Male Impotence Drugs Show Promise For Treating Female Sexual Disorders, Study Suggests.

New studies indicate the three drugs used to treat male impotence also appear to work in females, albeit a little differently, and should give the scientific community pause to take a second look at their potential in the 40 percent of women who report sexual dysfunction, researchers say.

In one of the first studies of the effect of phosphodiesterase Type 5 inhibitors - Viagra®, Levitra® and Cialis® - on the pudendal arteries that supply the penis, vagina and clitoris the blood needed to produce a satisfying sexual experience, Medical College of Georgia researchers showed the drugs relax the artery in male and female rats.

"It shows the drugs need to be investigated more for women and small alterations could make these compounds more effective for women living with these disorders," says Dr. Kyan J. Allahdadi, postdoctoral fellow in physiology at MCG. He's presenting the findings during the 122nd Annual Meeting of the American Physiological Society held in New Orleans April 18-22 as part of the Experimental Biology 2009 scientific conference.

Although there was talk years ago of a pink pill for women to parallel the blue Viagra for men, early clinical trials found essentially no response in women.

MCG researchers decided to look again, first giving a drug to constrict the internal pudendal arteries in male and female rats – as they would be in a non-erect state – then giving doses of each impotency drug to see the impact. The arteries from male rats displayed a relatively standard concentration-dependent relaxation – the more drug they got, the more they relaxed - while in females arteries, there was an initial relaxation then an odd oscillation between relaxation and contraction with subsequent dosing.

While they don't fully understand the swing, the unique female response likely provides more evidence that sexual function is more complex in females, says Dr. R. Clinton Webb, chair of the MCG Department of Physiology and a study author. Scientists define female sexual dysfunction as a multifaceted disorder that includes anatomical, psychological, physiological and social-interpersonal aspects.

MCG researchers have shown part of that complexity may be the smooth muscle cells in the internal pudendal arteries of females communicate, agreeing to contract and relax, while male smooth muscle cells make independent decisions to just relax.

They found one other distinction: females were more sensitive to Viagra®, or sildenafil, while males were most sensitive to Levitra®, or vardenafil.

Previous studies on the effectiveness of these drugs focused on the cavernosal tissue, or penis. The internal pudendal artery actually feeds the penile artery which is buried deep in the penis where numerous caverns enable it to be flaccid when not engorged with blood. Physical stimulation of the area causes the tissue, endothelial cells and nerves to release nitric oxide, a powerful dilator of blood vessels. The system works pretty much the same way in the vagina and clitoris.

"If you have too much constriction or not enough relaxation to allow blood to go through the internal pudendal artery, you are not going to get the net effect of an erection," Dr. Allahdadi says. "That is why we wanted to begin to characterize what was going on in this blood vessel."

Perhaps as importantly, the MCG scientists and others are beginning to believe sexual dysfunction provides an early, or at least visible, clue of vascular disease. Vascular problems, that can result from diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and the like, are a major cause of sexual dysfunction in men and women. "You don't feel atherosclerosis but you know darn well if you are not getting an erection," Dr. Webb says. In fact, the MCG scientists are beginning to look at animal models of disease states, such as diabetes, to see what it does to these internal pudendal arteries.

"What we have seen preliminarily is there is big difference in responsiveness in these arteries. The diabetic pudendal arteries are much more sensitive to contraction," Dr. Allahdadi says. They will look at how drugs like Viagra impact that contraction in the days ahead.

In fact MCG scientists suspect one reason that many of the women participants in previous studies of Viagra did not seem to respond is because they did not have vascular problems that could have been circumvented by a drug that relaxes arteries so blood can enter. In men with a healthy vasculature, the drugs likely would still produce a longer erection.

Dr. Rita C. Tostes, associate professor in the MCG Department of Physiology, is a co-author who contributed to the design and analysis of the study.

Got ED? Perhaps you just need to...exercise it more.

Ah, the lovely Journal of Medical Hypotheses. I went to it last week for a post on ear wax, and what should be the article right before it, but a post on erectile dysfunction. I think this journal's impact factor is underrated. It certainly makes an impact on ME.

