Therapist Unlimited Blog

Men around the world should take many antioxidants since low doses of such kind of chemical compound could affect the quality of their semen.
According to the report posted on the online journal Fertility and Sterility it was discovered that low antioxidant intake is associated with low reproductive capacity in semen.
The researchers lead by Jaime Mendiola said their study has shown that men who eat large amounts of meat and full fat dairy products have lower seminal quality than those who eat more fruit, vegetables and reduced fat dairy products.
Mendiola revealed those men who ate many fruits and vegetables are ingesting more antioxidants, which is why their sperm quality is good.
Mendiola said he and his team have allocated four years of their time examining the link between dietary habits or workplace exposure to contaminants and the quality of semen among men attending fertility clinics.

The male population around the world should eat more fruits and vegetables to ensure they have sufficient antioxidants in their body to keep their semen quality healthy.

He explained their objective was to find out whether a higher or lower intake of vitamins, which act as antioxidants, could affect semen quality.
Moreover, the lead researcher said molecules, which are present in foods such as citrus fruits, peppers and spinach, work by lowering the level of oxidative stress that can affect semen quality, and improve sperm concentration parameters as well as sperm mobility and morphology.
The lead researcher said the study was carried out among 61 men, 30 of whom had reproductive problems, while the remaining 31 acted as controls.
He said a healthy diet is not only a good way of avoiding illness, but could also have an impact on improving seminal quality.

According to a latest medical study, the birth and demand for fertility services among couples in the United States of America is low due to the global economic recession.
In the data released by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, it discovered that 13 states in the US had a decrease in the number of recorded births in 2008 compared with 2007.
The statistical data released by the Georgia Hospital Association has shown that, there were 5,352 fewer recorded births in Georgia in 2008 than in 2007.
Based on the evaluation of Mark Perloe, a Georgia Reproductive Specialists the low birth could be attributed to the 20% decline in the number of people seeking infertility services.
Perloe said due to this low demand for fertility services, his company was forced to offer as much as 70 percent discount on select services of fertility.
Meanwhile,  Elisabeth Burgess, a Georgia State University sociology professor who focuses on families, explained, in times of economic downturns, different people react in different ways.

Due to the economic recession, the demand for birth and fertility services is low.

Burgess said for some people, family becomes more important, so they might decide to have a child.
The latest statistical data showed that one cycle of treatment could cost $15,000 or more, which some people pay for through credit, retirement savings or home equity loans.
Moreover, the Journal-Constitution reports that some people delay planned pregnancy because of concerns over job security, health insurance, income and the cost of raising a child.
The data gathered at the USDA show that the average middle-class family would pay $11,000 to raise a child in the first year, with the largest portion of that cost going to childcare.
It is said that with the rising cost of basic commodities during the recession, it would just be okay to slow down on birth and demand for fertility services to save cost.

The future of male contraception could be an injectable testosterone.
This developed after a recent research in China uncovered a new safe and highly effective male contraception that could be soon be commercially available worldwide.
The researchers discovered that regimen; a male contraceptive hormone has the potential to become a highly effective male contraception for the male population in this planet.
According to Dr. Yi-Qun Gu, MD, of the National Research Institute for Family Planning in Beijing, China in their initial study they discovered that regimen has the components to prevent pregnancy among women.
Gu revealed they got their findings on their study comprising 1,045 healthy fertile Chinese men aged 20-45 years.

Medical experts said there is a strong indication injectable testosterone could be the future in male contraception.

He said each participant had fathered at least one child within the two years before the study and had a normal medical history.
He added their female partners were between 18 and 38 years of age and had normal reproductive function.
Based on their study, Gud said those men who were injected with regimen has not impregnated their sexual partners and were in normal physical condition after the study except for two participants.
Moreover, Gu said despite the good result in their study, they still need further study on regimen to determine if it is indeed viable to be used commercially around the world.
Whatever, the result of the further study, this piece of news is still great for males in this planet since if fate permits injectable testosterone could be used in future as a male contraception.

 

Medical experts revealed if not treated and detected earlier groin injuries could be more serious than a pulled muscle.
Based on a recent research it was also uncovered that a number of athletes around the world are diagnosed with a pulled groin muscle when they actually might be suffering from a much more serious hip injury.
Dr. Kaare Kolstad, an orthopaedic surgeon with The Methodist Hospital in Houston explained because the hip is located closely to the groin area, many people mistake hip injuries for groin pulls and is misdiagnosed.
It is said that the groin muscles consist of six muscles that cover the area from the inner pelvis to the inner part of the femur (thigh bone).
These muscles pull the leg together and help with other movements of the hip joint. This is why a hip injury is sometimes mistaken for a groin pull, an injury to the inner thigh.
Recent studies revealed the two most common sports-related hip injuries are a labral tear, which can be caused by sudden stops and turns on the field and cause pain in the groin area, and a stress fracture, which are hairline cracks in the bone that can get worse over time.

Patients around the world should not take groin injuries easy since it could be worse than a pulled muscle.

