News - ‘Hidden’ smoking costs revealed
Thursday, November 15th, 2007Smokers spend 676 a year on their habit, before the cost of cigarettes is even taken into account, a study says.
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Archive for November, 2007
The Pill and Desire
Wednesday, November 14th, 2007|
Q - Can birth control pills diminish my sex drive?
A - Some birth control pills can The that cause fewer of the common side effects associated with According to Dr. Arnold Kresch, a gynecologist at Helena Women’s Health in As new pills are developed, new classes of progestins, female sex hormones, I am not optimistic about finding a solution in the very near future because Original article |
Newsmakers of the week: October 13
Tuesday, November 13th, 2007
ISABELLE DINOIRE FRED GOODWIN MRTHA LOUISE JOSEPH KAISER JAMMIE THOMAS DIDA TOKITSUKAZE KIMBERLY BELL
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A POIGNANT LIFE WITH A NEW FACE
Ever since she underwent the world’s first face transplant in 2005, Isabelle Dinoire has endured a long, strange recovery. She required the groundbreaking surgery after her dog, Tanya, bit off her nose and mouth. Now, in a new memoir, Dinoire describes a strange new existence. She can speak and eat, but kissing eludes her. She recounts discovering a small hair growing on her new chin and realizing that the donor must have been brunette. Before the dog attack, Dinoire had been facing feelings of suicide and had taken a large dose of sleeping pills (when she awoke she found her face bloody from Tanya’s attack). Then she learned that the donor had killed herself, and that gave Dinoire a feeling of sisterhood. Today she has a new dog to replace Tanya. The animal is affectionate enough, but some instinct always prevents it from licking the new part of her face. And Dinoire has finally gotten over initial disgust at living inside someone else’s skin: “Sometimes, I put my hand to my face to check that it’s still there.”
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THE BIGGEST BANKER OF THEM ALL
The bosses at two Canadian banks toasted their acquisitions of regional U.S. financial institutions last week. But they were mere tiddlers compared to the Royal Bank of Scotland’s CEO. Fred Goodwin, 49, was about to close the biggest banking deal in history. Along with Belgian-Dutch and Spanish banking partners, he was poised to spend US$101 billion snagging the giant Dutch bank ABN Amro. Buying the 183-year-old Dutch firm is just the ticket for Goodwin’s plan to grow RBS into one of the world’s dominant banks. Nicknamed “Fred the Shred” for brutal measures that catapulted thousands of workers from banks he’s previously headed, Goodwin will probably make similar cuts in the ranks at ABN Amro. Job one, however, will be shredding the bank itself. RBS, along with principal partners Fortis and Banco Santander, will break up ABN Amro into three pieces. Nothing on this scale has ever been done before. Even Shred will need three years, experts say, to deal with the remains.
A FAIRY-TALE PRINCESS GETS TOUGH IN COURT
Hours before her father, King Harald V, opened the Norwegian parliament, Princess Mrtha Louise was in court last week, seeking to stop publication of a book about angels that put her photo and name on its cover though she had nothing to do with the project. Her lawyer labelled the publisher “cynical parasites” for exploiting her image. The king’s only daughter has been a lightning rod for otherworldly controversy ever since claiming earlier this year that she had been making “contact with angels.” Though the publisher settled the court case, agreeing to apologize and remove her name from the cover, Mrtha Louise’s problems persist — a veteran journalist has called the princess “a hypocrite” for apparently using his father’s translations of fairy tales in her own book Princess Mrtha Louise’s Wonderful World. Now he’s asking for a halt to book sales.