Anyway, as I'm sure you are all aware from the multitude of commercials out there for Viagra, Levitra, Cialis, and other such drugs that are making companies a LOT of money, erectile dysfunction (ED) is a bit of a problem in modern society. Is it a big problem? From the commercials, you'd think half the world had it, but there is no evidence that rates have been increasing. In this case, we're just living, and loving, longer. And when you live long, apparently loving long is not as easy as it once was.

Don't worry folks, we have a pill for that:Viagra

But the author of this article things that we may not need a pill after all. Using the philosophy of "if you don't use it, you lose it", he implies that those men who are snoozing might be losing...their erections.

Ma, Y. "Regular and frequent sexual intercourse for elderly men could preserve erectile function" Medical Hypotheses, 2009.

PS: I am not responsible for any reaction you may have to the pictures below the fold. They are all medically relevant, but consider yourself warned.

Of course, it would be nice if men didn't need pills for this sort of thing. If there was...well, a more natural solution to the issue. It'd certainly save them (and the insurance companies that cover this sort of thing) a boatload of money. But how does erectile dysfunction work, and how does this researcher think it can be solved?

ED is a problem maintaining an erection long enough to complete sexual intercourse. This can happen in all men from time to time (bad sex or a bad day can happen to anyone), but in some men, particularly older men, it's a recurring problem. But in order to understand exactly how erectile dysfunction occurs, you first need to understand how an erection itself happens.

The anatomy of an erection

Basically, the inside of a male penis is composed of a tube (the urethra, which carries urine or semen depending on demand), a whole lot of nerve endings, and two large, open sponge structures that run along its length. These spongy structures are the corpus cavernosa (the "cave body"). During a state of physical arousal, the corpus cavernosa fill with blood, causing them to become rigid. Since they run the whole length of the penis, the penis then becomes rigid, and there you go.

But of course, for an erection to be maintained, the blood needs to STAY in the penis. So arousal keeps the blood going in, and tightens up the veins going out, to stop the blood from flowing out of the penis. Once the physical stimulation passes, the veins dilate, blood flows out, and everything returns to normal.

South Asians With Diabetes More Likely To Lose Their Eyesight Earlier Than White Europeans

South Asians with type 2 diabetes are significantly more at risk of losing their eyesight and losing it at an earlier age, compared to White Europeans with the same condition.

A UK study carried out by the University of Warwick shows diabetic retinopathy (damage to the retina) is more prevalent in South Asians and occurs earlier than in White European people with diabetes.

The study, published in the latest issue of Diabetes Care, looked at 1.035 patients with type 2 diabetes, 421 were of South Asian origin and 614 were White Europeans. The results showed 45% of South Asians had retinopathy, compared to 37% of White Europeans, and 16% of the South Asian group had sight threatening retinopathy, compared to 12% White Europeans.

South Asian diabetes patients were also significantly younger than the White European group. The average age of the South Asian group at diagnosis of diabetes was 53 years, compared to 57 years for White Europeans. The study also suggested South Asians developed diabetic retinopathy about seven years earlier than White Europeans.

This study is part of the UK Asian Diabetes Study, a randomised controlled trial designed to evaluate the benefits of an enhanced diabetes care package for people of South Asian ethnicity with type 2 diabetes in Coventry and Birmingham.

For this project, researchers collected clinical data from 10 GP practices in the Foleshill area of Coventry. Details on risk factors including blood pressure, duration of diabetes, age at onset of diabetes and cholesterol were recorded.

One of the study's authors Professor Sudhesh Kumar, Professor of Medicine, Diabetes & Endocrinology at Warwick Medical School, said the results emphasised the need for effective screening and earlier diagnosis of diabetes among the South Asian population.

He said: "The South Asian participants in this study had significantly higher systolic and diastolic blood pressures and cholesterol levels. Systematic screening for retinopathy, combined with intensive management of diabetes, including reduction of blood glucose and blood pressure, could help to reduce the incidence of visual impairment and blindness in ethnic minority groups across the world, addressing an important health inequality."

In adults, the systolic pressure should be less than 120 mmHg and the diastolic pressure should be less than 80 mmHg. In this study, the South Asian participants recorded 144 mmHg systolic pressure and 84 mmHg diastolic pressure.

Professor Kumar added: "Health care professionals in developed and developing countries need to be aware of the potential contribution of diabetic retinopathy to visual loss in South Asian communities."

