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Women face a £9,500 bill if they want to have a remote controlled instant orgasm device implanted.

Orgasmatron Inventor Dr Stuart Meloy says he is confident women will fork out $17,000 for the procedure and device as millions of people spend fortunes on cosmetic surgery.

The North Carolina hospital doctor's device, which he has already patented and is trying to trademark under the name Orgasmatron, is a tiny spinal cord stimulator. A hand-held remote control turns the device on and off.

It is not unlike a pacemaker in size and function and would be permanently embedded in their lower backs.

He accidentally discovered the Orgasmatron while performing a routine pain-relief procedure. The female patient began moaning in pleasure as he directed electrical pulses into her spine.

He says he hopes around 1,000 women will come to his Winston-Salem clinic each year for such a procedure. And if demand escalated, then the business could be franchised to locations throughout the world, Meloy believes.

"Sexuality is very pivotal in the human experience and some people feel they're missing out," Dr Meloy said, alluding to the estimated 32% of women who can't achieve orgasm.

"My anticipation is that patients who try this on a temporary basis will agree that paying $17,000 is worthwhile," reports triad.bizjournals.com.

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A respected legal magazine is running a Christmas quiz that it claims lifts the lid on sex and debauchery at some of the UK's best-known law firms.

Legal Business asks its 9,000 subscribers to identify two lawyers who moonlight as lap dancers. It also asks for the name of the lawyer who enjoyed a threesome with a BBC children's TV presenter at his home.

The magazine also wants to know which senior partner was leaving an industry awards night when a high-class prostitute confronted him and addressed him by his first name, says The Independent.

Although the magazine offers no answers to its questions, the authors claim to have the names of the misbehaving lawyers "under lock and key".

Editor Tom Freeman said: "The protagonists must live with their degradation in private turmoil or quiet pride." He added the quiz was "once again exposing the year's most sleazy activities undertaken by lawyers across the UK".

Sparing no blushes, the magazine continues: "Which US partner was afflicted by a boil on his backside so large that before conducting client meetings he had to blow up an inflatable cushion to sit on?"

The magazine also asks which QC, and Tottenham Hotspur supporter, was seen by his instructing solicitor screaming at one home game: "Referee, you are a f****** c***!"

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Obese men diagnosed with prostate cancer may boost their chances of survival by losing weight, say experts. It follows two studies in the United States which found the disease hits obese men much harder than others.

The studies involving more than 4,000 men found obese men suffered more aggressive forms of the disease and were more likely to suffer a relapse.

Writing in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the researchers urged obese men with the disease to lose weight.

Disease diagnosed

In the first study, Dr Christopher Amling, who is based at the US Naval Medical Center in San Diego, examined data on 3,162 men with prostate cancer. Of these, 19% were obese.

They found that obese men - with a body mass index score of 30 or more - had more aggressive forms of prostate cancer and a higher rate of recurrence.

In the second study, Dr Stephen Freedland, who is based at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, examined data from 1,106 men with the disease. Some 22% of these were obese. He found that men who were moderately or severely obese - with a body mass index of 35 or more - had more aggressive forms of the disease.

They were also 60% more likely to have a recurrence of cancer compared with other men.

Both doctors believe that the proteins and hormones in body fat may promote tumour growth in obese men.

These men also have lower levels of testosterone and higher oestrogen levels, which they said may also help fuel the disease.

"The primary role of obesity in prostate cancer is still unclear but it appears to induce the development of more aggressive tumours," said Dr Amling.

"I would advise patients to maintain a normal body weight to limit the possibility that they would develop clinically significant, more aggressive prostate tumours."

In an accompanying editorial in the journal, Professor Alfred Neugut of Columbia University, welcomed the findings.

He said that while further research was needed, the studies could help to cut deaths from prostate cancer.

"Identifying obesity as a risk factor for aggressive prostate cancer is important since it may be one of the few modifiable risk factors for prostate cancer," he said.

BBC News

Islamic leaders say they have outlawed condoms in Somalia, where the vast majority of the population is Muslim.

The umbrella Somali Ulema Council has said it will use Sharia (Islamic) Law, including flogging, to punish those selling or using condoms.

The council is responding to a United Nations-funded campaign to raise awareness about Aids being aired by a local radio station.

Somalia has been torn apart by fighting between rival militias since 1991.

Unaware

Sheikh Nur Barud, the chairman of the Ulema Council, told a public meeting that the use of condoms will increase adultery and those promoting its use deserve punishment.

The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says residents are divided over the declaration by the religious leaders.

Some are in favour of the use of condoms as a protective measure against HIV/Aids while others are not.

Condoms are freely available in medical institutions in Mogadishu.

Due to the fighting, there has been little research into the prevalence of Aids in Somalia but the UN Aids agency says some 70% of young Somali girls have not heard about the disease.