THE HUNKENTENOR GOES TO NEW YORK
To legions of opera fans, 29-year-old Joseph Kaiser of Montreal is known as the “Hunkentenor” for his blue-eyed good looks and affable, thoughtful manner. Last week, he made his debut on the stage of New York City’s Metropolitan Opera opposite superstar Anna Netrebko in Gounod’s Romo and Juliet. He was conducted by Plcido Domingo, who simply advised Kaiser to “have fun.” Kaiser has had a storybook rise: during the 2002 Jeunesses Musicales competition in Quebec, the great singer Teresa Berganza advised him to switch from being a baritone to a tenor. Kaiser recalls: “She pulled me aside at a dinner and she said: ‘Take three months, take six months. Try.’ ” Then came a chance to audition for a minor role in Kenneth Branagh’s film of Mozart’s opera, The Magic Flute. Kaiser won the lead, playing Tamino. That was one of his favourite performances, Kaiser says. The other two are singing in his synagogue and belting out O Canada at a Montreal Canadiens home game.
THE HIGH PRICE OF DOWNLOADING MUSIC
When she was slammed with a lawsuit from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for downloading copyrighted music for free off the Internet and distributing it again, 30-year-old Jammie Thomas of Minnesota did what no one else had done. The RIAA has served 26,000 other people with legal action for swapping music on sites. All have settled with the industry, but Thomas was the first to go to trial. The closely watched proceeding ended last week with a jury awarding in favour of several recording companies. They ordered the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe employee to pay US$9,250 in damages for each tune she’d downloaded, including Destiny’s Child’s Bills, Bills, Bills and Sarah McLachlan’s Building a Mystery. The total: a whopping US$220,000. The award infuriated critics of the recording industry. “Four venal record companies,” wrote Jon Newton, editor of a website devoted to file-sharing, “have bankrupted a single mother with two chidren in their lust for money.” But the win may be symbolic: pundits belive Thomas can win an appeal of the case.
SOCCER DIVE WAS A MAJOR FLOP
Soccer players dive; it is a wart on the face of the beautiful game. Occasionally, though, a player goes too far even by soccer’s standards. In a game in Glasgow last week, defending champions AC Milan suffered a shock defeat by hometown Celtic FC after Milan goalkeeper Nlson de Jesus Silva — known by his nickname Dida — conceded a last-minute goal. In the ensuing pandemonium, a fan ran onto the field. Passing Dida, he slapped the 34-year-old Brazilian keeper lightly on the shoulder. Dida angrily began charging after the fan, then seemed to change his mind and collapsed, clutching his head. Medics stretchered him off the field. It was one of the most cynical dives in memory. And if it was a flimsy attempt to have Celtic forfeit the game owing to an injury, it failed and then some. Dida was reproved by teammates and fans, and may face discipline by UEFA. British football commentator James Richardson recalled Pel’s endorsements for Viagra a few years ago when he sniped: “Not since Pel spoke out about men’s issues has a Brazilian man had this much trouble staying upright.”
THE BANISHING OF A SUMO MASTER
Sumo stable master Tokitsukaze claimed he was just trying to whip a charge into shape, but Japan’s sumo authority has sacked him for beating Takashi Saito, 17, with a beer bottle a day before the young trainee died in June. While Tokitsukaze admitted he struck the junior wrestler on the knee and head, he claims other senior wrestlers also assaulted the teen, including one who hit him with a baseball bat. In the world of sumo, such hazings are meant to toughen new recruits. Saito subsequently collapsed while practising with another wrestler. He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead from heart failure. An autopsy revealed multiple bruises, lacerations and cigarette burns, and led to a police probe. Now Tokitsukaze has been pushed out of the centre ring forever. Japan Sumo Association rules stipulate that the dismissal prevents him from ever returning to the national sport. But the scandal has dealt sumo a very public battering.
LIFE WITH BARRY: AN OVERGROWN MESS
The of home-run king Barry Bonds used to examine her lover’s body in minute detail. “There was bloating. Acne. Losing of hair. Dysfunction sexually,” Kimberly Bell says, blaming it on the baseball player’s alleged steroid use. Now, the public can examine Bell’s body in equally minute detail: she’s posed nude for November’s issue of Playboy. To promote it, Bell’s been dishing the dirt on her ex and she’s got a big spoon. She details his transition from being simply moody (”I always figured he had PMS, like a woman̶ 
to downright scary. Bell claims Bonds threatened to chop off her head. Steroids also put a hamper on their sex life: “You exaggerate your reactions.” Bell has big plans for her future, including writing a self-help book and becoming a teacher. She hopes to “inspire children,” she says. Maybe posing in Playboy isn’t such a good start.
