Photo / Thinkstock
A condition which causes baby boys to be born with deformed penises is becoming more common in Sweden, for reasons unknown to scientists.
Researchers in Sweden assessed data collected on Hypospadias between 1973 and 2009. They found that before 1990, only 4.5 boys out of every thousand had the condition known as hypospadias. But after 1990, the figure had risen to 8 per 1000 boys.
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3: Tattoo removals on the rise
Relationship break-ups and embarking on the daunting search for a new job are two of the reasons behind a surge in tattoo removals in the US, experts say.
Actresses Angelina Jolie, Megan Fox and Eva Longoria are among thousands of Americans, choosing to remove their body art.
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Angelina Jolie had the tattoo of ex-husband Billy Bob Thornton's name, removed, replacing it with an inking revealing the co-ordinates of the birthplaces of her six children. Photos / File
4: The two questions that could determine if you have an alcohol problem
Two questions is all it could take to establish whether a person currently suffers from or is at risk of a drink problem, a study for GPs says.
'How often do you have six or more drinks on one occasion?' and 'as a result of your drinking or drug use, did anything happen in the last year that you wish didn't happen?' are the two enquiries a GP could make to detect hidden alcohol abuse, it claims.
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5: Dave Shaw: 10 harmful 'healthy' foods
Our unhealthy obsession with healthy eating makes us susceptible to the trickery of diet foods. But any product that boasts being better than another should be questioned. Dave Shaw reveals some so-called 'health' foods that aren't as healthy as they seem.
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Are food like honey and fruit juice really as healthy as you think? Photo / Thinkstock
6: Powerful new 'sex superbug' sparks concern
Concerns are mounting over a powerful new form of gonorrhoea after a patient was found to have the highest level of drug resistance to the disease ever reported in Australia.
It is understood the patient, a tourist from central Europe, contracted the "sex superbug" in Sydney and was eventually treated in Cairns.
The discovery of the case in Australia, which resulted in a health alert in July, has also prompted warnings in New Zealand, where sexual health clinics are on high alert amid fears the new strain will spread there.
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Photo / Thinkstock
7: Manopause? There's a pill for that
There's a hot new drug called TRT that its users take to make them feel more energetic, more alive, more aggressive and sexier, too. As with so many performance-boosters, it is catnip to financial traders. "TRT is extremely popular on Wall Street and increasingly in Canary Wharf, too," says one UK-based City worker.
Now, in the surest sign that the drug has gone mainstream, it's on the cover of Time magazine, which claims that the TRT business is worth US$2 billion ($2.36 billion) a year in the United States alone, after a tenfold growth in the first decade of this century.
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The gym has become the new temple for the modern over-40s man. Photo / Getty Images
8: Exercise and diet go hand in hand
Dieting alone is not enough to keep weight off says Peter Rana.
"In the spring of 1986 I opened my first gym in East Hampton, New York, home to the Big Apple's elite. Very quickly, this small gym became the destination for many time-poor businessmen and women, most of whom had the same request: 'I want you to make me look my best and I want it now! Got it?'
"I was fresh out of university and armed with only a PE degree. My new gym's success depended on these summer clients dropping inches off their hips, thighs and waistlines and in a matter of weeks."
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9: Take a hike - why doctors should prescribe 'nature'
In January, a 13-year-old patient named Kelssi came to Dr. Robert Zarr's office at Unity Health Care, a community health center in Washington, D.C. Kelssi had struggled with her weight for as long as Zarr had known her and was now obese. But during this visit, she looked at Zarr and told him she was finally ready to do something about it.
Zarr told me that exhorting patients to "get more exercise" was too vague. Last year, he decided to start trying something different. He stopped asking his patients, "Do you move?" and began asking "Where do you move?" He discovered that many spent very little time outdoors, and he began prescribing time outside for conditions as wide-ranging as ADHD, high blood pressure, asthma, obesity, anxiety, diabetes, and depression.
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The effects of nature are "not enough on people's radar." Photo / Getty Images
10: Salt causes cancer cells to 'self-destruct' - study
Scientists have created a technique which can cause cancer cells to self-destruct by injecting them with salt.
Researchers from the University of Southampton are part of an international team that has helped to create a molecule that can cause cancer cells to die by carrying sodium and chloride ions into the cells.
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Scientists have created a technique which can cause cancer cells to self-destruct by injecting them with salt. Photo / Thinkstock
-nzherald.co.nz
