Weight Loss Medications: Do They Work? – Healthline
Weight Loss Medications: Do They Work? Healthline
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Weight Loss Medications: Do They Work? - Healthline
Fenugreek Health Benefits – What Is Fenugreek Good For? – Men’s Health
SCIENTIFICALLY KNOWN AS Trigonella foenum-graecum, fenugreek is a
"One of the oldest-known medical documents, written around 1,500 B.C., reported its potential health benefits, says Kim Yawitz, R.D. Ancient medical practitioners used fenugreek to treat diabetes and to increase milk supply in breastfeeding moms. People still take it for these reasons today," but also because its been touted to have loads of health benefits like increasing testosterone, boosting libido, and reducing inflammation.
Now, you can find everything from fenugreek hair masks and oils to an emulsifier in processed foods. If it's held popularity for thousands of years, is it possible the health benefits of this herb are more than just hype? We asked the experts.
Fenugreek is an herb grown in Europe, Western Asia, and northern Africa. Its leaves can be used as a garnish for stews, meats, roasted vegetables, and other dishes, says Yawitz. The seeds are more popular in North America, where theyre treated like a spice. Both parts of the plant have been used medicinally for centuries, with capsules, extracts, and powders becoming more popular recently.
Fenugreek is typically used to season food in many cultures, says Lara Clevenger, R.D.N., C.P.T. The leaves and seeds of the plant contain amino acids, steroidal saponins, alkaloids, and other organic and inorganic substances which can contain health benefits.
One tablespoon of fenugreek seed provides nearly three grams each of fiber and protein and around 20 percent of the daily value for iron, says Yawitz. As you may know, fiber helps you stay fuller for longer, potentially curbing overeating and promoting weight loss.
Before you get too excited, remember more research is needed on this front.
Fenugreek seeds are rich in diosgenina naturally occurring steroid that helps the body produce sex hormones. In small studies, men taking fenugreek supplements significantly increased free testosterone, while total testosterone increased or remained the same, says Yawitz. Given these findings, theres some chance that fenugreek supplements could boost the libido and increase muscle mass (assuming you lift weights), but there havent been enough studies to know for sure."
Fenugreek May Decrease Blood Sugar Levels
As Yawitz says, fenugreek seeds contain several substances believed to decrease blood sugar, including soluble fiber, which slows carbohydrate absorption, and saponins, which increase insulin secretion. Again, thoughthese studies are small, and more research would need to be done to confirm these findings.
In multiple small studies, adults taking fenugreek supplements saw significant reductions in fasting blood sugar and hemoglobin A1C (a three-month average of blood glucose levels), she says. Theres no medical consensus on how much fenugreek to take or whether people with pre-diabetes or diabetes should take it all.
Fenugreek helps with hair growth and density. It has also been shown to help prevent hair loss and fortifies hair follicles, Clevenger says. Fenugreeks properties of lecithin and vitamins condition and moisturizes the scalp and hair.
As you may have gathered by now, fenugreek isnt only a supplement, but a flavoring agent when cooking, too.
Fenugreek smells and tastes like maple syrupso much so that its extract is sometimes used to make imitation maple syrup. Its a great addition to Indian and African dishes, thanks to its earthy-sweet flavor, says Yawitz. You can also use fenugreek in pickle brines, bread, and other baked goods.
You may also find fenugreek powders, capsules, and extracts in the supplement aisle in your local grocery store.
When it comes to adding fenugreek into foods, most recipes dont contain enough to cause any real health concerns, says Yawitz.
Studies have been conducted with extract of fenugreek seeds, fenugreek powder to replace part of the flour in making recipes, and by consuming the seed itself, says Clevenger. In many studies, fenugreek showed mild symptoms like abdominal distension, stomach discomfort, nausea, and diarrhea, and light-headedness, which resolved without special treatment. Again, more research needs to be done to confirm there's no more serious side effects.
If you do decide to take a fenugreek supplement, consult with a doctor or registered dietitian firstas you should before taking any supplement. There havent been enough high-quality studies to know how much is effective or safe, especially long term, says Yawitz. There have been a few documented cases of liver toxicity."
Your doctor will know best as to whether you should add this supplement to your routine. That said, cooking with fenugreek is likely fine for your health.
