Hormones

"Oh, you mean the guy with the 70-year-old head and the 20-year-old body-builder body? That picture has got to be Photoshopped." Dr. Jeffry Life smiles when I tell him about the general reaction I get about the famous picture of him with his shirt off, the shot that turned a mild-mannered doctor in his mid-60s into a poster boy for super-fit aging and controversial hormone replacement Appearing in medical-clinic ads in airline magazines and...

If you drink schnapps at 56 degrees below zero, be careful. Unless you warm it in your mouth before swallowing, you will burn your throat. The advice came from my father as we stood, clad in thick winter gear, at a remote Alaska lake on a November night three decades ago. We passed the bottle, took a few pulls, then the five of us - father, his friend, brother, my friend - climbed aboard snowmobiles and freight sleds and raced across lakes toward...

In the nearly 11 years since researchers first rang alarm bells that women on hormone replacement therapy faced an increased risk of breast cancer, some have suggested that taking estrogen and progestin to treat symptoms of menopause might not be so dangerous after all. Though it was generally agreed that woman who took the two hormones to curb their hot flashes and night sweats upped their chances of developing the disease, many studies suggested that...

In the nearly 11 years since researchers first rang alarm bells that women on hormone replacement therapy faced an increased risk of breast cancer, some have suggested that taking estrogen and progestin to treat symptoms of menopause might not be so dangerous after all. Though it was generally agreed that woman who took the two hormones to curb their hot flashes and night sweats upped their chances of developing the disease, many studies suggested that...

Re "U.S. Agency Sounds Alarm About 'Miracle' Hormones," April 28: The National Institute on Aging has sounded the alarm about possible health consequences from the widespread use of DHEA and melatonin, two hormonal supplements. As a health writer who has written about these hormones, many of the alternative medicine practitioners I have spoken to report numerous benefits from their use, including, in the case of DHEA, more energy and well-being among older people. Particularly in the case of DHEA, they caution that it is advisable to have simple laboratory tests before and after taking it to determine a genuine need and appropriate dosage for each individual.

By putting retaliatory tariffs on Common Market food imports, the Reagan Administration has called to public attention the fact that all American beef animals are treated with hormones (Part I, Dec. 28). Since these growth hormones are so dangerous for Olympic and teen-age athletes, my family doesn't want to ingest any of them--even second hand. We already know from reading The Times that the pollution in Santa Monica Bay has contaminated the fish and that much poultry contains poisonous salmonella.

Alma, the 15-year-old heroine of the Nordic import "Turn Me On, Dammit!," is introduced pleasuring herself on the floor of her kitchen to the chatter of a phone sex operator. Instead of setting up a single-minded comedy about teenage desire, however, this gently amusing film from writer-director Jannicke Systad Jacobsen delicately renders more than a few shades of a turbulent female adolescence. Soft-eyed, hangdog Alma (a wonderful Helene Bergsholm) is racked with horny/romantic fantasies and hates the backwater mountain village where she lives.

In the animal kingdom, some primates produce reddened faces in order to show off and attract mates. Humans apparently do the same, to some extent. In a study published this week in the journal PLoS ONE, researchers at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland measured how skin color varies according to the amount of oxygen in the blood. Oxygenated blood is a bright red color, and deoxygenated blood has a slightly bluish-red color.

Taking menopause hormones for five years doubles the risk for breast cancer, according to a new analysis of a big federal study that reveals the most dramatic evidence yet of the dangers of these popular pills. Even women who took estrogen and progestin pills for just a couple of years had a greater chance of getting cancer. But when they stopped, their odds quickly improved, returning to a normal risk level about two years later.

In another blow against long-term use of hormone replacement therapy, a national study has found that women who take estrogen and progestin after menopause do not protect themselves against mental decline, but instead appear to double their risk for dementia. The study, part of a large federally funded research project known as the Women's Health Initiative, is the most comprehensive examination yet of the effects of hormones on cognitive decline.

Drawn from the experiences of writer-director Benjamin Ávila's formative years, the film "Clandestine Childhood" tells the story of a young boy who returns to Argentina in 1979 with his family after years in exile to live under an assumed alias as his parents and uncle take part in revolutionary action to overthrow the ruling military dictatorship. The film was Argentina's submission this year for the foreign language Oscar, which Argentina won just three years ago with "The Secret in Their Eyes.

