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Daily Sex Helps To Reduce Sperm DNA Damage And Improve Fertility
Daily sex (or ejaculating daily) for seven days improves men"s sperm quality by reducing the amount of DNA damage, according to an Australian study presented to the 25th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Amsterdam.

Recent Releases: New Res On HIV Testing In The U.S. Available, Nationwide HIV Campaign Announced
The Kaiser Family Foundation, ahead of National HIV Testing Day on Saturday, has released new and updated informational res on HIV testing in the U.S., including a fact sheet that provides HIV testing statistics, policies and CDC recommendations. In addition, the Foundation released two survey briefs, which examine the public"s attitudes, experiences and knowledge related to HIV testing, one of which focuses on black residents. The briefs are based on the 2009 Survey of Americans on HIV/AIDS released this spring. Information regarding HIV testing by state also is available through statehealthfacts.org (Kaiser Family Foundation release, 6/24).
News of the day
'Pro-choice Community' Should Find New 'Way Of Talking About Reproductive Freedom,' Opinion Piece Says
"Most of the push-back" from antiabortion-rights advocates to a recent e-mail message from author Judy Blume on behalf of Planned Parenthood -- which asked mailing list subscribers for donations -- was generated by an article in the antiabortion-rights publication LifeNews, columnist Meghan Daum writes in a Los Angeles Times opinion piece. The article put a "heavy, misrepresentative spin" on Blume"s message, which urged donors to "do all [they] can to support" the increasing number of women turning to Planned Parenthood centers for health care during the economic downturn.The LifeNews article said, "Blume notes how more women are seeking abortions from Planned Parenthood because of the difficult economy, and she urges readers of the e-mail to use that as a reason to support the abortion business." According to Daum, "this is just the kind of thing that makes abortion-rights advocates apoplectic," noting that abortion-rights advocates "fired-back" in the "blogosphere ... imparting the statistic about abortion making up only 3% of Planned Parenthood"s services and pointing out that many of the women being yelled at by picketers in clinic parking lots aren"t even pregnant but, rather, trying to avoid getting pregnant." Daum continues that the organization, much like Blume, "occupies a clear position on the post-Roe cultural map," adding, "Generally speaking, if you"re on board with abortion rights, you"re on board with Planned Parenthood." In addition, if you are against abortion rights, the "organization is the headquarters of Godlessness," she adds. Daum writes that it is not difficult to see why Planned Parenthood enlisted Blume -- an "icon of 1970s-era feminism and its efforts on behalf of sex education and women"s health" -- because she conjures "nostalgia for the early days of the fight that makes pro-choicers want to keep fighting today."Daum writes that as she watched this "saga unfold in [her] inbox," she was "struck by a troubling question. Even though Blume may not be associated with abortion in and of itself … is there something about her persona that signals a lack of dispassion about its ramifications? Is she reminding people of a time when, in the relief of Roe being decided, there was a cultural perception that abortion was a simple procedure that needn"t come with attendant emotional baggage?"Daum adds that there is "no denying that the language and overall tone around abortion has changed. Despite what many pro-life groups seem to think, most abortion-rights advocates prefer "safe, legal and rare" to "no big deal."" According to Daum, President Obama, "pro-choice though he is, is hardly strident -- and even a little evasive -- on the issue." She adds that Obama favors language about reducing the need for abortions and "finding common ground with the other side." Daum notes that the pop cultural arena "has become downright allergic to the issue" of abortion, with a recent movie coining the term "shmashmortion" because the characters "can"t even get the word out." Daum adds that although Blume "was undoubtedly effective" at bringing in funding for Planned Parenthood, perhaps what might have been "even more radical is if the pro-choice community could find a way of talking about reproductive freedom that neither reverts to the perceived casualness of the 1970s nor panders to the "shmashmortion" dialect of today. "Safe, legal and rare" comes close. But "safe, legal, rare and a big deal" might be even better" (Daum, Los Angeles Times, 5/14).
Oncology

Boys With Intermittent Eye Deviation Appear More Likely To Develop Mental Illness

Children and especially boys diagnosed with intermittent exotropia, a condition in which the eye turns outward (away from the nose) only some of the time, appear more likely to develop mental illness by young adulthood than children without strabismus (when the eyes deviate or are misaligned when looking at an object), according to a report in the June issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Intermittent exotropia occurs in approximately 1 percent of developmentally healthy children in the United States and, given its predominance over esodeviations [when the eye turns in] among Asian populations, it may be the most prevalent form of strabismus worldwide," the authors write as background information in the article. Jeff A. McKenzie, B.A., and colleagues at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., analyzed the medical records of 183 children younger than 19 in Olmsted County, Minn., who were diagnosed with intermittent exotropia between 1975 and 1994. For each patient, the researchers identified one control child who was the same age but did not have a diagnosis of any type of strabismus. Both groups were followed to an average age of 22. During the 20-year study period, 97 of the children with intermittent exotropia (53 percent) were diagnosed with a mental health disorder, compared with 55 controls (30.1 percent)-meaning that patients with the condition had an increased risk of developing a psychiatric illness. Mental health disorders were diagnosed in 63 percent of boys (41 of 65) and 47 percent of girls (56 of 118) with intermittent exotropia, compared with 33 percent of boys (22 of 66) and 28 percent of girls (33 of 117) in the control group. "Additionally, males with intermittent exotropia had a greater use of psychotropic medication, psychiatric emergency department visits, psychiatric hospital admissions, suicide attempts and suicidal ideation than controls, and females with intermittent exotropia had more suicidal ideation than controls," the authors write. The reasons underlying these associations remain unclear, the authors note. "Studies regarding the psychosocial impact of strabismus have reported that individuals with intermittent exotropia are not judged more poorly than individuals with orthotropia [the absence of strabismus] by adult observers. However, a negative bias toward people with strabismus has been demonstrated in children," the authors write. "Although this study focused on mental illness that was diagnosed by early adulthood, there is also evidence to suggest that the social problems associated with strabismus persist and even intensify into adult life." "Further study is needed to determine whether interventions for intermittent exotropia can decrease or otherwise alter the future development of mental illness," they conclude. Arch Ophthalmol. 2009;127[6]:743-747. Archives of Opthalmology


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