Collegiate male athletes exhibit conditions of the Male Athlete Triad.

The primary purpose of this study was to determine prevalence of the Male Athlete Triad (MAT) conditions: low energy availability (EA), low bone mineral density (BMD), and low testosterone in male collegiate athletes from different sports. Participants included 44 collegiate male athletes (age, 20.4 ± 0.2 years; body mass index, 25.3 ± 1.3 kg/m2) from 7 sports (cross country, soccer, basketball, wrestling, track, golf, and baseball). Resting metabolic rate, 3-day food intake, 7-day exercise energy expenditure, body composition, and reproductive and metabolic hormones were assessed. Of the total participants, 15% had low EA, 0% had low BMD, 28% had low total testosterone (TT), and 80% had low calculated free testosterone (cFT). There were no significant correlations between EA, BMD, TT, and cFT. Insulin and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) were below and on the upper end of the reference range for healthy male adults, respectively. Insulin was negatively correlated with total (r = -0.330, p = 0.043) and lumbar spine BMD z-scores (r = -0.413, p = 0.010). Low TT and low cFT were the most prevalent MAT conditions among all athletes. Further research should investigate the relationship between insulin and SHBG and the role of these hormones in the MAT. Novelty: Assessment of energy availability alone is not sufficient to identify physiological disturbances in collegiate male athletes. Low total and/or free testosterone may be present in some collegiate male athletes, regardless of BMD status. Low insulin and high SHBG concentration may portray the presence of conditions of the MAT in male collegiate athletes.

Females receive a life-span benefit from male ejaculates in a field cricket.

Mating has been found to be costly for females of some species because of toxic products that males transfer to females in their seminal fluid. Such mating costs seem paradoxical, particularly for species in which females mate more frequently than is necessary to fertilize their eggs. Indeed, some studies suggest that females may benefit from mating more frequently. The effect of male ejaculates on female life span and lifetime fecundity was experimentally tested in the variable field cricket, Gryllus lineaticeps. In field crickets, females will mate repeatedly with a given male and mate with multiple males. Females that were experimentally mated either repeatedly or multiply lived more than 32% longer than singly mated females. In addition, multiply mated females produced 98% more eggs than singly mated females. Because females received only sperm and seminal fluid from males in the experimental matings, these life-span and fecundity benefits may result from beneficial seminal fluid products that males transfer to females during mating. Mating benefits rather than mating costs may be common in many animals, particularly in species where female mate choice has a larger effect on male reproductive success than does the outcome of sperm competition.

The use of hypnosis as a tool in plastic surgery.

Clinical hypnosis can be valuable tool for the plastic surgeon. Techniques can be rapidly learned at workshops that are held frequently at convenient locations throughout the country. Once misconceptions are dispelled, use of hypnosis is appropriate, safe, and effective.

Protein synthesis rates in atrophied gastrocnemius muscles after limb immobilization.

Fractional rates of protein synthesis in rats were determined by the constant-infusion technique. Rates of protein synthesis in the gastrocnemius muscle were significantly reduced from control values throughout a 7-day period of hindlimb immobilization and 1) significantly increased to control values during the first 6 h following the 7-day period of hindlimb immobilization; 2) remained at control values for the next 2 days; and 3) then significantly increased to about twice control values on the 4th day following immobilization. Exercise of sufficient duration and/or intensity affected a further increase in the protein synthesis rate during recovery from atrophy. For example, running on a motor-driven treadmill 1 h daily for 3 days after ending limb immobilization resulted in a significant increase in the fractional rate of protein synthesis in the gastrocnemius muscle on the 2nd day following immobilization. Also, weight lifting for 200 s on the 2nd day of protein synthesis in the gastrocnemius muscle. Thus increased usage of atrophied muscle was followed by an increased rate of protein synthesis.

Prolactin secretion in women after plastic breast augmentation and reduction.

Prolactin secretion in women undergoing augmentation and reduction mammaplasties was studied by determining serum prolactin concentrations preoperatively, intraoperatively, and for one year postoperatively. Thyrotropin-releasing hormone tests for prolactin secretion were performed in a small subgroup of these patients. The subjects were 7 women undergoing reduction mammaplasty, 13 women undergoing augmentation mammaplasty, and 14 normal control women. Short-term (up to three days postoperatively) but not long-term changes in prolactin secretion were identified. Persistent hyperprolactinemia does not appear to be a common complication of plastic breast operations.