My boyfriend has been chewing tobacco regularly and drinking alcohol occasionally since he was 18 years old. He's 42 now and coughs a few times a day. Could the nicotine be the cause of the cough? Can a person who chews tobacco get a "smoker's cough?"
Not getting enough sleep may change the way cells handle insulin, increasing people’s risk of diabetes, a new study finds. Other research has linked a lack of sleep to a higher risk of obesity and diabetes. The new study looked at the effects of sleep on cells. It included 7 healthy young adults of normal weight. They were randomly assigned to sleep either 8.5 hours or 4.5 hours in a sleep lab for 4 nights in a row. Then everyone did the opposite sleep regime for another 4 nights. This took place 4 weeks later. After each 4-day cycle, researchers took samples of belly fat cells. After the sleep-deprived period, fat cells were 30% less able to respond to insulin. This is the hormone that helps move sugar (glucose) from the blood to other body cells. When cells “resist” insulin, the pancreas has to make more of it.
I am wondering about the side effects of daily baths in very hot water for men. I had a semen analysis and was shocked to discover it contains no sperm. I enjoy hot baths. Could this be the cause?
A daily multiple vitamin may slightly reduce cancer risk in older men, a new study suggests. Many studies have found no benefit from high doses of single vitamins. But the new study looked instead at standard multivitamins. The study included 14,641 male doctors age 50 or older. They were randomly divided into groups. One group took a daily multiple vitamin. The other group took a placebo, or fake pill. After an average of 11 years, researchers compared cancer rates. Men who took the multivitamin were 8% less likely to be diagnosed with a new cancer than those who took the placebo. About half of the cancers were in the prostate. Most of them were early stage, with high odds of survival. There was also little difference in prostate cancer rates between the two groups. So researchers decided to look just at other cancers.
I have had problems in the past with penile discharge. The doctor thought it was a sexually transmitted infection. But my tests were negative. What else could cause this?
Childhood abuse is bad enough on its own, and now it appears it may also increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease earlier than usual.
For unexplained shortness of breath, cardiopulmonary exercise testing may solve the mystery. Shortness of breath can often be eliminated or reduced with medical or surgical treatment, or cardiac or pulmonary rehabilitation.
Information on heart surgeons is widely available on the Internet. But a Harvard study shows that most consumers often do not correctly interpret the data the way they are presented.
A high blood glucose level may signal increased risk of diabetes, but in the absence of common symptoms of diabetes, a hemoglobin A1c test may provide a more accurate diagnosis.
Overdrinking, particularly binge drinking, can trigger the fast, erratic heart rhythm known as atrial fibrillation. Because this tends to occur during holiday celebrations, the condition is known as “holiday heart syndrome.”