Men may be more prone to the deterioration and atrophy of the brain that occurs commonly before full blown alzheimers, the disease that depletes the memory in older men and women, studies are now showing, leading them to question why it is women’s brains seem to be a little more resilient to pre-alzheimers dementia. 

Not only are the numbers going up substantially for people who are going to soon have alzheimers, but they have gone up so substantially among the baby boomers generation that scientists are calling for more research to determine why the alarming increase in this generation particularly, or at least why the increase at this time, since the numbers have skyrocketed with basically no explanation as to why, particularly in the male population, which is of course alarming to men. 

They are working on various treatments to help slow the mental decline that comes with aging and the alzheimers disease, and among them one is particularly interesting because it comes in a spray form that is sprayed up the nose, and is showing promise as a product that may slow the brain’s deterioration and memory loss when used regularly.

Also, a natural way to slow memory loss and make sure you stay moving around as a senior on your own, is to remain active and socially active as well.  Physical activity has recently been proven to slow down the aging process of the brain, and even to help dramatically slow the atrophy of the brain in both male and female patients who have alzheimers or are suffering from the dementia that precedes alzheimers.  More and more news will be coming out about memory loss since much of the population is aging now, and because it is a primary concern since memory is one of our most precious assets, and it is what makes us who we are, and how our views and opinions are formed in life. 

A man from the UK is claiming that over the past ten years, he has slowly been turning into a woman against his will and through forces that he has not helped along in any way, ie hormone therapy.  The man who is now in his sixties has said that he began to slowly change about ten years ago and take on more feminine characteristics that are only normally associated with women, who have high levels of the female hormone estrogen. 

So, either he has an extreme sudden onset lack of the  male hormone testosterone, or he has a severe imbalance which allows the female hormone estrogen to take over, because that is what would typically cause the types of symptoms he has been experiencing over the past ten years, which include a softening of the skin, a diminishment of facial hair, and the slow growth of breasts, which is a womanly physical piece as we all know. 

Apparently doctors initially thought he was secretly taking hormones to gain the feminine characteristics until he adamantly denied this and firmed his statement that he does not want to become a woman, that he firmly wants to remain a man and wants medical help to reverse this slow feminization of his body for unknown reasons.

Doctors apparently have never come up against such a strange ailment, so they naturally did not know how to help the man and initially offered him a sex change when they thought that was his goal.  We’ve seen men grow breasts before because of hormonal imbalances, and it is currently a very embarrassing problem for many men who try everything to get the “man boobs” to go away, but this man is experiencing much more than just “man boobs”, he’s actually becoming a woman in many other ways, outwardly, and to his and his family’s dismay. 

My thoughts are that doctors may try some sort of testosterone therapy on the poor guy, to try to get his male dominant characteristics to take over again, but there may be more variable at play here that they need to address before just giving him hormone therapy, or some underlying disease of ailment that needs to be treated that is indirectly causing the hormone anomalie. 

It seems Paul Hogan is under investigation by Australian authorities for some sort of tax evasion.  Paul Hogan is the infamous Crocodile Dundee character from the eighties that created a movie and franchise sensation instantly, and if you’re in your thirties or above, it’s a good chance you’ve seen one or all of the Crocodile Dundee movies.  Mr. Hogan seems to be taking a somewhat cavalier attitude toward the accusations leveled at him by saying “come and get me” basically to the Australian authorities, and says that he will soon be returning to Australia to film a movie.

Wesley Snipes, another action hero, but a born American, has also been charged with tax evasion, and has actually begun to serve jail time (I think, or at least he was sentenced to jail time I believe), so I guess even stars aren’t immune to the wrath of the IRS, Mr. Taxman. 

You do wonder what goes through people’s minds when they realize they are under investigation for tax problems, because the IRS and I’m sure Australia’s version of the IRS strikes fear into the hearts of most citizens for some reason if they think they might be in trouble.  Lord knows they have a lot of money, and the funny part is that most people busted for tax evasion are the ones who make millions to begin with.  I guess it’s sort of an anomalie. 

A man in Romania, who is only 33 years old to boot, has won a settlement in a Romanian court against the surgeon who accidentally severed his penis during a surgery that involved his testicles, against his surgeon, for almost eight hundred thousand dollars for an obviously huge amount of pain and suffering and emotional trauma from the incident. 

