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Reversible Male Contraception With Gold Nanorods
MTorrice writes "Men's options for birth control have significant downsides: Condoms are not as effective as hormonal methods for women, and vasectomies require surgery and are irreversible. Doctors and scientists have for decades searched for more effective and desirable male contraception techniques. Researchers in China now propose a nonsurgical, reversible, and low-cost method. They show that infrared laser light heats up gold nanorods injected into mice testes, leading to reduced fertility (abstract) in the animals."
Finally! I don't have to trust that ding-bat I picked up to remember to take her pill!
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
It might be non-surgical but a needle in the nads followed up by laser heating isn't my idea of fun.
...and first post :)
Gives a whole new meaning to the term "money shot"...
And I don't like the idea of having my balls being pierced to inject somes gold in it... :/
Forgive me if I see "gold nanorods injected into my testes" as being a "significant downside" in and of itself. This coming from a guy who was snipped 10 years ago with non-working anesthetic.
Do you have ESP?
Just don't fall asleep on the laser-seat, or your balls cook from the inside out.
What could possibly go wrong?
CAPTCHA: toasted (for real)
Gonads for short.
FTFA:
'testicular injection'
I think i became infertile just by reading the article.
leading to reduced fertility
That's not difficult at all. Diet, temperatures, radiation, hormone therapy, steroids, and apparently mountain dew can all do that. 100% stopping fertility is the hard part. This discovery is absolutely nothing. "Reduced" fertility is not good enough and never will be. "This sort of works" is not a good marketing strategy for contraceptives. In women you try to stop 1 cell from doing something. In men, you have to stop 100% of trillions. It's basically impossible.
Because having a laser shot at my balls is more desirable than anything I can think of.
You're going to inject golden nanorods into my balls and then shoot my balls with an infrared laser to melt the gold and stop my balls from working?
Ye Shall Have Golden Testicles!
If a contraception method is 99.9% effective in its effect on procreative cells, for a female it means that out of the 500 eggs she may produce in her life, maybe one has a 50% chance to be fertilized (if taken at the right time, etc). Acceptable risk. For a male, it means that out of the 300 millions sperms contained in the average ejaculation, there will still be 300 thousand standing up in lines at Egg's door. That's one of the reasons why it's much more difficult to design a male contraceptive.
Non-Linux Penguins ?
Heats up you say? Kills sperm AND sperm generating cells you say?
So lets recap, acid reflux damage over and over increases cancer risk. There is evidence this is a contributing factor for smokers.
Doing small amounts of damage in the testicles over and over.... where could the harm be there? I suspect they have not found anything that's going to make it to clinical trials.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
Gold Finger, then Gold Member, then Gold Testicles. Thats about right.
Did you hear about the birth control pill for men?
A man puts it in his shoe and it makes him limp.
Vasectomies aren't reversible? Since when?
Injection in the testicle? No thanks. I'll take the injection in the Vas Deferens of Vasalgel, thank you. That is also closer to commercial use (human trials scheduled for this year, release targeted 2015) and has over 10 years worth of human testing in India. It is also reversible (USA rabbit reversal trial in progress right now) with a single injection of baking soda & water.
Forgive the puerility, but... Hot golden rods?
Take it to the limit, everybody to the limit, come on, everybody fhqwhgads.
If you experience Glowing Red Ball lasting more than four hours, seek medical help immediately as permanent injury may result.
Enough said.
http://www.parsemusfoundation.org/vasalgel-home/
Technoli
You're not getting any golden nanorods near my junk.
Vasectomies are reversible. It's possible to reconnect the vas deferens back together. Not as easy as it is to snip them of course - but still totally possible.
This treatment sounds interesting, and I'm glad that alternative male contraceptions are being offered. Also don't forget Vasalgel: http://www.parsemusfoundation.org/vasalgel-home/
Vasectomies are often reversable.
