Medtronica

National Center for Alternative and Complementary Medicine

http://nccam.nih.gov/

This offers general information about alternative and complementary therapies with links to research being conducted on addiction, aging, AIDS, cancer, asthma, stroke and women's health.

CAN'T STAND THE HEAT

Hot tubs may be fine places for a bit of romance, but if the guy's planning on having kids eventually ... well, there may be better places to hang out.

A three-year study by a University of California San Francisco urologist concludes that too much hot tubbing can cause male infertility, although Dr. Paul J. Turek also said the effect may be reversible.

CAN'T TAKE THE HEAT - A three-year study by University of California San Francisco urologists concludes that too much hot tubbing can cause male infertility. CNS Photo.

MEDTRONICA - National Center for Alternative and Complementary Medicine Web site at http://nccam.nih.gov/ offers general information about alternative and complementary therapies for many ailments, such as addiction, AIDS and so forth. CNS Photo.

Dry heat exposure, such as from a fever or external source, has long been known to impair sperm production both in animals and humans. Turek's study, which involved 11 patients who had been repeatedly exposed to high water temperatures through hot tubs, indicates the same may hold true for wet heat.

All of the men exhibited low sperm counts. Turek found that five of the men displayed increased fertility levels after avoiding hot tubs for three or more months. No word, however, on what the prohibition meant to their dating lives.

GET ME THAT. STAT!

Currently, only one person in 2 billion lives to be 116 or older.

NEVER SAY DIET

The world's eating record for most slugs eaten in two minutes is 12; for cockroaches, 28 in four minutes; for earthworms, 60 in three minutes, six seconds. The record for consuming 100 live maggots is an almost leisurely five minutes, 29 seconds.

STORIES FOR THE WAITING ROOM

Until the 16th century, when the French surgeon Ambroise Pare thankfully proved it unnecessary, a standard cure for male hernias was castration.

HYPOCHONDRIAC'S GUIDE

If you can't stop moving your fingers and toes, you suffer from athetosis.

PHOBIA OF THE WEEK

Taeniophobia - fear of tapeworms

BEST MEDICINE

A man took his Rottweiler to the veterinarian. "Excuse me, but my dog has gone cross-eyed," the man said. "Could you please help?"

The vet picked up the dog and looked at his eyes and teeth. "I'm sorry, sir, but I'm going to have to put your dog down," the vet said.

"Why, because he's cross-eyed?" asked the man.

"No, because he's heavy!"

OBSERVATION

Medicines are only fit for old people.

- Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), who reportedly suffered from nausea, pituitary dysplasia, prolapsed hemorrhoids, constipation, syphilis, chronic fatigue, peptic ulcers, dysuria, abdominal cramps and anorexia.

LAST WORDS

Sergeant, there isn't a Spanish bullet made that will kill me.

- William "Bucky" O'Neill, a Rough Rider during the Spanish-American War of 1898, just before a Spanish bullet proved him wrong.