UroToday.com – Erectile dysfunction is the most commonly recognized side effect of radical prostatectomy (RP) for prostate cancer (CaP). However, post-surgery penile length shortening (PLS) is known to occur in up to three-fourths of men. The impact of PLS has not previously been assessed.

The mechanism causing PLS is not known, but may be related to anatomic changes or fibrosis and scaring in the retropubic space. Studies suggest that men are more concerned with penile length than women, and that men desiring penile lengthening actually have normal penile length. The goal of this study that appears in the more…

At the annual meeting of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America (SMSNA), Inc. in San Diego, Sciele Pharma, Inc., a Shionogi Company and Plethora Solutions Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Plethora Solutions Holdings PLC (”Plethora” AIM:PLE)., today presented data from its second positive pivotal study of PSD502 for the treatment of premature ejaculation (PE). Results of the double-blind treatment phase of this study, which enrolled patients from the U.S., Canada and Poland, are consistent with previously reported results of the pivotal trial conducted in Europe and showed that men who were treated with PSD502 five minutes before intercourse were able to delay ejaculation up to five times longer than those who used placebo. Additionally, patients and partners in both trials reported significant improvements in sexual satisfaction, and the drug was well tolerated.
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Dong-A Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Dong-A PharmTech, Co. Ltd. announced that it has completed a 240 patient once-a-day dosing clinical study of udenafil, its new long acting phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE-5) inhibitor for erectile dysfunction (ED). The multi-center study conducted in Korea was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, designed to investigate the efficacy and safety of udenafil in patients with ED. Following a 4-week non-drug baseline period, 240 men with ED of broad etiology and severity were randomized to one of four treatment groups: Placebo, udenafil 25 mg, udenafil 50 mg or udenafil 75 mg. Patients took one tablet a day for 12 weeks with evaluations every 4 weeks. The primary efficacy endpoint was the change in the standard International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) Erectile Function Domain (EF) score from baseline to final visit. The secondary efficacy endpoints were the change from the baseline in the mean vaginal penetration success rates and mean intercourse completion rates calculated from the Sexual Encounter Profile (SEP) questions 2 and 3. In addition a sub-group analysis was conducted to determine efficacy in the patients that had lower urinary tract symptoms associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia in addition to erectile dysfunction.
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These trials were the first ever to test a therapy that works at the level of the brain to enhance libido in women reporting low sexual desire, said John M. Thorp Jr., M.D., McAllister distinguished professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and the principal investigator for North America in the studies.

“Flibanserin was a poor antidepressant,” Thorp said. “However, astute observers noted that it increased libido in laboratory animals and human subjects. So, we conducted multiple clinical trials and the women in our studies who took it for hypoactive sexual desire disorder reported significant improvements in sexual desire and satisfactory sexual experiences.

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The trial, called ‘STEP’, was halted in September 2007 because preliminary results suggested that people who had been given the vaccine were more likely to be infected with HIV than people who had been given a placebo.

The researchers behind the study, from Imperial College London, King’s College London and Royal Holloway, University of London, say their findings mean scientists may have to rethink other vaccines they are developing for diseases like HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, which are delivered in the same way, using the same virus ’shell’.

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The University of Rochester Medical Center-led study is published in the International Journal of Andrology.

Because testosterone produces the masculine brain, researchers are concerned that fetal exposure to anti-androgens such as phthalates — which are pervasive in the environment — has the potential to alter masculine brain development, said lead author Shanna H. Swan, Ph.D., professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, director of the URMC Center for Reproductive Epidemiology, and an expert in phthalates.

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Now, according to a new study appearing in the Journal of Adolescent Health, Children’s researchers have established that the CRAFFT diagnostic test can also identify teens that are more likely to be engaging in high risk sexual behaviors.

The studies researchers found that teens who screened positive for substance use had significantly greater odds of having sexual contact after using drugs or alcohol. According to the findings, these teens were more likely to have unprotected sex, multiple sexual partners and even a sexually transmitted illness. The cross-sectional survey consisted of 305 adolescents from ages 12- to 18-years-old in 3 different urban clinics. Participants were asked the CRAFFT questions, and also completed a self-administered questionnaire about high risk sexual behaviors. Of those who screened positive, 42.6% reported having sexual contact without a condom, 26.1% after drinking alcohol, 15.6% after drug use and 21.7% with a partner who had been drinking alcohol.

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HIV drug discovery efforts have met with little success in finding compounds that interact with an important HIV virulence factor, called Nef, because it lacks biochemical activity that can be directly measured, explained Thomas E. Smithgall, Ph.D., William S. McEllroy Professor and Chair, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, and senior author of the paper, which was published last week in the early, online version of ACS Chemical Biology.

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The five-year study examined 634 workers in factories in China, comparing workers in BPA manufacturing facilities with a control group of workers in factories where no BPA was present. The study found that the workers in the BPA facilities had quadruple the risk of erectile dysfunction, and seven times more risk of ejaculation difficulty.

This is the first research study to look at the effect of BPA on the male reproductive system in humans. Previous animal studies have shown that BPA has a detrimental effect on male reproductive system in mice and rats.

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New research, by David H. Volle and colleagues, at INSERM U895, France, has identified the molecular mechanism underlying many of the harmful effects of DES on the mouse testis.

The research is reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

The pivotal experiments demonstrated that neonatal exposure to DES led to a much more dramatic reduction in fertility in male mice with the protein NR0B2 than it did in male mice lacking the protein because NR0B2 deficiency protected male mice against the negative effects of DES on testis development and function. NR0B2 deficiency also protected male mice from the detrimental effects of postnatal and adult exposure to DES.

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