It's often been said that men don't think with their brains and now scientists have proved what women thought all along - that a man's sperm quality turns out to be an indicator of his brain power.
Researchers have discovered that men who scored highly in a variety of intelligence tests also had high counts of healthy sperm.
But low scores in intelligence tests showed that men had fewer sperm and that they weren't so healthy.
Evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller, from the University of New Mexico, said: 'It's not necessarily that the same genes are influencing sperm quality and intelligence.
Health & Wellness
Doctors are examining if food given to astronauts can provide long-term help to children with Crohn's disease. The food is easier to digest because it contains treated amino acids, which can normally be difficult for the body to process. It has been found to have short-term benefits for patients with the digestive system disorder, but experts want to look at whether they continue.
Feeling blue? According to Dr Klaus Linde from the Centre for Complementary Medicine in Munich, a supplement of St John's Wort should improve your mood. In his review of 29 studies on the yellow-flowering hedgerow plant, also known as hypericum perforatum, Linde has shown it to be as effective as drugs such as Prozac in treating depression.
Millions of Britons are increasing their chances of getting cancer because they do not know that alcohol, processed meat and poor diet can cause the disease. Many people are confused about what raises or reduces someone's likelihood of becoming a victim of the country's second biggest killer.
© BBC
Clara only went into care this year
Clara only went into care this year
Clara Meadmore, a resident at Perran Bay nursing home in Truro, Cornwall, only moved in to care in January.
The retired secretary said sex meant marriage when she was young and she never wanted to marry.
Rethink fears the credit crunch will lead to more people seeing their GPs
House repossession was rated as the event most likely to cause mental health problems, ahead of redundancy, or finding out about infertility.
Charity Rethink called for action to prevent a "mental health disaster".
About two-thirds of children with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) - snoring or obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) - have some degree of cognitive deficit, but the severity of the cognitive deficit has been notoriously difficult to correlate to the severity of the SDB, suggesting that other important issues may be at play, or that the right factors were simply not being measured.
A new study that will be published in the first issue for November of the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine opens the door to understanding the complex relationship between sleep, breathing and brain function in a whole new way.
"A history of snoring is a predictor for cognitive deficit in children with SDB," said principle investigator Raouf Amin, M.D., professor of pediatrics and the director of the Division of Pulmonary Medicine at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. "However, the frequency of apnea events during sleep does not predict cognitive deficit and does not correlate with the degree of cognitive deficit. Such a paradox raised the question of whether there are some variables that we do not traditionally measure in the sleep laboratory that might modify the effect of SDB on cognition."
A new study that will be published in the first issue for November of the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine opens the door to understanding the complex relationship between sleep, breathing and brain function in a whole new way.
"A history of snoring is a predictor for cognitive deficit in children with SDB," said principle investigator Raouf Amin, M.D., professor of pediatrics and the director of the Division of Pulmonary Medicine at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. "However, the frequency of apnea events during sleep does not predict cognitive deficit and does not correlate with the degree of cognitive deficit. Such a paradox raised the question of whether there are some variables that we do not traditionally measure in the sleep laboratory that might modify the effect of SDB on cognition."
Several studies presented at the American College of Gastroenterology's 73rd Annual Scientific Meeting in Orlando highlight the safety and efficacy of probiotics in improving symptoms and normalizing bowel movement frequency in patients suffering from constipation or diarrhea related to Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).
A systematic review of the efficacy of probiotics in IBS that included 19 randomized controlled trials in 1,628 IBS patients found that "probiotics are effective in IBS, but we do not have enough information to be sure whether there is one probiotic that is particularly effective or whether combinations of probiotics are required," according to Dr. Paul Moayyedi, the study's lead researcher. Moayyedi and co-investigators at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL and Rochester, MN; McMaster University in Ontario, Canada; University College in Cork, Ireland and Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, conducted this meta-analysis presented at the ACG Annual Scientific Meeting in Orlando.
Multi-Strain Probiotic for IBS Patients with Diarrhea
Dr. Gerald Friedman of The Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and co-investigator Greg Biancone conducted a multi-center analysis to determine if a multi-strain probiotic was effective in reducing the frequency of diarrhea in 84 IBS patients (IBS-D). In this small study, a multi-strain probiotic administered daily for 28 days normalized bowel habits in IBS patients compared to those who received the placebo. The average number of daily diarrheal episodes in the probiotic group significantly decreased from day 1 to day 28 compared to slight decreases in the placebo group during the same period.
A systematic review of the efficacy of probiotics in IBS that included 19 randomized controlled trials in 1,628 IBS patients found that "probiotics are effective in IBS, but we do not have enough information to be sure whether there is one probiotic that is particularly effective or whether combinations of probiotics are required," according to Dr. Paul Moayyedi, the study's lead researcher. Moayyedi and co-investigators at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL and Rochester, MN; McMaster University in Ontario, Canada; University College in Cork, Ireland and Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, conducted this meta-analysis presented at the ACG Annual Scientific Meeting in Orlando.
Multi-Strain Probiotic for IBS Patients with Diarrhea
Dr. Gerald Friedman of The Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and co-investigator Greg Biancone conducted a multi-center analysis to determine if a multi-strain probiotic was effective in reducing the frequency of diarrhea in 84 IBS patients (IBS-D). In this small study, a multi-strain probiotic administered daily for 28 days normalized bowel habits in IBS patients compared to those who received the placebo. The average number of daily diarrheal episodes in the probiotic group significantly decreased from day 1 to day 28 compared to slight decreases in the placebo group during the same period.
IT is by now very clear that there is a serious problem with the mysterious disease reported and emergency measures must quickly be put in place to avoid a catastrophe.
The situation also serves as a wake up call for health authorities to take matters of regulation of stock pet and human immigration at our frontiers very seriously.
The situation also serves as a wake up call for health authorities to take matters of regulation of stock pet and human immigration at our frontiers very seriously.
What's the worst that could happen after eating a slice of pepperoni pizza? A little heartburn, for most people.
But for up to a million women in the U.S., enjoying that piece of pizza has painful consequences. They have a chronic bladder condition that causes pelvic pain. Spicy food -- as well as citrus, caffeine, tomatoes and alcohol-- can cause a flare in their symptoms and intensify the pain. It was thought that the spike in their symptoms was triggered when digesting the foods produced chemicals in the urine that irritated the bladder.
However, researchers from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine believe the symptoms -- pain and an urgent need to frequently urinate -- are actually being provoked by a surprise perpetrator. Applying their recent animal study to humans, the scientists believe the colon, irritated by the spicy food, is to blame.
But for up to a million women in the U.S., enjoying that piece of pizza has painful consequences. They have a chronic bladder condition that causes pelvic pain. Spicy food -- as well as citrus, caffeine, tomatoes and alcohol-- can cause a flare in their symptoms and intensify the pain. It was thought that the spike in their symptoms was triggered when digesting the foods produced chemicals in the urine that irritated the bladder.
However, researchers from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine believe the symptoms -- pain and an urgent need to frequently urinate -- are actually being provoked by a surprise perpetrator. Applying their recent animal study to humans, the scientists believe the colon, irritated by the spicy food, is to blame.
Comment: Given the changes in bankruptcy laws in the US (among other things), one would think that the pervasive mental breakdown of the population was the goal. Scared and cofused people are so much easier to control.