HEALTH

Menopause: men are no exception
By Poonam Batth
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — This might be news for most of the men. If you are 40 years of age and above, and some of the symptoms you experience include major reduction in sexual desire, poor libido, skin atrophy and forgetfulness, your menopause might be setting in.

Singapore is shortly coming up with the first clinic of its kind to deal with such problems. This information was given here today by Dr Louis Gooren, a professor at the Hospital of Vrije University of Amsterdam, Netherlands. The phenomenon, which in medical terms is known as Androgen Deficiency in Ageing Males (ADAM), is characterised by reduction in their production of testosterone. It is fast gaining acceptance among medical professionals across the world.

Dr Gooren has pointed out that male menopause generally sets in in males above the age of 40 and is manifested in gradual changes and ailments. Its gradual onset leads most practitioners to blame ageing as a cause and not to consider it as a hormonal deficiency. The symptoms are not as florid as these are in women. The clinical symptoms of andropause cover a wide range, which overlap. The physical problems include sleeplessness, lack of appetite, bone and joint pains and reduced physical energy. The sexual symptoms are reduced sexual desire and interest and impotence in varying degrees. It is also characterised by psychological problems such as depressed mood, concentration failure, anxiety, lack of self confidence and reduced productivity. The vasomotor problems include hot flushes, sweating and palpitation. In certain cases, are signs of decreased masculinity such as reduced muscle mass with or without concomitant obesity and loss of vigour and sexual hair.

Dr Gooren has lamented that there is lack of awareness among practitioners and the public about this, even as 20 to 40 per cent of men experience this. He has disclosed that older men, whose levels of testosterone drop below the normal range, are the most potential candidates. There is increasing agreement that men whose testosterone production remains within the normal range, but drops from the higher to the lower end, may also develop symptoms relating to a deficiency of testosterone. The testosterone levels decline gradually as men age, by about one per cent each year over the age of 40.

Talking about the treatment, Dr Gooren has said oral hormonal treatment is available in the county with testosterone undecanoate (nuvir). The average dose prescribed is 4 capsules per day, following which most men with testosterone deficiency will feel more invigorated and will also experience improvement in erection, mood and concentration. The effect is usually noted in 3 to 6 weeks. Systemic side-effects are few and contraindications include carcinoma of the prostrate and serious renal, kidney or hepatic diseases. He has further warned that patient of prostrate cancer should not be given this therapy as the problem may worsen. The use of testosterone supplementation also improves osteoporosis in men.

The clinic, which is being set up in Singapore by the year end, will provide counselling and treatment to the patients about this phenomenon and this will be a role-model for setting up more such clinics. Dr Gooren advocates a healthy lifestyle for men. They should abstain from taking too much alcohol and smoking and keep away from fat. He has pointed out that stress, obesity and chronic illness also influence testosterone production.

SPORT

GMSSS-3 win baseball tourney
By Our Sports Reporter

In other semi-final, DAVSSS-8 got the better of Shivalik Public School, Sector 41, at 48-29 with half-time score of 27-17. Vishal Kohli scored 26 points, assisted by Balraj Singh 21 points. Pardeep Singh scored 14 points assisted by Rajbir Singh 12 points.

Yoga team

Nine students of Manav Mangal School, Sector 11, Panchkula, figure in the 13-member Panchkula yoga team for the 16th Haryana State Yoga Championship, to be held at Kaithal from September 28. According to Ms Indu Aggarwal, secretary, Panchkula District Yoga Association, the members of the team are: Rudra,Tushar, Vaibhav, Atul, Ashish, Bharat, Srishti, Sukanya, Shruti Goyal (all students of Manav Mangal), Urvashi (Little Flower school); Ranju Malik and Gajender (both of Haryana Model School): and Rajni Aggarwal (Jainendra Public School).

Prateek wins

Prateek Gupta of Manav Mangal School clinched the cadet boys singles title in the Panchkula District Table Tennis championship in progress at CL DAV Senior Public School, Sector 11 Panchkula. He defeated Aditya Aghi of Manav Manal 21-19, 21-17.

Earlier in the semi-finals, Prateek overpowered Deepak of DC Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 7 while Aditya outplayed Himanshu Batra 21-19, 21-15.

Dinesh shines

Dinesh Gupta’s fine all round performance of 64 runs in 36 deliveries and three wickets for 12 runs thus helped Oriental Insurance Corporation in beating National Insurance Corporation team by 120 runs in the Inter-Financial cricket tournament being played here at Gursagar grounds today.

Brief scores: OIC — 256 runs for two (Dinesh Gupta 64, Sandeep 91,Vipin 34, Inderpal 50);

National Insurance:174 runs in 25 overs (Anil Sood 95 (N.O..,) Charanjit 20, Dinesh Gupta 3 for 12).

