When scientists study male infertility, they usually focus on how DNA in sperm becomes damaged with age. This has helped explain why fertility declines and why some harmful genetic mutations may be passed on to children.
Read moreMasturbation is something many societies forbid people to talk about and look down on. Men tell jokes about it and women whisper about it among themselves, while serious medical discussion is ever rarer. Yet understanding masturbation is one of the key steps in understanding human sexuality. Masturbation is the act, by a man or a […]
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Contrary to the common belief among doctors that oral sex has increased among girls in recent years, a new study says it has fallen. The study of 6,300 men and women aged 15 to 24 found that about two thirds had had oral sex and about two thirds had had vaginal intercourse. But only 42% […]
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HIV was expected to be more common among women who work in prostitution than in other groups, but the rates had never been documented and remained estimates, especially in low- and middle-income countries. A new study has now given precise figures. Published in Lancet Infectious Diseases, it drew on more than a hundred earlier studies […]
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The G-spot is one of the little-known zones of arousal in our sex lives, and many people have never even heard of it. It is an area in a woman's genital tract described by Dr Ernst Gräfenberg in the 1950s and named after him. About the size of a coin, it lies in the first […]
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Relatively little is known about sexual activity in congestive heart failure. With early diagnosis and proper treatment, a patient with heart failure can often have a normal sex life, and erection problems can be treated with sildenafil (Viagra), as long as the patient does not have ischaemic heart problems and is not taking nitrates. Doctor […]
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Only a few years ago, a girl wearing trousers was frowned upon; now it is the other way round. And if a man here wore a skirt, as Scotsmen do, what would people in the street say about him? Some Arabic names, such as Issam, Sabah or Nihad, are given to both boys and girls, […]
Read moreHealth officials in South Africa have moved to tackle the deaths of many young men after traditional circumcision, after a 39-year-old man died following the "passage to manhood" ritual. Officials said six deaths were recorded last week alone, and 120 people were treated in hospital for infections. Boys of 18 are circumcised during the mid-year […]
Read moreA new study shows that treating people with HIV has an extra benefit: it protects the people around them. The drugs lower the amount of virus in body fluids, and with it the chance of passing the infection on. Figures from British Columbia showed that for every 100 more people treated, new infections fell by […]
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Latin name: Origanum majorana, of the mint family (Lamiaceae) A perennial herb 30 to 60 cm tall, growing in moist and semi-dry mountain land. It is native to North Africa and southern Europe and is now grown in most warm and temperate places. It grows on sunny slopes, in meadows and fields and on stony […]
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Against AIDS, not against people with AIDS. Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a group of symptoms caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which destroys the immune system. This weakens the body's defences and makes it easy prey for all kinds of infections (called opportunistic infections) and cancers. The virus passes on when mucous […]
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