Perri is a New York City-born and -based writer; she holds a bachelors in psychology from Columbia University and is also a culinary school graduate of the plant-based Natural Gourmet Institute, which is now the Natural Gourmet Center at the Institute of Culinary Education. Her work has appeared in the New York Post, Men's Journal, Rolling Stone, Oprah Daily, Insider.com, Architectural Digest, Southern Living, and more. She's probably seen Dave Matthews Band in your hometown, and she'll never turn down a bloody mary. Learn more at VeganWhenSober.com.
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Fenugreek Health Benefits - What Is Fenugreek Good For? - Men's Health
Early castration in horses does not disrupt bone, cartilage … – Horsetalk
Horsetalk.co.nz
Steroid hormone deprivation resulting from early castration of horses had no discernable impact on the levels of biomarkers related to bone and cartilage metabolism, researchers report.
The researchers in France said the castration of stallions is traditionally performed after puberty, at around two years old.
While castration is a common breeding practice, it is performed at various ages due to a lack of consensus among veterinarians and breeders.
No studies, they noted, have focused on the effects of early castration on bone and cartilage (osteoarticular) metabolism.
The study team, with Caen-Normandy University and the agricultural science agency INRAE, sought to compare early castration (three days after birth) with traditional castration around 18 months of age.
The study centered on 22 male Welsh ponies, half of whom were castrated at three days old, and the other half at 18 months of age.
Testosterone and estradiol levels were monitored from birth to 33 months in both groups. Testosterone is the major sex hormone in males, while estradiol is a form of estrogen, a female sex hormone that regulates many processes in the body.
Stallions usually have high estradiol levels at birth, which markedly decrease during the first months of life. These elevated post-birth estradiol levels likely originate from the mother.
Marion Rouge and her fellow researchers, writing in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, quantified the levels of several biomarkers of cartilage and bone anabolism and catabolism, as well as of osteoarthritis and inflammation.
The study team observed a lack of parallelism between testosterone and estradiol synthesis after birth and during puberty in both groups.
The extra-gonadal synthesis of steroids was observed around the 28-month mark, regardless of castration age.
They found the estrogen receptor was expressed in both cartilage and bone, whereas androgen receptor expression appeared to be restricted to bone.
With respect to osteoarticular metabolism, steroid hormone deprivation resulting from early castration had no discernable impact on the levels of biomarkers related to bone and cartilage metabolism, nor on those associated with osteoarthritis and inflammation.
Consequently, our research demonstrated that early castration does not disrupt bone and cartilage homeostasis.
The authors, discussing their findings, said it might have been informative to complement their results with bone densitometry data and the measurements of other bone markers, such as alkaline phosphatase.
The study comprised Rouge, Florence Legendre, Razan Elkhatib, Christelle Delalande, Vincent Hanoux, Philippe Galra and Hlne Bourama-Lelong, all with Caen-Normandie University; Juliette Cogni, Fabrice Reigner and Philippe Barrire, with INRAE at the University of Tours; and Stefan Deleuze, with the University of Lige.
Rouge, M.; Legendre, F.; Elkhatib, R.; Delalande, C.; Cogni, J.; Reigner, F.; Barrire, P.; Deleuze, S.; Hanoux, V.; Galra, P.; et al. Early Castration in Horses Does Not Impact Osteoarticular Metabolism. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24, 16778. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms242316778
The study, published under a Creative Commons License, can be read here.
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Early castration in horses does not disrupt bone, cartilage ... - Horsetalk
Obesity linked to prostate cancer risk: New study uncovers inherited … – News-Medical.Net
In a recent review published in the journal Nutrients, researchers investigated available literature on the impacts of obesity and overweight on prostate cancer. Additionally, they discuss whether a father's offspring can inherit the condition. Their review of over 280 publications reveals that obesity does indeed contribute to carcinogenesis risk, and obesity-associated epigenetic modifications can promote cancer cell viability and proliferation. Alarmingly, obesity-related traits were found to be heritable, resulting in offspring of obese fathers presenting a greater risk of obesity and, in turn, prostate cancer.
Review: Decoding the Influence of Obesity on Prostate Cancer and Its Transgenerational Impact. Image Credit:Kateryna Kon/ Shutterstock
Metabolic disorders, characterized by the partially suppressed ability of the body's processing and distribution of macronutrients, including proteins, carbohydrates, and fats, have depicted an alarming trend of globally surging prevalence in the past few decades. Increasing global pollution levels, urbanization, poor dietary choices, and sedentary lifestyles have been identified as the main contributors to this trend, with predictions estimating metabolic disorder-associated morbidity and mortality further increasing in forthcoming decades.
