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Hafiz 2013

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Men's health
7/5/2013 3:51:19 PM
Low Sperm Linked To Cancer Risk

Men who have no sperm have a higher risk of developing cancer than other males, researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine reported in Fertility and Sterility (June 20th, 2013 issue).


When a man has no measurable level of sperm in his semen he has azoospermia, he is azoospermic. Fertility experts estimate that approximately 1% of men are azoospermic, and that about 20% of male infertility problems are because of azoospermia.

According to the study, men who are diagnosed with azoospermia before thirty years of age are eight times more likely to develop cancer, compared to other men.

Lead author Michael Eisenberg, MD, PhD, said "An azoospermic man's risk for developing cancer is similar to that for a typical man 10 years older."

Approximately 15% (4 million) of all men aged from 15 to 45 in the USA are infertile. About 600,000 of them are azoospermic - 1% of the male population of the country. The researchers believe that infertility could well be a bellwether for a male's overall health.

While previous studies had linked male infertility to testicular cancer risk, this latest one has found an association between male infertility and other cancers too.

Eisenberg and team gathered and analyzed data from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and the Texas Cancer Registry. This included 2,238 men who were seen or treated at a Baylor andrology clinic between 1989 and 2009 - they were all infertile. 451 of them had azoospermia and 1,787 didn't. The authors added that there were no otherwise apparent initial differences between those with and without azoospermia.

Azzospermia has two main causes:
  • Obstructive azoospermia - there is a blockage which stops the flow of otherwise plentiful and healthy sperm in the testes from reaching the ejaculate

  • Non-obstructive azoospermia - the testes did not produce enough (or any) sperm to reach the ejaculate.
After screening about 25% of men with no measurable sperm, the researchers discovered that most of them suffered from non-obstructive azoospermia, probably due to some kind of genetic defect.

One quarter of all the genes in the human genome play some kind of part in reproduction. This means that there are a huge number of genetic ways a man can be azoospermic.

The men underwent a semen analysis and were followed for 6.7 years (average) to find out how many of them ended up in the Texas Cancer registry. Fortunately for the researchers, most Texans tend to stay in their state long term. The team then compared their incidence of diagnosed cancer with age-adjusted cancer-diagnosis statistics of Texas males overall.
The researchers found that over a 5.8-year period:
  • 29 of 2,238 infertile men developed cancer
  • 16 fertile men developed cancer, after gathering data for a similar sample-sized population of men of the same age and overall health in Texas. The scientists added that Texas statistics are similar to the rest of the country
  • Therefore, infertile men are 1.7 times as likely to develop cancer, compared to the rest of the male population
A 1.7-times higher risk is classed as a moderately increased risk.

Large Difference between Azoospermic and Nonazoospermic Infertile Men

When comparing azoospermic and non-azoospermic infertile males with the general male population, the researchers found that:
  • Azoospermic infertile men were 3 times as likely to develop cancer
  • Non-azoospermic infertile men were 1.4 times as likely to develop cancer - not a statistically significant difference
The scientists did not include azoospermic and non-azoospermic infertile men who developed cancer within three years of their infertility evaluation, so that they could exclude cancer as a possible cause of infertility.

The study was not large enough to determine specifically and by how much each cancer rates went up by because of infertility. However, the following cancers developed among those men: Eisenberg and team believe that many of the genetic faults that cause azoospermia also increase susceptibility to certain cancers - i.e. azoospermia and cancer risk may well share common genetic causes.

Dr. Eisenberg said:

"Most striking of all was the cancer risk among azoospermic men who first had their semen analyzed before age 30. They were more than eight times as likely to subsequently develop cancer than Texas males in the general population of the same age. In contrast, there was no relationship between age of semen analysis and risk of cancer for non-azoospermic men."


Eisenberg said there is good and bad news for young men with azoospermia:
  • The good news - although their risk of developing cancer is relatively higher compared to other men of the same age "their relative youth means that their absolute risk of contracting cancer during the follow-up period remained small."

  • The bad news - many males in their 30s have no primary health care provider. Eisenberg advises young men diagnosed as azoospermic to be aware of their higher risk of cancer and to have regular check ups.
Larger waist size linked to infertility and cancer risk - researchers from Nuffield Health, the largest health charity in the United Kingdom, found that women with larger waists had a higher risk of being infertile and developing cancer.

Household products and medications may raise risk of infertility and cancer - the European Environmental Agency warned that certain foods, drugs, cosmetics and household products contain EDCs (endocrine disrupting chemicals) which have been associated with an increased risk of infertility, obesity, cancer, and diabetes.

Over the last thirty years, the rates of infertility among males, as well as diabetes, breast and prostate cancers have increased considerably. Some scientists believe that this could be partly due to the increasing levels of exposure to mixtures of several chemicals which are in widespread use.

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Hafiz 2013

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RE: Men's health
7/7/2013 3:45:24 PM

Need to keep it mind!!

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Jim
Jim Allen

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RE: Men's health
7/7/2013 4:13:29 PM
Interesting early warning system for all?

Quote:

Need to keep it mind!!

May Wisdom and the knowledge you gained go with you,



Jim Allen III
Skype: JAllen3D
Everything You Need For Online Success


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Hafiz 2013

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RE: Men's health
7/10/2013 4:43:20 PM
Male 'Menopause' Accelerated By Heart Failure

Heart failure accelerates the aging process and brings on early andropausal syndrome (AS), according to research presented at the Heart Failure Congress 2013. AS, also referred to as male 'menopause', was four times more common in men with heart failure.

