In spring a young man’s fancy may turn to thoughts of love, but it’s in summer that his semen is more likely to send him on the path to fatherhood.

New research shows that sperm is more active in the middle months of the year, and twice as active in July and August compared to January, according to a study based on 11 years of data on more than 5,000 men being treated for fertility problems.

Infertility, defined as the inability to conceive after 12 months of trying, affects around 15 to 20 per cent of couples and progressively increases with age. Male infertility is responsible for about half of cases, and one of the main factors is poor sperm motility.

To reach and fertilise an egg, sperm must wriggle and swim through a woman’s cervix, uterus and fallopian tubes. This movement is known as motility, and men are most likely to be fertile when at least 40 per cent of sperm are moving.

In the study, doctors analysed data collected from 5,188 men attending the Centre for Reproductive Incapacity of the University Hospital of Parma, in northern Italy, looking for possible seasonal pattern in sperm quality.

Results show that motility peaked in the summer, and was lowest in the winter. They also show that the number of men with a motility or movement greater than 40 per cent was 65.3 per cent in summer, and only 50 per cent in winter.

“We have shown the existence of a seasonal variation in some functional aspects of human semen,” confirmed Dr Alfredo De Giorgi, who led the study.

Seasonal changes in levels of hormones including testosterone may be responsible, according to the study published in the journal Chronobiology International.

In seasonal breeders – animals that successfully mate only during certain times of the year – light plays a part in the regulation of reproduction, to ensure that birth occurs at the most favourable time of the year.

In humans, there are also seasonal variations in the sleep cycle as well as in levels of the stress hormone cortisol, teosterone, vitamin D and cholesterol.

Credit: The Independent UK

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If you're planning on kicking your cigarette habit, going "cold turkey" (waking up one morning and deciding NEVER to smoke again) is the best option, new research published today in the Journal Annals of Internal Medicine 2016 reports.

According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), half of all smokers who keep smoking will end up dying from a smoking-related illness. In the United States alone, smoking is responsible for nearly 1 in 5 deaths, and more than 16 million people suffer from smoking-related diseases, including lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

"Smoking cessation [quitting smoking] represents the single most important step that smokers can take to enhance the length and quality of their lives."

Current guidelines recommend people choose a quit day then abruptly stop smoking. But many people prefer to take a gradual approach, where they cut back the amount they smoke over time. This gradually cutting back might not be the best option, yet.

"For many people, the obvious way to quit smoking is to cut down gradually until they stop. After all, that's how we accomplish most other goals that are hard," lead researcher Dr. Nicola Lindson-Hawley said. "With addictions other than smoking, we aim to get people to cut down gradually rather than stop abruptly. But with smoking, the norm is to advise people to stop all at once."

For most long-term smokers, breaking up with the hazardous habit is hard to do. But like any toxic relationship, sometimes it’s best to sever ties completely and not let the affair drag on long enough to cause even more damage.

However, gradual cessation may still work for some smokers who want to quit completely at some point in the future. “Gradual cessation programs could still be worthwhile if they increase the number of persons who try to quit or take up support and medication while trying,” the researchers write.


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New research has raised the possibility of creating more effective treatments for people who suffer from chronic pain - which could be as simple as encouraging them to take more exercise. Patients can be made more resistant to pain by altering the structure of their brains, scientists believe.

Scientists discovered for the first time that people left in agony by arthritis develop more receptors in the brain that respond to opiate pain relief.

Having extra receptors makes the body more resistant to pain – both by using our bodies’ natural painkillers, endorphins, and through prescribed opiates such as morphine.

The researchers believe that if we can find out how the body increases the number of opiate receptors, we will be able to improve pain relief treatments.

But some people seem to cope better with long-term severe pain, leading scientists to investigate which coping mechanisms were at work.

The University of Manchester team found that the more opiate receptors an individual has, the better able they are to resist pain.

To test the theory, the scientists warmed the skin of patients with a laser to measure how much pain they could withstand.

They then scanned their brains with a PET scanner to count the number of opiate receptors.

Prof Jones said that as well as drug treatments, something as simple as taking exercise could also boost opiate receptors.

