I got this article from MSN today. Interesting ... =)
New book answers why men have nipples
Humorous tome addresses unusual medical questions
NEW YORK - Have you ever wondered why your teeth chatter when you’re cold, or if you could really catch a disease from sitting on a toilet seat?
New York physician Billy Goldberg, pestered by unusual questions at cocktail parties and other social gatherings over the years, puts the public’s mind at ease in his book “Why Do Men Have Nipples?”
“It’s really remarkable how often you get accosted,” said Goldberg, 39. “There are the medical questions from family and friends, and then there are the drunk and outrageous questions where somebody wants to drop their pants and show you a rash or something.”
I would love to be around when that happens ... best if armed with a camera so I can bribe them with the photo later. Kekekeke.
The book, subtitled, “Hundreds of Questions You’d Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini,” (Three Rivers Press), is co-authored by humorist Mark Leyner.
“People tend to know so little about their bodies as compared to their cars or their laptops,” said Leyner, 49, of Hoboken, New Jersey. “When I worked in a pharmacy in Washington, D.C., people would ask me medical questions all the time. I was just a 22-year-old cashier at Rite Aid.”
Geez! What makes customers think the cashier knows what's wrong with them??? They're there to handle your cash! Not your health. Ask the salesperson who are always more than glad to help you out (and in the process also sell you something which you might not need so that they can earn a commission from it to buy that fancy watch/handphone/'whatever-they-r-fancying-atm' that they've been eyeing.)
Chattering teeth is one way the body tries to generate heat.
Yup that's one way. Another way is ... ke ke ke ke ... *soaps my dirty brain*
When the body gets too cold, the area of the brain called the hypothalamus alerts the rest of the body to begin warming up. Shivering, the rapid muscle movement that generates heat, then begins. Teeth chattering represents localized shivering.
Hrmm ... when I get cold ... all my brain signals is "PUT ON SOME CLOTHES" Haha. Joking. It's more like "Off the blurdy air con!".
During the course of their research, Goldberg and Leyner found reports of gonorrhea, pinworm and roundworm found on toilet seats -- but catching something from it isn’t common.
The authors discovered that an office setting might be worse for your health than toilet seats. Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona, found the typical office desk harbors some 400 times more disease-causing bacteria than the average toilet seat.
OFFICE WORKERS BEWARE!!! I think I know why. Toilet everyday got people clean (with their asses!!!). But office desk only have the designated office worker to keep clean (which is like not possible unless you're a neat freak). Piles of paper, files (god knows what sort of hands touched these! These are never cleaned!), stationary, etc, collecting dust, germs that were floating around from the sneeze from your colleague, remains of a eraser from an earlier erasing of pencil lead, the list goes on. At least it is more likely a person's butt is cleaner when they touch the toilet seat. Rather than tons of stuff with which where they've been to is unknownest to you.
Goldberg had compiled a list of nagging questions for several years before embarking on the book after meeting Leyner. The two met while working on a short-lived ABC-TV medical drama, “Wonderland,” in which Leyner served as a writer, while Goldberg was its medical advisor.
Burning questions
Some of the burning questions answered in the humorous book include “What causes morning breath?” and “Why do beans give you gas?”
Goldberg says morning breath results from anaerobic bacteria, the xerostomia (dry mouth) or the volatile sulfur compounds (which are waste products from the bacteria). Other contributing factors to foul oral odor includes medication, alcohol, sugar, smoking, caffeine, and eating dairy products.
Good habits = Nice smelling breath. But then I guess the same thing can be achieve through adequete brushing, gargelling and pop in a strong mint. Solved. But still good habits are good to keep. Duh.
Beans contain high percentages of sugars that our bodies are unable to digest, Goldberg explains. When the sugars make it to the intestines, bacteria go to work and start producing large amounts of gas.
Ladies ... avoid beans if you want to avoid embarrassing yourself. Gentlemen ... have the decency and not spoil meals for others with your 'bean gas'. My hubby does it so much that I want to take a cork and plug up his hole! The dodo can even burp by drinking WATER! >.< doh!
And if you’re ever bitten by a poisonous snake, sucking at the bite to remove the poison, as often shown in the movies and on TV is not only ineffective, but could lead to an infection.
Instead, the bite should be washed with soap and water and immobilized. The bitten area should also be kept lower than the heart. Medical help should be sought immediately.
I've always wondered the stupid idiot who sucks out the poison doesn't get poisoned at all?! Now I know. Sorry hubby, I'll never suck out poison for you. But then I'll help hold you while you stand on your head, if the stupid snake bit you from your chest up, till help arrives.
And why do men have nipples?
While only females have mammary glands, we all start out in a similar way in the embryo, the authors explain. The embryo follows a female template until about six weeks, when the male sex chromosome kicks in.
Men, however, have already developed nipples.
And some men have bigger boobies than some women ... and I'm not only referring to only the 'horizontally challenged' males.
Another interesting thing is that a lot of girls do not know that the males' nipples are also quite sensitive and to SOME guys is quite a turn on (i mean when in bed lah!) They are not numb nubs there hor! Got feeling one! Hee hee. But most guys are shy loh. So be daring and try it with your bf/hubby. You might find something interesting. And for the curious of some, NO. My hubby doesn't like. (Hopes no one whacks me for this comment sia.)
Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.