Obesity and overweight are two of the most prevalent and debilitating metabolic disorders in the world today. The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified these conditions as body mass indexes (BMIs) exceeding 30 and 25, respectively, with over 1.9 billion adults suffering from the condition. The global incidence is estimated to have increased by 50% for obesity and 80% for overweight, with prediction models forecasting even worse future outcomes.
Conditions associated with abnormal weight gain are most often due to shifts in lifestyle and health behaviors, notably marked fluctuations in physical activity levels, Western-style diets, and sedentary lifestyles. Recent research suggests that additionally, genetics may play a significant role in the manifestation of overweight and obesity, as do hormonal dynamics, pharmaceutical interactions, environmental pollutants, and endocrine disruptors.
"monogenic obesity describes a disorder promoted by single-gene mutations, usually in genes associated with endocrine regulation, that results in an obese phenotype. In parallel, epigenetic markers like DNA methylation and histone modifications exert their influence on genes intertwined with growth and metabolic processes."
The outcomes of obesity are similarly alarmingly the condition has been associated with a host of comorbidities, including type 2 diabetes (T2D), cardiovascular disease, mental health disorders, and increased mortality risk. Recent studies have identified a link between obesity and certain cancers, with estimates of 20% of all cancer cases linked to obesity. In the United States, obesity has outcompeted smoking as the leading cause of cancers within the country. Identifying the role and mechanisms of obesity in cancer development will allow for novel therapeutic interventions targeting both conditions, resulting in significantly improved quality of life for patients and their families.
The review peruses over 280 publications investigating associations and mechanisms linking obesity and cancer. It attempts to decipher how obesity triggers cancers and allows them to persist and progress, the impacts and mechanisms of action of obesity on male prostate cancer risk, and the inherent genetic and epigenetic contributors to the transmission of obesity from fathers to their offspring.
WHO defines obesity as the abnormal and excessive buildup of fat. This fat escalation profoundly impacts normal physiological processes, especially concerning the adipose tissue. Excessive fat accumulation in the adipose tissue causes adipocyte hypertrophy and hyperplasia, the former of which further promotes fat deposition, and the latter promotes a surge in adipocyte count. Together, these conditions block blood flow to adipose tissue, inducing a state of hypoxia, which, in turn, stimulates necrosis and the overexpression of pro-inflammatory factors (mainly chemokines). Over time, these factors promote localized and systemic inflammation, adipocyte rupture, and consequent death.
Schematic representation of inflammation, hormonal dysregulation, and OS in the adipose tissue due to obesity. In individuals with obesity, a notable expansion of adipose tissue triggers an aberrant production and secretion of cytokines, accompanied by the disruption of adipokine regulation. This cascade instigates a series of interconnected events: cytokines foster heightened ROS production, inciting apoptosis, which then exacerbates cytokine release, perpetuating a self-perpetuating cycle. This cytokine orchestration not only contributes to the perpetuation of low-grade chronic inflammation but also significantly augments the landscape for tumor development. Concurrently, elevated leptin levels in obesity correlate with heightened inflammatory cytokine levels, fostering an environment conducive to both the initiation and progression of tumors. In contrast, the diminished presence of adiponectin compounds the scenario, offering a conducive milieu for tumor development. In summary, the complex interplay between obesity, cytokine dynamics, and adipokine regulation unveils a multifaceted process that intricately contributes to chronic inflammation and the initiation and advancement of tumorigenesis. () downregulation; () upregulation; (+) promotion.
Two key chemokines involved in this cycle are interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-), which have been implicated in carcinogenesis. These chemokines coax damaged adipocytes to enter a state of oxidative stress (OS) and release reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, thereby peroxidizing the surrounding lipids and triggering cell apoptosis. Apoptosis initiates a positive feedback loop wherein additional pro-inflammatory chemokines are produced, perpetuating the process.
"Concurrently, the oxidation of DNA bases promotes the occurrence of mutations and altered DNA methylation patterns, which can promote the abnormal expression of oncogenes. This underscores inflammation as a critical hallmark of cancer, which is further potentiated by obesity. Consequently, it becomes a strategic focal point for combatting the disease."
The prostate is a composite organ consisting of glandular and muscular tissue and serves as an accessory gland in the male reproductive system. Histologically, the prostate is divided into three main zones the peripheral, central, and transition zones. Of these, the peripheral serves as the origin point for more than 70% of currently described prostate cancers and is, hence, the target for most research in the field.