Study Shows Levitra May Protect The Heart
Monday, November 12th, 2007Science Daily — The widely used erectile dysfunction drug Levitra is now the second drug in its class found to protect the heart against tissue damage following acute heart attack, according to a new study by Virginia Commonwealth University researchers.
“Our findings further support the concept that the novel class of 5 inhibitors, or PDE-5 inhibitors, including Levitra and Viagra, may have a new utility in cardiac protection, in addition to their well-known use for the management of erectile dysfunction in men,” said Rakesh C. Kukreja, Ph.D., professor of medicine, physiology, biochemistry and emergency medicine at VCU. Kukreja is lead author of the study.
In the study, currently available online and to be published in the March issue of the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology, Kukreja and his team demonstrated for the first time that with a clinically relevant dose of Levitra, generically known as vardenafil, induces a protective effect against heart attack injury by opening the mitochondrial KATP channel in an animal model. The Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology is the official publication of the International Society for Heart Research.
According to Kukreja, PDE-5 is an enzyme responsible for the destruction of cGMP, an intracellular messenger molecule, in heart cells. He said that the mitochondrial KATP channel and cGMP play an important role in preconditioning of the heart following a heart attack. The cGMP also has a hand in the dilation of arteries in the body. PDE-5 inhibitor drugs, such as vardenafil, sildenafil, the generic term for Viagra, and tadalafil, the generic name for Cialis, are able to preserve cGMP, and therefore dilation of the arteries by inhibiting PDE-5.
Vardenafil, like sildenafil, stabilizes the mitochondria and protects against damage of the heart by opening the mitochondrial KATP channels in cardiac cells. are cellular organelles critical for converting oxygen into ATP, the key fuel for cellular function.
“This study provides important information about the mechanism by which the PDE-5 inhibitors work. Furthermore, it is proof that the positive findings of prior studies on sildenafil extend to another PDE-5 inhibitor,” said George Vetrovec, M.D., chair of cardiology at VCU’s School of Medicine, who is internationally recognized for his research on coronary artery disease.
Vetrovec suggested that PDE-5 inhibitors such as sildenafil and vardenafil may one day be given to patients who are at high risk for acute heart attack or prior to undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery to optimize heart protection.
In addition, Kukreja said that the PDE-5 inhibitors may be developed for future use to protect the brain, liver and other organs against ischemic injury – those injuries that are caused by lack of oxygen.
Kukreja and his colleagues began studying sildenafil in 2002 as part of ongoing research into “preconditioning,” a way to protect the heart muscle from serious damage in the future by subjecting it to very brief periods of deprivation of blood flow and, therefore, oxygen.
This work was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.
Kukreja collaborated with VCU researchers, Fadi N. Salloum, Ph.D., Ramzi A. Ockaili Ph.D., Michael Wittkamp Ph.D., and Vijay R. Marwaha, Ph.D.
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Virginia Commonwealth University.
