Entries Tagged 'Erectile Dysfunction' ↓

By Helen Branswell

TORONTO (CP) - As you zap mounds of spam from your e-mail inbox, do you ever wonder who would be naive enough to give credit card details to the anonymous folks behind the dubiously worded drug offers?

Well, researchers from the University of Toronto did. And to their surprise they found the damn spam delivered.

Dr. Alejandro Jadad and research fellow Peter Gernburd were able to purchase products that looked like brand-name erectile dysfunction medications, anti-anxiety drugs and obesity supplements with relative ease - though what exactly is in the bubble packs remains to be seen.

But Jadad, a researcher who describes himself as a public advocate, warned the business is a shady one. An address used to purchase medication one week can be a dead end the next, leaving buyers with no recourse if the drugs turn out to be bogus or past their expiry date.

“These could be fake. These could be real. These could be adulterated. We don’t know,” Jadad said of the products he and Gernburd managed to purchase.

“So ‘User beware’ big time here.”

“The message really is not ‘Oh, you’re going to get it.’ The message is you’re going to get things from places that you don’t know, that are not responsible, that disappear, and that are breaking the law. So be very careful.”

The researchers are in the process of having the products analyzed by a laboratory.

Health Canada would not offer comment Monday on Jadad’s study, which was published Tuesday in the journal Public Library of Science Medicine.

Instead, a spokesperson pointed to cautions posted on the department’s website, statements warning that people put their health at serious risk when they buy drugs online.

“You have no way of knowing where these companies are located, where they get their drugs, what is in their drugs, or how to reach them if there is a problem,” the department says in a fact sheet posted on its website.

“If you order from these sites, you may get counterfeit drugs with no active ingredients, drugs with the wrong ingredients, drugs with dangerous additives, or drugs past their expiry date. Even if these drugs do not harm you directly or immediately, your condition may get worse without effective treatment.”

Jadad was inspired to explore the business of spam-generated drug sales because of the volume of the unwanted e-mail he was getting himself.

A check of the medical literature produced little on the subject. So he and Gernburd set up three e-mail accounts and monitored the number and types of spam messages they received.

In one month - November 2006 - the accounts received 4,153 messages what qualified as spam, 82 per cent of the total e-mail traffic. Health-related spam made up 32 per cent of the total.

As far as the researchers could tell, most was from abroad - the United States, China and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Only 58 per cent of the active links in the spam e-mails were still viable a week later and only a quarter of the links still worked at the end of the month.

Jadad’s wife had secured a special credit card with a low credit limit and Jadad and Gernburd tried to order 27 items using it.

Only nine orders went through. Five were for prescription drugs (erectile dysfunction drugs and anti-anxiety medications) and four were for natural health products (weight management and penile enlargement).

The only charges made against the credit card were for items that were actually delivered, Jadad said. But whether the products are the real thing remains to be seen.

He wouldn’t say if the drugs were expired or more expensive than they would have been in a local pharmacy, saying that analysis will be in a future instalment of this work.

While some might worry that this study would actually give people confidence they can buy drugs from spammers, Jadad said it’s important to know what’s going on in this netherworld, because people clearly are accessing prescription drugs this way.

“The fact at the end of the day is … there are enough people who are willing to look at those messages and consider the products and make an order. And that is what keeps this going,” said Jadad, a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto and founder of the Centre for Global eHealth Innovation at Toronto’s University Health Network.

“If people didn’t respond, we wouldn’t have spam. And the fact that spam is growing so much is a reflection of the fact that the spammers are making a lot of money out of it.”
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A man who once agreed to help conserve fur seals has pleaded guilty to illegally selling their parts.

Michael Richard Zacharof, former president of the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island Tribal Government, co-signed an agreement with the National Marine Fisheries Service in 2000 to help manage northern fur seals. Northern fur seals are designated a "depleted species" under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Zacharof, 50, of St. Paul Island, entered his plea by telephone in a hearing held Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Anchorage. St. Paul Island is located about 300 miles west of the Alaska mainland in the Bering Sea. Its 460 residents are mostly Eskimo or Aleut.

Zacharof faces up to one year in prison and a $20,000 fine for selling seal parts when he is sentenced in the fall.

