Putting Men's Health First
* Over age 60, COVID-19 kills three times more males than females. * Before age 60, males have up to eight times higher levels of circulating testosterone. * After age 30, testosterone in males declines steadily throughout life, unlike the abrupt menopause. * Abnormally low testosterone in men over 40 becomes common … Continued
We are told that the much anticipated COVID-19 spike has arrived. On 17 October, there were 785 new COVID in-patient admissions to hospitals in England, including 87 to hospitals in London. There were 8 COVID patients occupying beds at Guy’s and St Thomas’ (who care for 95,000 in-patients a year). On 17 October, there … Continued
It’s smart to admit you don’t know the answer. Sir, Ed Conway (May 29) asks, “how did Britain suffer one of the worst episodes of (Covid-19) in the world?” It might be old hat, but Occam’s razor remains relevant; the simplest solution to a conundrum is often the right solution. The UK death rate … Continued
The hairy quina quina tree is a native of the warm, moist slopes of the Andes. In 1532, following the Spanish victory over the Inca empire, Peru became a viceroyalty. The incoming Jesuit missionaries were made aware of the bark of the quina quina tree as a remedy for the endemic fevers by local … Continued
“Nobody but poor wretches in the streets” Samuel Pepys writing of The Plague in September 1665 At 1.3 billion, China is home to 20% of the … Continued
Sent to all patients – 2019-nCoV is causing the epidemic in China. It is “zoonotic”, being transmissible from animals to humans, in this case from bats. It is classified as a betacoronavirus, the same group that caused the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) epidemic in 2002-2003 from civets to bats in Southern China and MERS … Continued
With any luck we will all get “old”, some older than others, “oldest old” – 80 plus. Our physiological processes become increasingly ineffectual from our early fifties onwards. The speed of onset of senescence is notably variable: the fitter, the slower the decline, and that counts for both mind and matter. The old adage “use … Continued
Simon Fraser Campbell (1941- ) was awarded a knighthood in the 2015 New Year’s Honours List for services to chemistry. Unless you happen to be a medicinal chemist, you might not have noticed, but this is the man who discovered the major breakthrough drugs Istin amlodipine and Cardura doxazosin for the treatment of … Continued
Following the inevitable melt down of “Lucifer” over the next few weeks, violent electrical storms are predicted: these may well give rise to a further period of excessively hot weather in the UK. But today, hundreds of thousands of cold, damp, pink Brits will be stripping off on the beaches of southern Europe to broil … Continued
… the short answer is no, not directly. But prostates do tend to grow larger with advancing age, so much so that they can cause really annoying LUTS (lower urinary tract symptoms) – poor urinary stream, urgency, frequency, nocturia, hesitation and dribbling. Before surgery is given a thought, GPs and urologists will prescribe any one … Continued