The Heart Failure Congress is the main annual meeting of the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology and is being held 25-28 May in Lisbon, Portugal.

As men get older they are more likely to suffer from andropausal syndrome (AS), also called 'menopause', androgen deficiency in the aging male (ADAM), or late-onset hypogonadism. Men with AS have decreased levels of anabolic hormones, including testosterone, and it has been suggested that these hormone deficiencies are what cause the clinical symptoms.

The symptoms of AS according to the Aging Male Symptom Rating Scale can be divided into three categories: sexual (erectile dysfunction, problems with libido, decrease in beard growth, feelings of 'having passed the zenith of life'), psychological (feeling discouraged, depressed, irritable, anxious, nervous), and somato-vegetative (joint and muscle complaints, sweating, need for more sleep, sleep disturbances, weakness, exhaustion).

Heart failure increases with age. Deficiencies of anabolic hormones are common in men with systolic heart failure, leading to reduced exercise capacity, depression and poor prognosis. But until now the impact of heart failure on the prevalence of AS and the severity of andropausal symptoms has not been studied.

Professor Ewa A. Jankowska (Wroclaw, Poland) said: "AS leads to poor quality of life. We wanted to discover whether heart failure increases AS and whether additional androgen therapies could improve quality of life in heart failure patients."

For the study, the researchers compared the prevalence of AS and the severity of andropausal symptoms between 232 men with systolic heart failure aged 40-80 years and 362 age-matched healthy peers. The magnitude of andropausal symptoms (psychological, sexual and somato-vegetative) was assessed using the Aging Males' Symptoms (AMS) Rating Scale and AS was diagnosed if the total AMS score was 50 points or more.

They found that AS affected almost one-third of men with heart failure, regardless of their age group. In men aged 40-59 years, heart failure led to a four-fold increase in the prevalence of AS (28% vs. 7%, p<0.001) and an increase in the severity of sexual and somato-vegetative andropausal symptoms (p<0.001). Men aged 60-80 years with and without heart failure had a similar prevalence of AS and severity of andropausal symptoms. Among men with systolic heart failure, the prevalence of AS was similar in both age groups (40-59 and 60-80 years).

The authors concluded that heart failure accelerates the natural process of aging and favours early onset of AS. Professor Jankowska said: "Heart failure leads to anabolic hormone deficiencies at a relatively young age and thereby accelerates male aging and the development of AS. These patients have poor quality of life and need endocrinological and sexual counselling."

It has been suggested that the anabolic hormone deficiencies in heart failure could be caused by heart failure treatments, which could affect the metabolism of hormones, or comorbidities, which might impair endocrine gland function. But in a second abstract (61271) the research group found few and weak associations between the presence of anabolic deficiencies, comorbidities and therapies in men with systolic heart failure. Professor Jankowska said: "This shows that it is the heart failure itself which impacts on the functioning of the endocrine glands."

She concluded: "Further research is needed to determine whether androgen supplementation can reduce the severity of andropausal symptoms."
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Hafiz 2013

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RE: Men's health
7/17/2013 4:49:45 PM

A Sedentary Lifestyle Can Reduce Sperm Quality


Over recent years, the overall quality of semen has declined, which is most likely due to the increase in sedentary lifestyles among young men, according to a recent study published in theBritish Journal of Sports Medicine.


The purpose of the study was to evaluate the relationship of physical activity with sperm count.

The authors wrote:

"The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationships between semen quality and both phys- ical activity and TV watching among young, healthy men. We hypothesised that increased phys- ical activity was associated with higher sperm count, concentration and motility, and a lower pro- portion of morphologically abnormal sperm. Furthermore, we hypothesised that increased TV watching time was associated with decreased semen quality parameters."


A total of 189 men participated in the study. They were asked to report the number of hours per week they spent exercising and watching TV, as well as provide a sample of their semen in order to analyze the quality.

The participants were also asked about any factors that could affect sperm quality, such as smoking, reproductive problems, diet and stress levels. The number of men with reproductive health problems was very low as well as the number of smokers - only 25% smoked.

The number of hours spent doing moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity varied from 5 to 14 hours. The amount of time spent watching TV ranged from only 4 hours up to 20. The men who were more physically active tended to also eat healthier diets than those who were more sedentary.

Young men who live sedentary lifestyles and watch over 20 hours of TV per week were found to have nearly half the sperm count of people who don't watch much TV.Men who watched more than 20 hours of TV had a sperm count 44% lower than men who watched the least.

On the other hand, men who did at least 15 hours of moderate exercise a week had very good quality sperm - their sperm count was found to be 73% higher than those who did little to no exercise. In fact, the results indicated that regardless of how frequent, light physical exercise didn't make any difference to the sperm count.

Physical activity improves sperm quality

The authors note that a low sperm count does not necessarily affect a man's ability to have children. The study does, however, reveal that lots of physical activity may actually improve semen quality.

A previous study conducted by researchers at the University of Cordoba found a link between moderate physical activity and improved hormone levels and sperm characteristics that improve overall reproduction.

The authors concluded:

"Future studies should also evaluate the extent to which different exercise types affect semen quality as previous studies suggest that there might be opposing effects of different types of activity on semen characteristics."
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