Fellow author Dr Paul O'Hare, from Warwick Medical School, said: "Screening for diabetic retinopathy is becoming more systematic across the UK and the developed world. However, coverage rates and uptake among ethnic minority groups in inner city areas may be much lower than those for white Europeans. We need to address this to try and rectify these important health inequalities."

A Satisfying Sex Life Eludes Around Two In Three Men

Pfizer's inaugural Asia Pacific Sexual Health and Overall Wellness (AP SHOW) survey has uncovered staggering levels of sexual dissatisfaction, with 60% of men and around 60% of women in Australia saying they are not very satisfied with their sex lives.

Erectile Dysfunction (ED) continues to be a key cause of dissatisfaction. The AP SHOW survey, conducted in 13 Asia Pacific nations, found that men with 'suboptimal erections', (erections that are not as hard as they could be) are less satisfied with sex and other aspects of the sexual experience.

54% of men with optimal erectile function say that it is 'very true' that they feel good about their relationships compared to 47% of men with suboptimal erections. Among women, this difference is significantly more pronounced - 65% of women whose partners have optimal erection function say that it is 'very true' that they feel good about their relationships, compared to only 32% of women whose partners have suboptimal erections.

The survey also found that men and women who are 'completely' or 'very satisfied' with sex are more than three times more likely to feel good about their relationships and life overall compared to those who are only 'somewhat' or 'not at all satisfied' with sex.

It is an area where GPs can make a significant difference, yet as few as 30% of men with ED seek help from their doctor. [i]

The erectile dysfunction drug Viagra may have found a new, potentially life-saving use in hospital pediatric intensive care units, researchers report.

Australian researchers gave the drug to 15 babies with congenital heart disease who were being weaned from inhaled nitric-oxide therapy, a treatment that ICUs use to help these infants survive.

The researchers found that a dose of Viagra prevented a common life-threatening complication called rebound pulmonary hypertension. They also found that it significantly reduced the amount of time the babies spent on mechanical ventilation and in the ICU.

"Rebound pulmonary hypertension is a very common problem," said Dr. Steven Abman of The Children's Hospital in Denver, who was not part of the study. "This is the most rigorous study that's ever been done to demonstrate that Viagra can prevent this complication."

The study results were published in the November issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Viagra is useful for treating both erectile dysfunction and preventing rebound pulmonary hypertension because it affects pathways involved in both conditions.

"Viagra enhances the body's levels of cyclic-GMP, a naturally occurring substance that relaxes arteries and reduces their pressure, which is why its primary indication is for men with erectile dysfunction," explained the study's lead researcher, Dr. Lara Shekerdemian of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne.

"However, cyclic-GMP is abundant in the lungs and is the molecule via which nitric oxide acts as a dilator of pulmonary arteries," Shekerdemian said. "That's why its use was explored in the setting of pulmonary hypertension in the newborn."

In the study, Shekerdemian and colleagues gave a single dose of Viagra to 15 infants with congenital heart disease who were undergoing withdrawal from nitric oxide, which is used to relax pulmonary blood vessels in mechanically ventilated lungs. Another 14 infants undergoing withdrawal were given placebo.

None of the Viagra-treated infants developed rebound pulmonary hypertension compared to 10 of the placebo-treated infants. After more than 24 hours, all of the infants who developed rebound hypertension were given Viagra during a subsequent and successful attempt to wean them from nitric oxide.

The Viagra-treated infants also spent less total time on a mechanical ventilator than the placebo-treated infants -- a little over 28 hours compared to 98 hours -- and had a considerably shorter stay in the intensive care unit (47.8 hours vs. 189 hours).

"Although we expected to see an avoidance of rebound, we were not expecting to see these additional benefits," Shekerdemian said. "Any intervention that smoothes their course in the intensive-care unit would have at least a short-term positive influence on their recovery from their underlying condition."

Unless there's some reason for not using Viagra, Shekerdemian said that it should be routinely used as infants are weaned from nitric oxide. "We certainly do so now in our pediatric intensive-care unit," she said.

Many hospitals are already doing just that. "I think it already has become standard clinical practice, because the idea of using Viagra for this is not new," Abman said. "What's new is that this is the first study to look at it with a nice protocol in which they randomized patients and controlled in a blinded way. So it verifies what we've already been doing in clinical practice."

