Of Solid and Obsolete -2

By: Shahir Nazri.

Buckle up. Tonight is men’s night. Ladies, continue at your own risk.

Consider yourself warned!

1.      Ever wonder why males are more susceptible than females to complications of cigarette smoking? Of course, apart from being the commonest cigarettes abusers, researchers have found that smoking decreases males’ Y-chromosomes as they aged.

Goodbye Y!

Loss of Y chromosome is a natural process in men when they age. So what’s the big deal anyway? As a matter of fact, smokers loss more Y chromosomes than non-smokers (but some prove to be the exception to the rule). And they add that the loss may not benign.

Does this makes smoker become any less of a man? No. Or does this means smokers less likely to have sons than daughters? They suggest that this may correlate to increase risk of developing cancer and early death. However, we are yet to understand the role of Y chromosome better. Scientists also suggest that the loss of Y-chromosome may be the marker for other chromosomal damages.

No, he's not a smoker. Thou shalt not judge. 

Despair not, researchers do notice that those who stop smoking can regain their loss of Y-chromosomes, matching those non-smokers counterpart. For further reading, click here: Smoking Might Cost Men Their 'Y' Chromosome: Study

2.      This recent update about testicular cancer is very long and tedious and gibberish. But the intro is quite interesting (in fact I only read this particular sentence and later jump to the conclusion part). It wrote “Fifty years ago, a diagnosis of metastatic testicular cancer meant a 90% chance of death within 1 year. Today, a cure is expected in 95% of all patients who have received a diagnosis of testicular cancer and in 80% of patients with metastatic disease.”

"YEAH!"

So, keep your hope high. If you are interested in reading more, be my guest: TesticularCancer — Discoveries and Updates

3.      These Greek gentlemen with funny names found an amazing coincidence while reviewing multiple pelvic radiology. They found out that in male patients with displaced hip fracture, the antero-posterior pelvic X-ray will show that the penis shadow almost always points to the site of fracture.

This phenomenon is also called John Thomas sign or Throckmorton sign.

This phenomenon can be explained by positioning of the patients in displaced hip fracture. Because of the fractured lower extremities tend to shorten and rotate externally, patient will turn their pelvis to fractured site to reduce pain. Therefore, the antero-posterior view of said patients is actually an oblique view, showing penis shadow and fractured hip on same side. 

You can read about it here (very short actually): Does penis radiological shadow indicate theside of hip fracture?