stayed in the locker room.
But his instructors followed him, worried that he was experiencing the typical symptoms of a heart attack.
Sanger at first protested that he was all right, but collapsed within minutes and stopped breathing.’
`Let me tell you why they are so cool.’
`A man who ran several marathons while claiming disability benefits has been given a 10-month prison sentence.
Paul Appleby, 47, from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, started claiming benefits in 1994 – saying he needed a wheelchair or walking frame to walk.
But Appleby, who claimed £22,300 in total, joined a running club in 2001, competing in road races and marathons. ‘
`New research shows that the level of nicotine in major brands of American cigarettes has gone up by 11 per cent in the period 1998 to 2005. [..]
The scientists examined annual data submitted by tobacco manufacturers to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH). [..]
Upon analysing the data the scientists found that the manufacturers have increased the level of smoke nicotine yield in cigarettes by an average of 1.6 per cent for each year between 1998 and 2005. And they did this in two ways. First by directly altering the concentration of nicotine, and secondly by changing the design features to increase the delivery efficiency of nicotine.’
`It sounds almost too good to be true: a cheap and simple drug that kills almost all cancers by switching off their "immortality". The drug, dichloroacetate (DCA), has already been used for years to treat rare metabolic disorders and so is known to be relatively safe.
It also has no patent, meaning it could be manufactured for a fraction of the cost of newly developed drugs.
Evangelos Michelakis of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, and his colleagues tested DCA on human cells cultured outside the body and found that it killed lung, breast and brain cancer cells, but not healthy cells. Tumours in rats deliberately infected with human cancer also shrank drastically when they were fed DCA-laced water for several weeks.’
Surprised the baby is even alive, really.
(16.4meg mpeg)
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`With studies showing that U.S. jails can’t enforce bans on sex between inmates, lawmakers and AIDS-prevention advocates say it’s time to start distributing condoms in Washington prisons.
Legislators are pushing a bill calling for a five-year plan to reduce the number of sexually transmitted infections among inmates.
Though the bill does not specify condom distribution, its prime sponsor, Rep. Jeannie Darneille, D-Tacoma, said she hoped it would rekindle stalled discussions about providing inmates with protection. “We have to start somewhere,” she said.’
`A dentist who pulled out an elderly woman’s teeth without anaesthetic “to teach her a lesson” has been thrown out of the profession.
David Quelch left the 87-year-old with blood pouring from her mouth after she made a complaint about previous treatment at his hands, a discipline hearing was told yesterday. [..]
“I told him I had pain and he told me he was going to extract my teeth. I objected, I didn’t think it was necessary. He ignored my remarks and pulled out the tooth. I was bleeding profusely.”
She added: “I said I didn’t want my tooth removed, he pushed me back, pushing me hard across my chest and extracted the second tooth. All I wanted was a filling.”‘
`Sex offenders could be forced to have hormone injections under radical plans to tackle crime being considered by Downing Street.
Strategists think the injections – effectively the “chemical castration” of sexual predators to suppress their urges – would help prevent attacks.
The controversial proposal is one of a number being looked at by Tony Blair’s strategy unit as part of the Prime Minister’s policy review.
Other ideas include installing microchips in the mentally ill to monitor their behaviour and sending text messages to parents to warn them a paedophile is at large in their area.’
`This is a diary of my tonsils – charting their infection, growth and removal. I don’t see any point in writing a lot about it, as I’m sure the pictures say enough. It goes without saying that I was on a lot of varying medication during this period.
WARNING – This picture diary is not for the faint hearted, and probably NSFW’
`Although advances in oncology have brought therapies to deal with many different cancers, pancreatic cancer remains very difficult to treat. Worse yet, unlike lung cancer and smoking, or cervical cancer and HPV, little has been known about the etiology of the disease. Now a new study has revealed a link between pancreatic cancer and a relatively common infection, one that many people might find surprising: gum disease.
The link arose from data gathered from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. This long-running study began two decades ago and involves men working in health-care professions returning a survey every two years. As it turns out, after controlling for age, BMI, smoking and other factors, periodontal disease carried a 63 percent higher risk of developing pancreatic cancer.’