The study also showed that a hip injury brought on by athletic activity would cause deep, persistent pain that can last for weeks.
Physicians and orthopaedics said the pain can get so bad that it can even hurt to sit down.
The medical personnel around the world can determine from an X-ray or MRI if the problem is a groin pull or hip injury that would require either physical therapy, cortisone injections or surgery.
 If hip surgery is necessary, a minimally invasive procedure is now available that will get athletes back on their feet in four to six weeks as opposed to four to five months with open surgery.
Kolstad said to avoid further complications it is important to see a physician if pain in the groin area persists for a week or two.
He added if doctors catch it, early enough, he or she could fix the problem and get the patient to his or her feet.
He explained the longer the patient wait to have the problem fixed, the higher the risk that degeneration of the hip will occur, which will eventually lead to a hip replacement.
 

According to medical experts, one of the best ways to cope up with tress in work is to forge a smooth relationship with your family and friends.
Based on a study, it was uncovered that a smooth relationship with our love ones reduces the negative effects of work-related stress on our health.
In a research conducted by Ann-Christine Andersson Arntén, a faculty of University of Gothenburg, Sweden she found out that a positive approach and successful stress-management techniques also help to reduce the negative effects of work-related stress.
However, Arntén said when there are stressful experiences both at work and in the relationship, the risk of burnout and poor health increases dramatically.
To get the data, the researcher examined 900 persons took part in her survey.
The survey consists of those who felt they had a good relationship experienced that they enjoyed better health than those who had a more problematic relationship, women with a poorly-functioning relationship experienced more anxiety, mental stress reactions and sleeping difficulties than women who had a good relationship, and men who had a mediocre relationship had a higher incidence of depression, anxiety, psychological and somatic stress reactions than men with worse or better relationships.
Arntén said although the study shows some gender differences, differences amongst individuals belonging to a gender were much greater than the difference between the genders.

Being happy in a relationship is a great way to cope up with work-related stress.

Arntén explained after having been exposed to stress, the body must recover and recharge itself.
She said if there is no opportunity to recover because the work does not allow for breaks and lunches, the body’s reserves are emptied, and poor health ensues.
She added the same principle applies when a person takes work home, frequently works overtime or has recurring quarrels and problems in his or her relationship.
According to her, the effects of the sometimes small but recurring stress situations of everyday life sneak up on a person, who at first does not even notice them.
Furthermore, Arntén revealed the person under stress adapts and tries to accommodate the demands and changes he or she face, until one day, there is such a great imbalance, that massive efforts are needed just to manage everyday life.
She said not taking time to recover can lead to impaired physical and mental health and cognitive and concentration problems, which reduce performance and problem-solving ability and this leads to consequences both at home and at work.

Parents around the world need to be careful in the use phthalates as new pieces of evidence, showed that exposure to that kind of chemical compound could result in low birth weights in infants.
Phthalates is a chemical compound used as plasticizers in a wide variety of personal care products, children’s toys, and medical devices.
It is said that low birth weight is the leading cause of death in children under 5 years of age and increases the risk of cardiovascular and metabolic disease in adulthood.
Based on the research conducted by medical experts they found out that utero phthalate exposure contributes to low birth weight in infants.
Dr. Renshan Ge of the Population Council and colleagues from Fudan University and Second Military Medical University in Shanghai studied 201 pairs of newborns and their mothers between 2005 and 2006.

Pregnant women need to avoid exposure to phthalates since it could lead to low birth weight for their infants.

 Of the 201 infants studied, 88 were born with low birth weight. The researchers analyzed samples of the infants’ meconium, the first bowel movement that occurs after birth, and cord blood to determine phthalate levels.
They found quantifiable levels of phthalate and phthalate metabolites in more than 70% of the samples. Infants with low birth weight had consistently higher levels of phthalates.
Ge said the results showed that phthalate exposure was ubiquitous in these newborns, and that prenatal phthalate exposure might be an environmental risk factor for low birth weight in infants.
The researchers said that with the possible harmful effects it offers there is a need to minimize phthalate exposure.

In is time to gain weight for those who are underweight and lose weight to the obese.
This developed after a recent medical study has shown that obese and underweight people to die early than people with normal weight.
In the study conducted by the Statistics Canada, Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Portland State University, Oregon Health & Science University, and McGill University it was discovered that, those who are underweight and obese are in a higher risk of dying that those who have normal weight.
Mark Kaplan, DrPH, co-author and Professor of Community Health at Portland State University explained their study only looked at mortality, not at quality of life, and there are many negative health consequences associated with obesity, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes.
To get the data, the researchers examined the relationship between body mass index and death among 11,326 adults in Canada over a 12-year period (BMI uses height and weight to estimate body fat.)

It is time to lose weight for obese people if they wish to live longer like those persons who have normal weight.
 

Researchers found that underweight people had the highest risk of dying, and the extremely obese had the second highest risk. Overweight people had a lower risk of dying than those of normal weight.
This medical finding should serve as motivation to both obese and underweight to do something about their weight if they wish to live longer and spend more time with their family and friends.
 

