She approached the microphone slowly from the back of the room, appearing to float, wrapped in her colorful hijab. A doctor from Pakistan, she had some questions and a comment after hearing my talk. A Kind Interrogation “Your Sperm Mapping technique for azoospermic men” she stated softly, “is it done under just local anesthesia?” “Yes,” I responded....Continue reading
Tag: Azoospermia
A Toast to the Jewels on World Vasectomy Day
You might think that publicly celebrating vasectomies is like celebrating root canals! But think about it. You have a root canal to relief pain and to be able to eat again, but you have vasectomy not only for you, but also for others, like family, and for the world at large. It’s taking one for...Continue reading
Getting Men Over the Infertility Hump
You’ve heard of gene therapy right? What ever happened to it? Born back in the 1990’s, the same decade that Viagra was introduced to the world, gene therapy has not fared nearly as well as the little blue pill. Why not? First of all, gene therapy, in which DNA is put into cells to treat disease,...Continue reading
MicroTESE vs. FNA Mapping: Medieval or Modern?
Put two experts in a room and give each of them the same problem to solve. What you’ll find is that they typically use similar “knowledge structures” and “heuristic strategies” (i.e. organized and principled thinking) and then proceed to break the problem into smaller, more digestible ones to solve it. But, despite similar cognitive approaches, the solutions...Continue reading
Fact, Theory and Truth in Science
I am giving a talk to a large gathering of Kaiser docs from Southern California this week on whether a relationship exists between male infertility and the later development of cancer. We have published some of the most convincing data to date to suggest that they are linked. But is it really, absolutely true? What is...Continue reading
Are We Less Fertile Today?
How big was your family a couple of generations ago? Dial things back a half a century and you’d see that having 3 or 4 kids was pretty much average in America. Now, having 2 kids or fewer is the norm. What happened? Are we less fertile? I know what you’re thinking: so what if modern...Continue reading
Can Nature and Nurture Work Together?
I’m sorry, but after delivering hundreds of lectures worldwide over the past two decades, this invitation is different. It’s from the Feds, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to be exact. They want me to speak at a think tank in Washington about the future of men’s health. It’s a great honor, but a very intimidating...Continue reading
The Family Jewels: To Cut or Cover?
“OK, Honey, I’m pulling the goalie. The IUD is out. Your turn to think about contraception.” Gees, now what? Quick, go through the list in your head. Withdrawal? Abstinence? Rhythm method? Not likely. Really boils down to vasectomy or condoms. Cut it or cover it. Handling Old Faithful Gees, condoms?!? Believe it or not, the oldest known condoms...Continue reading
Y Not The X?
Imagine Louis Armstrong bellowing: “Birds do it, bees do it, goldfish in the privacy of bowls do it…” Males and females, everywhere on earth, falling for each other. Now there’s evidence that, even chromosomally, they need each other. Sex Dogma Realize that scientific thought surrounding sex chromosomes has been a tad sexist to date: Two...Continue reading
Can Making Eggs Help Us Make Sperm?
Forgive me for talking about eggs during Men’s Health Month, but this one is too good to pass up. It was announced to the world recently that a woman just delivered a child after natural conception. And the news here is….? A First Among Eggs Ok, there’s a catch. The newborn baby came from eggs within an ovary that...Continue reading