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Thursday, August 29, 2013

Top surgeon claims that demand for penis enlargement operations rises by 25 per cent each year among Italian men

Dr Alessandro Littara blames 'changing room syndrome' for the increase

He claims men are more worried about keeping up with peers than sex

The surgeon says some men just have 'unrealistic expectations'

Italian stallion: Mars wasn't quite as shy about the size of his manhood judging by this restored Italian statue - but an increasing number of Italian men are opting to undergo penis enlargement surgery, according to a doctor

They are known for their Lothario ways, with the mere thought of being swept of their feet by an Italian stallion making many British women go weak at the knees.

But it seems that Italian men are not quite as confident as you might think.

A top Italian plastic surgeon has claimed that 'changing room syndrome' is causing a surge in the number of men opting to undergo penis enlargement surgery.

Dr Alessandro Littara, director of the Centre for Sexual Medicine in Milan, has revealed that the number of surgical procedures to boost men's manhood is on the rise by as much as 25 per cent every year in the Mediterranean country.

Despite the operation costing between £2,500 and £6,000, the centre, which specialises in penis enlargement, carried out 300 procedures in the past year.

The high cost of the operation - formally known as penoplasty - means that it is mainly men aged between 30 and 50 who are opting to go under the knife, as they are most likely to be able to afford it.

According to Dr Littara, patients usually request that their penis is made thicker, with some wanting it longer and others wanting both.

Dr Littara told The Independent that most men don't want surgery to satisfy their partners - many are married - but instead puts the surge down to what he calls 'changing room syndrome'.

He says that many men are merely trying to keep up with their peers.

He said: 'With everyone seeing images of the body the whole time these days, men are more aware and worried about their bodies - all the parts are important and the genitals are no exception.

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'We're living in the age of images, with sexual ones very often on the front page,' he told Adnkronos news agency.

'So sex gets more attention and people feel the need to be more competitive.'

But the surgeon added that many men have no need to stress over the size of their manhood and he often has to turn people away.

He said that some have unrealistic expectations while others show signs of psychological damage.

Risky: The procedure does have its risks however - a 2011 study found an 'unacceptably high' rate of complications in penoplasty operations

The idea that Italian men might not be so confident in the trouser department will come as a surprise given that even former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has something of a reputation as a lothario, with his sexual exploits previously landing him in hot water.

But the decision of many to opt for surgery is not only a drastic one in terms of finances, the procedure is certainly not without its risks - a study by the University of Turin in 2011 found that the operation had an 'unacceptably high' rate of complications.

Compared to their counterparts from other European countries however, it seems that Italian men have little to worry about.

According to a 2012 survey by Richard Lynn, emeritus professor of psychology at Ulster University, of international penis size Italian men are better endowed than chaps from Germany, the UK, France and Spain.

The research claimed that the Italian average was 6.2 inches when erect compared to a British average of 5.5.

The only European country to top Italy in the table was Iceland with an average of 6.5 inches.

Men from the Republic of Congo had the biggest penises, with an average of 7.1 inches.

Miami teen who never woke up after breast implant surgery will undergo life-saving operation as it emerges her son, 3, still does not know his mother is in a coma

Linda Perez, 18, slipped into a coma during the operation two weeks ago

Her parents say the once-vivacious girl is now 'a vegetable'

Family is now considering legal action against the clin

The three-year-old son of a teenager who slipped into a coma while undergoing a breast augmentation operation still does not know his mother is sick, her devastated family has revealed.

Linda Perez, 18, a student from Miami, Florida, never woke up from the anesthesia after what should have been a routine hour-long operation at a clinic in Coral Gables two weeks ago.

She now needs a life-saving tracheotomy to help her breathe. The procedure will again require general anesthesia.

Her family were told that her heart stopped during the operation and she was 'effectively' dead when she was transported to hospital. She suffered brain and heart damage during the procedure.

Tragic: Linda Perez's son, 3, does not know his mother slipped into a coma after breast implant surgery

'What they gave me is essentially a vegetable,' her mother Mariela Diaz told NBC 6.

Perez was admitted to Mercy Hospital following her procedure and her family's attorney, Mark Eiglarsh, said that finding out what went wrong will require litigation.

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'How does an 18-year-old healthy young lady go in to have a simple routine cosmetic procedure and come out in a vegetative state?' he asked as he spoke to NBC 6.

Perez paid just $2,800 for the procedure, which is around half of the typical cost of the procedure, according to Eiglarsh.