FALSE.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasectomy_reversal
(from TFA):
"In a lower hyperthermia treatment, the morphology of testes and seminiferous tubules is only partly injured, and fertility indices are decreased to 10% at day 7, then recovered to 50% at day 60. In a higher hyperthermia treatment, the morphology of testes and seminiferous tubules are totally destroyed, and fertility indices are decreased to 0 at day 7."
In other words, the 'reversible' (or more accurately temporary suppression of fertility) process drops fertility down to 10%. As an actual birth control process, 10% fertility might as well be 90%.
The elimination of fertility by this method - ie to 0% - seems to be irreversible.
So the process is more accurately a method of male sterilization (for which it may indeed be valuable, if it's less invasive, less painful, etc. than vasectomy); the "contraceptive" role seems to be far less reliable than current methods by at least one, perhaps two orders of magnitude.
Only by the most extreme hyperbole could this be called "reversible male contraception".
-Styopa
Magnetically actuated valves in the vas deferens, normally open or closed, your preference. Want to get the non-default state...strap some magnets onto your nads.
Anyone with medical knowledge know how workable this is?
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
This is a list of the warnings in the commercial:
Warning: Pregnant women, the elderly, and children under 10 should avoid prolonged exposure to Happy Fun Ball.
Caution: Happy Fun Ball may suddenly accelerate to dangerous speeds.
Happy Fun Ball contains a liquid core, which, if exposed due to rupture, should not be touched, inhaled, or looked at.
Do not use Happy Fun Ball on concrete.
Discontinue use of Happy Fun Ball if any of the following occurs:
itching
vertigo
dizziness
tingling in extremities
loss of balance or coordination
slurred speech
temporary blindness
profuse sweating
heart palpitations
If Happy Fun Ball begins to smoke, get away immediately. Seek shelter and cover head.
Happy Fun Ball may stick to certain types of skin.
When not in use, Happy Fun Ball should be returned to its special container and kept under refrigeration. Failure to do so relieves the makers of Happy Fun Ball, Wacky Products Incorporated, and its parent company, Global Chemical Unlimited, of any and all liability.
Ingredients of Happy Fun Ball include an unknown glowing substance which fell to Earth, presumably from outer space.
Happy Fun Ball has been shipped to our troops in Saudi Arabia and is also being dropped by our warplanes on Iraq.
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.
Happy Fun Ball comes with a lifetime guarantee.
...a guy with a nanorod might have trouble reproducing.
It's been done, with (alleged) 100% effectiveness. See http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/04/ff_vasectomy/, complete with the most uncomfortable video you will watch all week.
Bond: "You expect me to talk?" ........ be infertile!"
GF: "No, Mr Bond, I expect your to
Vasectomy reversal is difficult, expensive, and only works about half the time. I think it's pretty clear that the summary was referring to something with reversibility as a design point, not a workaround...
Was that due to an unfortunate smelting accident?
As with any male contraceptive, there's one big problem: guys lie.
"Sure, honey, I've got the gold thingies in my balls. Don't worry."
I'd rather take a ultrasound blast to the gonads.
You're going to point a laser beam at my what?
I think I hear my phone ringing.....in my car.....I'll be right back.
Solving Unix problems since 1989...
What could possibly go wrong... just sayin'...
I'm Chinese, so my nanorod is already golden!
http://www.parsemusfoundation.org/vasalgel-home/
Though it would probably is also considered surgery, it looks to be a great alternative. Should be in Human Trails in the US here in the next year.
Will "Nanorod" describe something men want associated with their junk?
It's more painful, costs 5-10 times as much, recovery is longer, and will never be covered by your insurance (it's a lifestyle choice, but they'll usually cover 100% of your vasectomies).
It's the most effective cure for severe PVP (Post Vasectomy Pain) and obviously some guys simply decide they want kids after all. It also has a really high success rate.
Say you do convince Goldfinger to give your balls the Midas touch.
Are there even enough laser mounted sharks to sizzle all the scrotes?
