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A restaurant in south-west China has been fined for offering to serve sushi on the bodies of nearly-naked women, according to media reports.

The Yamato Wind Village restaurant in Kunming city attempted to launch its "body sushi" dinner earlier this month, provoking lively local debate.

But health authorities banned it before the dinner could even take place.

Now the restaurant has also been fined 2,000 Yuan (US$240), according to the Beijing Daily Messenger newspaper.

The management of the restaurant told China's official Xinhua news agency that the "body sushi" service was launched to introduce a special Japanese food culture to Chinese people.

The practise of eating sushi off naked or nearly-naked women has long been popular with a certain clientele in Japan.

But the authorities in China said the restaurant's actions violated women's rights, as well as laws on advertising and food sanitation.

They also said the women used to display the sushi were not suitably dressed for restaurant employees.

When confronted with advertisements for the sushi dinner, the people of Kunming seemed equally undecided.

Some "were indignant, claiming it is humiliating to women," the official China Daily newspaper reported at the time.

"But others were curious and tempted to have a try," it added.

BBC News

Having an affair over the internet is perceived as actual cheating by most people, a survey suggests. The affairs, even if not physical, are damaging to relationships, the British Psychological Society's annual conference was told.

More than half of 245 students who took part in a survey carried out by Belfast's Queens University said anyone flirting online was being unfaithful.

Experts said they were often a symptom of a relationship in trouble.

Dr Monica Whitty, of Queen's University asked students to complete stories in which one partner in a couple had developed a relationship over the internet.

The stories were then studied to see if the online affair was interpreted as infidelity. In 51% of cases it was, while 84% of the students thought the other partner would feel betrayed.

Women were more likely than men to see the internet affair as damaging to the real life relationship.

Friendship

However, some people argued that the interaction was just a friendship or could not be infidelity because no sex was taking place.

Dr Whitty said: "The results of this study show that couples need to be clear what the rules are when it comes to online cheating.

"Emotional involvement, even without physical consummation, can be just as damaging to a relationship.

"It might be easier for people to justify an online affair to themselves, but the consequences, like loss of trust or hurt, can be just as damaging as an offline affair."

Christine Northam, a senior counsellor at relationship guidance experts Relate, agreed there was a danger in internet relationships.

She said they were often a reaction to dissatisfaction in a relationship with one member of the couple thinking they could solve it by having a "fantasy" connection online.

She said: "Up to a point it is OK, but past the boundary is where it is not.

"Where the boundary is depends on the individual relationship."

Rather than resort to internet affairs, people should face up to problems in their relationships by talking to their partner.

If they felt unable to do that alone, they should go to a counsellor, she said.

She added: "Just to bury your head in the sand is not going to solve anything.

"The best thing to do is take your courage in your hands, sit down and have a chat about what you are feeling and what bugs you."

BBC News

A middle-aged woman who says Viagra wrecked her marriage has been granted a divorce in what is thought to be the first case of its kind in Britain.

She claimed her husband became unreasonably sexually aggressive after turning to the anti-impotence drug.

The couple, who have not been named, are in their 50s with adult children.

However, the drug's manufacturers Pfizer said it was unfair to blame the treatment - and said the pill has helped bring couples closer.

The divorce, handled by Oxford-based solicitors Boodle Hatfield, is the only known British case in which Viagra has been cited.

But lawyers in the US have reported a glut of similar cases.

A 70-year-old New York man began cheating on his 61-year-old wife just two days after starting his prescription, according to USA Today newspaper.

In another American case, a wife brought a law suit against her husband after he spiked her drink with Viagra in a bid to boost their lovemaking.

Julia Cole, a sex therapist with relationship counselling service Relate, said women could have trouble readjusting to their partners' new Viagra-induced libido.

She told BBC News Online: "One of the things that people have forgotten about Viagra is that it can't change the attitude of the man or the pattern of lovemaking the couple have previously had.

