New research presented at the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology meeting has found a genetic region, which may control testicle development in the foetus.

Men have XY sex chromosomes, and the development of testes is thought to occur after upregulation of the testicular SOX9 gene pathway, in the presence of factor SRY on the Y chromosome. However, the mechanism by which this testicular SOX9 upregulation occurs has so far been unclear.

Male bodies are increasingly objectified by mass media. Consider Michael 'The Situation' Sorrentino, a cast member of MTV's Jersey Shore reality show, who garnered fame by flashing his chiseled abs before cameras.

Such objectification should send young men running to gyms or fretting before mirrors, right? Not quite. A new study from Concordia University and the University of Manitoba, published in the journal Men and Masculinities, found most boys simply want an average physique.

"Not all boys aspire to have lean, muscular or idealized male bodies that are commonplace in popular culture," says Moss E. Norman, who led the study as a post-doctoral fellow at Concordia's Simone de Beauvoir Institute.

New research from Austria finds men have a higher rate of advanced colon cancer tumors than women of the same age and suggests male sex is a risk factor for the disease. The researchers propose this means men should be screened earlier than women, but do not say whether this ought to be by delaying the age when women are initially offered screening or bringing forward the age men are offered it.

You can read how Dr Monika Ferlitsch, of the Austrian Society for Gastroenterology and Hepatology in Vienna, and colleagues, analyzed the results of more than 40,000 screening colonoscopies to reach these conclusions in a paper published in the September 28 issue of JAMA.

A new study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine* highlights the injury risks for schoolboys playing rugby.

The research shows that the chance of a school player suffering an injury during a single season is at least 12 per cent and, according to some research, could be as high as 90 per cent.

The researchers from Queen Mary, University of London and Cass Business School, City University say there is an urgent need to inform children, parents and coaches alike about the level of risk involved and that more should be done to reduce the risk.

Eating eggs may increase men's risk of developing the more lethal form of prostate cancer, concluded US researchers in a study published recently in the journal Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

First author Erin L. Richman from the department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and colleagues, write that we already know red and processed meat may increase risk of advanced prostate cancer, and although post-diagnostic data on diet and prostate cancer is "sparse", there have been suggestions that eating poultry with skin and eggs may hasten the progress of the disease.

Kentucky women who smoke heavily may experience more chronic musculoskeletal pain, suggests a new study led by University of Kentucky researchers.

More than 6,000 Kentucky women over the age of 18 were surveyed on their smoking habits and symptoms of chronic pain. Syndromes included in the analysis were fibromyalgia, sciatica, chronic neck pain, chronic back pain, joint pain, chronic head pain, nerve problems, and pain all over the body.

VOICE, an HIV prevention trial evaluating two antiretroviral (ARV)-based approaches for preventing the sexual transmission of HIV in women - daily use of one of two different ARV tablets or of a vaginal gel - will be dropping one of the oral tablets from the study. The decision to discontinue use of tenofovir tablets in VOICE comes after a routine review of study data concluded that the trial will not be able to demonstrate that tenofovir tablets are effective in preventing HIV in the women enrolled in the trial. VOICE will continue to test the safety and effectiveness of the other oral tablet, Truvada®, a combination of tenofovir and emtricitabine, and of the vaginal gel formulation of tenofovir.

New research analyses maternal breastfeeding in Spain throughout the second half of the twentieth century. Experts believe that its development is associated with socio-demographic factors such as the advice of healthcare professionals, longer maternity leave, a woman's integration into the workplace and her level of education.

"Up until not long ago, maternal breastfeeding was vital for infant survival but things have changed in the second half of the twentieth century. This is mainly due to the arrival of artificial lactation," explains Juan Ramón Ordoñana, researcher at the University of Murcia, Spain and lead author of the study.

According to a new study published in the British Journal of Cancer, including testing for the human papillomavirus (HPV) in cervical screenings reduces over a third of further pointless tests for women.

The results are from the primary assessment, led by The Institute of Cancer Research, of the 'Sentinel sites' project, which aims to make HPV testing part of routine cervical screening.

While breast self-exams are not recommended as a substitute for breast screening, most experts encourage women to become familiar with the way their breasts look and feel. This familiarity makes it much more likely that any changes might be detected early on. The American Cancer Society says that BSE (breast self-exams) play a small role in detecting breast cancer, when compared to finding a lump by chance or simply being aware of what is normal.

Some women are quite happy to do a BSE after each period. It is a step-by-step approach to examining (observing) and feeling the breasts. Others, however, prefer random checks and general awareness, such as checking while in the shower, getting up in the morning or going to bed at night - a less systematic approach.