‘We know that exercise can activate the natural opiate system in the brain,’ he told the Daily Mail.
‘What we don’t know is how it regulates how many opiate receptors we have. Having more exercise might increase the number of opiate receptors.’

Fellow researcher Dr Christopher Brown, from Manchester University, said: ‘As far as we are aware, this is the first time that these changes have been associated with increased resilience to pain and shown to be adaptive

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The operation, which lasted 8 hours, was performed by a highly trained cardiothoracic surgery team consisting of 8 staff under the helm of the Cardiovascular Surgeon Prof. Dr. İlhan Sanisoğlu.

Open surgical repair of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms, which is a very sophisticated type of procedure that can be performed only in specialized medical centers all around the world, was carried out successfully by the Cardiovascular Surgery Department of the Near East University Hospital. By performing the first open surgical repair of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms successfully, the Near East University Hospital has left its mark on another first in Cyprus once again.

Delivering information to the Directorate of Press and Public Relations Office of the Near East University, cardiovascular surgeon Prof. Dr. Ilhan Sanisoğlu stated that 74 year old Dutch-origin patient called Van Pruijssen was undergone a successful thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms surgery at the Cardiovascular Surgery Department of the Near East University Hospital. Providing information regarding the postoperative process, Prof. Dr. Sanisoğlu said: “Following the surgery, the patient was kept and monitored in the intensive care unit for three days. As no complications were developed, the patient was transferred to the normal ward at the cardiothoracic department. The patient can be discharged in a short time”.

In his final remarks on the issue, Professor Doctor Sanisoğlu indicated that both native and foreign patients with cardiovascular disorders preferred to receive their treatment at the Cardiovascular Department of the Near East University because of the renowned physicians with adequate surgical experience and high-tech equipped infrastructure of the hospital. He also underlined that the Near East University is the right address for the patients who are seeking safe treatment options for thoracoabdominal aortic disease.

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A successful kidney transplant has been carried out at the Nicosia Dr Burhan Nalbantoglu.

The transplant was from father to son. Health Minister Salih Izbul reported that they were proud and pleased with the outcome of the operation. Izbul said that the first operation ever in the TRNC had been carried out last week; he held a press conference to report the news.

He said this was the first operation of its kind in the TRNC and the patient was well; Izbul said the patient was ready to be discharged from hospital.

The operation is the first since parliament made organ transplant legal in the TRNC.

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Drinking alcohol is a nice way to unwind with a group of friends, and has also been known to act as a social lubricant. (Though, a past study has argued that laughter is actually a better social lubricant than alcohol.) However, Ian Mitchell writes in The Conversation that these positive effects are a nice reason to drink, but he questions its universal effectiveness, writing:

“...why do these reactions occur and are the positive effects of alcohol expressed towards everybody we interact with?”

When we drink, Mitchell explains, alcohol “binds to a specific type of receptor in the brain and boosts the activity of a natural brain chemical called GABA.” However, the effect the alcohol has on us is dependent on 1) how much we consume and 2) the location of these receptors. Mitchell explains that the alcohol acts on the GABA, boosting our dopamine levels and creating that warm fuzzy feeling — inhibiting our feelings of anxiety and, with too much, will inactivate our systems that make us feel fear.

All these factors, Mitchell says, help facilitate and ease social interactions. But while he reports studies have shown alcohol consumption can make us more empathic, more willing to trust others, and more generous, there's another side to this coin.

He writes:

“Equally, alcohol can corrupt our ability to understand the intentions of others. The brain contains specific circuits, which connect parts of the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and temporal parietal junction, that handle our social cognitive abilities. So our ability to understand somebody else’s mental perspective and their motivations for acting in a certain way become unreliable.”

What's more, he writes that we may misinterpret facial expressions and emotions. But during our alcohol-impaired states, we also gravitate toward certain people, “[bonding] to members of our in-groups. However, this may come at the cost of the way we treat people outside of these groups. Similarly, alcohol makes members of our ethnic in-group appear more attractive, but this effect does not extend to members of other ethnic groups.” In summation: Alcohol will make you friendlier, but only to certain people.

Read more at The Conversation.