Apparently the man could not even get his penis reattached, and muscle was taken from elsewhere on his body to replace the area where the penis was strictly for functional use, but it is not a functioning penis in every sense and is there really more for aesthetic purposes.  You would think this guy might have won well over a million dollars, since this is an egregious miscarriage of surgical skills and is obviously a blatant case of malpractice.

Doctors and surgeons, at least here in the US, are required to carry malpractice insurance for these very reasons, because if they were to get sued, they may not be able to pay up out of their personal income or belongings, and doctors today basically risk losing it all if they have a malpractice suit in this litigious society if they do not have malpractice insurance, which pays out a certain amount for malpractice suits, up to a limit that is usually determined by the premium paid and the limits chosen by the insured when they sign up for the policy.

These days, you just never know what’s going to happen during surgeries, but this story is one of the worst cases of malpractice with a surprisingly low payout if you ask me.  Just my opinion though, maybe this is a high amount for something like this for all I know, I’ve never really heard of similar cases so I have nothing to solidly compare it to. 

Well, this certainly is a new one to me.  I’ve heard of oysters, cayenne, other exotic spices, and even some veggies as being natural aphrodisiacs and male sexual enhancement agents, but I had never heard, until now, that watermelon may be suspected as a natural male enhancer.  Too bad I hate watermelon! 

You may be in luck if you like this pink, seeded fruit though, because some research at Texas A&M is showing that the fruit may have certain properties that liken it to the likes of Viagra, Cialis, and other male enhancement drugs when it is consumed.  The specific effects they say they’ve observed are that it has similar effects on dilating the blood vessels that erectile dysfunction drugs do. 

Erectile dysfunction drugs work by helping to open the blood vessels that are responsible for the blood flow to the penis, which we all know is what engorges the penis, making it fully erect and ready for action.  While I’m sure watermelon doesn’t provide the same concentration, it may help to open these when eaten on a regular basis, and may actually have health benefits beyond just sexual.

Scientists think that the compound found within watermelon that causes this relaxation and opening of the blood vessels is one called citrulline, and also state that watermelong is beneficial in many other ways because of their nutrient qualities beyond this citrulline, which is believed to be the culprit in the blood vessel relaxation because of the body’s conversion of it to an amino acid called arginine, which is a common ingredient in a lot of Viagra alternatives. 

Well, in a page from other recreational use drugs like the modern day painkillers, it seems that there is another use for the beloved male erectile dysfunction and male sexual enhancement drug extraordinaire, Viagra.  It seems that athletes have taken it upon themselves to take the drug Viagra, and maybe even some other viagra alternatives, to help increase their stamina and capacity for performance in sports.

While there is no direct evidence that Viagra can help enhance performance in athletes, there has been a study done on bikers, and they appaerntly could bike a lot further when they were on the male erectile drug Viagra.  We know that the way Viagra works is that it increases the blood flow in the body, which means that it also increases the blood flow the male penis, and actually is even being tested as a female sexual enhancement drug as well since it is thought to also increase the blood flow and sensation to the feminine sexual areas which increases the pleasure perception and response.

It would make sense that it could also enhance athletic performance, or at least be perceived to do so, because it is essentially enhancing the body’s ability to pump out more blood, which means more oxygen, which means that the capacity for oxygen and using it up becomes greater.  That’s all theoretical though, and of course experts are disagreeing that there is even any real, tangible benefit for athletes. 

In fact, Viagra and similar drugs are being looked at for a possible ban in the sports world, if they can in fact boost performance and give competitors an unfair advantage similar to those that “dope” and those that are all natural. 

Well, it was only a matter of time before this happened and most states realized that abstinence education falls on (mostly) deaf ears, and that this type of education and self respect coaching really occurs as it should, at a child’s home.  At least that’s my belief and you can refute it if you’d like.  Many states now are refusing to shell out grant money for abstinence education. 

Abstinenece education is really just programs that are designed to educate kids in their early years of the virtues of not getting into bed with anyone, aka not having sex until you’re ready and it means something, as in marriage for example.  Sure, this sort of education has moral and even religious undertones, but most parents would definitely like their kids to be on board with this sort of moral and self respectful value since there are so many risks of sex including pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease, and not to mention the psychological effects sex can have on people who are not yet mature enough to handle the repercussions and emotion strings. 

The Bush administration was fairly big at offering federal grant money for these abstinence programs, but many states are pushing these offerings aside, because of the increasing skepticism that abstinence education even makes any difference at all in an adolescent’s decision making process and paradigms about premarital and early sexual activity.