The real problem is that pharmaceutical companies don't think there is a market for male contraceptives. It has nothing to do with technologies. There have been many effective, reversible, non-invasive procedures in human trials for the past 30 years:
http://www.malecontraceptives.org/
The issue is that "most men" think contraceptives are "unmanly" and will "never take them". At least that's what several doctors have personally told me when I was investigating contraceptive options. Nothing will move forward until there is a (at least perceived) cultural shift towards the acceptance that males should be responsible for their own fertility, creating a (at least perceived) market to justify the large capital expenses required to finalize and make available the various drugs and procedures.
GOOOLDMEMBER!!
I thought this approach was proven years ago by Apple and their warmer-than-warm laptop machines. Plus I'd rather have a laptop in my lap than gold rods near my rod.... or something like that.
https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
A quick Wikipedia query shows that you're wrong to classify a vasectomy as "irreversible".
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasectomy_reversal
Reversals are not 100% successful, cause a reduced potency rate and come at considerable expense (oh, yeah, and you still need to have someone slice up your junk ... twice!). So, you shouldn't get one with the plan to have it reversed someday, but they are not absolutely irreversible.
Yes. A laser to my balls is much better than using a knife.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
... maybe this will help.
Oh wait, it's 1) not on the market, 2) not for adults, and 3) not reversible.
Oh well, maybe someday men - and dogs - will have something this simple.
I'm not sure where you're getting your info from, but vasectomies are pretty benign other than the intended effect. They are easily reversible.
I'm not saying I want to line up to get cut, but now they even do things to help ensure that it'll be easier to reverse in the future if you want. Its ridiculously short office visit to get it done.
Last I heard, Goldschlager was not a good contraceptive, the opposite really.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
So, a vasectomy isn't reversible? Then how come the hundreds of billboards I've seen off US Interstates over the last dozen or so years advertising exactly that haven't been taken down, and the advertisers put in jail for false advertising?
mark
Needle+laser, if whoever fails with the laser, you're possibly permanently infertile.
There is already a reversible injection proven to be 100% effective, and has been in use for over 25 years.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/03/male-birth-control-reversible_n_1400708.html
Okay first of all, Goldman Sachs will be thrilled about this!
Anyway, many sci fi movies have already solved this problem. Blow up the moon! Technically, allegedly, that's a female contraceptive but whatever.
Literally, that's what this procedure is. They inject gold nano-rods, and then heat them to roast your nuts.
That's thinking with your dipstick Jimmy!
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
Why not just wear Jockey shorts?
This gives a whole new meaning to Goldmember
There is already a long-standing, reversible male birth control method called RISUG
RISUG employs an injection into the vas deferens of a copolymer which can be removed at anytime via a second injection of bicarbonate solution. The copolymer is believed to hold a matrix of stable ions which rupture sperm as they pass the affected part of the vas deferens. Decades of testing have shown the method to be almost completely effective. Because the sperm still exit the body, no immune response to built-up sperm develops (the major reason vasectomies are generally irreversible). I know an injection sounds scary, but it's with high gauge needle and a local anesthetic, and one injection would provide 5 - 10 years of protection (depending on amount of material).
Sounds a lot better (more effective, more reversible, less likely to have complications) to me than putting gold nanorods in your balls and heating them with a laser...
.: Semper Absurda
Heating up your testes to kill sperm sounds like the perfect formula or gonad cancer.
Came for the oblig. jokes. Was dissapoint.
vasectomies are reversible
who reports this BS without facts..
I'm a fuckin' sadist.
What?
Did ya think I meant my 'nads?
Nah ... Yours ...
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
George Carlin's take on the marketing of unreliable contraception.
I still miss that man's sense of humor...
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
There's a newer male birth control pill that I've heard is out on the market:
a man takes the pill and it changes his blood type.
"A government is a body of people usually -- notably -- ungoverned." -Shepherd Book
Heating of nads, even sans golden rods or lasers, will decrease fertility.
Then again, basement-dwelling also has discomfort, hormonal influences and other prophylactic effects that are very effective as contraceptives.
"Look ma, I use my personality for birth control!"
The problem is getting the shark into the surgical theater...
Laser to the balls... that's gotta be on a Star Wars gag reel!!!