STAT Medical News: Mature Men's Sperm Appears to Age, Too

June 6, 2006

-- MATURE MEN = MUTATED SPERM? Men can suffer age-related genetic problems with their sperm, Lawrence Berkeley National Library researchers report after studying 97 healthy men between the ages of 22 and 80. They analyzed sperm samples from the men and found increasing DNA fragmentation with age, as well as a mutation associated with dwarfism that became more common. Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers say that sperm count and motility were not predictive of whether the DNA would have damage.

COFFEE PERKS Just half a cup of coffee or a 30-minute nap improves night driving and may help keep you awake on the road, according to new research from France. Published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, a small study of 12 young men tested their driving on real roads rather than driving simulators. During the day, the men veered unintentionally into another lane only twice, but at night, lane crossings increased. With no caffeine or a nap, the men crossed lanes 73 times. After a short nap, they crossed 25 times, and after a half cup of coffee, they crossed the lanes only 20 times. The authors suggest that coffee and naps could reduce sleep-related nighttime accidents by three to four times. But don't take that nap while behind the wheel.

ANGRY MAN He stands out in a crowd, according to research in Current Biology. A new study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology finds that male angry faces are easiest to pick out, especially by male observers. Men and women were tested on their reaction time in detecting angry faces, and both sexes picked out the angry faces faster than the fearful faces, even when the angry faces were female. However, the detection of angry male faces was not affected by increasing the size of the crowd, but it became more difficult for both men and women to see the angry females. Women, by contrast, detected happy or sad faces faster than the men did.

GO, GO GENERIC! Generic drugs could save U.S. consumers almost $25 billion this year alone, according to a new report from Express Scripts, one of the largest managers of pharmacy benefit plans. The report looked at the boon in savings that may accrue as a number of medications -- including the super-popular drugs Zocor, a statin drug for lowering cholesterol, and Zoloft, an antidepressant -- soon become generic. Generic drugs typically cost 60 percent less than brand-name drugs.

CUTTING ON CAMPUS A survey of more than 3,000 students at two Northeast universities finds that 17 percent have engaged in some self-injurious behavior, including purposefully cutting or burning themselves, pulling out hair, swallowing toxic substances, or bruising or breaking bones. Of the students who report engaging in such behavior, 75 percent said they'd done it more than once. What is especially troubling, according to Cornell researchers in the journal Pediatrics, is the secretiveness of the behavior. Thirty-six percent of the self-injurers said no one knew that they'd hurt themselves, and only 3 percent said a physician was aware.

BREATHE AIR IN, ASTHMA OUT Breathing exercises reduce reliever-inhaler use by 86 percent and cut in half the dose preventive inhalers for adults with mild asthma, shows a new study in the journal Thorax. Fifty-seven asthmatic adults practiced one of two breathing techniques -- shallow, nasal breathing with slow exhalations, or upper body exercises followed by relaxation. Participants exercised for 25 minutes twice a day for 30 weeks and used shorter exercises before resorting to a reliever inhaler.

TO CRY OR NOT TO CRY? Letting your young baby "cry it out" produces more immediate crying than more "hands on" parenting in which the baby is always soothed. But "cry it out" babies are more likely to sleep through the night by 12 weeks of age. British researchers who compared different styles of parenting in London and Copenhagen found there are costs and benefits to each approach. The results, published in Pediatrics, show that "hands off" parents had babies who cried the most of any group through weeks 2 to 5, but these infants were also more likely to sleep through the night without waking or crying by 12 weeks. For "hands on" parents who co-slept with their babies, their babies cried less during the first few weeks of life but were also likely to wake up crying during the night by 12 weeks.

PREEMIE PROBLEMS Premature or low birth weight babies are more likely to become hyperactive than other babies, finds a new study published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood. Danish researchers compared birth records of 20,100 children with no mental disorders and 830 children with hyperkinetic disorder (HKD) -- characterized by hyperactivity, low attention span and impulsive behavior. Children born before 34 weeks are 300 percent more likely to develop HKD than babies born at term. The study also identified other risk factors for HKD, including single parenthood, social and economic deprivation, and young age at parenthood.

STAT is a brief look at the latest medical research and is compiled by Joanna Schaffhausen, who holds a doctorate in behavioral neuroscience. She works in the ABC News Medical Unit, evaluating medical studies, abstracts and news releases.