A Toulouse doctor rewarded for his study on the temperature of the testicles<

Andrologist at the Toulouse University Hospital in the department of reproductive medicine, university lecturer, Dr. Roger Mieusset is also the inventor of the heated underpants which allows thermal male contraception. His work, carried out with Bourras Bengoufida, a mathematics researcher at the University of Toulouse III-Paul-Sabatier, and published in 2007 in the journal Human Reproduction, has just won an "Ig Nobels", a completely wacky prize that highlights light of not-so-far-fetched research. Explanations…

You have just received an “Ig Nobels”, a completely crazy prize. What's your reaction ?

I am very happy, I have symbolically won 10 trillion Zimbabwean dollars! This price is completely wacky in the staging but it is no less serious. It is awarded on the basis of proposals from other researchers who wish to highlight publications that seem funny but which, over time, are cited, taken up and lead to further research.

So it's not a second-rate price?

Not at all, it is highly sought after in the scientific community! Following the award, I was interviewed by many media, the British Medical Journal underlined the interest of my work. I also received many funny and benevolent messages from colleagues. I admit, I laughed a lot!

What was the objective of your work?

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It was a question of knowing if the temperature of the scrotum (cutaneous envelope of the testicles) was dependent on the positions. We studied it in volunteers who were naked then dressed and in different positions (standing, lying down, legs apart, legs crossed) and compared it with volunteer postal workers who worked eight hours standing at the sorting center and Toulouse bus drivers who , spent eight hours sitting. We noted that, when the volunteer was naked, his left scrotum had a lower temperature than his right scrotum and that, dressed, whatever the posture, it is the left scrotum which has a higher temperature. Sitting cross-legged also increases the temperature of the scrotum. The interest was to demonstrate that the temperature of the scrotum was involved in the temperature of the testicles. Thus, faced with male infertility linked to a reduced number of spermatozoa and an abnormally high temperature of a testicle (above 35°), one can act by lifestyle and clothing measures rather than go through in vitro fertilization.

And this question of temperature is also at the heart of your work on male contraception through the wearing of heated briefs?

Yes, infertility and contraception are linked. If we know how to birth control a man, we should be able to fix a slow-functioning testicle. I have been working on heated underpants since 1982. By pulling the testicles up against the body, it causes the stock exchange temperature to increase by two degrees. Worn fifteen hours a day, it is effective after three months: the rise in temperature causes sperm production to plummet below 1 million per millilitre. The patent is carried by the Toulouse University Hospital and Paul-Sabatier University. An industrialist has just acquired the operating license, we are entering another stage with development on track for 2020.

The interest in heated briefs is therefore not anecdotal?

Initially, the question of male contraception did not interest more than one or two couples a year. Today, we receive nearly 120 couples a year for information. Half are concerned about alternating contraception in the couple and 80% choose heated briefs. I am couples who have been using this device for seven years.