Cryptorchidism (over 90% in some studies). Even after orchiopexy, these may also affect sperm maturation and motility at an older age. The most common diagnostic dilemma in otherwise normal boys is distinguishing a retractile testis from a testis that will not descend spontaneously into the scrotum. Retractile testes are more common than truly undescended testes and do not need to be operated on. In normal males, as the cremaster muscle relaxes or contracts, the testis moves lower or higher ("retracts") in the scrotum. This cremasteric reflex is much more active in infant boys than older men. A retractile testis high in
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