A call to his home on St. Paul Island was not immediately returned.

Federal prosecutors say Zacharof illegally sold more than 100 seal penises to a Korean gift shop in Anchorage, where they were to be resold for about $100 apiece in the traditional Chinese medicine trade.

Seal penis bones, also called oosiks, are sometimes believed to work like erectile dysfunction drugs, Assistant U.S. Attorney Aunnie Steward said.

The investigation began in Massachusetts in 2004 when bear gall bladders and seal oosiks were discovered in a Boston suburb. The sales were traced to the Korean gift shop in Anchorage. From there, the parts were traced to Zacharof, an Alaska Native who headed a seal hunt, Steward said.

"They (Alaska Natives) are allowed to do this for subsistence purposes and they also are allowed to convert different parts of the seal to traditional Native handicrafts," she said. "They can't sell raw unworked marine mammal parts of any kind."

Steward said the gift shop also faces prosecution.

Kevin Heck, assistant special agent in charge of fisheries enforcement for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Anchorage, said the agency was surprised to discover the scope of the market in seal oosiks.

Such cases are difficult to prosecute for a number of reasons, including the remoteness of St. Paul Island, Heck said.

St. Paul, which is part of the Pribilof Islands, was discovered by Russian fur traders in the 1780s. Fur seals subsequently were severely overharvested. Continue reading →

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The type of prostate cancer treatment a man gets has a lot to do with the kind of specialist he sees first, according to a study released on Monday that lends scientific evidence to something many men have likely guessed.

Prostate cancer can be treated effectively using radiation, radioactive seeds or surgical removal of the prostate. Surgery or drugs to stop production of testosterone, known as hormone therapy, may also be used in high-risk patients.

Doctors often also advise close medical observation, also known as watchful waiting.

Each treatment is associated with different benefits and side effects. Prostate surgery can cause urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction; radiation therapy can cause diarrhea and erectile dysfunction; and hormone therapy can cause hot flashes and breast tenderness.

"You want your physician to convey this information without a bias," Dr. Thomas Jang, a urologist from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, said at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncologists.

Although the 5-year survival rate for men with localized prostate cancer is nearly 100 percent, it is the third most common cause of cancer death in men of all ages, and the most common cause of cancer death in men over 75.

No scientific studies have proven which therapy works best, so men typically follow their doctor's recommendation, said Jang.

The study of more than 85,000 men aged 65 and older with prostate cancer that had not yet spread uncovered a strong correlation between physician type and treatment.

If a man's doctor happens to be a urologist, for example, the recommendation for men under 70 most often will be surgery — 70 percent of the time. For men over 75 who saw only a urologist, the choice was watchful waiting or hormone therapy in 91 percent of the patients.

But if they saw both a urologist and a radiation oncologist, 78 percent of younger men and 85 percent of older men got radiation therapy.

Because patients tend to fare well on all the treatment options, the choice comes down to which side effects and treatment options best fit the patient, Dr. Justin Bekelman, a radiation oncologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, who worked on the study, said in an interview.

"It's not enough to say, Google it and check it out," he said.

Most prostate cancer patients tend to see a urologist first because they are the doctors who perform biopsies and make diagnoses.

"I think urologists as gatekeepers have to present balanced information," Jang said.

The American Cancer SocietyP.S.

American Cancer Society expects 218,890 U.S. men to be diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2007 and 27,000 to die of it.

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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Laboratory studies conducted at Queen's University Belfast, UK suggest that taking the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra may adversely affect sperm function and possibly male fertility.

Recreational users of Viagra need to be informed of the drug's potentially harmful effects on sperm function, the investigators say.

In their experiments, Dr. David R. J. Glenn and colleagues observed that exposure of cultured sperm to Viagra, compared to no exposure, led to a "sustained enhancement of motility," both in numbers of progressively motile sperm and their velocity.

However, exposure to Viagra — at concentrations equivalent to the average maximum total blood concentration present 30 minutes after a single oral dose of 100 milligrams — also caused a premature "acrosome reaction." Acrosomes are structures that cover the head of the sperm and contain a variety of enzymes that help the sperm penetrate the outer membrane of the egg.

