A study found that uncircumcised men were more likely (22 percent) than circumcised men (15 percent), those who have had the foreskin of their penises surgically removed, to be infected with the human papillomavirus (HPV). Men can sexually transmit HPV, which has been linked to cervical cancer and genital warts in women. These studies suggest that circumcision might help to protect men from getting HPV infection.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may signifi¬cantly affect erectile function, After screening for age and co-morbidities (includ¬ing diabetes, smoking history and body mass index – all risk factors of erectile dysfunction, or ED), researchers found that patients with ED were twice more likely to have OSA than their counterparts without OSA. The likeli¬hood of having OSA increased as the severity of erectile dysfunction increased, suggesting that men with this condition should also be screened for OSA.

Cigarette smoking is a recognized risk factor for renal cell carcinoma (RCC, or kidney cancer). The extent to which smoking affects certain pathological features of these tumors is less widely understood. Using pathology reports re¬searchers found that current and for¬mer smokers had advanced disease 1.5 to 1.6 times as much as non-smokers. Heavier smoking (longer duration and exposure) was associated with ad¬vanced RCC, but quitting reduced the odds of advanced disease by 9 percent per smoke-free decade

Research shows that obese individuals are twice as likely compared to normal weight individuals to suffer from kidney stones. Kidney stones are mineral deposits that solidify and can be painful to pass through the urinary tract. In the study researchers analyzed the medical records of 95,000 people in a national insurance database. There was no difference in the risk of stone formation between obese and severely obese patients. Treatment options, however, differed by weight as obese patients were more likely than normal weight or overweight patients to undergo stone removal treatments as opposed to naturally passing the stone.