The androgen receptor (AR) is the prime controller of normal prostate functioning. Notably, research has identified AR as crucial in the development and proliferation of prostate cancer (PCa). Conventional knowledge suggested that elevated levels of the male sex hormone testosterone disrupted the androgen receptor, resulting in PCa initiation. Consequently, most therapeutic interventions aimed to reduce androgen and testosterone levels and involved methods such as castration and Androgen-Deprivation Therapy (ADT). However, recent research indicates that the role of androgen hormones in PCa is more nuanced than previously thought low testosterone levels have been implicated in the initial development of PCas, while supraphysiological levels hinder their progression.
"The therapeutic efficacy of supraphysiological testosterone levels in treating PCa can be attributed to the elevated AR expression observed in PCa cases. This upregulation of AR expression in PCa is suggested to be a compensatory mechanism aimed at counterbalancing the reduced levels of testosterone necessary for initiating tumor growth"
Obesity plays a crucial role in AR functioning and PCa development because it significantly reduces serum testosterone levels. Similar to its effects in adipose tissue, obesity promotes inflammatory responses in the prostate, thereby creating an environment conducive to the production of reactive species, which increase cellular mutation rates, thereby triggering cancers.
"a meta-analysis study has associated obesity with a higher risk of developing aggressive phenotypes of PCa, which are resistant to traditional treatment therapies [107]. Nevertheless, excess weight does not seem to be a key risk factor for PCa, unless it is associated with altered testosterone or other androgen levels"
Conventional wisdom assumed that epigenetic markings were solely inherited from the female parent due to the assumption that the protamination process protected spermatozoa from the effects of paternal epigenetic modifications. Recent research has disproved this theory and has found that between 5 and 15% of the male genome is exposed to epigenetic changes despite protamination. Furthermore, obesity- and other metabolic-focused research has found that the exposed regions are hotspots of both epigenetic modifications and contain information associated with metabolic disorders, including abnormal weight gain.
Studies in male mice have found that obesity is indeed heritable. Obese male mice were bred with healthy females, and their offspring were evaluated for physiological and genetic markers of abnormal metabolism. Female offspring were found to have increased adiposity and impaired glucose tolerance, and both female and male offspring carried a genetic predisposition to obesity despite its manifestation in only the female mice. Alarmingly, even when phenotypically healthy offspring were bred together, the F2 generation retained the epigenetic markings from the initial male obese ancestor, and in the F2 generation, both females and males expressed phenotypic obesity.
Research has previously identified the heritability of cancers. As a growing body of literature recognizes the epigenetic heritability of obesity, the prevalent fear is that these factors could summate, resulting in offspring that are overweight or obese despite observing healthy lifestyles.
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A rat study on the PTEN expression in ovarian tissue in PCOS and … – Nature.com
Animals and experimental design
For the purpose of our research, a total of 12 female adult SpragueDawley rats weighing 160180g were acquired from Harlan Laboratories located in the Netherlands. These rats were subjected to a 12-h light and dark cycle and had unrestricted access to a standard rat diet sourced from Korkuteli Food Industry in Turkey. The female rats, which exhibited regular oestrous cycles as confirmed by vaginal cytologic examination, were randomly allocated into two distinct groups. Aromatase inhibitor (Femara tablet; letrozole 2.5mg, Novartis) dissolved in 1% carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) (2ml/kg) was administered daily through oral gavage at 1mg/kg/day to Group 1 consisting of 6 rats for 21days (the PCOS group), and 1% CMC (2ml/kg) solution was administered daily through oral gavage to Group 2 (the control group) for 21days. The methodology and dosage of the drug were established based on prior studies documented in the literature, wherein PCOS was induced in rats using letrozole17,18,19.
The sexual cycle was determined by microscopic analysis of the predominant cell type in vaginal smears obtained daily until the end of the experiment. All control rats had a normal oestrous cycle of 4.5days, whereas letrozole-treated rats were completely acyclic, and vaginal smears showed leukocytes, the predominant cell type of the diestrus phase. Hormonal and histological changes in the ovary and uterus in both the control group and the letrozole group were evaluated in line with the data obtained as a result of vaginal cytological examination. All rats in the control group were sacrificed in the proestrus phase of the oestrous cycle.
All procedures that used animals were approved by the Gazi University Animal Experiments Local Ethics Committee in Turkey and were performed at the Laboratory Animal Breeding and Experimental Research Center of the same university. All animals were sacrificed with ketamine (45mg/kg, i.m.) and xylazine (5mg/kg, i.m.) anaesthesia. Female reproductive tissues (uterus and ovaries) were excised, and the dry weights of the ovaries were determined with a precision digital scale sensitive to 0.01g. Tissues were first fixed for 72h in a 10% neutral formaldehyde solution for light microscopic examination, and paraffin blocks were provided using routine procedures.
