Men bicycle frequently could be harming their health if they don't choose the right bicycle, according to consultant urological surgeon Vinod Nargund from St. Bartholomew's and Homerton Hospitals, London, in the urology journal BJU International.

He says problems include genital numbness, erection problems and soreness and skin irritations in the groin area. Men might also experience changes to their sperm function because of the excessive heat generated in the pelvic area.

No general link between cycling and male infertility has been established, but it is still recognised as a possible side effect and has been noted in a number of male cyclists.

Depression is the most important single factor predisposing to suicide, and more than half of all subjects completing suicide are known to have suffered from depression. Unfortunately, depression is still often untreated or undertreated, even after a suicide attempt.

Antidepressive drugs represent the cornerstone of treatment of depressive patients but their role has become somewhat controversial over the last few years due to reports suggesting that antidepressants might, in a small subgroup of younger patients (recently estimated at 0.7% in clinical trials) actually worsen suicidal tendencies instead of alleviating them.

Using ultrasound to measure the height of a woman’s uterus is a good way to predict whether or not she is at risk of having babies born prematurely if she becomes pregnant with twins after IVF, according to new research presented at the 24th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Barcelona today (Wednesday).

Dr Raphaël Hirt, a Fellow in the Division of Reproductive Medicine at the Hôpital Antoine Béclère, Clamart, Paris (France) headed by Professor Renato Fanchin, told the conference that the finding would help medical professionals and women make objective decisions about how many embryos should be transferred in one IVF attempt.

Certain songbirds can contract their vocal muscles 100 times faster than humans can blink an eye – placing the birds with a handful of animals that have evolved superfast muscles, University of Utah researchers found.

"We discovered that the European starling (found throughout Eurasia and North-America) and the zebrafinch (found in Australia and Indonesia) control their songs with the fastest-contracting muscle type yet described," says Coen Elemans, who conducted the study as a postdoctoral researcher in biology at the University of Utah.

"Superfast muscles were previously known only from the sound-producing organs of rattlesnakes, several fish and the ringdove," Elemans says. "We now have shown that songbirds also evolved this extreme performance muscle type, suggesting these muscles – once thought extraordinary – are more common than previously believed."

DUBLIN, Ireland, July 8 /PRNewswire/ --

Women get PMS and men get IMS. While it may be common knowledge that PMS is the psychological and emotional symptoms related to a woman’s menstrual cycle it is not so clear what IMS, or Irritable Male Syndrome, is. The name for the result of a drop in testosterone levels in male mammals may interfere extensively with a man's daily life, causing everything from depression and anxiety to hyper-sensitivity and anger. Jed Diamond, author of “Male Menopause,” specializes in helping men and women overcome negative outcomes of the condition.

CALGARY, Alberta, July 7 /PRNewswire/ --

Calgary will play host for the second year to the Oil Sands and Heavy Oil Technologies Conference & Exhibition, July 15-17 at the Calgary, TELUS Convention Centre. The inaugural show, held in July 2007 in Calgary, drew over 880 oil sands executives and senior personnel to a two day conference along with over fifty exhibitors.

CAMBRIDGE, England and ACTON, Massachusetts, July 7 /PRNewswire/ --

- Carbon Forms new Irvine, Calif. Development Facility

CAMBRIDGE, England and ACTON, Massachusetts, July 7 /PRNewswire/ --

ARM (LSE:ARM) (Nasdaq:ARMH), and Carbon Design Systems(TM), the leading supplier of tools for the automatic creation, validation and deployment of system level models, announced today an agreement under which Carbon will take over future development, support and sale of the SoC Designer tool.

Upon opening a shelf in the kitchen of a Splenda, or sucralose, addict it is certain one will find a treasure trove of regular foods that have been touched by the most popular sugar substitute in the U.S. Vitamin C drops, cookies and canned fruit—all with Splenda are a few examples of the extensive list of over 3,000 Splenda products. On the surface the zero-calorie Splenda, marketed with the catchy phrase “made from sugar so it tastes like sugar,” may seem like the sweetener of all sweeteners. However, similar to the mantra that getting a little requires giving a little, the consumption of Splenda doesn’t come free.

MAIDENHEAD, England, July 7 /PRNewswire/ --

- First-in-Class Treatment set to Provide a New and Important Targeted Treatment for Distressing and near Universal Side Effect in Patients Receiving Opioids for Pain Relief as Part of Palliative Care

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, today 3rd July, announced that it has received EMEA marketing approval for Relistor(TM) (methylnaltrexone bromide) subcutaneous injection. This first-in-class treatment is indicated for opioid-induced constipation (OIC) in patients with advanced illness who are receiving palliative care, when response to the usual laxative therapy has not been sufficient.