There might be some bad news out there for men with above or below normal birth weights -- new studies are showing that they might be at a high risk for testicular cancer than those who were born a more normal size. To be more precise, men with low birth weights were 18% more likely to develop testicular cancer than their normal-sized counterparts, and high birth weight men were 12% more likely to be diagnosed with the disease. It should be noted, however, that the findings are only try to seminoma testicular cancer, which is the most prevalent type.

Researchers are not indicating whether they believe there might be a reason to these findings. I wonder if some unhealthy habits of mothers that may have lead to low or high birth weights could be playing a role in the health of their sons later in life? What do you think?

About 820 cases of testicular cancer are diagnosed annually in Canada and it is the number one killer for men between the ages of 20 and 30. This past weekend a fundraiser was held called Nuts4ribs in Bedford, Nova Scotia.

The fundraiser featured cook offs, music and a nationally acclaimed one-man play by Daniel Schneiderman, titled Left Nut, a humorous look at a man with testicular cancer.

Michael Kydd, diagnosed with testicular cancer three years ago, is the man behind the event. Kydd said "What I'm trying to do is make sure men understand that by ignoring the warning signs, you're not doing yourself any good".

Micheal Kydd also added "Although we're not going to cure the disease, what we are going to do is help men understand the disease and make sure they know and communicate that with their family, and then live happily ever after".

Men who survive testicular cancer are just as likely to survive a second cancer as men who never had testicular cancer, according to a study led by Dr. Catherine Schairer from the National Cancer Institute.

One third of testicular cancer survivors will develop a second cancer later in life, however, the overall and cancer-related death rates did not differ between testicular cancer survivors and first-time cancer patients.

One exception to this were survivors who received treatments between 1973 and 1979 when a form of radiation therapy was used that caused damage to the chest, including the lungs. Men who were treated during this period and later developed lung cancer were more likely to die than lung cancer patients who had never had testicular cancer.

Intense does of anticancer drugs can cure a large majority of men with testicular cancer after first-line treatment fails, according to a study out of Indiana University.

The overall cure rate for testicular cancer is 90 percent after the first round of treatment, but there is a subset of difficult, metastatic cases and about 30 percent of these patients in this group suffer relapse.

The report describes "salvage therapy", where high doses of chemotherapeutic agent led to remission for 118 out of 184 such men.

The take home message is that "continuous effort to provide treatment is effective, " according to one of the study's authors, Dr. Abonour.

Males born with undescended testis have and increased risk of developing testicular cancer later in life. The surgical procedure called orchiopexy, can be performed on a child as early as six months of age.

In the New England Journal of Medicine they state that surgery before the age of thirteen for the treatment of undesended testis reduces the risk of testicular cancer compared with having surgery later in life.

The results of a study done by researchers in Sweden concluded that among those who underwent orchiopexy before the age of thirteen had an increased risk of testicular cancer that was slightly more than twofold of the general male population. Those who waited to get the surgery after thirteen years of age had a fivefold risk of developing the disease.

I love a good cancer comeback story -- like the story of Phil Kessel and his courageous return to the NHL.

Kessel, 19-year-old Bruins forward and fifth overall draft pick for 2006, was diagnosed with testicular cancer last month. He underwent surgery and has been recovering off the ice until just recently -- when he was recalled to Boston from its farm team in Providence.

It's back to life and back to work for Kessel -- who is winning his match against cancer.

Kessel, a Wisconsin native, was the second Boston athlete this year diagnosed with cancer. Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester was diagnosed in August with lymphoma.

We have heard it all. Performance enhancing drugs. The cancer drug treatment effect. Now it's having only one testicle that separates the winners from the losers. All possible reasons why Lance Armstrong became the seven-time Tour de France champion he became, according to the skeptics who keep throwing spurious suggestions to the media that the wins could not have been legitimately won.

I say, give Armstrong his due, as he is quite simply, the seven-time Tour de France champion, for no other reason that he is a supreme athlete who single-mindedly focused on his sport and ultimately gave what it took to win.

In Lance Armstrong: can cancer be performance-enhancing?, Robin Parisotto cites a recently published article that suggests Armstrong's ability to accomplish what most mere mortals only dream of, is due to the fact the man raced with only one testicle -- that the surgical removal of a testicle is performance-enhancing enough to make you an athletic champion. Parisotto goes into the long version of why the authors believe one testicle could give an athlete an advantage -- red blood cells, hormone ratios, and testosterone levels.

Parisotto ends with, "You can just see it now; some sick-minded male athletes now thinking that with only one testicle they can up their performance. Sorry, but I believe that two balls are still better than one."