Blood samples were drawn intracardially into plain tubes without heparin on the 22nd day of administration for endocrine and biochemical analyses, and serum was separated by centrifugation at 3000rpm for 10min and stored at80C until analysis.
Serum luteinising hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH), testosterone and oestradiol levels were estimated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. FSH and LH analyses were performed using an ELISA kit (SunRed; SunRed Biotechnology Company Shanghai China), AMH analyses were performed with an ELISA kit (Ansh Labs, AL-113), and testosterone and oestradiol levels were determined by an ELISA kit (Oxford; Serotec, Ltd., UK). Serum glucose, triglyceride, HDL and LDL-cholesterol levels were measured by enzymatic methods using autoanalysers.
The right ovary of all rats was bisected longitudinally. Fixation of the ovarian tissues was carried out in 10% formalin solution, followed by routine tissue processing. Sections were obtained with a thickness of 5m and placed on glass slides. Sampling of consecutive sections was chosen systematically and randomly. These sections were stained with haematoxylin and eosin and then photographed using a Leica DCM 4000 microscope and an HD digital camera. Finally, stereological and histopathological investigations were carried out on micrographs.
Sections obtained from the ovaries were maintained in an incubator at 37C overnight. The paraffin sections were deparaffinized in xylene and rehydrated. Then, the specimens underwent a dehydration process with a graded series of ethanol (EtOH). The sections were then incubated in haematoxylin solution for 10min and washed again under running water for 10min. Next, the sections were dipped 23 times in a mixture of 70% alcohol plus three drops of glacial acetic acid, washed in running water for 10min and stained with eosin solution for 5min. Finally, the sections were washed in running water for 10min, passed through 3 changes of 95% EtOH and 2 changes of 100% EtOH for 1min each and cleared in 3 changes of xylene for 1min each20. Coverslipped images were taken and evaluated on a Leica DCM 4000 computer-aided imaging system.
Physical disector and Cavalieri methods were used to estimate the number of ovarian follicles and mean volume of regions of interest in ovarian tissues21. The mean ovarian tissue volume was determined by multiplying the area of a point interval by the sum of the number of points that intersect the region of interest in each section. The mean volumes of the regions of interest were calculated using the following formula: Volume (V1)=tA, where t represents the thickness and interval of each section, and A is the total area of the regions of interest. The sampling and counting methodology was devised based on a preliminary pilot study, and particles were enumerated using the ImageJ software program. The numerical density of follicles was determined using the following formula: Nv=QV disector. The morphological classification of follicles in the ovary was confirmed through the validation of the coefficient of error and coefficient of variation.
The morphological classification of follicles in the ovary was as follows: primordial follicle, unilaminar primary follicle, multilaminar primary follicle, antral follicle, Graafian follicle and corpus luteum22.
Sections obtained from the ovaries were maintained in an incubator at 37C overnight. The study involved deparaffinization of ovarian tissues using various methods. First, the sections were left in xylol for 5min and then dehydrated in a graded alcohol series for 3min each. The sections were then fixed in EDTA buffer in a microwave for 10min to remove formaldehyde. After cooling to 25C, tissues were circled with a Pap pen, washed with PBS three times, treated with 3% H2O2, and treated with Ultra-V block. The tissues were then subjected to PTEN primary antibody at 4C overnight, followed by treatment with a biotinylated secondary antibody and streptavidin peroxidase for 20min. Nuclear staining was achieved using 4,6-diamino-2-phenolindole (DAPI), and background staining was performed with haematoxylin. The slides were closed using Entellan, and image analysis was performed using the Leica DCM 4000 computer-aided imaging system.
PTEN expression was scored using an immunoreactive scoring scale and evaluated by two researchers who did not have any prior knowledge of the groups of rats. Accordingly, six zones (one central and five peripheral) were selected from ovarian tissue sections (5m thickness) and subjected to IHC staining with anti-PTEN antibodies. The HSCORE, defined below, was used to evaluate the immunoreactive density in these zones. The HSCORE was determined by the following formula: HSCORE Pi (i+1), where i was the intensity of labelling with a value of 0, 1, 2 or 3 (none, weak, moderate or strong) and Pi the percentage of labelled cells for each intensity, within a range of 0100%18. The rate of positive cells was scored by the extent of immunostaining and was assigned to one of the following categories: 0 (0%, no positive cells), 1 (30% positive cells), 2 (3060% positive cells) and 3 (>60% positive cells)18.