`Doctors’ unions in Romania have criticised a decision to make a surgeon pay £100,000 in damages after he lost his temper and hacked off a patient’s penis during surgery.
Surgeon Naum Ciomu, who had been suffering from stress at the time, had been operating on patient Nelu Radonescu, 36, to correct a testicular malformation when he suddenly lost his temper.
Grabbing a scalpel, he sliced off the penis in front of shocked nursing staff, and then placed it on the operating table where he chopped it into small pieces before storming out of the operating theatre at Bucharest hospital. ‘
That’s pretty fucked up. Almost like it’s from a zombie movie. Except it’s not zombies, it’s rabies.
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`A mother surnamed Zhang who uses her body to teach her son sex education has sparked controversy in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province. During a gynecological examination at the Wuhan Health Center for Women and Children last Thursday, Zhang brought her son into the examination room, letting him see her body and telling him how a woman becomes pregnant and delivers.
Zhang said she wanted to educate her son, a 14-year-old grade 2 junior middle school student, correctly. Others, including doctors, said she should use better teaching methods.’
`Chilean artist Marco Evaristti presented his friends with his newest creation on Thursday night: Meatballs cooked with fat from his own body, extracted by liposuction.
‘Ladies and gentleman, bon appetit and may God bless,’ said Evaristti, a glass in his hand, to his dining companions seated around a table at the Animal Gallery in Chile’s capital, Santiago.
On the plates in front of them was a serving of agnolotti pasta and in the middle, a meatball made with the fat that Evaristti had removed from his body last last year.
‘You are not a cannibal if you eat art,’ he added. He described it as a criticism of the plastic surgery market.’
Also, images of people eating the meatballs.
`Doctors want state governments to stop contracting the operation of public hospitals to the Catholic Church unless it agrees to provide all services including IVF, abortions, sterilisations and rape counselling.
Australian Medical Association national president Mukesh Haikerwal yesterday said taxpayers had a right to expect public hospitals would provide a full range of medical services.
If church-linked organisations wanted to exclude some services in accordance with church teaching, they should not tender for contracts to operate public hospitals, Dr Haikerwal said.
But the church’s health arm rejected the criticism and accused Dr Haikerwal of being anti-Catholic.’
Fuck the Pope up the arse with a tractor, I say.
`Lifelong bilingualism can help delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia in the elderly by an average of four years, according to a small study by Canadian researchers.
Patients who spoke more than one language reported memory loss or other dementia symptoms on average four years later than people who spoke only one language. [..]
Principal investigator Ellen Bialystok, a psychologist and associate scientist at the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest, said the results were unusually clear.
“Rarely does a study give such clean results, so this was surprising to us,” she told CBC News Online.’
`You saw the stories that dominated the headlines in 2006: the war in Iraq, North Korea’s nuclear tests, and the U.S. midterm elections. But what about the news that remained under the radar? From the Bush administration’s post-Katrina power grab to a growing arms race in Latin America to the new hackable passports, FP delivers the Top Ten Stories You Missed in 2006.’
`Carlos nonchalantly asks whether his drink was made with whole or skim milk. He takes a moment to slurp on his grande Caffe Mocha in a crowded Starbucks, and then he gets back to explaining how much he wants HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. His eyes light up as he says that the actual moment of transmission, the instant he gets HIV, will be “the most erotic thing I can imagine.” He seems like a typical thirty-two-year-old man, but, in fact, he has a secret life. Carlos is chasing the bug.’
Apparently. babies born with tails are incarnations of Hindu gods.
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‘As Mariana Todorova stares at the ugly scar running down her side, her eyes fill with tears.
It is an agonising reminder of how organ traders tricked her into selling her kidney.
Now Mariana is ill and ashamed at being conned into losing her organ for just £689. [..]
Last night Mariana, 27, said: “I wanted to buy a home and clothes for my two children. All I got was a colour TV. We have nothing. I was desperate but I was tricked. [..]
“Every day I look down at the eight-inch scar and I�m reminded I sold my kidney. I have cried and cried with frustration.” [..]
Mariana is one of an ever-growing number of victims preyed on by organ traders who are selling body parts to the wealthy.’