"Its drawback is that is doesn't change the way people think or behave towards sex.

"Sex therapists can do a very good job of helping people to overcome these sort of issues."

But a UK spokeswoman for Pfizer, the makers of Viagra, said the drug had helped millions of relationships worldwide.

Sally Goodenough told BBC News Online: "It's unfair to blame medication for a divorce.

"Half a million men have been prescribed Viagra since its launch in the UK and we have never heard of this happening before.

"If anything Viagra brings couples closer together by helping men overcome a serious and distressing medical condition.

"If any couple is experiencing problems with Viagra they should go back to their GP or to a relationship counsellor for more help."

An estimated 20 million men have taken the remedy in 110 countries since it was launched in 1998.

Some $2bn-worth of the diamond-shaped blue pills are sold annually.

BBC News

Digital TV channel BBC Three is to broadcast what it says is the first televised sperm race later this month.

The race, to be shown as part of the educational Lab Rats series, will pit the sperm of presenters Dr Mike Leahy and Zeron Gibson against each other.

It will be filmed inside two tiny glass tubes by a microscope and relayed to a crowd watching a pub's big screen.

BBC Three controller Stuart Murphy said it was being done for an audience that usually "balks at educational shows".

It was a "creative risk" but Lab Rats tackled "difficult but important subjects", he added. Dr Leahy, a scientist, and Gibson, a comedian, say they will adopt different "training routines" to find out how different lifestyle choices affect reproductive abilities.

They will then have their sperm measured and tested by fertility expert Allan Pacey from the University of Sheffield, who will predict which man is likely to win.

The programme will be shown on 15 April at 2330 BST and is one of a four-part Lab Rats series.

In other shows, Dr Leahy will go 60 hours without sleep to show the effects of sleep deprivation and the pair will ride a centrifugal machine to nine times the force of gravity.

BBC News

Plans are under way to set up a fertility clinic targeted at lesbian and single women. John Gonzalez, who has already set up two websites allowing people to buy sperm and eggs online, intends to set up the New Life Centre in Bristol.

The clinic will offer direct inseminations to women using fully screened frozen sperm.

It has already sparked criticism from pro-life charity Life, who say it is socially irresponsible.

John Gonzalez's websites ManNotIncluded and WomenNotIncluded allow customers to choose donors by race, height, weight, eye colour, and social and academic achievements.

ManNotIncluded has already been successfully used by a lesbian in Liverpool who delivered a baby boy in January this year.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has no control over the websites as they do not offer actual treatment.

'Father figure'

However the new clinic will require an HFEA licence and will undergo rigorous inspection.

The HFEA was unable to comment on the clinic as it has not yet been awarded a licence.

A spokeswoman said it usually takes around six months for a licence to be granted.

She said many clinics in the UK already offer IVF treatment to single women and gay couples, but are required to take into account the need of a child to have a father figure under a clause in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act of 1990.

John Gonzalez said this means his new clinic will not be able to give treatment to women who are unable prove there to be a father figure in the child's life.

However attitudes towards this rule could be changing, as Suzi Leather, Chairman of the HFEA recently called for the clause to be changed, telling a conference that "single women and lesbian couples should not be excluded".

Barbara Skew, an experienced insemination clinician who will run the New Life Clinic, told press many women have been 'patchily served' by the Act.

"There are many women out there in this position who are able to support a child but have no bloke in their lives."

Ms Skew said she expects the clinic to be subject to detailed inspection, but said her last inspection was exemplary.

Controversy

Patrick Cusworth, spokesperson for Life, said "I think what is being forgotten here is the general welfare of the child that is going to be created as a result."

"This is a really grubby process that demeans those that are using the system," he told BBC News Online.

"What needs to be remembered is that the child's interests are not just first and foremost but paramount over any other interests at stake."

"There is no doubt that children who grow up with both mother and father are not just happier, they achieve more academically and socially than those with just one parent."