That Viagra may induce early activation of the acrosome reaction has "important clinical implications because sperm that acrosome-react before contact with the oocyte are incapable of fertilization," the researchers note in the journal Fertility and Sterility.

"Given that the majority of sperm acrosome react on exposure to (Viagra), the drug may cause significant impairment to their fertilizing potential," they write.

This is a concern, Glenn and colleagues say, given that Viagra and other like-drugs are widely available on the Internet and are increasingly being used "recreationally" by young healthy men of reproductive age as sexual enhancers — not just by older men who have erectile dysfunction.

SOURCE: Fertility and Sterility, May 2007. Continue reading →

Erectile dysfunction is the repeated inability to get or keep an erection firm enough for sexual intercourse.

Due to the sensitive nature of the condition, it is difficult to estimate how many men it affects.

However, it is believed about 5% of 40-year-old men and up to 25% of 65-year-old men may have the condition.

How does an erection occur?

The penis contains two chambers full of spongy tissue called the corpora cavernosa.

When a man becomes sexually aroused impulses from the brain and local nerves cause muscles in the corpora cavernosa to relax, allowing blood to flow in and fill the spaces within the tissue.

This creates pressure in the corpora cavernosa, making the penis expand.

A membrane called the tunica albuginea helps trap the blood in the corpora cavernosa, thereby sustaining erection.

The erection is lost when the muscles contract to stop blood flowing into the penis, and open outflow channels.

What causes erectile dysfunction?

A successful, sustained erection requires a sequence of events to occur in a precise fashion.

Anything which disrupts this sequence can lead to problems either getting, or keeping an erection.

The most common cause of erectile dysfunction is damage to the tissues, either the nerves, arteries, muscles or fibrous tissue.

This is often linked either to disease. Conditions such as diabetes, kidney disease, chronic alcoholism, multiple sclerosis and cardiovascular disease account for around 70% of cases of erectile dsyfunction.

In some cases the condition is caused by damage to the nerves and arteries near the penis which can occur during surgery, particularly for prostate and bladder cancer.

Physical injury to the penis, spinal cord, prostate, bladder or pelvis can also be a factor.

Erectile dsyfunction is also a side effect of some common medications, including blood pressure drugs, antihistamiines, antidepressants and tranquilizers.

Experts believe that psychological factors such as stress, anxiety, guilt, depression, low self-esteem, and fear of sexual failure cause up to 20% of cases.

Smoking, which affects blood flow, has also been linked to the condition.

Can it be treated?

Yes. There is a range of ways to treat erectile dysfunction.

Doctors will consider psychotherapy for patients who are likely to benefit, but alternatives include drugs, vacuum devices, and surgery.

Drug Therapy:

One drug in particular, Viagra (Sildenafil Citrate), has become an international phenomenon since its launch in the late 1990s.

The drug, also known as Sildenafil, does not directly give a man an erection. It works by boosting the natural mechanism that leads to an erection.

When a man is sexually aroused, certain tissues in his penis relax. This allows large amounts of blood to flow into the muscle, thus producing an erection. Viagra helps by elevating the levels of the chemical that causes the tissues to relax.

These effects were discovered accidentally. The drug was originally developed to improve blood supply to the heart in angina sufferers.

In a small number of cases, people who have taken Viagra have complained of headaches, flushing and stomach-ache.

It can also cause some visual problems, including an increased sensitivity to light, blurred vision or an inability to tell the difference between blue and green. Men who are already taking medicines that contain nitrates, such as nitro-glycerine, are strongly advised not to use Viagra because the combination can lower blood pressure too much.

Another drug, Levitra (Vardenafil), works first time for nearly nine out of 10 men (87%) who are experiencing erection difficulties.

Penile injections:

The injection of drugs directly into the tissues of the penis to trigger an erection was more common before the advent of new drugs such as Viagra.

The drugs relax muscles and increase blood flow to create an erection.

Vacuum Devices:

These work by creating a partial vacuum around the penis, which draws blood into the organ.

The devices have three components: a plastic cylinder, into which the penis is placed; a pump, which draws air out of the cylinder; and an elastic band, which is placed around the base of the penis to maintain the erection after the cylinder is removed and during intercourse.

Surgery:

There are different types of surgery:

Implanted devices, known as prostheses, can restore erection in many men.