For the data analysis, the SPSS 11.5 program was used. Meanstandard deviation and median (minimummaximum) were used as descriptors for quantitative variables, and number (percentage) was used for qualitative variables. If normal distribution assumptions were provided, Students t test was used to determine whether there was a difference between the qualitative variable categories and the two quantitative variable categories; the MannWhitney U test was used if they were not. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to determine whether there was a statistically significant difference between quantitative repeated measurements. The Tukey test was used as the post hoc test. The statistical significance level was taken as 0.05.
This study was carried out in compliance with the ARRIVE guidelines and all methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations.
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"It’s Absurdity At Its Finest": Con Air’s Most Iconic Line Gets Intriguing … – Screen Rant
Summary
Nicolas Cage's most iconic Con Air line gets a surprisingly detailed explanation from the Oscar winner. The 1997 action-thriller saw Cage star as a former Army Ranger sentenced to prison after accidentally killing someone and, while flying to Alabama for his release, the convicts aboard the plan hijack it and attempt to escape. Alongside Cage, the ensemble Con Air cast included John Cusack, John Malkovich, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, Colm Meany, Mykelti Williamson, Dave Chappelle and Danny Trejo.
During a recent interview with Vanity Fair for his absurdist comedy Dream Scenario, Cage reflected on some iconic scenes from his past filmography. While looking at Con Air and the iconic "Put the bunny back in the box" scene, the actor revealed the surprising backstory behind the line, including the fact he himself wrote it and that it stemmed from a desire to continue an iconic action genre tradition from the likes of Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry. See what Cage shared in the quote and video below:
Well, first of all, I actually wrote that line, Put the bunny back in the box. Why? Okay, so you see these adventure films with these big stars, like Clint Eastwood, Make my day, and I thought, How can I take that tradition, make the Make my day so ridiculous? What can I come up with that will become my Make my day? Bunnies are kind of funny, Im bringing a bunny to my daughter that was another idea I put in. And thats why I put the bunny in, I wanted to say that line, Put the bunny back in the box. Its absurdity at its finest, but again, if you sell it [laughs] with genuine emotion, and real determination, like this is the most serious thing in the world and it is, because he has to give it to his daughter who he hasnt seen in six years. Its serious, and he means it, but its ridiculous and thats what I love about it.
Though synonymous with the genre nowadays, Cage's turn in Con Air marked only his second venture into the world of blockbuster action movies after Michael Bay's The Rock the year before. Both movies were essentially the start of his long relationship with producer Jerry Bruckheimer, going on to star in the Gone in 60 Seconds remake as well as the National Treasure movies. With this era also seeing him star in such hits as Face/Off and Matchstick Men, however, the 1997 movie is often thrown to the wayside.
Cage is also reportedly still in talks for a potential National Treasure 3, with co-star Justin Bartha indicating in early 2023 that a script was complete for the threequel.
As indicated in his discussion of the "bunny" line above, Cage recognized the sheer absurdity of Con Air and the entertainment value the movie held by not taking itself too seriously. Between the one-line-heavy script from Scott Rosenberg, who would later reunite with Cage on Gone in 60 Seconds, to Mark Mancina and Trevor Rabin's acclaimed musical score and grandiose action sequences, the creative team behind it clearly understand the absurd potential of its premise and cast.
The on-set antics of the cast of Con Air also show just how ridiculous the movie ultimately was. Danny Trejo previously recalled how one of the directives for the movie was to "put all the wannabe tough guys in a plane in Hollywood", resulting in various testosterone-driven competitions between the actors, ranging from "a spitting contest" to trying to "do more push-ups" than the others. Though it has a cult following among Cage fans, the likes of The Rock and Face/Off and his Oscar-winning work in Leaving Las Vegas and later success in National Treasure and other action genre movies make Con Air one of the more underrated Cage gems from the era.
Source: Vanity Fair
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"It's Absurdity At Its Finest": Con Air's Most Iconic Line Gets Intriguing ... - Screen Rant
Men’s Health News in the Cancer Space From 2023 – Curetoday.com
In honor of November being Mens Health Awareness Month, here is a look back at the most impactful developments in the oncology space from 2023.