"What John Gonzalez is creating is socially dysfunctional and irresponsible."

BBC News

Men who smoke cannabis could be damaging their fertility, research carried out by Queen's University Belfast has suggested.

The study by the university's Reproductive Medicine Research Group examined the direct effects on sperm function of THC, the active ingredient in cannabis.

The group found that THC made sperm less likely to reach the egg to fertilise it.

They also discovered that the presence of cannabis impaired another crucial function of sperm - the ability to digest the egg's protective coat with enzymes to aid its penetration.

The government reclassified cannabis to a class C drug in January, putting it on a par with tranquilisers.

'Informed choice'

Dr Sheena Lewis, from the university's Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, said on Wednesday that the recent reclassification of cannabis made research on its effects more important.

"The need to determine its effects on male fertility is even greater, so that men can make an informed choice about smoking the drug based on its risks to their health," she said.

The idea for the study came after researchers looking at the lifestyle habits of infertile men noticed that many men attending infertility clinics at Belfast's Royal Maternity Hospital were regular cannabis users.

Dr Lewis told delegates at the British Fertility Society's annual meeting in Cheltenham that recent experiments on sea urchin sperm suggested that cannabis may be a major cause of infertility.

"These experiments on human sperm tell the same story," she said.

One in six couples in the UK are affected by infertility, with 40% of these cases due to problems with sperm.

Dr Lewis said: "It is estimated that 3.2m people in Britain smoke cannabis, and that figure may now increase.

"Add the two together and we may find that the use of recreational drugs will exacerbate male fertility problems."

BBC News

More needs to be done to persuade people to have fewer sexual partners, according to leading HIV experts.

They said encouraging people to have fewer partners would result in fewer HIV infections.

Writing in the British Medical Journal, they said little effort has gone in to tackling the issue in recent years.

They said the message appears to have been lost, as campaigns put the emphasis on abstaining from sex or using condoms.

The experts, who include officials from the Global Fund for Aids, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the US Agency for International Development, said efforts in some countries to address the issue had paid off.

The 'ABC' sexual health strategy
A bstinence or delay of sexual activity
B e faithful and reduce partner numbers
C ondom use

HIV infection rates have fallen from 15% to 5% in Uganda over the past decade. The experts said a nationwide campaign encouraging people to stick with regular partners contributed to the fall. They said similar campaigns in Thailand, Cambodia, Ethiopia and the Dominican Republic have shown similar results.

"It seems obvious but there would be no global Aids pandemic where it not for multiple sexual partnerships," they said.

"The rate of change of sexual partners - especially concurrent partners - is a crucial determinant in the spread of sexually transmitted infections."

ABC approach

The experts called for an "ABC" approach to improving sexual health - advocating abstinence, being faithful and condom use.

They said this would ensure that the message that fewer sexual partners reduces the risks of HIV was not lost.

"Rather than arguing over the merits of abstinence versus condoms, it is time for the international community to unite around a balanced, evidence-based ABC approach," they said.

In an accompanying editorial, David Wilson, a member of the World Bank's global HIV/Aids programme, welcomed the report. "Their argument that partner reduction is the potential centre-piece of a unified ABC approach is good common sense."

However, he said the "A,B,C" approach may not work everywhere, particularly in communities where women are often forced to have sex against their will.

In another article, researchers in Canada said abstaining from sex is the best way of protecting against HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

Stephen Genuis, an associate professor at the University of Alberta, said studies have shown a link between having sex at an early age and having many sexual partners.

"Although partner reduction is a critical and often overlooked component in the ABC strategy, we believe that delayed sexual debut for young people should be the first step in programmes to prevent sexually transmitted infections."

The UK charity Terrence Higgins Trust expressed doubts about the ABC strategy.

"I take the idea of promoting monogamy with a large pinch of salt," said Will Nutland, its head of gay men's health promotion.