These can come in different forms. For instance, paired rods can be inserted into the corpora cavernosa to enable the user to manually adjust the position of the penis.

Alternatively, inflatable cylinders can be inserted inside the penis and expanded using pressurized fluid.

In some cases doctors may attempt to repair blockages in damaged arteries. However, this usually only works if the blockages are not widespread.

It is also possible to tie off veins to reduce the leakage of blood that can reduce the rigidity of an erection. However, experts have raised questions about the long-term effectiveness of this procedure, and it is rarely done.

This page contains basic information. If you are concerned about your health, you should consult a doctor.

Originaly from Source

A Harley Street doctor prescribed expensive impotence remedies which were useless if not dangerous, a GMC disciplinary hearing has been told.

Dr Moloy Prakash Sahu of the Wellman Clinic, 57 Harley Street, gave creams and pills which had "no evidence" of treating sexual problems, it heard.

He failed to check medical histories or possible psychological problems, said expert witness Laurence Sandler.

Dr Sahu denies serious professional misconduct. The hearing continues.

Mr Sandler, of Wycombe General Hospital, said he had examined patient records and notes made by Dr Sahu and could not understand the drugs and other preparations that had been prescribed.

He noted Dr Sahu had spent little time talking through the sex problems of his patients before prescribing.

"I spend a long time talking to them. It is very difficult but you have to get a rapport with them. It is a very sensitive problem," said Mr Sandler.

Psychological factors

Mr Sandler said the cause of low libido was often psychological, or caused by factors such as high blood pressure, smoking and drinking.

But Dr Sahu had failed to discuss this in detail with the patients, he said.

There was an average of a three month course of treatment made up of vitamins and washes for each man and the cost would be in the region of 1,500 to 2,000 Lynn Griffin, for the GMC

Mr Sandler also warned about Dr Sahu's prescriptions for the sex drug Viagra.

"There is a significant failure rate. It isn't a catch-all. It doesn't work all the time."

The hearing was held after three patients at the clinic, which charges up to 2,000 a time for treatment, complained to the GMC.

Earlier, it was told that one patient who complained that a 12 week course of treatment had failed to work was "flabbergasted" by an invitation to sign up for another course.

Another was prescribed a drug which, mixed with an anti-depression drug he was already taking, could have proved fatal.

That patient was also treated for a condition he did not suffer.

'True purpose'

Lynn Griffin, for the GMC, said Dr Sahu targeted "vulnerable men" suffering impotence problems to earn "ridiculous amounts of money".

She said the doctor's "deference" to non-medically qualified members of the clinic's staff illustrated the "true purpose" of the establishment.

That "was to get vulnerable men to part with money for treatment which was not effective and certainly overpriced," she said.

This clinic appears to have a standard form of treatment which is meted out regardless of the condition presented by the patient Lynn Griffin GMC

Dr Sahu prescribed a range of vitamins, herbal washes, creams and other drugs which were on the whole "inappropriate", she said.

Often his contact with patients was "minimal", while other staff persuaded them to sign up for treatments.

Ms Griffin also said the price of the treatments appeared excessive.

"There was an average of a three month course of treatment made up of vitamins and washes for each man and the cost would be in the region of 1,500 to 2,000," she said.

Charges denied

She said despite each patient suffering a range of problems, the men were given similar treatment.

"This clinic appears to have a standard form of treatment which is meted out regardless of the condition presented by the patient.

"For most patients the prescribing was inappropriate - the drugs would have been ineffective and no matter how many washes and creams were given to these gentlemen along with these medications it would not have assisted their problem," said Ms Griffin.

One patient told the hearing the clinic had since paid the costs of his treatment, plus interest, as a result of a small claims court ruling.

Dr Sahu, of Walthamstow, East London, denies 11 charges amounting to serious professional misconduct, arising from his treatment of patients at the clinic between July 2000 and June 2001.

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One in five men diagnosed with prostate cancer are told the news in an insensitive way - some by phone or letter, a survey has found.

The Prostate Cancer Charity asked over 1,140 men about their experiences.

Just under a quarter of those who were alone when they heard their diagnosis wished someone had been with them.