Former Cancer Caregiver Gives Back What He Learned the Hard Way
Stephen Peck, a veteran whose wife died from metastatic breast cancer, founded the nonprofit organization, Caring Men. The organization, founded during the COVID-19 pandemic, provides education, resources and a community to caregivers, especially men, who are helping an individual throughout a cancer journey. Peck emphasizes the importance of mental health, seeking help and the tough experiences that individuals endure throughout caregiving.
Many years ago, I lost my first wife to metastatic breast cancer, and it was pretty tough, Peck said during an interview with CURE. During the time she was ill, I was very active in getting information on what to do, how to talk to the doctors, learn about her disease and be a good care provider. Because I had never been through that before, I had a really difficult time getting information, I had to go from one place to another.
Resources like American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute are just two impactful resources that CaringMen.org introduces to caregivers on their website.
Were here to deliver that information were looking to be purveyors of information so that men and women and children can get information to be a good caregiver, Peck explained.
A study found that three out four testicular cancer survivors who underwent cisplatin-based chemotherapy reported that they were experiencing ototoxicity, which is when a patient develops hearing or balance problems due to medicine use. Cisplatin is one of the chemotherapies that is known as a reason for ototoxicity, which can cause inflammation within the ear, creating hearing loss, ringing or buzzing.
The study, focusing on 145 testicular cancer survivors, showed that 75% reported ototoxicity, 68% reported tinnitus (a symptom of ototoxicity) and 52% reported both conditions.
CURE spoke with Victoria A. Sanchez, assistant professor in the department of otolaryngology at the University of South Florida in Tampa, to discuss ototoxicity from cisplatin-based chemotherapy, what patients should know about symptoms and how patients can advocate for themselves.
Oncologists have really important jobs of evaluating the cancer and what's the best approach to kill the cancer. But it's also important for the patient to communicate to the oncologist that their hearing is really important. How is this going to be affected? Can I make sure I'm getting all the appropriate testing? Can we make adjustments if possible? And now that I'm on the other side of cancer, send the oncologists and the patients to the appropriate places to receive the best practices and hearing services that are available, stated Sanchez.
A recent study showed that patients with localized or locally advanced nonmetastatic, high-grade prostate cancer and low prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels could improve death rates from docetaxel, alongside the use of radiation and androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) or radical prostatectomy (RP). Research, featured in JAMA Network Open, showed a 70% death reduction rate from prostate cancer-specific mortality throughout a healthy status group of patients.
The study consisted of 145 patients and findings suggested that improvement was seen in survival for a specific patient population that was lacking effective treatment. There were two primary treatments within the study: docetaxel was giving in addition to the standard-of-care treatment. The second treatment was radical prostatectomy, which involved the surgical removal of the prostate along with tissue surrounding the cancerous area and lymph nodes nearby.
Of these 145 patients, 139 had excellent performance status and were the main focus of the study. An excellent PSA identifies patients who can tolerate the full course of chemotherapy and therefore benefit if the treatment proves effective, Dr. Anthony Victor DAmico, chief of genitourinary radiation oncology at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston and senior author of the study, said in a news release.
Results from a phase 3 trial showed that patients cured from high-risk prostate cancer benefitted in quality of life after testosterone recovery following androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). The study consisted of 630 patients with high-risk prostate cancer who received pelvic and prostate radiotherapy within the span of 18 or 36 months of ADT.
Out of the 269 patients remaining within the study, 140 recovered serum testosterone to a healthy level and 94 patients were in the 18 month ADT group, while 46 patients were in the 86 month ADT group. Patients who had recovered received a higher quality of life, these topics: physical, role, emotional, pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, trouble sleeping, diarrhea and financial difficulties.
According to the American Cancer Society, it is estimated that 288,300 new cases of prostate cancer may be present for 2023. It is also estimated that one in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer within a lifetime, more likely to occur within people who are older and of non-Hispanic Black descent.
This information was seen in a poster presentation from the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Quality Care Symposium.
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6 Most Bizarre House, M.D. Cases That Defied Medical Accuracy – Screen Rant
Summary
House may be a brilliant TV doctor, but that doesn't mean that all the cases that are featured during the series are completely accurate. House stars Hugh Laurie as the titular character with a gift for diagnosing and treating patients with unusual ailments. Often, the cases that come across House's desk can be extraordinarily rare, highly unusual, and a challenge for other doctors to properly assess, but thanks to his encyclopedic knowledge of illness and his critical thinking, House usually manages to save the day.