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Move Over, Viagra! Three’s Company
Sunday, November 11th, 2007| Original article ‘’ (AP) A third pill to treat impotence was approved for sale in the United States on Friday, competition in a slice of the drug market. The new pill will be sold under the name Cialis. It joins Viagra, the oral drug that went on the market in 1998, and Levitra, which was approved earlier this year by the Food and Drug Administration. All three drugs act on an enzyme that helps prompt and maintain erections by relaxing muscles in the penis and blood vessels. The duration and onset of the drug action is different, however, with each pill. Cialis, manufactured by Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly & Co., was found in studies to stay longer in the body than Viagra. Studies suggest that a 20 mg dose of Cialis is active for 24 to 36 hours. In France, where the drug has been on the market for some time, Cialis is called “Le weekend” pill. Levitra is said to start working within 15 minutes, faster than the one hour recommended for Viagra. Some market studies suggest that about 30 million men over the age of 40 have symptoms of impotence. The sales of Viagra last year were reported at $1.2 billion. Cialis, whose chemical name is tadalafil, was tested in trials with 4,000 men. The studies found that it helped promote erection within a half hour and enhanced that ability for up to 36 hours. The drug is not recommended for patients on some heart medications, such as nitroglycerin tablets or some alpha blockers, because the can cause a sharp drop in blood pressure. This can cause fainting or even death in some men. Recommendations call for dosage limitations of Cialis for patients with kidney or liver disorders. The drug should not be taken by men for whom sexual activity is inadvisable because of heart conditions. The most common reported side effects from clinical trials of Cialis were headache, indigestion, back pain, muscle aches and flushing. |
Sex in Menopause City
Saturday, November 10th, 2007Nov. 19, 2004 — Here’s the disturbing fact you probably already know: As a
woman ages and hormone levels drop, so too can her enjoyment of — and
oftentimes desire for — sex.
Here’s the good news: Though saying goodbye to hormones and sex may happen
in the same breath, the latest research indicates that sexual desire has less
to do with this change than it does with lifestyle and other health
factors, at least some of which are under a woman’s direct control.
These are the encouraging results reported by a group of distinguished
European sex experts this month in the first ever supplement to
Menopause, the journal of the North American Menopause Society.
“The findings have helped healthcare professionals discard the notion
that sexual difficulties occurring close to menopause are either biologic or
physiologic,” writes Rosemary Basson, FRCP, a professor of psychiatry and
of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of British Columbia and guest
editor of the special issue.
The new research was part of a series of studies conducted on female sexual
dysfunction by the department of clinical psychiatry and psychotherapy at
Hannover Medical School in Hannover, Germany. As part of the overall project,
102 women aged 20 to “45 plus” answered 165 queries designed to flush
out determinants of female sexual satisfaction.
Specifically, researchers hoped to determine satisfaction with sex life in
general, sexual satisfaction and orgasm during intercourse, petting,
, attitudes towards sexuality, quality of partnership, and sexual
myths.
What the study found: There appeared to be no age differences with respect
to frequency of sexual intercourse or the desire for sexual activity not
involving intercourse among the differing age groups.
Moreover, age did not make a difference in regard to frequency of orgasm or
in sexual satisfaction ratings with their partners. For example, 29% of women
up to age 45 reported having orgasms “very often,” compared with 26% of
women over age 45.
Even more dramatic was that while 41% of women over age 45 reported having
orgasms “often,” only 29% of younger women reported having orgasm
“often.”
Among the few differences in the groups: Women over 45 reported having fewer
orgasms during non-intercourse sexual activity or during masturbation. Both
groups of women reported a dual dimension necessary for successful lovemaking
that included having both feelings of emotional closeness to their partner and
satisfactory physical experiences.
After comparing all the answers from both older and younger women, as well
as from women who reported sexual problems and those who did not, researchers
concluded that the single most influential factor with regard to sexual
satisfaction via intercourse was the quality of the partnership, in particular
the quality of mutual respect, which then becomes of greater importance as a
woman ages.
After comparing these study results to earlier and ongoing findings, the
researchers concluded that the basis of any sexual problems that did occur at
midlife could not be drawn from menopause status or age alone. Instead, they
write, “Life stressors, contextual factors, past sexuality, and mental
health problems are more predictors of midlife women’s sexual
interest than menopause status itself.”
The study was one of just several research papers presented in the journal
this month on the subject of female sexual dysfunction. All strived to shed
much needed light on a subject that some believe has been hidden in the shadows
too long.
For NYU professor of gynecology Steven Goldstein, MD, the findings validate
what he has long suspected to be true.
“It’s quite wonderful that this is being studied and that the results
reinforce what I, and I think many doctors have long believed — that this
whole issue of changes in midlife sexual function is not a simple case of ‘take
away the hormones, take away the desire,’” Goldstein tells WebMD.