Shekerdemian and her team are now conducting a similar study in the Royal Children's Hospital's Neonatal Intensive-Care Unit to see if Viagra can prevent rebound pulmonary hypertension in premature infants.

Viagra Helps COPD Patients Control Pulmonary Blood Pressure

The drug sildenafil, popularly known as Viagra, may help people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease control the illness-related blood pressure spikes in the heart's pulmonary artery, a new study found.

The medication, in addition to its use as a popular treatment for impotence, has already been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of the chronic version of such blood pressure spikes, known as pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The drug has been marketed specifically for this purpose under the trade name Revatio. Another drug -- bosentan -- is also approved for similar purposes.

The new research suggests that sildenafil may help all chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients -- even those not diagnosed with full-blown PAH -- who experience potentially dangerous pulmonary arterial blood pressure increases both at rest and following exercise.

The research was led by Dr. Sebastiaan Holverda of the department of pulmonary medicine at VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Holverda and his VU colleagues were to present their findings Wednesday at a Salt Lake City meeting organized by the journal Chest.

According to the American Lung Association, COPD is actually a catch-all for two lung diseases that often strike in tandem -- chronic bronchitis and emphysema. In both cases, airflow is obstructed, impeding normal breathing.

Smoking is the leading cause of COPD, responsible for between 80 percent and 90 percent of all cases in the United States. More than 11 million Americans are estimated to have the illness, and more than 122,000 die from it each year. Women appear to be slightly more at risk than men.

There's no known cure for the disease, and medications primarily take aim at symptom relief and slowing the progressive disability the illness brings.

Pulmonary hypertension -- the incurable condition of continuous high blood pressure in the pulmonary artery located in the right ventricle of the heart -- is one of many serious complications that can strike COPD patients. PAH causes the artery, which is responsible for delivering blood from the heart to the lungs, to work harder than normal. A weakening of the heart muscle can ensue over time, increasing the risk of heart failure and even death.

The Dutch researchers noted that pulmonary hypertension is typically mild to moderate among COPD patients but is particularly aggravated while exercising.

Faced with the combined COPD-PAH threat, the Dutch team explored the potential benefit of treating at-risk chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients with sildenafil both while at rest and during exercise. The drug works by shifting the activity of an enzyme called phosphodiesterase, reducing arterial blood pressure by dilating the smooth muscle of blood vessels that line the lungs. As these vessels expand, blood flow increases, the researchers explained.

The study authors focused on 12 patients who had been diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and were suspected of having PAH. Throughout the study, right heart blood pressure was tracked among all 12 patients by inserting a thin plastic tube into the pulmonary artery -- a procedure known as cardiac catheterization. Cardiac blood pressure was measured at rest and just after all the patients cycled for three minutes.

Then, the study participants were given 50 milligrams of oral sildenafil; 45 minutes later, resting and post-exercise blood pressure readings were taken again.

Holverda and his colleagues found that half the patients had PAH. But, both non-PAH and PAH patients experienced significant cardiac blood pressure increases when exercising.

Sildenafil appeared to control such increases after exercise, reigning in pulmonary blood pressure to markedly lower levels -- higher than at rest, but lower than non-medicated post-exercise readings. And, the non-PAH patients appeared to experience pulmonary blood pressure reductions after taking the drug, both while resting and exercising.

The authors concluded that the drug may help COPD patients -- whether they have developed PAH or not -- quickly control their pulmonary blood pressure in some situations.

Dr. Bartolome R. Celli, chief of pulmonary care at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Boston, applauded the Dutch study but called for more research.

"Pulmonary arterial pressure -- when it is elevated -- is a poor prognostic sign and reducing its levels should be of help," he said. "However, more testing is needed to see if those changes in pulmonary arterial pressure are translated into better clinical outcomes and not into any unwanted side effects."

Could a widely used treatment for depression be a remedy for osteoporosis?

Researchers have discovered that the drug Prozac also increases bone mass, at least in adult mice.

"Treating animals for six weeks with Prozac resulted in an increase in trabecular bone mass," said study lead author Ricardo Battaglino, assistant member of the staff in the department of cytokine biology at the Forsyth Institute in Boston. "It was a pretty significant 60 percent increase."