Around 50 million bucks was actually budgeted for these programs this year alone, and you’d expect US states to be chomping at the bit to get their part of this, but most are convinced it does not do much good.  And most statistics do back this up.  Also, states, when they accept this grant money, have to also chip in a little of their own, reducing it’s appeal even further.

Some also feel that the teachings of abstaining are just too strict and are not realistic for today’s world, and instead should focus on first, choice, and second, on how to go about having the safest sex possible if you choose to do so in your teens.  Many states complained that the curriculum for these programs was just too strict and there wasn’t enough room for interpretation or state specific teachings to be worth it.  The whole abstinence program was started as part of a bid for welfare reform by the federal government and is now looking like it soon may be extinct.

A banned aphrodisiac that is sold quietly in head shops and sex shops, has caused a death in a 35 year old man, and it may be that the hunt for this natural aphrodisiac is on again by the FDA since it is obviously still being used or may still be available in certain spots for men to use.  However, one issue that is making it harder for enforcers to identify to take it off the shelves is that fact that the product is sold under several different names, including Piedra, Love Stone, Black Stone and Chinese Rock and Jamaican Stone.

The “natural” male enhancement product, which is sold in a solid form and purports to act as a natural aphrodisiac by being rubbed on the skin, is a  solidified mass which contains toad venom, the culprit in the health problems most likely.  It was outlawed when the FDA discovered it was linked with other males deaths and severe health complications. 

The most recent man who died from the toad venom aprhodisiac, it is said, had ingested the product, rather than rubbed it on his skin as indicated, however officials are careful to note that this product was banned for a reason, and it is not safe to use in any way, shape or form, whether taken by mouth or rubbed on the skin. 

A chemical byproduct of the toad venom derived aphrodisiac apparently interrupts the heart rhythm.  The 35 year old man who died was complaining of abdominal pain as well as chest pain when admitted to a hospital, however nothing could be done to save him, and it sounds as though he died of heart complications. 

Although the warning against this dangerous male enhancement product was issued for New York City, where the latest problem occurred, the FDA wants all men to know that if they have a product that is in solid form that is in any way suspect of being this one, do not take it.  It could literally mean the difference between life and death. 

It’s something that I guess a lot of women watch, but to be honest I had never heard of it, except for maybe a reference to a woman’s sex talk show on the Oxygen network, which is a network especially for women, which most men tend to avoid because it is very female directed, kind of how women might avoid the “Spike TV” channel, ya know.

The sex talk show called Talk Sex is ending, and the show’s host, who looks like she could be anyone’s grandmother - a new age Dr. Ruth sort of, says that she’s sad it’s ending, but all good things do come to an end after all.  The show talks frankly about sexual issues, and takes callers much like many other sex talk shows has, including the infamous Dr. Ruth’s talks shows in the past.

Johanson has been on the air in one form or another for 32 years, and is 77 years old, and she said that since the show is a taped one because of the callers they take, it was difficult for her to stay up late, which ended up being about one o’clock when taping was done.  This would mean, I guess that she wasn’t getting home for a while after that! 

The talk show supposedly was garnering it’s best ratings ever over the recent few years, so it’s a shame she’s hanging up her sex talk shoes, but she does say that she will still give lectures because she loves large audiences and loves the spotlight, and of course she enjoys talking about sex!  Who says you have to be a certain age to still want to talk about it?

Boy, I smelled this one coming when the news broke that the girl who calls herself Ashley Alexander Dupre (what a horrible name by the way, her real name is better), was supposedly bargaining with the creator of Girls Gone Wild’s Joe Francis, or at least with his people, to make an appearance for them as an obvious boost for their business since her name has been flashed allover the news now for a while. 

Since things have died down for the call girl after news of her being the prostitute who former governor Elliot Spitzer had trysts with every so often, she may be seeing a huge decline in her offers and opportunities, so it makes perfect sense that she is now suing Girls Gone Wild for ten million dollars. 

What happened is they originally offered her one million dollars to use her likeness to promote the videos they are so well known for, but when they were going through old video, they hit the jackpot so to speak and found that Dupre, then seventeen years old back in 2003, had already been filmed by the film crew partially nude and had signed a release. 

So the million bucks was off the table.  Maybe they should have been smart and just given her the million since technically now she could get ten million if she proves her case that her release was not a valid or equitable one and that she didn’t know what she was doing when she signed the release.  I even remember reading Joe Francis said that he just “saved himself a million” bucks or something to that affect and thought, wow, Ms. Dupre’s not gonna like that one bit, so this lawsuit doesn’t really shock me, needless to say!