If retired Army Gen. David H. Petraeus had gotten an occasional dose of supplemental oxytocin, a brain chemical known to promote trust and bonding, he might still be director of the Central Intelligence Agency, new research suggests. A study published Tuesday in the Journal of Neuroscience has uncovered a surprising new property of oxytocin, finding that when men in monogamous relationships got a sniff of the stuff, they subsequently put a little extra space between themselves and an attractive woman they'd just met. Oxytocin didn't have the same effect on single heterosexual men, who comfortably parked themselves between 21 and 24 inches from the comely female stranger.

Healthy middle-aged women who take hormones to ease the misery of hot flashes and night sweats have fewer depressive symptoms, less anxiety and tension, and better and more sex than those who do not, according to a new study. Though the long-term effects of hormone replacement therapy could not be measured by the new research, it did offer some reassuring findings. It suggested that some women's cholesterol profiles and metabolic function might improve on hormone replacement therapy and that blood pressure did not rise during or after a relatively brief stay on hormone replacement.

LOMPOC, Calif. - A new beef vendor at the Santa Monica farmers market, Rancho San Julian is very likely the oldest continuously operated family farm in California, dating to 1816, when José de la Guerra began to raise meat for the presidio at Santa Barbara. In 1837, the governor of Alta California granted him title to the ranch, which has remained in his family for nine generations. It currently extends over 13,000 acres of grasslands and oak forest, roamed by cougars, bears and hawks, and home to 500 Angus cows and their calves.

Alma, the 15-year-old heroine of the Nordic import "Turn Me On, Dammit!," is introduced pleasuring herself on the floor of her kitchen to the chatter of a phone sex operator. Instead of setting up a single-minded comedy about teenage desire, however, this gently amusing film from writer-director Jannicke Systad Jacobsen delicately renders more than a few shades of a turbulent female adolescence. Soft-eyed, hangdog Alma (a wonderful Helene Bergsholm) is racked with horny/romantic fantasies and hates the backwater mountain village where she lives.

Women who are past menopause and healthy should not use hormone replacement therapy in hopes of warding off dementia, bone fractures or heart disease, says a new analysis by the government task force that weighs the risks and benefits of screening and other therapies aimed at preventing illness. The recommendation by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force does not necessarily apply to women who use hormone replacement therapy to reduce menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats and vaginal dryness.

If you surf the Internet or browse men's magazines in search of strategies for boosting muscle or trimming fat, you may have come upon a strange phrase: hormone secretagogues. Advertisements and Web sites claim that these pills, powdered drinks, and nasal or oral sprays will not only buff your body but also strengthen bones, sharpen wits and banish wrinkles and gray hair.

Drawn from the experiences of writer-director Benjamin Ávila's formative years, the film "Clandestine Childhood" tells the story of a young boy who returns to Argentina in 1979 with his family after years in exile to live under an assumed alias as his parents and uncle take part in revolutionary action to overthrow the ruling military dictatorship. The film was Argentina's submission this year for the foreign language Oscar, which Argentina won just three years ago with "The Secret in Their Eyes.

WASHINGTON — New York Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte threw the perjury prosecution of his friend Roger Clemens into disarray Wednesday when he testified that he could have misunderstood a conversation with Clemens about human growth hormone. Pettitte said he thought Clemens told him sometime in 1999 or 2000 that he used HGH, but he admitted under cross-examination that he was hazy on the details. Is it possible, asked Clemens lawyer Mike Attanasio, that Pettitte misunderstood the critical conversation?

Many women who used estrogen alone as hormone replacement therapy after menopause had a lower risk of developing breast cancer up to five years after they stopped taking it, a study has found. The research, published Tuesday, adds another twist to the evolving story on whether hormone replacement therapy helps some women beyond treating menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and poor sleep quality. The report is a follow-up analysis of the landmark Women's Health Initiative, a clinical trial of tens of thousands of women begun in 1993 that sought to clarify the risks and benefits of two hormone replacement therapy regimens in postmenopausal women: estrogen plus progestin, which most women must take, and estrogen alone, taken by women who have had hysterectomies.