Trabecular bone is one of two main types of bone and makes up most of the spongy interior of the majority of bones.

Although it's way too early to advocate popping Prozac to reverse or stop bone loss, experts say it's a tantalizing lead for future research.

"For several reasons, people need to be cautious because fluoxetine [the generic name for Prozac] has central nervous system effects," said Dr. Grant Mitchell, chief of psychiatry at Northern Westchester Hospital Center in Mount Kisco, N.Y. "But it is interesting that current treatments for bone loss in osteoporosis do not take this approach, so the idea that we could at some point have another approach to reducing bone loss or even rebuilding new bone is actually exciting. Having more options would be great."

The study, which was funded by the U.S. National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, is expected to be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Cellular Biochemistry.

Previous research, some of it by the same team, had found that serotonin receptors were commonly expressed on the surface of bone cells. Serotonin receptors govern the entry of serotonin -- a molecule that helps transmit signals between neurons and is implicated in anxiety and depression -- into cells.

Prozac is a member of a group of antidepressants called "selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors" (SSRIs) that act on this receptor.

The fact that these receptors populated bone cells "was surprising for us," Battaglino said, "because we were taking bone cells and serotonin, two molecules that apparently didn't have much to do with each other."

The next question was whether Prozac, which has an effect on serotonin, also exerted an influence on bone cells and, ultimately, bone mass.

For this study, laboratory mice were treated with Prozac for six weeks. The investigators were specifically interested in seeing if the drug stimulated new bone formation under normal conditions and if it blocked bone loss caused by inflammation or by loss of estrogen after taking out the ovaries.

Prozac both spurred the formation of new bone under normal conditions and reversed overall bone loss triggered by inflammation.

The drug was administered both systemically (like taking a pill) and locally (directly to the bone), and the effects were observed with both delivery methods, the researchers reported.

"They developed a way to deliver locally to the bone, which makes more sense," Mitchell pointed out. "The idea there would be to avoid the [potential] brain effects."

Oddly, a prior study using Prozac found that the drug actually hindered bone growth. The discrepancy may have been due to the way bone mass or density was measured and also to the fact that it involved children, not adults, Battaglino said.

In the new study, Prozac was not effective in female mice without circulating estrogen (i.e. after their ovaries had been removed). In those cases, Prozac "did not prevent bone loss associated with estrogen deficiency," Mitchell said. "It looks like, to be effective in relation to bone loss, Prozac needs to be in the presence of estrogen." This has implications for women moving into menopause who lose estrogen and have an increased risk of osteoporosis, he said.

The findings need to be replicated and, of course, tried in humans, but, given the number of people taking Prozac, the implications could be enormous.

"Fluoxetine is one of the most widely prescribed psychoactive drugs in this country and most likely the world, and it's been like that for at least 15 or 20 years," Battaglino said. "From the public health point of view, this would be pretty relevant."

The jury is still out on whether other SSRIs -- such as Celexa, Paxil and Zoloft -- might have the same effect on bone, Battaglino added, since similar tests on those drugs haven't yet been performed.

"This could be a class effect for SSRIs," he said. "However, it is known that in addition to blocking the serotonin transporter, Prozac can target other molecules -- for instance, some nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and even some serotonin receptors. So, this effect could be specific for Prozac. The experiments will have to be done to answer the question."

Cola may not be so sweet for women's bones, according to new research that suggests the beverage boosts osteoporosis risk.

"Among women, cola beverages were associated with lower bone mineral density," said lead researcher Katherine Tucker, director of the Epidemiology and Dietary Assessment Program at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University.

There was a pretty clear dose-response, Tucker added. "Women who drink cola daily had lower bone mineral density than those who drink it only once a week," she said. "If you are worried about osteoporosis, it is probably a good idea to switch to another beverage or to limit your cola to occasional use."

The report was published in the October issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

About 55 percent of Americans, mostly women, are at risk for developing osteoporosis, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation.

In the study, Tucker's team collected data on more than 2,500 participants in the Framingham Osteoporosis Study, averaging just below 60 years of age. The researchers looked at bone mineral density at three different hip sites, as well as the spine.

