Roughly half of all cases of infertility are due to male issues, most notably low sperm motility — or the ability of sperm to successfully swim to the egg. German researchers have invented a "spermbot," a tiny corkscrew-like micromotor that fits over the tail of the sperm and then spins using a rotating magnetic field to provide a little extra drive to the goal.
Once the sperm reaches the egg, the spermbot reverses spin and falls away, with no effect to either sperm or egg cells.
Researchers have successfully tested the approach in the lab, but are a long way from use in humans, who are considerably more complicated than a Petri dish. For one thing, they can't yet direct the motors' movements to better aim sperm in the right direction and it remains unknown what the body's immune system will make of the devices.
The Pregnant Pause
More than 3.3 million women between the ages of 15 and 44 years are at risk of exposing their developing baby to alcohol because they are drinking, sexually active and not using birth control to prevent pregnancy, reports the Centers for Disease Control in a new study.
The CDC says three in four women who want to get pregnant as soon as possible do not stop drinking alcohol when they stop using birth control.
Alcohol use during pregnancy, even within the first few weeks and before a woman knows she is pregnant, can cause lasting physical, behavioral and intellectual disabilities for the child. There is no known safe amount of alcohol — even beer or wine — that is safe for a woman to drink at any stage of pregnancy.
"Alcohol can permanently harm a developing baby before a woman knows she is pregnant," said CDC principal deputy director Anne Schuchat. "About half of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned, and even if planned, most women won't know they are pregnant for the first month or so, when they might still be drinking. The risk is real. Why take the chance?"
Get Me That, Stat!
Nearly 8 million children died in 2013 worldwide, the vast majority (6.3 million) under the age of 5, says a new report in JAMA Pediatrics. The leading causes of death in younger children were lower respiratory tract infections, preterm birth complications, malaria and diarrhea. Among adolescents (ages 10-19), the leading cause of death was traffic fatalities, followed by HIV/AIDS, self-harm, drowning and intestinal infectious diseases.
Life in Big Macs
One hour of moving your ice house (setting up, drilling holes for your fishing lines) burns 408 calories (based on a 150-pound person) or the equivalent of more than one-half of a Big Mac.
Doc Talk
Hypnagogia: the brief transitional period between sleep and wakefulness
Phobia of the Week
Taphephobia: fear of being buried alive
Never Say Diet
The Major League Eating record for fried mushrooms is 11.5 pounds in 8 minutes, held by Molly Schuyler. By all reports, it was a harrowing feat and no fungi at all.
Best Medicine
A woman in labor suddenly began shouting "Shouldn't! Can't! Didn't! Wouldn't!"
Her husband looked up at the doctor, alarmed.
"Not to worry," said the obstetrician. "Those are just contractions."
Observation
"The road to health is paved with good intestines." — Physician-author Sherry A. Rogers
Medical History
This week in 1918, the tallest human on record was born. Robert Wadlow was born in Alton, Illinois to parents of ordinary height, the first of five children. (The following four siblings would grow to normal heights.) By age 8, he was taller than his father. When he graduated from high school, he was 8-feet, 4-inches. He would ultimately reach 8-feet, 11.1 inches and weigh 439 pounds. His size was due to hyperplasia of his pituitary gland, which resulted in excessive, continued production of human growth hormone. When he died in 1940 at the age of 22, he was still growing.
Self-Exam
Q: Which has more germs: a toilet seat or your cell phone?
A: Yep, your phone, which research suggests may have 10 times more bacteria than most toilet seats. The reason is toilet seats tend to be cleaned more often. The good news is that most of the germs on your phone are yours, so they're not likely to make you sick.
Mycrobes
Candida albicans is a fungus that grows both as a yeast and as filamentous cells. It's an opportunistic pathogen that causes oral and genital infections — and is the source of Candida onychomycosis or toenail infections. More seriously, in persons with compromised immune systems, such as patients with AIDS or undergoing cancer chemotherapy, C. albicans has emerged as a major cause of mortality.
Translational Meds
Lomitapide (sold as Juxtapid) is prescribed as an oral adjunct to a low-fat diet and other efforts to reduce cholesterol levels. Side effects can include diarrhea and nausea, but more importantly, there is an elevated risk of toxicity to the liver. It should not be used by pregnant women or nursing mothers.
Curtain Calls
Ramon Jose Rodriguez, a 23-year-old construction worker in Miami, Florida, was killed in 1988 when a portable toilet fell from the fourth story of a building and landed on top of him. The toilet was on rollers to make it easier to move and was blown off the edge of an unfinished building by a sudden gust of wind.
To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by otherCreators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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