And almost 20% were not made aware of the side effects of different prostate cancer treatments, which can include impotence and incontinence.

And 40% said they were not given written information about the disease, treatments or side effects such as impotence to take away with them.

The Prostate Cancer Charity said the survey findings, which it launched at a conference in London this week, highlighted the wide variations in care that men received.

Every year, over 30,000 men are diagnosed with the disease and 10,000 men die from it.

It is now the most common cancer diagnosed in men in the UK.

'Anger and frustration'

Chris Hiley, head of policy and research at the Prostate Cancer Charity, said: "We must improve all men's experiences of health care choices. Help them demand attention.

"Change society's views so men's entitlement to tailored health care is as respected as women's."

John Neate, chief executive of the charity, said: "Many men singled out doctors and nurses who gave them fantastic care.

"But all too often the comments described men's anger and frustration."

He added: "It's disgraceful that so many men with prostate cancer still do not get appropriate care and support.

"One man told us how he received a letter on a Saturday telling him he had cancer, with a help number that was not available until the following Monday.

"Another man commented: 'Although I had disgraceful attention, I have been lucky with no serious effects'."

He called on the government to make prostate cancer a more urgent priority.

Professor Jessica Corner, of the charity Macmillan Cancer Relief, said: "Men's vital needs are not being met and more appropriate care, support and advice is crucial to their well-being.

"Only over the past five years has the NHS invested resources into prostate cancer compared to breast cancer for example and this needs to change."

"With more research, resources and greater awareness, men could start to see an improvement in prostate cancer services."

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According to the latest figures, one in three Europeans smokes, but the percentage of smokers is higher in the youngest age groups.

Latest statistics also show that lung cancer is the most common type of cancer among European men.

In an effort to find new ways to shock smokers out of the habit, the EU will be setting a database of graphic pictures illustrating the dangers of smoking. From 1 October next year, European countries will be able - though not obliged - to use some of those images on cigarette packs.

Precedents

Brazil and Canada have already started to use graphic warnings against smoking, and Singapore may follow suit next year.

The pictures used in Canada include horrendous images of rotten teeth and gums, diseased lungs, but also indirect or ironic warnings.

An image of two children is captioned "don't poison us" while the warning "tobacco use can make you impotent" is accompanied by a suggestive picture of drooping ash on a burning cigarette.

Thorsten Muench, a spokesman for the European Commission, says a picture paints a thousand words.

"It's not necessarily a measure which will help the die-hard smokers to quit smoking, even if it's also foreseen to have quit-line numbers on the photo health warnings," he says.

"The main focus is really to stop people starting the habit in the first place and there are a lot of international studies which show that there is a certain effectiveness of this measure.

"It's not the only measure, but it's one way to have less smokers in the first place."

Belgian measures

The European Commissioner for health David Byrne, who is a staunch non-smoker, said the EU had to find innovative ways to illustrate the shocking truth that half of all smokers would be killed by their habit.

Byrne says many people do not understand the magnitude of the risk

Mr Byrne has been actively campaigning against tobacco advertising and sponsorship for the last four years.

His native Ireland is due to become the first country in the EU to introduce a controversial ban on smoking in pubs and restaurants.

Belgium is also planning to ban the sale of tobacco to under-16s and to outlaw smoking on school grounds, both by students and teachers.

Belgium - where twice as many young people smoke than they did last year - may also be among the first countries to use graphic warnings and to print free phone numbers on cigarette packs which smokers could use to get advice about stopping smoking.

And from 1 May next year, on the same day that 10 more countries join the EU, smoking will also be banned at the European Commission in Brussels.

Detailed warnings

But as early as the end of this month, health warnings on cigarette packs will be enlarged everywhere in the EU (covering at least 30% of the front and at least 40% of the back of the pack).

The new recommended texts won't just say that "tobacco is bad for you", but will include more detailed warnings, such as: "Smoking can cause a slow and painful death" or simply "smokers die younger".

Men will be told that "smoking may reduce the blood flow and causes impotence", while women will be warned that "smoking when pregnant harms your baby" and "causes ageing of the skin".

EU health commissioner David Byrne believes many people still smoke because they do not fully understand the magnitude of the risks posed by tobacco.

Originaly from Source