They found that in women, drinking cola was associated with lower bone mineral density at all three hip sites, regardless of age, menopause, total calcium and vitamin D intake, or smoking or drinking alcohol. Women reported drinking an average of five carbonated drinks a week, four of which were cola.

Bone density among women who drank cola daily was almost 4 percent less, compared with women who didn't drink cola, Tucker said. "This is quite significant when you are talking about the density of the skeleton," she said.

Cola intake was not associated with lower bone mineral density in men. The findings were similar for diet cola, but weaker for decaffeinated cola, the researchers reported.

The reason for cola's effect on bone density may have to do with caffeine, Tucker said. "Caffeine is known to be associated with the risk of lower bone mineral density," she said. "But we found the same thing with decaffeinated colas."

Another explanation may have to do with phosphoric acid in cola, which can cause leeching of calcium from bones to help neutralize the acid, Tucker said.

One expert agrees that women should reduce the amount of cola they drink.

"I would expect this finding," said Dr. Mone Zaidi, director of the Mount Sinai Bone Program at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, in New York City. "It's probably a caffeine-related problem."

Women should limit their caffeine intake, Zaidi said. "Caffeine interferes with calcium absorption, which results in less bone formation," he said.

This can be a problem for younger women who never develop peak bone density, Zaidi noted. "Younger women who have a lot of coke will not form bone to an extent their peers would; so, years later, in menopause, they are going to be disadvantaged," he said.

Propecia Increases Hair Weight And Quality, Improves Scalp Coverage: Presented at ADV

AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS -- September 29,1999 -- The first-ever pill for male hair loss holds new promise for millions of men, following the results of a new study.

The treatment, Propecia (finasteride 1mg) has been proven to significantly increase hair weight and improve hair quality - making hairs thicker and longer in addition to increasing their number. This improvement in hair quality is good news for men who are concerned about their hair loss because improved hair quality provides improved scalp coverage.

Dr. Vera Price, of the Department of Dermatology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, presented findings from the Hair Weight Study for the first time today at the 8th European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology meeting, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Results from a study involving 66 men taking either one Propecia tablet daily or placebo showed that after 96 weeks of treatment, Propecia increased hair growth on the scalp by improving the weight of hair.

Furthermore, the beneficial effects of Propecia continued throughout the two-year study period. The difference in total scalp hair coverage between the men taking Propecia and those taking placebo became greater as the study progressed - that is, men taking Propecia continued to grow more hair, thicker hair and longer hair, while those taking placebo were gradually losing hair.

The net improvement in hair weight between men treated with Propecia compared to those treated with placebo was 35.8 percent (P<0.001) after 96 weeks.

"The increase in hair weight produced by treatment with finasteride 1mg as demonstrated in this latest study, reflects the beneficial effects of the drug on the key aspects of hair quality. These aspects include increased hair number, shown in previous studies as well, and additionally improved hair thickness and hair length," said Dr. Price.

Hair weight is a quantitative, reliable measure of hair growth and provides an integrated measure of changes in hair growth rate and total hair mass (length, hair thickness and hair number). Hair growth rate and total hair mass determine hair quality, and improved hair quality provides improved coverage of the scalp. Therefore, hair weight is an accurate way to measure the cosmetic benefits of treatment for male pattern hair loss.

By using phototrichogram methodology it has been shown that Propecia actually stimulates resting hair follicles to grow, thereby increasing the total number of growing hairs at any one time (Van Neste, et al.). These additional growing hairs observed in treated patients have now been shown to grow longer and thicker, signifying an improvement in hair quality and an improvement in scalp coverage.

Evidence of the cosmetic benefits of Propecia can be fully substantiated by worldwide clinical trial results. Propecia after two years of treatment has been shown to prevent further hair loss in five out of six men treated (83 percent, v. 28 percent placebo) and to re-grow hair that visibly increased scalp coverage in two out of three men (66 percent, v. 7 percent placebo).

The world's first hair loss pill for men is only available by prescription from a doctor and has proven to be well tolerated in clinical trials. Drug-related adverse events occurred in less than 2 percent of men taking Propecia. These side effects went away in all men who discontinued therapy and also disappeared in most men who chose to continue taking Propecia.

Propecia was first launched in the United States in 1997. It is currently available in most European countries and 22 other countries worldwide.

