The raw oyster consumer--a risk taker? Use of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

We used the 1988 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System in Florida to determine the prevalence of consumption of raw oysters, a vehicle implicated in the transmission of several pathogens. One-third of survey respondents reported ever eating raw oysters. The prevalence was higher for persons 18-49 years old and for males, and, when controlled for age and sex, for persons who reported being cigarette smokers or acute or chronic alcohol drinkers, and driving while intoxicated.     

The Case of the Blushing Man

Locally synthesized POMC-derived peptides seem to act as paracrine and autocrine regulators of testicular growth and function; some are stimulatory, others inhibitory. They add up to a potent short-loop effector system, with a significant role in both the up- and downregulation of the mechanisms subserved by the long-loop hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-gonadal axis.