What are the Benefits of Sex

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Sex is a basic biological need of human; why only human, all the animals. It may be only second to food. In Hindi cinema, there was a dialogue of Mr. Amitabh Bachchan in a film which goes like this; “Whatever, I am doing it is first for the stomach and next for the thing below it”. So, sex is so powerful an instinct. The need of sex has given rise holy institutions like marriage, unsafe institutions like prostitution, crimes like rape and incest; and many wars all over the world from the time immemorial. There are certain benefits of sex on the both partners.Sex is a very good exercise, if practiced for a longer period. It prevents accumulation of fat, tones up and tunes up the body. There is increased consumption of calories due to increased respiration rate and physical activity. Healthy sex is to be practiced at least for two to three times in a week.It is a very good sedative, giving uninterrupted night’s sleep. The exertion gives good sleep. Relief of tension also contributes to it. It is also a tension reliever.

It prevents cancer of prostate. The way it prevents cancer of prostate is not clear, but may be due to release of seminal fluid at regular intervals.
It increases the emotional bond between the partners and keeps relation intact. It also confers security.
Sex is the most chosen form for reproduction and medium for propagation of progeny.
The exercise naturally comes after sex helps in prevention of obesity and related diseases like cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and breast cancer in female.

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Fake Alli Pills Warning by FDA

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Recently, professionals have been asked to prescribe sibutramine, a lipid lowering drug after careful history taking to ascertain patients pre-existing health problems, particularly the heart problems; as the drug can induce a heart attack. Now a fake Alli diet pill containing sibutramine double the recommended dose may cause problem; a warning issued by FDA here.
"Unfortunately, many people with high blood pressure or heart disease are trying to improve their health by losing weight, and we are concerned that such individuals might be exposed to the counterfeit drug,"

clipped from www.cnn.com Fake Alli diet pills can pose health risks Washington (CNN) -- Counterfeit capsules of the diet drug Alli that are sold online can pose a serious health risk to some users, a research director from the Food and Drug Administration said Saturday. Testing shows that the counterfeit pills contain excessive amounts of sibutramine, a prescription drug and controlled substance that can place people with cardiovascular disease at risk for higher blood pressure, heart attack or stroke, said Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. The fake pills contain at least twice as much sibutramine as would normally be recommended, she said. Analysis also shows that the counterfeit pills lack the active ingredient orlistat found in the authentic Alli product, which prevents a portion of the fat eaten from being absorbed, Alli's Web site says. Instead, the fat passes directly through the digestive system and is eliminated.

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Obesity Drug Toxicity

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This is the news about obesity lowering drug. It is always better to go for physical exercise to reduce weight than to sought for some so called short cuts, like drugs for it.

clipped from drppanda.amplify.com Top obesity drug sibutramine being withdrawn A leading obesity drug is being withdrawn from use in the UK amid fears it increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes. The drug works by altering chemical messages to the brain which control feelings about food. While it is a common obesity drug, the most popular, orlistat, a pill which prevents fat absorption, is much more widely used and is taken by hundreds of thousands of people each year. The regulator acted after a review by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended suspending its licence in Europe. This decision still has to be formally ratified by the European Commission. Speaking after the EMA’s decision, Eugene Sun, from Abbott which makes sibutramine, said: “We believe there are many patients who benefit from sibutramine and respectfully disagree with the… recommendation to suspend the medicine. “However, we will act promptly to comply with the committee’s recommendation.”

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Fish Oils May Slow Aging

Tuna Fish

Telomere is the genetic material found in the tail piece of chromosomes, responsible for keeping the integrity of chromosome intact in the face of multiple cell divisions. It may shorten, thereby hampering the repair process. Researchers think that to be reason of aging, and postulate that fish oil containing omega3 fatty acids, may help in keeping the length of telomere intact. This might help in defying aging process.

clipped from drppanda.amplify.com Fish Oils May Slow Genetic Aging Studies have shown that omega-3s appear to be effective for patients with coronary artery disease. Yet the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Some researchers think it may have something to do with anti-inflammatory, triglyceride-lowering, antihypertensive, antiplatelet, or antiarrhythimic effects. Research has shown that the length of telomeres — chromosome caps that have long been compared to the plastic ends of shoelaces — may be a marker of biological age. Biological age is independent of chronological age, and takes into account genetic and environmental stressors that may wreak havoc on cells. The researchers found that baseline omega-3 fatty acid levels were positively correlated with changes in telomere length over five years (P=0.001).