Serious: Mariela Perez sits at her daughter's bedside after the teen suffered brain and heart damage

Dr Jacob Freiman, who performed the surgery, has a clean record and is a board-certified plastic surgeon, according to the Florida Department of Health.

However it later emerged that the anesthetist Dr Mario Alberto Diaz had previously served time for illegally selling pain pills over the internet.

Dr Diaz served time in federal prison in 2006 for illegally dispensing at least 53,000 doses of pain pills over the Internet. He also had his Florida medical license suspended for six months.

The parents of the tragic teen have now demanded an investigation into the Coral Gables, Florida, clinic. Mariela Perez and Fernando Izquierdo have called for an inquiry into how their daughter ended up in a coma.

Questions: Perez, pictured with her father, paid around half the price of a typical breast implant surgery

Loved: Her heartbroken parents said the once vivacious girl was now 'like a vegetable' in her bed

Glamorous: Perez had researched the clinic herself before undergoing the operation, her parents said

Fernando said: 'A young girl so full of life, healthy, and now she's just thrown in bed, like a vegetable. It's sad. It's sad.'

Neither Freiman or Diaz have commented on the situation.

The attorney added that the Perez family is not looking for a big payoff from the center, but could bring a lawsuit.

'This is about any person that may see this who may have a procedure tomorrow and may think, "I want to pass on this clinic",' Eiglarsh said. 'Maybe save up a little bit of money to go with a place that's a little more reputable.'

Perez researched The Coral Gables Cosmetic Center before agreeing to go under the knife.

While the name of the clinic suggests it is in the upmarket Coral Gables area of south Florida, it is in fact in Miami and above a pet grooming salon.

False advertising: The clinic is not in Coral Gables as the name would suggest but is above a pet grooming salon in Miami

Video Source NBC6.COM

The clinic's website boasts about its top quality care and surgeons.

It says: 'Coral Gables Cosmetic offers the latest in cosmetic surgery, performed by some of the finest plastic surgeons in South Florida.

'All are highly skilled board-certified plastic surgeons who use sophisticated approaches and attention to detail for cosmetic surgery candidates.

'Complimentary consultations are available for patients who want to learn more about Miami plastic surgery procedures, such as having a tummy tuck, liposuction, a nose job, butt lifts, facial plastic surgery, or Botox.'

Mother: Mariela Perez wants a full investigation into how their daughter ended up in a coma

Her dad Fernando Izquierdo said: 'They just ruined our daughter's life and this isn't even compared to the pain we are feeling. She used to be so full of life'

The clinic offers a wide range of cosmetic procedures, including Brazilian butt lifts.

A statement from the facility read: 'Coral Gables Cosmetic Center prides itself on partnering with top medical professionals including board-certified plastic surgeons.

'CGCC is committed to upholding the highest standards of medical care and patient safety. For privacy reasons, CGCC cannot comment on any medical issues related to its patients.'

Women who drink a glass of wine a day during their teens could increase risk of developing breast cancer

Girls who drink early may damage breast tissue

Just one glass of wine a day increased risk of cancer by a third

Bad habit: Drinking one glass a day from your early teens can increase risk of cancer

Women who drink just one glass of wine a day in their teens and early twenties could be increasing their risk of breast cancer by a third.

Scientists have found that consuming fairly small amounts of alcohol early on in life has harmful effects on breast tissue.

Those who drank the equivalent of one glass of wine a day between the age of their first period and when they gave birth to their first child increased their risk by a third.

US researchers believe that the breast tissue of young women, which is still developing, is highly susceptible to the harmful effects of alcohol.

Although experts have known for some time that alcohol raises the risk of breast cancer, this is one of the first studies to show how it can have an effect so early in life.

Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis examined the drinking habits of 116,671 women aged 25 to 44.

They were asked to recall how much alcohol they drank a day from the ages of 15 to 17, 18 to 22, and 23 to 30.

They were also told to note down the age when they first started their periods and when – or if – they gave birth to their first child as pregnancy is known to protect against breast cancer. It was also recorded whether they had ever been diagnosed with the condition.

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From their answers, the researchers were able to work out roughly how much alcohol the women had drunk per day over the various stages of their lives.

The results showed that women who drank a glass of wine a day between their first period and the age at which they had their first child increased their risk of breast cancer by 34 per cent.

When alcohol is broken down by the body it creates a substance called acetaldehyde, which can trigger genetic mutations in cells that lead to tumours.

High risk: While still developing, breast tissue of young women is highly susceptible to the harmful effects of alcohol

It also increases production of oestrogen, the hormone linked to tumour growth.

The researchers, whose study is published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, said: ‘These findings add support to the importance of exposure [to alcohol] between menarche [the first period] and first pregnancy in breast cancer development.

