Faculty Bibliography

Men who have more orgasms seem to live longer, a statistical study of Welsh villagers in The British Medical Journal has found. It is one of the rare studies of sex and death, and the authors lightheartedly suggested in the article Saturday that the findings might result in new kinds of promotional campaigns for healthy living. Two other scientists added a few drops of cold water, cautioning that because of its design, the epidemiological study might not have been able to identify a number of factors that could have inadvertently influenced the findings. One possibility is that the link could be reversed -- ill people might be less likely to have sex, according to the critics who commented in the same issue

Men who have more orgasms seem to live longer, a statistical study of Welsh villagers in The British Medical Journal has found. It is one of the rare studies of sex and death, and the authors lightheartedly suggested in the article on Saturday that the findings might result in new kinds of promotional campaigns for healthy living. But before then, further studies of both sexes are needed to confirm their findings, the authors said. Two other scientists added a few drops of cold water, cautioning that because of its design, the epidemiological study might not have been able to identify a number of factors that could have inadvertently influenced the findings. One possibility is that the link could be reversed - ill people may be less likely to have sex, according to the critics who commented in the same issue

MEN who have more orgasms seem to live longer, a statistical study of Welsh villagers in The British Medical Journal has found. It is one of the rare studies of sex and death, and the authors lightheartedly suggested in the article on Saturday that the findings might result in new kinds of promotional campaigns for healthy living. But before then, further studies of both sexes are needed to confirm their findings, the authors said. Two other scientists added a few drops of cold water, cautioning that because of its design, the epidemiological study might not have been able to identify a number of factors that could have inadvertently influenced the findings. One possibility is that the link could be reversed -- ill people may be less likely to have sex, according to the critics who commented in the same issue. ''Sexual activity seems to have a protective effect on men's health,'' Dr. George Davey-Smith's team concluded after analyzing death rates of nearly 1,000 men from 45 to 59

Before then, further studies of both sexes are needed to confirm their findings, the authors said. Two other scientists cautioned that because of the study's design, it might not have been able to identify a number of factors that could have inadvertently influenced the findings. 'Sexual activity seems to have a protective effect on men's health,' Dr. George Davey-Smith's team concluded after analyzing death rates of nearly 1,000 men aged 45 to 59 in Caerphilly. Even so, they could not explain the differences in risk. Hormonal effects on the body resulting from frequent sex could be among other possible explanations for the findings, Davey-Smith said

Men who have more orgasms seem to live longer, a statistical study of Welsh villagers in the British Medical Journal has found. It's one of the rare studies of sex and death, and the authors lightheartedly suggested in the article that the findings might result in new kinds of promotional campaigns for healthy living. 'Sexual activity seems to have a protective effect on men's health,' Dr. George Davey-Smith's team concluded after analyzing death rates of nearly 1,000 men from 45 to 59 in Caerphilly

Men who have more orgasms seem to live longer, a study of Welsh villagers in The British Medical Journal has found. However, further studies of both sexes are needed to confirm their findings, the authors said. Two other scientists added a few drops of cold water, cautioning that because of its design, the epidemiological study might not have been able to identify factors that could have influenced the findings. Having regular sex reduces the risk of death by about half, according to the analysis, which was part of a long-term study of chronic disease in the Welsh town of Caerphilly (pronounced CARE-fill-ee)

No one was more skeptical about using magnets for pain relief than Dr. Carlos Vallbona, former chairman of the department of community medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. So Vallbona was amazed when a study he did found that small, low-intensity magnets worked, at least for patients experiencing symptoms that can develop years after polio. Vallbona had long been fascinated by testimonials about magnets from his patients, and even from medical leaders. But his interest in magnet therapy became more serious in 1994 when he and a colleague, Carlton F. Hazlewood, tried them for their own knee pain. The pain was gone in minutes. 'That was too good to be true,' Vallbona said. Aware of the medical profession's skepticism about magnet therapy, Vallbona sought to conduct science's most rigorous type of study. Participants would agree to allow the investigators to randomly assign them to groups getting treatment with active magnets or sham devices. But neither the patients nor the doctors treating them would know what therapy was used on which patient

A sudden, serious shortage of a lifesaving blood-derived drug, intravenous immune globulin, used by tens of thousands of patients with immune system and other disorders, has Food and Drug Administration and industry officials searching for the causes and new supplies. Immune globulin is used by people with: impaired immune systems susceptible to many infections; Kawasaki disease, an inflammatory disorder that can cause serious heart problems; autoimmune disorders, in which the body acts against itself such as by destroying the blood clotting substances known as platelets; disorders of the brain and central nervous system; pediatric AIDS, and other ailments

A sudden, serious shortage of a lifesaving blood-derived drug used by tens of thousands of patients with immune system and other disorders has led Federal and industry officials to search for the causes and solution of the problem. The officials said yesterday that they did not know the extent of the shortage of the drug, the form of immune globulin that is injected intravenously, or when the problem would end. They said they were rushing to remedy the situation without compromising public health. Immune globulin is used for people born with impaired immune systems that make them susceptible to a broad range of infections; Kawasaki disease, an inflammatory disorder of unknown cause that can cause serious heart problems; autoimmune disorders, in which the body acts against itself such as by destroying the blood clotting substances known as platelets; disorders of the brain and central nervous system; pediatric AIDS and other ailments

With Hong Kong reporting two more cases of a new viral strain of influenza over the weekend, scientists are escalating efforts to develop a vaccine to avert a potential epidemic, United States health officials said yesterday. The new reports bring to six the number of cases attributed to a strain of influenza previously known to infect only poultry. Two of the six patients died, but none spread the disease, and it is a mystery how the virus is being transmitted, said officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The viral strain is entirely new, and it is far too soon to know whether the cases are the harbinger of a global epidemic or will end up as a medical oddity, said Dr. Robert G. Webster, of St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, a member of the World Health Organization's influenza team. He was interviewed in a telephone conference call from London, where he is attending a meeting of virologists on his way home from Hong Kong