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Cancers Get Fuel from Stored Body Fat

Obese

Obesity has long been associated with different cancers. Those could be breast, ovary, pancreas and colon etc. The mechanism by which obesity helps in growth of cancer was much interest to the researchers. It was proposed that in fat cells steroid hormone is converted to estradiol a female hormone responsible for tumor formation. Now researchers from experiment on mice model postulate that fat fuels the cancer cells to grow.
Experiment on mice reveals that the body fat may actually fuel the cancer cells to proliferate, stabilize and migrate. The cell membrane is made up of fat and protein; that is why, cells require adequate amount of fat, protein and other micronutrients for their growth. Scientists have found that the tumor cells e.g. ductal cells of breast cancer have heightened fat degrading enzyme activity like monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL) and fat synthetic enzymes like fatty acid synthetase and some others. The free fatty acids help in signaling of growth, proliferation and movement of cells through various composite molecules in combination. Fatty acids being rich source of energy provide energy required for the cell growth in addition to energy from glucose metabolism.
Researchers when blocked the enzyme MAGL, there was growth retardation of the cancer cells. Feeding fatty diet accelerated the growth of the tumor cells. Elevated levels of fatty acid synthetase (FAS), the enzyme responsible for fatty acid biosynthesis are correlated with poor prognosis in breast cancer patients, and inhibition of FAS results in decreased cell proliferation, loss of cell viability, and decreased tumor growth. It may help tumor growth through biosynthesis of an array of protumorigenic lipid-signaling molecules and generation of building blocks for newly synthesized membranes to accommodate high rates of proliferation.

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Salt Restriction Can Lower Mortality

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The first advice to a hypertensive patient is to lower dietary salt intake. There has been a number of publications in support of salt restriction in diet. The below is a published article in Medpagetoday; will be interesting to read.

clipped from www.medpagetoday.com Health Group Asks for Lower Salt Limits A New York City-based health organization is proposing that restaurants and packaged food manufacturers lower sodium levels by 25% over five years to greatly reduce preventable health risks. The National Salt Reduction Initiative (NSRI) request would cut the nation's salt intake by 20%, helping prevent a variety of health complications, including hypertension, myocardial infarction, stroke, and ultimately mortality, a statement from the group said. Salt intake is a major contributor to hypertension, which can lead to a MI or stroke and is a leading cause of preventable death, killing more than 800,000 people annually, the government estimates. Many national and international health organizations support the proposal, including the American Heart Association, which added in a release that the group would like to see sodium levels on packaged and prepared foods halved in 10 years.

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Esophageal Varice with Erosions and Stomach Ulcer

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It is not frequent to get a few findings in one patient during an endoscopy; esophageal erosion, esophageal varice, stomach ulcer and duodenitis. Esophageal varices are seen frequently as a consequence of cirrhosis of liver followed by portal hypertension. Erosions and ulcers are features of acid peptic disease. The video having these findings can be watched here from my Youtube account.

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Overdose of Paracetamol and Liver Toxicity

Paracetamol

Paracetamol or acetaminophen is a common ingredient in medicines for common cold and pain-killers. It is also available as such. Sometimes patients indulge in self dedication. It may so happen that somebody will be taking a common cold medication along with a combination pain-killer, containing acetaminophen. It may also be prescribed by a unsuspecting doctor to a patient who is already taking a drug containing paracetamol. So, there occurs overdose. Researchers say that more than 2grms. per day may result in toxicity to the liver. Patient should disclose such drug history to the treating doctor.

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Bleeding During Catheterization of Male Urethra

A Foley's Catheter

I was called at 10.30 PM to attend a case of bleeding from urethra following urethral catheterization in a semiconscious male, admitted to the medicine ward. I went and saw a healthy male in sixties bleeding from urethra. The foley's catheter, an narrow silicon pipe used for draining the retained urine was in the hand of a paramedic.

The full history became apparent; the male patient suffering from a brain stroke was semiconscious and there is involuntary passage of urine; a self retaining catheter was put to prevent the soiling of the bed. The catheter did not drain urine, rather blood was seen coming from the urethra. So, the catheter was removed from the urethra.
This happens when there occurs injury to the urethra while inserting a catheter. Sometimes a catheter does not pass with ease especially in an elderly; where some prostatic enlargement is expected. The catheter has not gone right to the urinary bladder, and folded upon itself in the urethra. This would have evoked pain if the patient was conscious. The first person putting the catheter has not done his job correctly, and had inflated the balloon present in the tip of the catheter in the urethra resulting in rapture of urethra and consequent bleeding.

The ideal way to deal such a case is to insert a catheter surgically to the urinary bladder from the lower abdominal side, as reinsertion from urethral side may result in more damage to the already injured urethra. But this requires operation theatre ready for the purpose. A have handled such cases earlier, and tried reinsertion from the urethral side with success in many

A Cross Section of Urethra

cases and failure in some cases. I used to put two tubes of 2% xylocaine jelly, a local anaesthetic to the urethra and wait for 10 minutes; so that the urethra is completely lubricated and anesthetized. A very slow non-forceful insertion of catheter with a little manipulation usually passes the injured part and the narrowed part of urethra en route to the urinary bladder. And it was successful in this particular case too. In this way a stressful surgery was avoided on an already stressed patient from brain stroke. But in future, there is 50% chance that, he may develop a narrowing called a stricture at the level of injury to the urethra. But, that can be managed by dilation of urethra at regular intervals.
I always repeat as my teacher does; urethra is like a glass and handle it with care! 

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