‘Reducing alcohol consumption during this period may be an effective prevention strategy for breast cancer.’

Richard Francis, head of research at Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said the link was likely to be caused by breast tissue being particularly susceptible to developing cancer between these key ages.

‘We recommend that women of all ages reduce their alcohol intake in order to help prevent breast cancer,’ he said.

Drinking daily between the age of their first period and when they gave birth to their first child has been found to increase breast cancer risk by a third

‘Regularly drinking is also associated with a range of other health problems, so we’d urge anyone wanting advice or support on cutting down on alcohol to speak with their doctor.’

Just under 50,000 British women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year and there are around 11,500 deaths annually.

But there is growing evidence that women can drastically lower their risk by adopting healthier lifestyles.

Smoking, obesity, a lack of exercise – as well as alcohol – are all thought to trigger the illness.

Earlier this year scientists warned that excess drinking was behind soaring rates of breast cancer in the under 50s.

Ketamine can relieve the symptoms of depression in more than 60% of patients - in as little as 24 hours

The benefits from one dose of the drug can last for up to five weeks

Ketamine reduces depression by influencing the glutamate system

Glutamate are neurotransmitters which speed up the transmission of information from one nerve cell to the next

Ketamine could relieve the symptoms of depression in as little as 24 hours, new research suggests

Ketamine could relieve the symptoms of depression in as little as 24 hours, new research suggests.

The drug, which is also used in anaesthesia, can relieve symptoms in more than 60 per cent of people with depression within 24 hours.

In contrast, most prescription anti-depressants take four to six weeks to prove effective.

The findings come after the biggest ever study to examine ketamine’s effect on depression.

Some 73 people with the condition were involved in the U.S. study, with two thirds given ketamine, and one third midazolam – a short-acting anaesthetic medication.

The researchers found that 64 per cent of those given ketamine improved within 24 hours.

In contrast, only 28 per cent of those given midazolam improved.

The research was carried out at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Centre, Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York,

Lead researcher, Dr Sanjay Mathew, said: ‘Through this study, we’ve now confirmed in an optimised trial design that ketamine does have robust and rapid antidepressant effects.’

Ketamine was given to the patients intravenously and in very low doses.

Dr Mathew explained: ‘All previous studies of ketamine have compared it to saline, an inert placebo without physical or psychological reactions.

‘The problem with this is that ketamine has usual side effects, such as feelings of floating, feelings of altered sense of time, maybe some blurred vision or some other physical or psychological symptoms.

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‘Patients know that they received something active and the raters would know that as well, so the validity of the study may be in doubt with saline studies.

‘This is the first trial to compare ketamine to another drug that also has psychoactive properties.’

Dr Mathew and his colleagues followed the patients for seven days and found that many of the patients who received ketamine continued to benefit from the treatment after seven days, although there was a decrease in benefits by day seven.

The drug, which is also used in anaesthesia, can relieve symptoms in more than 60 per cent of people with depression within 24 hours. Image shows the ketamine molecular model

They then studied the subgroup of patients who did well at day seven to see how long they remained depression-free and found that a small group of patients were able to remain depression-free for an additional four weeks.

Dr Mathew says that there is still much more that needs to be understood before ketamine can be used clinically.

For example, the best dose to use would have to be established and side effects, such as elevated blood pressure, would have to be taken into account.

The researchers believe that ketamine reduces depression by influencing the glutamate system – glutamate are neurotransmitters which speed up the transmission of information from one nerve cell to the next.

IS DEPRESSION IN MEN MORE COMMON THAN CURRENTLY THOUGHT?

Severe depression could be more common in men than women, new research suggests.

It has long been thought that women are 70 per cent more likely to suffer from severe depression than men are.

However, the new study suggests that if the symptoms of depression in men are properly diagnosed, the condition could be just as common, if not more common, in men than it is in women.

According to the research, published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, this could explain why men are four times more likely to commit suicide than women are.

The Los Angeles Times reports that when symptoms such as rage, risk-taking and substance abuse are taken into consideration, the number of men diagnosed with depression increases significantly.

It is thought that many men with depression are currently not diagnosed because their symptoms can be very different to those seen in women with the condition.

‘When it comes to depression in men, to some extent we have blinders on,’ Dr Andrew Leuchter, a psychiatrist at UCLA told the Los Angeles Times. ‘We have not been asking about and taking into account a range of symptoms that may be gender-specific.’

Common symptoms of depression include feeling down, difficulty sleeping, feeling guilty, feeling worthless and a loss of interest in hobbies.