However, there have been cases on the show that defied logic and were dramatized for the sake of the show. Whether it comes down to House and his team making a complete shot in the dark guesses at something that has no real-world precedence, a series of unrelated symptoms, or even a fictional illness, House can stretch the truth. That being said, most of the cases do reflect real medical phenomena, but the show has been known to take liberties on occasion.
In general, House tends to get things right thanks to plenty of support from highly skilled medical advisors to ensure the show sticks to the confines of what is medically plausible and accurate, but there are times when things get missed. House season 1, episode 20 features one of the earliest errors to come out of the show when House's team suggests that the patient, Harvey Park, has a heart infection. The reason they suggest this is that he suffered from a mitral valve prolapse, but that condition is fairly common as it affects about three percent of the population, and the underlying cause is not well understood, but it doesn't result in a heart infection (via Penn Medicine).
Ultimately, the team discovered that Park had fulminating osteomyelitis, a bone infection, which resulted in blocked blood flow to the brain. This explained his earlier stroke, a display of aphasia where Park struggled to get the right words out, and some other symptoms. What makes this case so unusual, however, is the fact that Park just came in because he compulsively grinds his teeth and wanted to know if there's a medical reason why.
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The season 2 finale was action-packed with House getting shot, a patient with a range of bizarre symptoms that never got resolved, and hallucinations throughout. While some of the episode plays out in Gregory House's brilliant mind and may suggest links to a possible diagnosis, the central patient of the episode, who comes in with a swollen tongue, is never properly diagnosed. The imaginings of House, where the patient experiences intracranial pressure and his scrotum exploding appear to be fiction inside House's mind, but together, these things don't make sense and don't lead to, or result in, an actual diagnosis.
When a six-year-old girl is brought into the hospital suffering from a variety of issues common in women over the age of 50, House is intrigued by the case. As the mystery unravels, House eventually uncovers that her father is using an unprescribed testosterone cream, and the exposure to this additional testosterone has impacted his kids through his touch. While exposure to testosterone has been shown to bring on some puberty symptoms early in rare cases, the episode takes things well beyond what is plausible. The young girl suffered from several completely unrelated symptoms which didn't add up to the diagnosis (via Forbes).
A pair of Cuban refugees make the dangerous trip to America in hopes of meeting the legendary Dr. Gregory House, to hopefully get a diagnosis of her illness that baffled previous doctors in Cuba. While in the care of House's team, her symptoms worsened, with her suffering increasing, her forearm breaking, and a heart attack which effectively resulted in her heart-stopping. While her brain continues to work, and she remains on life support, House convinces her husband to accept her fate and take her off life support.
When they do, her heart begins miraculously working again on its own and the woman's other negative symptoms disappear. House performs another scan and discovers the presence of a third coronary ostium, or hole in the heart. This is an extremely rare mutation, but the range of symptoms the woman displayed are not reported in other similar cases, with the mutation usually being found in early life due to issues with circulation, or only being discovered after death, as it could present as asymptomatic in nature (via NCBI).
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A ballerina suffers a sudden attack as her lungs collapse during a dance rehearsal. As is often the case, the team starts her on a course of treatment based on their early assessments and, in an incredibly rare side effect, her skin starts to fall off. Ultimately, the illness boils down to a heart infection, but this should not have spread through her body as it did in the episode, causing sepsis and a lung collapse in the patient (via Forbes). As treatment goes on, the patient is at risk of losing her hands and feet due to the circulation in her body not functioning correctly, but this is resolved with the use of vasodilator medication which miraculously resumes regular circulation.
A teenage girl arrives in the hospital suffering from extreme swelling in her extremities. The girl's condition rapidly deteriorates with severe internal bleeding, while the team desperately scrambles to investigate. In an effort to buy more time, they gave the young girl blood transfusions, but her condition continued to get worse. Despite efforts to help her, the girl also continued lying about the events of the previous night, which made it difficult to piece together the truth about what was causing her illness.
Ultimately, House is able to determine that the girl is suffering from vibrio vulnificus, a type of infection caused by her consumption of oysters, which she was susceptible to because of a weakened immune system. However, this kind of reaction, with swelling of her appendages and internal bleeding, is inconsistent with vibrio infections caused by ingesting oysters and instead has more similarities to someone contracting the illness through an open wound (via CDC). This episode of House also features the team injecting the girl with "truth serum," which is not a real thing. Amobarbital, the drug they suggest is a truth serum, is in fact simply a medication more commonly used for anxiety.
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6 Most Bizarre House, M.D. Cases That Defied Medical Accuracy - Screen Rant
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