Cricket tourney

Superb batting by Kamal Walia (55 runs in just 19 deliveries). Unbeaten 52 runs by Harjeet Singh enabled Punjab Civil Sectt. XI in defeating BBMB XI by huge margin of 166 runs in the Dev Raj Memorial Cricket Tournament organised by the Chandigarh Cricket Association.

Brief scores: Pb Civil Sectt. 226 for six (Kamal Walia 55, Harjeet Singh 52 (n.o.,) Sunil Kumar 43, Yash 23, Ricky 19, Subhash 2 for 36, Amit 2 for 30, Dinesh two for 19).

BBMB XI — 60 12.3 overs (Kesar Singh 12, Bhupinder Singh three for 10, Sunil four for 16).

Karate kid earns black belt
By Arvind Katyal

CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — Abhishek Sahai at the young age of 15 achieved the rare distinction of achieving a professional class Black Belt (San-dan) recently. A class X student of St John’s High School, Sector 26, Abhishek says he owes the honour to his ‘Sensei,’ Dr P. Raghavan, a Shotokan-style expert in North India who today has the maximum number of trainees under his command. Abhishek practises at his school and at the YMCA Coaching Centre in Sector 11. He took a liking to karate when he was only four years old.

Abhishek, the only son of his parents, says he pays equal attention to his studies, but never misses his karate practice. He said that sports, studies and spending time with his parents, allow him to learn more and more in life.

More than a decade of practice has made him dexterous in karate and finally led him to attain the coveted degree in this sport. His mother, a housewife and father, a Haryana government official, provides him constant motivation and encouragement. Abhishek who wants to further hone his skills in karate to earn more laurels wants to pursue a career in medicine. He won the Kata and Ju-Kumite championships and was awarded the Joseph Sebestian Memorial Award for Best Karate-Ka in 1995. He also won the Karate-Ka trophy in 1996.

He acquired mental toughness while training and has undergone physical training in 21 branches of Shotokan Karate-Do, including the oriental martial arts such as Tonfa, Sei, Bo and Numchaku. His degree has been recognised by several international karate bodies like the British Karate Association (UK) and the International Society for Okniwan and Japanese Karate-Do (USA). Abhishek is grateful to the Principal his school Brother C D’ Abreu, and a former Principal, Rev brother D’ Souza for their continued guidance and inspiration during all these years. And of course to Sensei Raghavan who enabled him to achieve distinction on karate. 

ADMINISTRATION

Engineering staff organise rally
From Our Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — A large number of employees and workers of the Engineering Department held a protest rally in front of the maintenance booth at Sector 19 here today.

The rally was organised to gather mass participation of the workers in a proposed dharna at Matka Chowk on September 28 to pressurise the Chandigarh Administration to concede to the demands of the UT employees.

The rally was addressed by Mr Ramesh Kumar Chandolia, president and Mr Sant Saini, general secretary UTSS Federation and Mr Bhagmal Rana, general secretary of the Federation of UT Employees and Workers.

Rest house that offers no rest
By Binny Sharma

CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — As you enter the room, you are struck by its dirty look. Two dusty double beds and a couple of broken chairs lie in the name of furniture in the room which is supposed to be a tourist rest house maintained by the UT’s Department of Tourism.

The location is ideal—the Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT) in Sector 17. The idea behind selecting this site was that those arriving in the city by bus should not have to run around searching for a place to stay at an affordable cost. However, the rest house had remained closed from March, 1999, to June, 2000, and was used as a godown for old furniture. It continues to reflect the neglect and the callous attitude of the authorities responsible for its maintenance. It was in fact reopened after a resident had represented to Mr L. K. Advani in this regard during the Union Home Minister’s recent visit to Chandigarh.

But considering its present condition, the rest house might as well have remained closed. That would have at least saved the Department of Tourism from the charge of “complete indifference” to the comfort of the tourists, domestic as well as foreign. Mr Marcelo Estrada, a tourist from Spain, who met this reporter at the rest house said: “I had heard that Chandigarh was a beautiful city. It is shocking to see this rest house and the very idea of staying here has made me decide to cut short my visit to this city. I cannot waste time searching for a better place.”

Mr Estrada’s is not an isolated case, several tourists put off by the shabby facilities at the rest house, decide to bypass Chandigarh. They are not able get reliable information about clean and affordable places in the city and often fall victim to touts who lead them to various unauthorised guest houses where they are charged exorbitantly. There have been several complaints of this nature in newspapers.

Officials of Chandigarh Tourism refuse to speak on this issue “on instructions from above”. However, Mr Ashok Sangwan, Director, Chandigarh Tourism, said, “We are planning to hand over the rest house to CITCO for efficient running.”

The building in which this rest house is located belongs to Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU). It has 30 guest rooms occupied by various departments such as UP Tourism and HP Tourism. CTU officials claim that the UT’s Department of Tourism owes more than Rs 2 lakh to CTU towards monthly rent.