HPV high in men
The first national estimate suggests that nearly half of US men have genital infections caused by a sexually transmitted virus and that one in four has strains linked with several cancers, the Associated Press reports. Most human papillomavirus infections cause no symptoms and disappear without treatment, and most adults will get an HPV infection at some point in their lives. But high-risk HPV can cause cancer in the mouth and upper throat, cervical cancer in women, and other cancers; less harmful strains can cause genital warts. Who is at risk? Vaccines can prevent infections, but experts...
Read MoreVaccine Controversy?
Benefits are a matter of fact I have started, scratched out and even abandoned the writing of this essay. I couldn’t do it. It wasn’t there. Didn’t feel it. Something kept nagging at me, and it took some time to finally figure out what it was. It’s the idea that this article would be labeled “opinion” or “editorial” in the first place. Sure, there are some topics that seem to lend themselves appropriately to opinion pages. Vaccines, however, which have prevented 6 million deaths every ear worldwide and have fundamentally changed modern...
Read MoreTeen Virginity Beneficial
The sexual choices and values our young people hold have real-life consequences far beyond sexuality itself. In my nearly 25-year career at Focus on the Family as a social science researcher, I am constantly amazed and encouraged in my faith at how what God requires of us in our familial and sexual lives is never contrary to good, honest science. The two correspond in remarkable ways. And why shouldn’t it? When sociologists study the behaviors of man without agenda, they unwittingly discover the rightness of God’s wisdom and care in His directions to us. The scholars just don’t realize it....
Read More“Mommy brain”
Pregnancy may change mom’s brain for years afterward According to an article in this week’s STAT News, neuroscientist Elseline Hoekzema and colleagues have studied brain plasticity — that is, the way the adult brain changes — for years. But it wasn’t until one of her colleagues was trying to become pregnant that the team started pondering questions of how pregnancy and motherhood change a woman’s brain. What they found was that pregnancy reshapes the brain for at least two years afterward, with strongest effects in regions of the brain that are involved in social processing and those...
Read MoreStatins and Alzheimer’s
Regular Use Of Statins May Be Associated With Reduced Risk For Alzheimer’s, Study Suggests. ABC World News Tonight (12/12, Story 10, 0:20, Muir) reported, “A new study shows that high use of cholesterol lowering statins is now tied to a lower risk of Alzheimer’s for patients over the age of 65.” CNN (12/12, Howard) reports that research published online Dec. 12 in JAMA Neurology suggests “regular use of statins is associated with a reduced risk for Alzheimer’s.” The research “involved Medicare data on 399,979 statin users.” Investigators “found that those who were exposed to higher levels of...
Read MoreOverdose deaths rising
Opioid-Related Deaths at All-Time High The Washington Post (12/8, Ingraham) reports data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday revealed that “opioid deaths continued to surge in 2015, surpassing 30,000 for the first time in recent history.” The data shows “an increase of nearly 5,000 deaths from 2014.” CDC Director Tom Frieden said in a statement, “The epidemic of deaths involving opioids continues to worsen.” He added, “Prescription opioid misuse and use of heroin and illicitly manufactured fentanyl are intertwined and deeply troubling problems.” The AP...
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