Photo Credit: Kristoffer Trolle/Flickr

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Scientists at the highly-respected University of Grenoble have published a report suggesting that regular consumption of chili peppers may raise levels of the hormone, which is believed to make men more adventurous, enterprising and sexually active.

Laurent Begue, one of the authors of the study, said: "These results are in line with a lot of research showing a link between testosterone and financial, sexual and behavioural risk-taking."

The research paper, titled "Some Like It Hot", is to be published in the US-based journal "Physiology and Behavior".

Professor Begue said 114 men aged from 18 to 44, living in Grenoble, in south-eastern France, had taken part in the study.

Their testosterone levels were measured from saliva samples and they were presented with a plate of mashed potatoes and invited to add chili sauce to taste. Those who added the most hot sauce had the highest testosterone.

The hormone drives men to seek thrills and new sensations, leading them to frequent "more stimulating social groups and take more risks," according to Professor Begue.

"In this case, it applies to risk-taking in taste," he said. "It is also possible that the regular consumption of spicy food contributes to increasing testosterone levels, although so far this has only been demonstrated on rodents."

The effect of hot peppers on women has yet to be studied, but commentators say the research may inspire Gallic chefs to spice up their recipes and provoke a radical change in the eating habits of French men.

They may now start to view spice as a virility test and attempt to prove their manliness by consuming eye-wateringly hot food.

Credit: Readers Digest

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You haven't even made it to school or work yet, and you might have already set yourself up for a crappy day. How many of these common health mistakes did you make this morning? See where unintentional flubs throw you off, and the simple ways to fix them to get your day going in the right direction.

You Wake Up in a Cave
If you roll out of bed, hit the shower, guzzle your coffee, then bunker down in your office, you'll barely see the light of day until lunch. Missing out on morning rays might mess with your body mass index, a new study from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine found. People who get most of their natural light exposure after noon had higher BMIs than people who saw sunshine in the a.m., the study found.

Get Your Rays: Exposure to 20 to 30 minutes of natural light in the morning hours helps set your internal clock and regulate your energy level, appetite, and metabolism, according to researchers. Open the blinds and let the sun shine in while you get ready for work, and if you have time, have your coffee or breakfast outside—or at least by a window.

You Didn’t Down Any Water
If you don't drink water in the morning, you'll be playing hydration catch-up for the rest of the day, says Leslie Bonci, RD, director of sports nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Sports Medicine. And when you’re low on H2O, you’re more likely to be in a bad mood, get confused, or feel tired, reports new research from France.

Drink Up: If you have enough fluids in the morning, not only will you feel happier, sharper, and more energetic, but you'll also have more strength, speed, and stamina for your workouts later, Bonci says. Aim to start the day with 24 ounces in the first hour of the morning—that’s about 3 cups—to put yourself on the right H20 track.

You Worked Out on an Empty Stomach
Head out for your morning run or lifting session without eating first, and you risk being surly and foggy all day long, according to recent British research. Men were sharper on daily tasks and in better moods overall when they had breakfast before an a.m. sweat session than when they skipped the meal, the study found.

Eat Up: Eating healthy first thing in the morning (see our next tip) gives you the energy your brain needs to function properly for the rest of the day, the researchers say, so make sure you fuel up with a mix of protein and carbs first.

You Skimped on Protein
Oatmeal or a banana might hold you over for a couple hours, but waiting until lunch or dinner to get your protein fix is not the best way to build muscle, according to a new study from the University of Texas. People who ate a full 30-gram serving of protein at all three meals had a 25 percent higher muscle protein synthesis rate than people who ate the same amount of protein, but had the bulk of it at dinner, the researchers found.

Eat Up: Your body can only use so much protein to repair muscle at a time, the researchers say, so if you space your protein out evenly throughout the day by trying to get at least 30 grams with each meal, you’ll maximize your body’s ability to use it. Scramble up 3 whole eggs and 4 egg whites and have that alongside 2/3 cup of oatmeal for a filling breakfast that provides 36 grams of protein, advises Men's Health nutrition advisor Mike Roussell, Ph.D.

Credit: Men's Health 2014

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