Propecia is administered as a 1mg oral tablet once daily. It is not indicated for use in women or children. It is a product of Merck, Sharp & Dohme.

Dreams and Erections

The average male has four to eight spontaneous erections every night while he sleeps. They usually occur during the REM stage, when dreaming is most common.

When a doctor wants to know whether a patient's difficulty achieving an erection is due to physical or mental reasons, one way to find out is to fit the patient's penis with a sensor and see whether or not the patient's dream erections are working properly. If not, the problem is probably physical.

History of Viagra

Viagra was initially developed a heart condition called angina, during the testing period for this drug it was found to give an erection to men. The drug was patented in 1996, approved in 1998 making viagra the first official drug to treat erection problems and being made available for sale later that year. The success of this drug is over whelming. You can get viagra on perscription from your doctors or on numerous websites after consultation (a mere questionaire). The fact is, it has improved the sex lives of millions men and women around the world. Annual sales of Viagra in the period 1999 - 2001 exceeded .750,000,000.

It was first thought that Viagra would lead to a drop in the market for traditional remedies which came from specific body parts of endangered species. This is highly unlikely as the traditional remedies is a treatment not just for erectile dificinency e.g. the Rhinoceros horns are used for high fever. Further on it is unclear that natural remedies will be able to compete with Viagra, due to its aphrodisiac properties.

Since Viagra's release, there has been an increase in 'fake viargra' being sold on the interne which looks like viagra (blue diamond pill) will the companies name, Pfizer engraved on it. These have proven to be dangerous and you must be careful where you buy viagra. Check out our purchasing viagra guide.

Pfizer's worldwide patents on Viagra will expire in 2011 - 2013. The UK patent held by Pfizer on the use of Viagra as treatment of impotence has been invalidated in 2000 because of obviousness; this decision was upheld on appeal in 2002.

Viagra and the Mountains

Researchers Say the Drug May Help Performance at High Altitude, Help Soldiers Fight in Afghanistan

As the commercials continually remind us: Viagra is all about performance.
Now it turns out, that's not just referring to in the bedroom.
Researchers say the drug, approved for erectile dysfunction, could eventually help some athletes train at high altitudes and soldiers fight in the mountains of Afghanistan.
In a study at Stanford University, some volunteers riding stationary bicycles and breathing through masks to simulate the low oxygen conditions found at 12,700 feet, improved their times for six kilometers by an average of 39 percent after taking Viagra.
The drug, which became an instant blockbuster for Pfizer in 1998, works by causing blood vessels to relax - not only in the penis but in the lungs.
Last year, the company won approval for the drug, also known as sildenafil, to treat a medical condition called pulmonary hypertension, or high fluid pressure in the lungs. Pulmonary hypertension is also one of the effects of exercising in oxygen-poor environments such as high altitudes.
"It provides a pretty clear advantage to some people," said Annie Friedlander, the senior author of the study, which appears in the Journal of Applied Physiology.
It does not help everyone. Only four of the 10 riders saw their times improve - 10 minutes, 48 seconds with Viagra compared to 15 minutes when they took a placebo.
Researchers are not certain why only some volunteers responded to the drug, but they noticed that they were the ones whose times had suffered the most at high altitudes. Viagra, it seems, allowed them to make up the performance they had lost.
None of the riders saw any improvement from the drug at sea level, and none reported an erection during the trials.
The next step: The U.S. military plans to test Viagra, at high altitude, on about a dozen soldiers later this summer.

Women can benefit from Viagra

Viagra may help some women
Women can benefit from taking the impotence drug Viagra, scientists have claimed.

Research by a team from the University of Boston has found that the drug can benefit women who have had a hysterectomy or who have gone through the menopause.
In both cases, women experience a loss of production of female hormones that can lead to sexual problems, such as loss of sensation and lubrication.
Dr Jennifer Berman tested the drug on 17 women who had either had a hysterectomy or gone through the menopause.
Each woman got either Viagra or a dummy pill, and three months later the women who got Viagra were switched to a placebo and the women who had been given sugar pills got Viagra.
Dr Berman and the patients did not know which woman got which pill until the end of the study.
Viagra, whose technical name is sildenafil, works by increasing the effects of nitric oxide, a common body chemical, which in turn gets more blood flowing into the genitals.
Dr Berman, who will present her findings to a meeting of the American Urological Association, said: "Sildenafil did appear to significantly increase blood flow and pH and pH is an indicator of lubrication."
"Subjectively, with regard to lubrication, sensitivity, the ability to have orgasm, and satisfaction, the women noted a significant difference."

