For the first time high cholesterol levels have been linked to prostate cancer as dicovered in a new study.

The strongest risk factors for prostate cancer remain to be; age, ethnic background and family history.  But scientists had some evidence for links between cholesterol and prostate cancer for quite a while as reported in the Journal of Cellular Biochemistry.

To explore the possible link between cholesterol and prostate health, epidemiologist Francesca Bravi and colleagues reviewed the medical files of nearly 3000 men under the age of 75 from four different regions of Italy.  This included 1294 men who had prostate cancer and 1451 men without the disease.

After adjusting for other factors such as family history of prostate cancer and smoking, the team found that those with prostate cancer were 50% more likely to have high cholesterol than their control counterparts.  It is likely that the high cholesterol may contribute to the development of prostate cancer but that causative link was not firmly established by this study.

Bravi noted that the body uses cholesterol to make hormones known as androgens, which influence prostate tissue.  A surplus of cholesterol may lead to unbalanced production of the hormone, she says.

Researchers believe a sort of stomach pacemaker could be a realistic treatment for obesity.In a small study of healthy volunteers, gastric electrical stimulation delivered via electrodes placed in the lining of the stomach, reduced the subjects’ intake of food and water and seemed to delay the emptying of the stomach.

The idea actually goes back about a decade.  Implantable gastric stimulation showed promise as a treatment for morbid obesity when it was first tested in 1995.  Since then, several reports have come out supporting its safety and effectiveness, but some patients do not respond.

Dr. Jiande D. Z. Chen, from the University of Texas in Galveston, and his colleagues found that gastric electrical stimulation can be performed using electrodes placed endoscopically in the stomach lining rather than surgically in the outer membrane of the stomach — which should reduce the possibility of complications.

Also, this approach — which enables doctors to apply temporary stimulation — may be useful for identifying people who respond and are likely to benefit from long-term therapy.

In the new study, reported in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, Chen’s group tested their approach in 12 healthy volunteers.  After the electrodes were placed in the stomach, the team recorded the participants’ food intake, stomach function, and other factors when stimulation was applied and not applied, over three consecutive days.

Compared with sham stimulation, real stimulation was associated with significant reductions in food intake and maximum water intake.  In addition, real stimulation delayed stomach emptying during the first 45 minutes after a meal.

No significant increases in symptoms such as discomfort or nausea were seen with real compared with sham stimulation.

The researchers say the their gastric electrical stimulation technique may help people lose weight, but that wasn’t tested in this study.

With so many obese people suffering out there this would be a welcome treatment. They should add this to the line of Dead Sea Products.

The WHO’s World Health Report 2006 finds that fifty-seven countries have a serious shortage of health workers.  They go on to state that life expectancies in the poorest countries are half of those in the richest nations.

Sub-Saharan Africa has 11% of the world’s population and 24% of the global burden of disease but only 3% of the world’s health workers.

The report also blames Western countries that are “poaching” healthcare staff from these countries.

The WHO is calling for more direct investment in healthcare training and support of health workers.

It says health budgets should increase by at least US$10 per person per year in the 57 countries with severe shortages, to educate and pay for the four million health workers needed.

Wow, talk about a pipe-dream.  I think they should spend more money on educating the populations about birth control.

Researchers say men who smoke a pack of cigarettes or more a day are amost 40 percent more likely to have erectile dysfunction compared to nonsmokers.

“Smoking accelerates atherosclerosis and is a potent risk factor for heart disease. It just stands to reason that what harms blood vessels in one area of the body harms them in other areas, too,” said Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine.

This study, which was conducted by British and Australian researchers, and was reported in the March issue of Tobacco Control.

In the study, the researchers collected data on nearly 8,400 men aged 16 to 59 years who participated in the Australian Study of Health and Relationships.

Of these men, almost one in 10 said that he had had erectile problems lasting a month or more in the past year. More than 25 percent of the men smoked. One in five smoked a pack a day or less, and just over 6 percent smoked a pack a day or more, the researchers found.

The researchers discovered that, compared with nonsmokers, men who smoked one pack or less a day were 24 percent more likely to report difficulties maintaining an erection. Those who smoked more than a pack a day were 39 percent more likely to report erectile difficulties.

So butt out if you want to continue getting it up, now that is a good piece of relationship advice!  Now if they would only come out with Nicorette gum in tart cherry flavour.