Cryptorchidism Cryptorchidism Cryptorchidism is the absence of one or both testes from the scrotum. The word is from the Greek κρυπτός, "kryptos", meaning hidden, and ὄρχις, "orchis", meaning testicle. It is the most common birth defect of the male genital tract. About 3% of full-term and 30% of premature infant boys are born with at least one undescended testis. However, about 80% of cryptorchid testes descend by the first year of life (the majority within three months), making the true incidence of cryptorchidism around 1% overall. Cryptorchidism may develop after infancy, sometimes as late as young adulthood, but that is exceptional.
Western Attitudes Toward Death from the Middle Ages to the Present argues that the moment of death is difficult to distinguish for most survivors because they have already witnessed many "silent deaths" as the dying person loses different abilities – from breathing and eating on their own, to verbal communication and eventually consciousness. He states that in this current period there is no great and dramatic act of death, which was what family, friends, and neighbors used to gather together to witness. Ariès writes: "No one any longer has the strength or patience to wait over a period of weeks for a moment which has lost its meaning." Instead, doctors battle