Health Highlights: Dec. 9, 2019

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Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Man Without Testicles Receives One From Twin Brother in Rare Surgery

A man who was born without testicles got a transplanted one from his identical twin brother, doctors say.

The six-hour operation on the 36-year-old patient was performed early last week in Belgrade, Serbia, by an international team of surgeons, The New York Times reported.

Being born without testicles is rare and this is only the third known transplant of its type. The first two were performed in St. Louis 40 years ago and involved two pairs of identical twin brothers. In each pair, a brother did not have testicles.

The goals of the recent surgery included giving the patient more stable levels of the male hormone testosterone than could be provided by injections and to enable him to father children, Dr. Dicken Ko, a transplant surgeon and urology professor at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, told The Times.

Ko was one of the surgeons on the transplant team.

By last Friday, the recipient had normal testosterone levels, Ko told The Times.

Surgeons operated on the brothers simultaneously, in adjoining rooms, the newspaper reported. During the intricate procedure, doctors had to stitch together two arteries and two veins that were less than 2 millimeters wide.

“Once you remove the testicle from the donor, the clock starts ticking very fast,” Dr. Branko Bojovic, an expert in microsurgery at Harvard Medical School who participated in the surgery, told the The Times.

“Within two to four hours, you have to have it re-perfused and working again,” Bojovic said. Without a blood supply, a testicle is viable for only four to six hours.

Doctors say testicle transplant surgery could have wider applications for transgender people, accident victims, wounded soldiers and cancer patients, The Times reported.

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Special Kitty Mixed Grill Dinner Pate Recalled

Certain lots of Special Kitty Mixed Grill Dinner Pate that may pose a risk to cats’ health have been recalled, the J. M. Smucker Co. said.

The recalled products may contain ingredients that don’t meet quality and safety standards, according to the company.

Cats who eat the recalled products may develop nausea with excessive salivation, diarrhea, vomiting, difficulty walking and seizures. In extreme cases, there is a risk of death.

Cat owners should contact their veterinarian immediately if their cat has any symptoms, the company said.

The recalled cat food was sold in grocery stores across the United States and online. For more information, call 888-569-6767 Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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Moderate Drinking May Increase Cancer Risk in Japanese: Study

Even moderate alcohol drinking may increase cancer risk, according to a new study.

It included more than 63,000 cancer patients in Japan who were compared with an equal number of healthy people, The New York Times reported.

After controlling for factors such as smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity, the researchers concluded that drinking the equivalent of 6 ounces of wine, 17 ounces of beer or 2 ounces of whiskey a day for 10 years increased the relative risk of cancer by 5%, according to the study published in the journal Cancer.

Compared to nondrinkers, people who had two drinks a day for 40 years had a 54% higher risk of cancer, The Times reported.

The links between drinking and cancer were particularly strong for cancers of the mouth, throat, stomach and colon.

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