Health

Doctors do not need to biopsy every man with a high PSA screening blood test for prostate cancer. Most patients become infected from the procedure, 20 percent suffer severe pain, 10 percent require strong pain medicines, and 15 percent of previously potent patients report that they can't get an erection one month later.

Research has shown that most cases of swollen testicles do not need to be corrected by surgery. Swollen, painless testicles are usually caused by varicoceles, large veins full of blood on the outside of the testicles; or hydroceles, a sac of fluid around the testicles. Less common causes include infection or a tumor.

Three of 100 men suffer from Peyronie's disease, a bending of the penis during erection. The penis contains balloons that fill with blood to cause an erection. These balloons can develop a scar that prevents them from expanding normally during an erection, causing the penis to bend toward the scar.

A study from the University Hospital in Essen, Germany shows that riding a bicycle does not raise blood levels of PSA, the blood test used to screen for prostate cancer. Several studies suggest that ordinary bicycle seats can cause impotence which can become permanent with continued pressure on the nerves that control erection. Men who...

A study from the National Cancer Institutes showed that taking more than 100 mg of zinc supplements a day doubles a man's chances of developing advanced prostate cancer. There are hundreds of products on the market today that contain zinc and they are advertised to help treat the prostate, help prevent prostate cancer, help treat an enlarged prostate, treat impotence, increase sexuality, increase ejaculation volume, and make a man more potent. All of these claims are unsupported by scientific data.

A study in the Annals of Internal Medicine (August 2003) showed that lack of physical fitness is a major cause of impotence. Dr. Eric Rimm of the Harvard School of Public Health showed that men who run for three or more hours per week, or play tennis five hours a week, have a 30...

When a woman develops a white discharge and vaginal itching, her doctor often diagnoses yeast infection, even though he may be wrong because every healthy woman has yeast in her vagina and cultures of the vagina almost always grow yeast, even in women who have no symptoms at all.

If you are a woman who suddenly develops burning on urination, have to urinate frequently and feel terrible discomfort when your bladder is full, or have urgency to urinate whenever your bladder is full, check with your doctor. You could have a bladder or a vaginal infection.

When I was in medical school more than 45 years ago, I learned that E. Coli, a common intestinal bacteria, causes recurrent urinary tract infections in women; and that women with these infections should be given 100 ampicillin pills and be told to take one pill four times a day for three days, whenever...

Unfortunately, there may not be much you can do; a study from Denmark shows that skin wrinkling and aging are influenced heavily by genetic factors.

Cervical cancer is a venereal disease caused by the human papilloma virus called HPV. Nineteen different strains of HPV have been associated with cervical cancer. HPV-16 is the most carcinogenic. As solid cancers grow, they produce angiogenesis factors that increase blood flow to them to supply nutrients and energy. Tobacco contains nicotine, a potent...