Male circumcision lowers cervical cancer risk: Study

WASHINGTON:

Three studies published on Wednesday add to evidence that circumcision can protect men from the deadly AIDS virus and the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.
The reports in the Journal of Infectious Diseases are likely to add to the debate over whether men -- and newborn boys -- should be circumcised to protect their health and perhaps the health of their future sexual partners.
Dr. Bertran Auvert of the University of Versailles in France and colleagues in South Africa tested more than 1,200 men visiting a clinic in South Africa,
They found under 15% of the circumcised men and 22% of the uncircumcised men were infected with the human papilloma virus, or HPV, which is the main cause of cervical cancer and genital warts.
"This finding explains why women with circumcised partners are at a lower risk of cervical cancer than other women," they wrote in their report.
A second paper looking at US men had less clear-cut results, but Carrie Nielson of Oregon Health & Science University and colleagues said they found some indication that circumcision might protect men.
The circumcised men were about half as likely to have HPV as uncircumcised men, after adjustment for other differences between the two groups.
In the third report, Lee Warner of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and colleagues tested African-American men in Baltimore and found 10 percent of those at high risk of infection with HIV who were circumcised had the virus, compared to 22 percent of those who were not.
"Circumcision was associated with substantially reduced HIV risk in patients with known HIV exposure, suggesting that results of other studies demonstrating reduced HIV risk for circumcision among heterosexual men likely can be generalized to the US context," they wrote.
Studies supporting circumcision to reduce HIV transmission had all been done in Africa and US studies were less clear.
Dr. Ronald Gray of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and colleagues said they found the reports encouraging.
"In the United States, circumcision is less common among African American and Hispanic men, who are also the subgroups most at risk of HIV," they wrote in a commentary.
"Thus, circumcision may afford an additional means of protection from HIV in these at-risk minorities."
But they noted that the American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend routine circumcision for newborns.
"As a consequence of this AAP decision, Medicaid does not cover circumcision costs, and this is particularly disadvantageous for poorer African American and Hispanic boys who, as adults, may face high HIV exposure risk," Gray and colleagues wrote.
"It is also noteworthy that circumcision rates have been declining in the US, possibly because of lack of Medicaid coverage."
Medicaid is the state-federal health insurance program for the poor and disabled.
Thirty-three million people globally are infected with AIDS, which has no cure and no vaccine. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the world, with 20 million people in the United States infected. It causes cervical cancer, which kills 300,000 women globally every year. - Reuters

KEBANYAKAN RAKYAT MALAYSIA BERUMUR 40 TAHUN KE BAWAH BERISIKO SAKIT JANTUNG

Kebanyakan rakyat Malaysia berumur 40 tahun ke bawah berisiko tinggi memperoleh penyakit jantung berikutan amalan gaya hidup yang tidak sihat. Ini termasuklah amalan minum teh tarik, roti canai, nasi lemak, merokok dan kurang bersenam.Mereka berisiko mengalami obesiti, tekanan darah tinggi yang boleh membawa kepada kegagalan fungsi jantung.

5% daripada 450 pesakit yang dimasukkan ke hospital adalah dikenalpasti sebagai pesakit yang menghidap darah tinggi dan kencing manis. Terdapat juga pesakit yang hanya berumur 38 tahun mengalami arteri tersumbat dan beliau juga pengidap diabetis.

Oleh itu, amalan gaya hidup sihat dan pengambilan diet yang seimbang hendaklah diamalkan sewaktu umur masih muda lagi.

Langkah-langkah mencegah Osteoporosis

PEMAKANAN

* Makanan perlu seimbang dan cukup segala zat yang diperlukan seperti kalsium dan vitamin D.
* Bagi rakyat Malaysia makanan yang sesuai adalah seperti tauhu, kacang soya, ikan bilis tulang kecil dan ikan sardin yang bertulang.

SENAMAN

* Perlu kerap melakukan senaman sekurang-kurangnya sekali sehari kerana bila kita banyak bersenam, terutama yang bercorak fizikal dan angkat berat ia membantu menguatkan tulang.
* Kurangkan pengambilan kopi, teh dan minuman ringan. Rokok dan minuman keras juga perlu dielakkan.

OSTEOPOROSIS

Tulang merupakan struktur hidup dan memerlukan tenaga (makanan) berterusan untuk mengekalkan bentuk dan fungsinya.Ia mempunyai dua lapisan iaitu lapisan luar yang keras dan kuat (corticol) dan bahagian dalam yang lembut (trabecular).

Dalam kes ini, tulang akan melalui perubahan berterusan dan boleh diganti secara semula jadi sekiranya rosak, tetapi semakin kita berusia, kemampuan itu akan berkurangan malah proses penggantian lebih lambat daripada kerosakan yang dialami.

Tulang bukan sahaja berperanan melindungi organ yang penting, tetapi juga menyediakan struktur sokongan untuk otot serta menyimpan keperluan kalsium untuk kepadatan dan kekuatan tulang.

Penyakit ini lebih mudah dialami wanita menopaus kerana ovarinya berhenti menghasilkan estrogen, iaitu hormon yang mempertahankan kepadatan jisim tulang. Ketumpatan tulang akan menurun bersama-sama tahap estrogen yang semakin berkurangan.

Masa terbaik untuk memulakan pembinaan tulang ialah ketika usia remaja hingga ke usia 30 tahun, iaitu saat pembinaan dan penyimpanan kepadatan tulang berada pada tahap paling baik dan berkesan.

Berbanding lelaki, keadaan ini lebih ketara di kalangan wanita pada nisbah empat (wanita) perseorang (lelaki) terutama wanita yang telah menopaus disebabkan kadar hormon estrogen yang semakin menurun.

Bagaimanapun di Malaysia, dianggarkan satu juta orang berhadapan risiko untuk menghidapi osteoporosis.

Apabila osteoporosis berlaku, ia akan menyebabkan tulang menjadi lemah, mudah patah, struktur tulang belakang akan berubah dan tidak mampu menampung bebanan berat.

Tulang-tulang yang sering diserang masalah ini ialah tulang belakang yang menyebabkan tubuh seseorang itu membongkok serta tulang tangan dan tulang pinggul yang berfungsi menyokong berat badan seseorang.

Dalam masa yang sama, hampir 25 peratus daripada pesakit keretakan tulang pinggul meninggal dunia dalam tempoh satu tahun sementara kira-kira 50 peratus pesakit akan hilang upaya kekal.