Armstrong will be the first to tell you that cancer changed his life, by making him stronger in attitude and mental focus. This might be what those who are not familiar with the inner landscape of cancer are missing. It is a huge point to make, as surviving cancer often strengthens the resolve, focus and determination of many cancer patients in priorities of life important to them. It becomes you against cancer, a formidable obstacle to overcome, and it is all about winning. If anything enhanced an already outstanding natural talent, perhaps this is what gave Armstrong the added advantage that earns him the place of elite champion in his sport.

That cancer did change him by making him stronger in mind and spirit, and that he has gone on to create the LiveStrong Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer survivors on the same extraordinary level of success as winning the Tour de France might be compared to, seems far more likely the logical explanation for why he has been able to accomplish both athletic and altruistic feats of excellence.

Bruins rookie Phil Kessel is surviving testicular cancer. And the 19-year-old former University of Minnesota player, drafted in the first round this year, is talking about his shocking diagnosis and the surgery from which he is currently recovering.

Kessel, who is expected to rest for two weeks before returning to the ice, found a lump in his testicle and went immediately to his team internist, Dr. David Judge. Judge examined him, referred him for an ultrasound, and learned with Kessel that the lump was in fact cancer -- embryonal testicular cancer.

Both Judge and Kessel are happy to report that the cancer was localized to the right testicle -- which was removed during surgery -- and had not spread. Kessel, therefore, has a very low liklihood of recurrence.

Kessel, who has five goals and four assists in 27 games this season, says about his diagnosis, "I couldn't believe it. It was tough. I had a hard time with it."

Kessel thinks cancer will help him gain perspective on life. And he plans to speak out about his experience so others may benefit.

"If you're not feeling well go get checked out and make sure you're all right," he says. Getting checked out is what saved him -- and he hopes others will follow suit.

Kessel is the second Boston athlete to be diagnosed with cancer this year. Red Sox left-hander Jon Lester was diagnosed with lymphoma in August. With chemotherapy behind him, he is currently cancer-free. And so is Kessel.

Testicular cancer, cancer in one or both of the testicles, usually occurs in young men and will strike about 8,250 of these men this year. About 370 men will die.

A man's lifetime risk of developing this cancer -- that typically shows up in only one testicle -- is 1 in 300, securing it as one of the less common cancers in the United States. The chances of dying from testicular cancer are 1 in 5,000, making it one of the most curable forms of cancer. Yet it is still the most common form of cancer in men ages 15-34. It is also a cancer commonly characterized by denial and embarrassment. As a result, it is one of the least mentioned cancers.

Today marks ten years since Lance was diagnosed with testicular cancer. As all of us affected by cancer know, cancer may leave your body, but it never leaves your life. Lance has done many things over the last ten year since his diagnoses. You can read some of his accomplishments here.

I read both of Lance Armstrong's books, Its Not About the Bike and Every Second Counts. I really loved the first one and I actually learned that his sport is much more interesting than a group of guys racing on their bikes.

I'm coming up on my five year cancer anniversary in December. Me and my friend Deb, who was diagnosed with breast cancer at the same time, plan on celebrating this milestone together! We know it doesn't mean we are definitely cured but I remember the way we looked at each other when we first met...will we be here in five years? We were both in our early 30's and scared. Today we see ourselves as strong women who will keep going no matter what!

Thanks to Deb Kirkland who gave me the tip about Lance's cancer anniversary

We are all adults here. I am assuming we are all adults here. If not, before you follow the link to this video, you might want to do it when the kids are not in the room. Not because there is anything they should not see, but because knowing kids the way I do, they might ask what the lady in the video is doing with the plum.

There are times when you just don't feel like being creative enough to explain innuendo in a way that prevents the school calling the next day to discuss what your child is discussing in class about daddy watching the lady with the plum video. The translation of double entendre can take interesting detours when repeated during graham crackers and milk time.

After all, as a parent, you are already explaining away the sexual innuendo of children's shows like Cow and Chicken, Dexter's Laboratory, Ed, Edd n Eddy, The Fairly OddParents, Johnny Bravo, The Ren and Stimpy Show, Rocko's Modern Life, and SpongeBob SquarePants.

Back to the lady with the plum. It's a bit of genius if you ask me. Rachel Gets Fruity! is part of the Everyman campaign to raise awareness on the ease and simplicity of a testicular self exam. It's short, sweet and to the point. Starring pop star Rachel Stevens, the video is sexual suggestive in a soft porn kind of way. There is no nudity. It's likely to grab attention of the audience it is aimed at and effectively raise awareness. Because awareness needs to be raised.

