Things you didn't know about your penis

"His brain is in his dick" partly true

clipped from www.cbsnews.com No. 1: Your Penis Does Have a Mind of Its Own the penis answers to a part of the nervous system that's not always under your conscious control Sexual arousal usually isn't voluntary impulses from the brain during the REM phase of sleep cause erections, whether you're dreaming about sex or about a test you forgot to study for When you're relaxed and feeling well, your flaccid penis looks bigger than when you're stressed out. "How's it hanging?" is more apt than you might have realized. no consistent relationship between the size of the flaccid penis and its full erect length shorter flaccid penises tend to gain about twice as much length as longer flaccid penises In an MRI picture, the penis looks distinctly boomerang-like, as noted by a French researcher who studied men and women having sex inside an MRI scanner. No. 4: You Can Break Your Penis there's "an audible pop or snap," Montague says. Then the penis turns black and blue. And there's terrible pain No. 5: Most Penises in the World Are Uncut

Peppers cure diabetes

clipped from www.naturalnews.com A new Canadian animal study published in Friday's issue of the journal Cell found that mice injected with capsaicin -- the chemical that makes chili peppers hot -- were rapidly cured of Type 1 diabetes. Researchers from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto believe that Type 1 diabetes -- the most serious form of the disease that usually appears in childhood -- is caused by malfunctioning pain nerves that surround cells in the pancreas. In patients suffering from Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas fails to produce sufficient levels of insulin, causing inflammation and death of insulin-producing islet cells in the pancreas.

Diabetes: Surgery May Correct It

clipped from www.sciencedaily.com Diabetes May Be Disorder Of Upper Intestine: Surgery May Correct It ScienceDaily (Mar. 6, 2008) — Growing evidence shows that surgery may effectively cure Type 2 diabetes — an approach that not only may change the way the disease is treated, but that introduces a new way of thinking about diabetes. A new article — published in a special supplement to the February issue of Diabetes Care by a leading expert in the emerging field of diabetes surgery — points to the small bowel as the possible site of critical mechanisms for the development of diabetes. The study's author, Dr. Francesco Rubino of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, presents scientific evidence on the mechanisms of diabetes control after surgery. Clinical studies have shown that procedures that simply restrict the stomach's size (i.e., gastric banding) improve diabetes only by inducing massive weight loss Growing evidence shows that surgery may effectively cure Type 2 diabetes

clipped from www.timesonline.co.uk Jungle frog’s anti-infection agent may help millions of diabetics A nocturnal frog that dwells in the ponds and lagoons of the Amazon could prove to be an unlikely lifesaver for millions of people suffering from diabetes, researchers say. The South American “paradoxical frog” (Pseudis paradoxa) owes its name to an uncanny ability to shrink as it grows older. Scientists studying the properties of its slimy skin have found a substance that can stimulate the release of insulin, the vital hormone that is deficient in sufferers from diabetes. Scientists have made an artificial copy of the peptide, a protein-building block that protects the frog from infection, and have suggested that it could be used to boost insulin production in people with Type 2 diabetes.

Why bad smells make you gag

clipped from www.abc.net.au Smells so irritating they make you cough or gag may act on a single type of cell in the nose that senses caustic chemicals and warns the brain of potential danger, US researchers say. Scientists thought such smells acted directly on nerve endings in the nose. But this study in mice suggests special cells in the tip of the nose act as air quality control sensors that protect the body from harmful chemicals. "You can imagine walking into an environment where there is a lot of irritating dust in the area. This would give you pause," says Professor Thomas Finger of the University of Colorado Denver, whose study appears in the Journal of Neurophysiology. Finger says these chemosensory cells are found in most aquatic vertebrates, including sharks, bony fish and lampreys. He thinks they are part of an ancient sensory system and they are probably present in all mammals. "The current study is the first in mammals that has a clear idea of what these cells are responding to," Finger says.

Pesticides may be a hidden danger to child IQ

Not really a surprise, and there are some really nasty pesticides, that are a problem because they don't break down. It just seems to be another one of the things about a 'civilized' lifestyle, that can be a serious danger to long term health. In the short term they may make many things seem easier, but in the long term we have yet to see some of the most serious effects. Particularly with the way a number of these things can compound problems.

clipped from www.abc.net.au Dani Cooper Household pesticides may cause some of the intellectual development problems in children previously associated with lead, an Australian toxicologist says. In a commentary available online in the journal Science of the Total Environment, Professor Brian Gulson says there is no question lead has a detrimental effect on children's intellectual development. But the Macquarie University researcher says several studies have shown similar effects in children exposed to low levels of organophosphate pesticides. He says the similarity in effects and the overlap in timing of the major use of these pesticides in the community and lead exposure studies could have resulted in confusion. But his comments have been dismissed as an "interesting idea" that is "not well supported" by the science. They come as regulatory bodies in the US, Canada and Australia are reviewing guidelines for acceptable levels of lead in the blood.

Why flu virus loves the cold

Another reason the wrong kinds of fat are bad for you. They say it's something like butter (But never tell a cow that)

clipped from www.abc.net.au Influenza viruses coat themselves in fatty material that hardens and protects them in colder temperatures, a finding that could explain why winter is the flu season, US researchers report. We might be able to fight the flu virus by designing drugs that weaken its outer fatty coating, according to researchers who say this layer is critical to the way it infects cells This butter-like coating melts in the respiratory tract, allowing the virus to infect cells, the team at the National Institutes of Health found. "The protective covering melts when it enters the respiratory tract," says Dr Joshua Zimmerberg of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), who led the study. "It's only in this liquid phase that the virus is capable of entering a cell to infect it." Researchers have long pondered why flu and other respiratory viruses spread more in winter. "The study results open new avenues of research for thwarting winter flu outbreaks," he says.