Aid agencies working in Somalia fear that Aids is on the increase as a result of cross-border movements between Kenya, Djibouti and Ethiopia.

BBC News

Getting married may be bad for men's health but good for women, according to a study. Researchers found that men who get hitched are more likely to suffer mental health problems than those who simply live with their partners.

The opposite is true for women - but they do best without any relationship.

The study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, suggests men who stay single are most likely to suffer from depression.

Researchers at Queen Mary, University of London questioned over 4,000 men and women under the age of 65 across Britain.

Reap rewards

They found that men and women whose first relationship lasts stand to reap the rewards later in life. They are least likely to suffer mental health problems.

Unsurprisingly perhaps, the researchers found that the risk of problems increases if that relationship breaks up.

A string of failed relationships has a similar effect. However, women appear more vulnerable than men.

The study also found that women take longer to recover after a break-up than men.

In fact, they may be best to avoid men altogether.

The researchers found that women can survive quite well without a relationship.

Those who had never been in a relationship were much less likely to report having a mental health problem than those who had moved in with a man or got married.

However, once in a relationship women appear to do better if they have a ring on their finger.

Rights claim

Women who cohabitated with men were more likely to suffer problems than those who were married.

The researchers suggested that this may be because they do not enjoy as many rights as married women.

"The lack of protection of the financial and property rights and hence the security of cohabiting couples when they separate may explain why women who cohabit have poorer mental health than women who marry," they wrote.

They suggested that the findings should prompt MPs to consider changing the law to ensure these women had the same rights as those who are married.

"Parliament should review the law in relation to cohabitation rights," they said.

Different needs

Paula Hall, a relationship counsellor at Relate, said the findings may reflect the different needs of men and women.

"For women, security is more important," she told BBC News Online.

"They are the ones who have babies and they have very strong nurturing and protective instincts. That may be one reason why marriage is more important to them.

"For men, security is less of an issue. Feeling trapped is a bigger problem for them. That may be why they fare better if they cohabit rather than marry.

"However, that's all just a hypothesis. Another study published last year said men and women are happier if they marry."

BBC News

An 18th century wooden cup belonging to a notorious Scottish sex club has been sold at auction for £2,700.

The three-handled laburnum "quaich" belonged to the Beggar's Benison, a club which met in the fishing village of Anstruther in Fife.

Members of the group would perform public sexual acts and watch local girls dance naked.

King George IV and several aristocrats were said to have joined the club.

The cup would have been used for communal heavy drinking during the club's meetings

A spokesman for Edinburgh auctioneers Lyon and Turnbull said they were "very pleased" with the outcome of the auction.

He added: "The price was spot on as far as we were concerned. There was tremendous interest, the phone lines were going and the salesroom was very interested to see what price it would eventually go for."

The club was founded in 1732 by John McNachtane, a minor Highland chief who made a living as a crooked Customs officer in Fife.

Members included the Earl of Elgin, the Earl of Lauderdale and the Duke of Gordon, as well as wealthy merchants and church elders.

Relics of the club are well recorded and include seals, medals, punch bowls and glasses.

Many are adorned with phallic symbols with the inscription "may prick nor purse never fail".

Only in the last few years has the full nature of the club - which had regular meetings for almost a century - been understood.

One story says that carved items from the club were once offered to a museum, but the details were so explicit the curator fainted.

BBC News

Italy's Senate has overwhelmingly approved a law which bans the use of donor sperm, eggs or surrogate mothers.

It also limits the right to artificial fertilisation to "heterosexual couples in stable relationships", excluding gay couples and single women.

The bill, one of the most restrictive in Europe, has drawn support and criticism from across the party lines.

BBC Rome correspondent Frances Kennedy says that the bill has pitted Catholics against liberals and men against women.

The legislation, passed in the Senate by 169 votes to 90 on Thursday, will now be sent back to the lower house of the parliament for minor adjustments.

Officials say it will remain essentially unchanged. Under the law, only infertile couples can apply for artificial insemination, and only to government-approved centres.

They have to prove that they are married or in a stable relationship.

Doctors can create up to three embryos for each attempt, and these cannot be frozen or used for research.

Indeed, the freezing of any embryo or sperm is outlawed, as is screening for abnormalities, even in couples who suffer from genetic disorders.

Women are also not allowed to use the sperm of a deceased partner.

Bitter splits

Senator Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, from the governing Forza Italia party, argued that the rights of the embryo will now be protected.

"This law says 'enough' to the abuses. It recognises that an embryo is a person and as such must be protected from the point of conception," she said.

The bill's opponents say the Senate has bowed to pressure from the Roman Catholic Church and created one of the most backward laws in Europe.

Critics have called it medieval and say it could lead to a ban on abortion.

Deputy Foreign Minister Margherita Boniver - also of Forza Italia - said the law had aspects which resembled a horror film.

There were, however, calls for the Italian legislators to go even further and outlaw abortion altogether.