However, particularly in men, symptoms can also include anger, aggression and hyperactivity.

Has your phone taken over your life? Depressingly accurate short film shows how we miss out on real experiences by recording every moment

These days you can't go anywhere or do anything without someone recording the moment on their smartphone, a tendency one woman has addressed in a new short film.

In I Forgot My Phone, director and star Charlene deGuzman is shown doing activities like hiking at sunrise, celebrating a birthday and lying in bed with a man - all of which are disrupted by someone's incessant phone use.

She writes on her Tumblr that society's obsession with using phones 'makes me sad. I'm constantly working on living in the moment, enjoying and taking it all in (without Instagramming [it]- GASP!)'

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Modern life: In I Forgot My Phone, Charlene deGuzman is shown doing activities like celebrating a birthday and lying in bed with a man - all of which are disrupted by someone's incessant phone use

Depressing: The star and director writes that society's obsession with using phones 'makes me sad. I'm constantly working on living in the moment, enjoying and taking it all in (without Instagramming them - GASP!)'

In the beginning of the film, the Filipina-American actress and filmmaker appears sad as she lies in bed with a man, who looks distractedly at his phone.

In the next scene, her hike in the picturesque mountains is disrupted by a fellow hiker, who gabs loudly on his phone while she tries to take in the sunrise.

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Ms deGuzman wrote on her blog that she was inspired to make the video after going to a concert where everyone in the audience spent the whole time taking photos and videos on their smartphones, rather than enjoying the real-life experience.

'The people in front of me had their phones up in the air the entire time,' she writes. 'Filming, taking pictures, posting them to Facebook and Instagram, tweeting about how cool this concert was.'

Real experiences: 'It's not until very recently that I've discovered the joy in being in the moment,' writes the actress on her Tumblr

Distracting: The filmmaker was inspired to make the video after going to a concert where the audience spent the whole time taking photos and videos on their smartphones, rather than enjoying the real-life experience

She says their incessant phone use was especially distracting because of her diminutive stature.

'The glaring screens were right in front of my face, because I'm five-foot-two, the perfect height for things to be right in front of my face.'

In another pertinent scene from the film, a man gets down on one knee on a beautiful beach to propose to his girlfriend.

Instead of appreciating the life changing moment, the couple both hold out their phones at arm's length to record their engagement.

Ruining the romance: In another pertinent scene from the film, a man gets down on one knee on a beautiful beach to propose to his girlfriend

Technology invasion: Instead of appreciating the life-changing moment, the couple both hold out their phones at arm's length to digitally record their engagement

Ms deGuzman is then seen giving them a bemused look as she passes by along the stretch of beach.

Another poignant part shows a young girl sitting still on a playground swing, typing away on her smartphone while Ms deGuzman swings into the air in the background.

'It's not until very recently that I've discovered the joy in being in the moment,' writes the actress on her Tumblr.

'Listening to people, looking at faces, expressions, details, looking at the colors of things, smelling smells, tasting food. And it’s not until now that I've realized that everyone - including me - is on their phones. A lot.'

Lost childhood: Another poignant part shows a young girl sitting still on a playground swing, typing away on her smartphone while Ms deGuzman swings into the air in the background

Appreciate the moment: To rectify the issue, she invites her readers to take a break from their phones, 'Even for an HOUR. Because there is a moment happening right in front of you. . .and you're missing it'

To rectify the issue, she invites her readers to take a break from their phones, 'Even for an HOUR. Because there is a moment happening right in front of you, right this second, and you're missing it.'

It's not the first time the blogger has sounded off on what she calls her 'biggest pet-peeve'.

Two years ago, she wrote a post entitled Concert Etiquette: Four Reasons Why You Should Put Away Your Camera.

In it, she says; 'YOU'RE THERE! You are THERE. You were up in the morning three months ago for the presale, you spent $10 on parking. . . take in the performance. Let it record into your memory.'

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Thursday, August 29, 2013

Top surgeon claims that demand for penis enlargement operations rises by 25 per cent each year among Italian men

More...

Miami teen who never woke up after breast implant surgery will undergo life-saving operation as it emerges her son, 3, still does not know his mother is in a coma

More...

Women who drink a glass of wine a day during their teens could increase risk of developing breast cancer

More...

Ketamine can relieve the symptoms of depression in more than 60% of patients - in as little as 24 hours

More...

IS DEPRESSION IN MEN MORE COMMON THAN CURRENTLY THOUGHT?

Has your phone taken over your life? Depressingly accurate short film shows how we miss out on real experiences by recording every moment

More...