According to a survey, only 28 percent of men check their testicles regularly for signs of testicular cancer. The Everyman campaign is attempting to change that in innovative and creative ways. Here's the Rachel Gets Fruity! video. To find out more information on the Everyman campaign and other efforts Everyman is involved in to raise awareness, go here.

Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in men between the ages of 15 to 34. There are two different types of testicular cancer based on how the cells look under a microscope. The classifications are seminoma and non-seminoma testicular cancer.

Metastatic nonseminomatuous testicular cancer can be cured in many men with chemotherapy. Sometimes after the treatment the cancer returns. The journal BJU International published results that stated if men recur more than two years following chemotherapy it may prove to be different than cancer that recurs earlier, and may require different treatment options.

Researches in the UK did a study of men who had late relapse. They wanted to see if surgery could in fact have good outcomes on these men. The study concluded that if surgery is feasible it appears to improve survival.

MTV -- the ultimate source of music videos and pop culture -- has been around for 25 years now. And that amount of time makes for a lot of memories.

So in recognition of the entertainment MTV has offered over the years, Indystar.com, Indiana's #1 local media site, takes a walk down memory lane and counts down 25 best MTV memories. It's fitting that many of the memories include actual music -- although some may say MTV is not really about music anymore, with music videos hard to come by -- so Michael Jackson's 1983 14-minute video Thriller makes the list and so does the 1985 performances of Live Aid, a conglomeration of musicians who sang to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.

But many memories are not recollections of music videos -- or even musical performances. They are nostalgic remembrances of other media events -- like a kiss between Madonna and Britney Spears during an award show, the running of the popular Beavis and Butthead show and Remote Control game show, peeks into spring break extravaganzas, and roof-raising reality shows like The Real World and The Osbourne's.

And even one socially-conscious piece that aired to raise awareness of testicular cancer. On May 23, 2000, wacky, stunt-pulling comedian Tom Green let viewers into his private world, in an operating room while he underwent surgery to remove a cancerous testicle and several lymph nodes. Green survived the surgery well -- and he is surviving cancer still today -- and his public handling of a serious disease goes down in MTV history as something truly memorable.

ABC News aired a health news story to discuss the Lance Armstrong Effect, named after the seven-time Tour de France champion who survived testicular cancer even after it had spread to his lungs and brain -- why so many testicular cancer patients survive cancer -- and how it might be heat that is killing testicular cancer cells.

Johns Hopkins University researchers hypothesis it might be simply a matter of heat. Testicles are naturally a few degrees cooler than the rest of the body, and when the temperature of testicles are raised to normal body temperature, testicular cancer cells appear to be destroyed.

Because Armstrong's testicular cancer had spread beyond his testicles, researchers began to consider that heat might have played a role. The focus on Armstrong led to the term the Lance Armstrong Effect when referring to cancer cells destroyed by heat. In all fairness, the oncologists point out, this could have been named after any testicular cancer survivor.

"We've known for a long time that heating cancer cells kills them," said Dr. Donald L. Trump, an oncologist and senior vice president of clinical research at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y. Hypothermia treatment has been used in kidney and liver cancer cases.

In the interview, Dr. Trump explained that a needle is inserted into the tumor and the temperature raised up to 120 degrees. For whole body hypothermia treatment, the temperature can only safely be raised to 102 to 106 degrees. To watch the news video and learn more about the Lance Armstrong Effect and the applications of heat in killing cancer cells, go here.

The Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, (GLMA) researches and publishes facts that life habits and practices in gay males may make them more susceptible to cancer, heart disease, and other serious health problems. The GLMA works to ensure equality in health care for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals and health care professionals.

Studies show that gay men use tobacco at much higher rates than straight men. Some studies show that statistic is almost 50 percent higher in gays than straight males. Tobacco-related health problems include lung disease and lung cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, and more serious problems. Studies also show that gay men have higher rates of alcohol dependence and abuse than straight men and the use of substances like amyl nitrate poppers, marijuana, Ecstasy, and amphetamines which could cause serious consequences as they age are more prevalent in gay men. Alcohol consumption and smoking are also related to bladder cancers, colon cancers and others.

Some health professionals now recommend routine screening with anal Pap Smears, similar to the test done for women to detect early cancers. Gay men are at risk for, human papilloma virus, (HPV), that cause anal and genital warts. These infections play a role in the increased rates of anal and oral cancers in gay men.

Having the freedom and courage to discuss your lifestyle openly with your medical doctor is a must. Once that patient - professional relationship has comfortably been made, discussing these health concerns is the first step to maintaining your health.