Seven-time Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, now a senator for life, pointed out that the law recognises an embryo's legal rights.

"I don't understand, therefore, why it can be killed for up to four months," he said.

BBC News

The sex disease syphilis adapted from a severe, debilitating illness to a milder form in order to survive, research suggests.

Dr Robert Knell, of Queen Mary's College, London, argues the disease was too virulent for its own good.

Sufferers became so repellent that they were unlikely to have sex. To ensure that they did, and continued to pass on the bacterium, it had to change.

Dr Knell's theory is published in the journal Biology Letters.

Syphilis in its early form caused disfiguring pustules on the face accompanied by a foul smell. Dr Knell argues this would have been obvious to any potential sexual partners of a sufferer, enabling people to avoid the infected person and thereby reducing transmission.

Other symptoms, such as agonising pains in the joints, would have effectively disabled the sufferer, or at least distracted them from seeking out new sexual partners.

As a result, less virulent strains of the disease were transmitted more often, thus leading to changes in the severity of the disease.

Animal examples

Changes in virulence in diseases introduced to animal populations have been observed before - but this is believed to be the first credible example of such rapid changes occurring in a human disease.

Dr Knell said: "Syphilis changed from a virulent disease to a relatively mild one in a very short period.

"Our use of antibiotics to treat it means that it may still be evolving towards lower virulence. "Syphilis is rare nowadays but its incidence is rapidly increasing, and in recent outbreaks in the UK some of those infected noticed no symptoms at all.

"This could have serious implications concerning the spread of infectious diseases such as HIV because the chance of contracting HIV through heterosexual sex with someone who is HIV positive is about 30 times greater if you have syphilis."

Great Pox

Syphilis first appeared in Europe in 1496 and was known as the Great Pox or French Disease.

At first it caused terrible sickness, including severe ulceration of the part of the body first infected (often the genitals), pustules, soft tissue being eaten away to the bone, and the rapid onset of "gummy" tumours.

However, within 50 years syphilis changed from an acute, severe and debilitating disease to the milder infection that is modern syphilis.

Dr Knell says the decline in the virulence of syphilis was noted as early as five to seven years from the start of the epidemic - less than a single generation and too short a time for any resistance to the disease to be formed.

This would indicate that, rather than there being any changes in people's immune systems, it was in fact the disease that evolved during this period.

BBC News

Nearly half of British office workers have admitted to getting frisky at the office Christmas party, a survey shows.

The research reveals 41% of employees have got it together with a colleague, while 13% admitted to having sex at the annual bash.

Among the most popular venues for office antics are the meeting room, the boss's desk and the office car park, with just 6% saying they had been caught in the act.

The survey by Wilkinson Sword Quattro revealed 23% had snogged a workmate. But only 45% of the 1,519 polled put their antics down to alcohol, with 52% saying they had lusted after the colleague for some time.

Quattro spokesperson Kate Taylor said: "The survey reaffirms the annual office do as the perfect excuse in which to make a beeline for the person you've fancied from behind your computer all year."

And yet while festive frolics may seem like harmless fun, a separate poll reveals the dangers of office sex.

Researchers at playingsafely.co.uk questioned 1,000 18-30 year-olds and found that two-thirds of those who confessed to having sex at their work Christmas bash did not use protection.

The research was commissioned by the NHS's "Sex Lottery" campaign, which aims to warn young people to use contraception as the Christmas party season swings into action.

It follows recent figures showing diagnoses of acute sexually transmitted infections have increased by 20% in men and 56% in women over the last 10 years.

A spokesperson said: "Christmas parties are all about having fun but remembering to use a condom can make sure they stay fun and help prevent an unwanted Christmas present. Our message is simple - use a condom."

Ananova.com

Condoms have made a rare appearance on Chinese state television as part of an official campaign to highlight the dangers of Aids.

The 30-second film, broadcast across China, showed a young couple, with a voiceover explaining the importance of safe sex.

It was prepared for World Aids Day on 1 December, according to state media.

China faces a growing Aids problem, but has been cautious about officially promoting contraception.

Growing problem

The BBC Beijing correspondent says the Chinese authorities have generally seen HIV-Aids as a problem for specific groups of people - such as intravenous drug users - and not for society in general.

A short film encouraging the use of condoms was aired on state television in late 1999, also to mark World Aids Day, but was withdrawn several days later.

The disease is estimated to have increased by 30% a year in China since 1998, with more than 800,000 infected with HIV.

The United Nations warns China's Aids cases could rise to 20 million by 2010.

In another unusual move, a senior Chinese health official on Tuesday warned people to refrain from sex outside marriage and to avoid casual sex, to try to reduce the incidence of Aids.

Meanwhile, in the Philippines capital, Manila, the World Health Organisation has opened a conference on Aids in Asia.

WHO Western Pacific regional chief Shigeru Omi has called for Aids patients to help those who have recently contracted the disease.

BBC News