"What has worked in Uganda doesn't necessarily translate to London.

"In some societies would people really be able to implement this, where women don't necessarily have control over their sexual encounters."

BBC News

A 1930s vibrator designed to "cure" women of their sexuality is part of a new Science Museum event.

The Sinful Things show lifts the lid on old-fashioned attitudes and medical practices regarding sex and bodily functions.

The objects - from the London museum's archive - form the centrepiece of an adult-themed discussion and quiz show to be held at its Dana Centre.

It reveals how the vibrator was invented by male doctors to combat what they perceived as "hysteria" in women.

The electric device superseded the previous practice of doctors giving genital massage to female patients. It dramatically reduced the time needed for each treatment and could be operated by the relatively unskilled.

Domestic versions were soon being marketed in women's magazines such as Good Housekeeping, masquerading as muscle relaxant therapy.

The vibrator on show at the Science Museum was one of the later devices used by doctors just before they began to be marketed for home use.

Curator David Rooney said: "It looks more like a hairdryer. At the time this was state-of-the-art. This is what people were using.

"It wasn't shameful at all. Everyone pretty much knew what was going on but because of the way they talked about it, it was all right."

Photos

Ananova.com

Sex stimulates the brain and makes people more intelligent, according to a top German researcher.

Werner Habermehl, from the Hamburg Medical Research Institute, says that regular sexual intercourse promotes intelligence.

He said that love making not only excited the body but also the brain and the increased amount of adrenaline and cortisol hormones that are produced stimulates the grey matter, reported magazine Unicum Campus.

"Sex makes you more intelligent in that experiences are collected that can be used later on in areas of life not linked to sex," said Habermehl.

He added that the added injection of endorphins and serotonin that resulted from an orgasm strengthened self-confidence - giving the body a mental as well as physical work out.

Ananova.com

A Bill Gates-funded plan to test an anti-HIV drug suffered a setback Monday when a group of Cambodian sex workers refused to participate, citing a lack of insurance against potential side effects.

But the research team said it will keep trying to recruit some 960 sex workers needed for the yearlong study, expected to start in June.

The study is a joint effort by Cambodia's Health Ministry, the University of California in San Francisco and Australia's University of New South Wales.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is funding the study under a program to test the tenofovir DF drug in several nations and find out if it reduces the HIV infection risk among sexually active adults regularly exposed to the virus.

The drug is already used to treat people infected with the AIDS-causing virus. The new tests are aimed at determining if the drug can prevent infection in those who don't have HIV.

But 150 Cambodian sex workers belonging to a group called Women's Network for Unity said they'd only take part if given insurance to treat possible side effects for 30 years.

"Now I'm still beautiful, and I cannot make any joke out of my future. Who will be responsible if my health falls ill after the test?" said Ly Linda, a 32-year-old prostitute.

"No, I will not join in the test," she said to applause from colleagues meeting on Monday over the insurance issue. A banner at the meeting read: "Without life insurance, please take the drug back for trial in America."

Kimberly Page Shafer, a University of California professor who attended the meeting, said the drug's side effects are not serious, and included stomach gas and nausea. Women will be provided medical care for side effects during and after the trial period, she said.

The U.S. health department says the side effects _ when it's taken as an HIV treatment _ range from diarrhea and rashes to liver or kidney failure.

Shafer told The Associated Press after the meeting that it was impossible to provide insurance.

"There's probably no place in the world where women in clinical trial have access to coverage for life. So I have to decide if I want to work on insurance coverage or on HIV prevention," she said.

Cambodia was chosen for the study because of its high rate of HIV infections, said Khol Vohith, a researcher at the country's National Center for HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases.

Cambodia has Southeast Asia's highest HIV infection rate, though it has dropped to 2.6 percent in 2002 from 3.8 percent in 1997.

Shafer said she hoped that enough women will join the study. She wouldn't say how many have already been recruited.

By AP Online
Financial Times