Those patients suffering from prostate cancer need to be careful since a recent study has shown that an intake of high levels of selenium could worsen their medical condition.
Selenium is a mineral found widely in rocks and dirt. Small amounts of selenium are essential for health: 40 to 70 micrograms is the recommended daily intake.
In recent years, supplemental selenium has been sold and promoted, as a means of preventing prostate cancer, largely based on observational studies that found higher risk of prostate cancer incidence and mortality in areas of the country that are naturally low in selenium.
Based on the research conducted by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the University of California, San Francisco it was discovered that a higher risk of more-aggressive prostate cancer was seen in men with a certain genetic variant found in about 75 percent of the prostate cancer patients in the study.
The researchers said in those subjects, having a high level of selenium in the blood was associated with a two-fold greater risk of poorer outcomes than men with the lowest amounts of selenium were.
The researchers revealed by contrast, the 25 percent of men with a different variant of the same gene and who had high selenium levels were at 40 percent lower risk of aggressive disease.

Men suffering from prostate cancer need to be careful in using selenium since it could further worsen their medical condition.

The group added the variants are slightly different forms of a gene that instructs cells to make manganese superoxide dismutase (SOD2), an enzyme that protects the body against harmful oxygen compounds.
Philip Kantoff, MD, director of Dana-Farber’s Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology and senior author of the study said the research findings suggest that if you already have prostate cancer, it may be a bad thing to take selenium.
Kantoff explained the unexpected results are the first to raise concern about this potentially harmful consequence of taking supplemental selenium.
Kantoff added the findings are interesting particularly in light of the recent negative results from the SELECT prevention study, which asked if selenium could protect against prostate cancer.
He said the new study also reveals the strong interaction between selenium and SOD2 to influence the biology of prostate cancer, a finding that these investigators had shown in a previous study.
Furthermore, the researchers said the current research demonstrated that variations in the make up of the SOD2 gene dramatically alter the effects of selenium on the risk of aggressive prostate cancer.

The women population in this planet need to be extra careful since according to a recent medical study there are more prone to migraines than men.
Migraines are the constricting of blood vessels in the brain that cause intense, recurring vascular headaches.
Medical reports state that migraine headaches affect millions of Americans each year they are the most common type of headache that sends patients running to their doctor’s office.
According to research, like other forms of headaches, women suffer from migraines more frequently than men do.
It is said that approximately three out of four migraine sufferers are women.
Researchers have often cited hormones as a possible explanation.
Based on the data gathered by
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, more than half of migraines in women transpire right before, during or after a woman has her menstrual period.
In addition, although some women experience migraines throughout their cycle, menstrual-related migraines may explain one trigger of the condition.
The researchers noted right before a woman’s cycle begins, the levels of estrogen and progesterone drop sharply.
This decrease in hormone levels may initiate migraine headaches because estrogen has been shown to control brain chemicals that affect pain sensation in women.
The medical experts revealed although hormones are unlikely to explain the entire picture, a recent study revealed that women with a history of migraines might be less likely to develop breast cancer than other women.
Because breast cancer has been linked to higher lifetime exposure to estrogen, the fact that migraines are more common when there is a drop in estrogen may support the hormone theory.

Latest medical data has shown that more women are suffering from migraines than men are.

The symptoms, duration and frequency of migraines can vary greatly from person to person. They may be debilitating for some people. Often times, migraines can come along with sensory warning signs such as seeing flashes of light, blind spots or feeling nauseous (with or without vomiting). Other symptoms include:
– Intense, throbbing pain on one, or sometimes, both sides of the head.
– Feeling "pins and needles" in a limb.
– Sensitivity to light or loud sounds.
– Pain that worsens with physical activity and/or interferes with daily functioning.
In some people, the pain lasts for a short period of time; other patients describe lingering symptoms that can last up to three days. In addition, some people get migraines on a regular basis, yet others may experience them much less frequently.
Currently, there is no cure for migraine headaches, but the symptoms can be managed effectively with pharmaceuticals and lifestyle changes made under medical supervision
In addition to pharmaceutical treatments, migraine sufferers should not discount the value of lifestyle changes. Many experts recommend keeping a diary to record potential triggers, so patients can attempt to avoid them.
Behavioral changes that have been proven effective include limiting caffeine and alcohol, engaging in regular physical activity and coping with stress.
 

Based on the latest medical study carbon monoxide (CO) offers protect against arterial clotting.
Researchers led by Drs. James F. George and Anupam Agarwal at the University of Alabama at Birmingham revealed carbon monoxide poisoning is extremely toxic; exposure prevents oxygen delivery to body tissues and is often fatal.

Carbon Monoxide

However,  the researchers explained inflamed or injured tissues upregulate heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), a protein that both protects cells and produces CO, suggesting that low levels of CO may have protective effects.
To determine if HO-1 and CO can protect against arterial clotting, the researchers examined clotting mechanisms in mice that received arterial transplants.
Absence of HO-1 in these mice resulted in significant mortality due to arterial clotting; however, treatment with a CO-releasing molecule both decreased clotting and improved survival
With their findings, the researchers concluded that HO-1/CO plays an "important role in protection against vascular arterial thrombosis in murine aortic allotransplantation."