Gardasil HPV Vaccine For Boys?

The drug company manufacturing Gardasil, the popular vaccine known to prevent cervical cancer in women, has recently presented a study that Gardasil has also been shown to prevent genital warts in boys.

Thus, the idea of vaccinating boys with Gardasil is now being suggested. CBS' morning newscast carried the story below:



In the US, 3 doses of Gardasil cost US $390 or about P18,877.06 in Philippine pesos using current exchange rates. Because it is expensive, only the well-to-do can afford it here.

But is that a good idea?

I think so. Vaccinating both boys and girls might be the key to bring down overall incidence rates of cervical cancer in the future.

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Men With Healthy Sperms Live Longer

You might doubt if there's a connection between healthy sperms and longer life spans among men, but a study among Danish men suggests a link.

"No matter what you look at, the risk of dying is decreased if you have a good semen quality compared to low; the poorer the semen quality, the higher the risk of dying."

That is what one of the researchers involved in the study said.

To test the hypothesis that semen quality might therefore be related to illness and death, the researchers looked at men who had been referred to the Copenhagen Sperm Analysis Laboratory between 1963 and 2001, following them through the end of 2001 or until they died. They restricted their analysis to 43,277 men with viable sperm in their semen.

As the concentration of sperm in the men's semen increased, so did their lifespan, the researchers found. Men whose sperm concentration was 40 million per milliliter were 40% less likely to die during the course of the study than men with sperm concentrations below 10 million per milliliter.

Longevity also rose steadily with the percentage of a man's sperm that were "motile," meaning they moved around normally; and the percentage of normally formed sperm. For example, men with 75% or more normal sperm had a 54% lower risk of dying than men who had less than 25% normal sperm. ~ Reuters, 5 Aug 2009

Another 0bservation made in the same study is that men "who had fathered children lived longer than childless men." Fertility has its rewards.

This seems to be true. In the Philippines, famous personalities like Dolphy, Ramon Revilla, Sr., and even former President Joseph Estrada, who are all known to have fathered several children outside of their respective marital relations, are all still alive and kicking today. They might have been sick or suffered from stroke attacks in the past, but their recovery periods are commendable compared to men belonging to similar age brackets.

But this new finding shouldn't be misconstrued as evidence to support men's hidden desires to father children out of their marriages. No, sir. I think men can still have more children with their wives, and well within the context of a monogamous relationship. Besides, I still think the mindset to have more children outside of marriage is culture-driven.

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Dementia and High Cholesterol Levels

What is your current cholesterol level? Did you ever bother to find out?

A recent study suggests that cholesterol may not only play a role in cardiovascular diseases and hypertension, but also in developing dementia.

High cholesterol levels in midlife --- even cholesterol levels considered only borderline elevated --- significantly increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease 30 years later, results of a large study indicate.

"This is the first study, to our knowledge, to show that not only high cholesterol, but also borderline high cholesterol, is associated with dementia," Dr. Rachel Whitmer, the study's senior author, noted in a telephone interview with Reuters Health.

Compared to people with "desirable" cholesterol levels below 200 milligrams per deciliter of blood (mg/dL) in midlife, the risk of Alzheimer's disease three decades later was 57 percent higher in people with high midlife cholesterol levels of 240 mg/dL and above. ~ Reuters, 5 August 2009

Most of my patients have borderline to high cholesterol levels. There are only a few who manage to keep their cholesterol levels below 200mg/dL, and this, I think, is not only because of diet restrictions but due to their statin medications.

The same study also stated that "midlife borderline high cholesterol increased the risk of vascular dementia by 50 percent." I think that is a clear warning and a definite eye-opener. Fifty percent is a high number.

To my knowledge, I think this is the first study to link dementia with dietary considerations. Dementia is said to be both a degenerative and genetic consequence. If it can also be influenced by lifestyle modifications, then, this must be good news on the preventive aspect.

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