There’s a truly eclectic selection of topics in this week’s Monday Sidebar.

To start of with, what do you think about this - a ‘chastity belt’ lingerie fitted with GPS tracking system’. Lingerie maker Lucia Lorio of Brazil says it’s designed for ‘modern, techno-savvy woman’. But feminist are calling it a modern-day slaver and are urging women to boycott the GPS underwear

Meanwhile, Swedish health authorities are causing controversy with their decision to supply free prosthetic penises that are not fully functional to transsexual men. Seems these free prosthetic penises [are] strictly flaccid a situation that some call ridiculous. But the Swedish health authorities have no choice - government regulations prohibit them from using taxpayers money for either products or procedures that might be considered sexual aids.

If this article - The 25 Weirdest Things Eaten By A Human - is anything to go by, Xray technicans see it all. The article exposes some of the more extreme items that people have eaten, from a ‘prisoner who has being held in a cell with wire mesh walls attempted to eat his way out of jail’ to a ‘man in England tried to walk out of a jewelry store with an engagement ring by swallowing it.’

And talking about strange things to eat, what about this collection of foods from around the world…

Weird Things People Eat Around The World - Amazing videos are here

And finally, lifehacker thinks they have the answer to Obama’s hypoallergenic dog problem - a robotic pet.

No candy. No sodas. And no birth control. - it will be interesting to see if this unconventional business plan will work for the Divine Mercy Care Pharmacy, a new drug store at a Virginia strip mall. It just one of at least seven pharmacies across America that is refusing to sell contraceptives of any kind as a matter of faith, even if a person has a prescription.

Singing a Song of Sanitation - When Feliciano Dos Santos, a leading South African musician, is not touring Europe with his band Massukos,  he can be found wandering Mozambique’s highland villages, singing about going to the bathroom and washing your hands when you are done. As head of Estamos (”we are”), a small charity that focuses on clean water and safe sanitation for some of the poorest provinces in Mozambique, dos Santos is clearly a man with a mission.

And finally…

This from AdFreak…What? Still washing your crotch with soap? a post about Man Junk, a line of organic shampoos for the discriminating scrotum.  The Man Junk Web site states “Any product that’s made to clean your neck, back, buttocks or legs isn’t going to provide the specific levels of odor fighting and skin treatment that Man Junk does.”

Today’s Monday Sidebar’s might be sparse but it’s not dull…

Bluegrass and Brain Surgery - Mostly, surgeons prefer patients to be unconscious during surgery, but in this case, they not only wanted to keep their patient awake but they also wanted him to play the banjo. Why? Because they were trying to determine what region of the brain was causing the patient to suffer tremors. See for yourself here.

Dead Man Walking Bathing - He’s been dead since 1924, but every year, he has a bath. Can you guess who? No. Then head over to Morbid Anatomy for the answer. And if you’re curious to see how a dead man baths, then check out this photo essay.

Ready for some more interesting, fascinating, unusual, strange, and even bizarre news…

Pay patients to go to the doctor? - in England, Health Service Managers are looking at ways to get people in unhealthy people in the lower social economic rankings to visit the doctor. The thinking is that if you can get people to the doctor earlier, before chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease set in, the government health system would save money. It makes sort of makes sense. But the idea is getting flack from politicans and medical experts alike who say that the government shouldn’t be bribing people to stay healthy.

‘World’s Fattest Man’ to Marry After Massive Diet - after two years of dieting, Manuel Uribe, the world’s heaviest man and his girlfriend are set to wed this month. Originally weighing in a couple of years ago at 1,235 pounds, the 43 year old Manual has shed around 700 pounds.

Something of a celebrity, Manual has been giving telephone advice to Jose Luis Garza, another determined dieter who weighs in at around 990 pounds.

Discover the surgical tools of Ancient Rome at the Historical Collections & Services of the Health Sciences Library, University of Virginia. Excavated from the House of the Surgeon at Pompeii, looking at this collection of instruments makes you realize how far medical science has come (and how lucky we are that it has advanced so far).

As for the bizarre, how about this cookbook by a Russian chef called ‘Cooking with Balls’. Featuring testicle pizza, battered testicles and barbecued testicles with giblets recipes made from the sex organs of ostriches, bulls, pigs, turkeys and stallions, this e-book is definitely ‘one of a kind’ and not for the faint hearted.

And that’s it for this week’s Monday Sidebar…

The Sunday Sidebar is back. But from now on it will be running as a regular post each Monday morning with the all the interesting, intriguing, and often weird medical news that’s out there.

Here’s this week’s strange but true news…

Ping Pong Ball Keeps Girl Alive - a quick thinking surgeon came up with a unique way to keep a young liver transplant patient alive. The two year old was the recipent of an adult liver. The liver, obviously too large for the child’s body, needed to have some sort of barrier placed between it and the child’s main arteries. The answer - an ordinary ping pong ball that is expected to remain in her body for the rest of her life.

Went in for a snip. Ended up with a slice - A Kentucky man, who checked into hospital for a circumcision, ended up losing more than he bargained for when he woke up minus his penis. Ouch!

Never too old - last week 82 year old actress Cloris Leachman proved that you are never too old to dance. Her dance routine on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ ended with her hoisting her leg onto the judge’s table, much to their surprise.

Blind three days out of six - Doctors seem unable to explain an unusual medical condition that inflicts an Australian woman. The condition causes her eyes to clamp shut for three days and then open for three days. This cycle has been ongoing for the past four years, but no one has been able to figure out why…