Emotional problems
Dr Berman has carried out another study at Boston University with 48 women, aged 22 to 71.
While not so carefully controlled - the women all got Viagra and knew it - there was a statistically significant difference.
She said: "It does appear to be Viagra because there are physiological changes that can't be faked."
However, Viagra failed to work for women in the second study who had psychological problems with sex.
These included poor body image, a history of sexual abuse, or marital trouble.
Dr Berman said: "Those women don't respond to Viagra or any drug.
"Although there are physiological, medical reasons why women have sexual complaints, there are emotional and relational consequences to sexual dysfunction that are relevant to women."
She added that it was more difficult to tell if a woman had sexual problems.
"While men can define their sexual function in terms of rigidity, for women it doesn't work that way," she said.
Pfizer, the manufacturers of Viagra, say that seven million prescriptions have been written for the drug worldwide since its launch last year.

Viagra improves sex for postmenopausal women

The findings come from a study led by Jennifer R. Berman, MD and Laura A. Berman PhD.
Pfizer Inc (maker of Viagra) funded the study which monitored 200 postmenopausal women with FSAD (female sexual arousal disorder).
100 women received Viagra while the other half were on a placebo. More women on Viagra (than the placebo) reported better sexual (more sexual) satisfaction. Some of the women on the placebo also reported an improvement (lower number than those on Viagra).
All the women who had hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) as well as FSAD reported no improvement at all.
The most common problem for women with FSAD is genital blood flow (which Viagra seems to be able to help). Women with HSDD have underlying emotional or relationship problems which lead to a reduction in sexual desire.
'Unresolved emotional or relational issues should be addressed before beginning medical therapies,' Berman her colleagues said (December issue of The Journal of Urology).
Those in the study included women who were postmenopausal (or had had a hysterectomy), aged from 30-71 (average age 51).
Two questions (asked after the women had taken the Viagra of Placebo) the team focussed on were:
1. After taking the study medication, the sensation/feeling in my genital (vagina, labia, clitoris) area during intercourse or stimulation seemed to be: (a) more than before, (b) less than before, or (c) unchanged.
2. After taking the study medication, intercourse and/or foreplay was (a) pleasant and satisfying; better than before taking the study medication; (b) unpleasant; worse than before the study medication; (c) unchanged; no difference; or (d) pleasant but still not like it used to be or I would like it to be.

Regarding Question 1 the results were:
Placebo patients: 44% reported an improvement
Viagra Patients: 57% reported an improvement

Regarding Question 2 the results were:
Placebo patients: 26% reported an improvement
Viagra patients: 42% reported an improvement

However, of the patients (on Viagra) with sexual arousal disorder who did not have HSDD 68% reported an improvement on the first question (eight times more than women without HSDD who were on the placebo).
In addition, of the patients (on Viagra) with sexual arousal disorder who did not have HSDD, 50% said there was an improvement in question 2 (11 times more than the non-HSDD women on the placebo).
The authors also said that women who respond to Viagra may need to have normal levels of oestrogen and testosterone. For many postmenopausal women, that may mean menopausal replacement therapy. In the present study, the women had normal hormone levels or were receiving menopausal replacement therapy.

Cialis aids prostate cancer sex function

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Dutch scientists say they have found a drug usually prescribed for erectile dysfunction in men increases the sexual function of prostate cancer survivors.
Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men. But after treatment, some patients report trouble achieving an erection sufficient for sexual activity -- a medical condition called erectile dysfunction or ED. In the Dutch study, physicians wanted to test whether the drug Tadalafil, which sells under the brand name Cialis, would help prostate cancer survivors with ED who were treated with three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy.
In what is believed the first randomized trial of its type, successful intercourse was reported in 48 percent of the survivors who took Tadalafil versus 9 percent of the men who were given placebo. There was also a reported improvement of the quality of erections in 67 percent of the patients, versus 20 percent of the placebo group.
The research conducted at the Erasmus MC-Daniel den Hoed Cancer Center in Rotterdam is detailed in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics.