Around the Globe

The owner of the parrot, Roger Schlup, said, "It is necessary for the male and female to stand on a perch next to each other, twist around and align their rear ends." Since Nelson the parrot is being raised as a "stud," his future as the father of other prizewinners is in serious jeopardy. "That, I suppose, is the heartbreaking part--having to see a bird suffer," Schlup said.

Dr. Mahmoud Zureik from the National Institute of Health in Paris, monitored the cholesterol of 6,000 men over 17 years. Thirty-two men killed themselves. While the numerical results were encouraging, "the relationship between low cholesterol and suicide and depression is still open to debate," Zureik said.

The gas, nitric oxide, is necessary for an erection and researchers believe nitric oxide treatments can aid those whose natural supply fails them.

The treatment has been known for years, but scientists never knew how it worked, and hence, they never pushed it as an accepted treatment. "That's the way science goes," one researcher said.

Dr. Carl Klutke of the Washington University School of Medicine likened the problem of incontinence to a "leaky faucet." The treatment requires injections of collagen into the lower abdomen which helps to seal the urethra.

--Compiled by Hugh Hunter from the Tehran Times