Moreover, he adds that “As we go forward, all of the
complex, non-hormonal elements that affect a woman’s sexuality remains crucial,
particularly when deciding who is a candidate for a hormonal treatment that
might help increase desire and who might benefit more from simple lifestyle
changes,” says Goldstein.
Erectile dysfunction drug therapy
Friday, November 9th, 2007| Drug Therapy: Self Injection Self-injection therapy is applied to treat impotence. In this procedure a small amount of drug is injected directly into the side of the penis with a short needle. Erection may be achieved in 5-15 minutes after injection and its duration may vary from 30 to 120 minutes. The procedure is not painful This treatment does not help in all cases. Yet 70% of men are satisfied with the result of injection. One or two visits of doctor are enough to learn how to do this. The doctor may want to see patients several times at the beginning of treatment to check the effect and determine if the treatment is good for this individual case and set the doses. (PGE-1 or Prostin or Alpoprostadil or Caverject), papaverine hydrochloride and phentolamine (Regitine) are usually used for injections. Of all the above only is officially recognized to be approved drug for treating impotence. Papaverine and phentolamine were used for this earlier, but have not yet get official approval. But the practice of urologists shows that all three substances are safe to apply. Drugs involved in this treatment are “experimental” and all of them have side effects that include infection, possible bleeding or bruising during injection, dizziness, heart palpitations and/or a flushed feeling when using these medications. Priapism is considered to be the most common risk of this treatment. It is a phenomenon when duration of erection exceeds 4 hours. The probability of it is not high. But it this occurs man has to visit doctor to relieve the erection by medication. Erection maintained for more than 4 hours is not healthy and needs medical interference. Injection may also result in scarring within the penis. It usually happens to men who make injections with wrong frequency, more often than once in 4-7 days. The proper frequency depends on the kind of medication and individual factors of patient’s body. Scarring can imply serious erection problems and even prevent a patient from placement of a penile prosthesis. Advantages and Disadvantages of Self-Injection Therapy This kind of medication requires no surgery and does not bring pain. The cost is $8 - $10 per injection but it is not as costly as surgery. Injection is not a treatment that is acceptable and effective for anyone. Sometimes erection after injection is insufficient or too long. Injection is made into the penis that may be a problem for patient or his partner. There is a necessity to visit doctor at the beginning. For some people injection is too expensive. Drug Therapy: Urethral (MUSE) A period between procedure and erection is 5 to 10 minutes. The duration of erection is approximately 30 to 60 minutes, though, it is individual. Side effects are aching in the penis, testicles, legs and in the area between the scrotum and the rectum, a warmth or burning sensation in the urethra, redness of the penis, and minor urethral bleeding or spotting that usually occurs in case of improper administration. Medical Device Therapy (vacuum devices) Patients that can achieve partial natural erections get the best effect from this. The idea of vacuum devices is to pump more blood into the penis and make it stay there. A man inserts his penis in plastic tube and presses it to his body to avoid access of air inside. Then he creates a vacuum inside the tube with a small hand pump so that blood runs to the penis and makes it engorge, become bigger and achieve rigidity. 1-3 minutes of vacuum are enough to get good erection. After that a man should place a soft rubber O-ring around the base of the penis so that blood stay inside and sustain the erection. The penis is ready fro use immediately after the procedure. The erection will stay for 25 – 30 minutes, after that the O-ring shall be removed. Advantages and Disadvantages of Vacuum Devices The prices vary from $300 to $500 and the prescription is required. Sometimes the cost of this kind of treatment may be repaid by insurance company. If it is bought from large manufactures and takes no effect the customer may get pay-out from the company that is assured by a special refund policy. Mechanical process is involved in this treatment; it takes time, so the foreplay shall be interrupted for a while. It can be hard to apply for some men because of peculiarities of body. The O-ring can not be placed on the very base of the penis, so the length between the body and the ring is not erected that may lead to floppiness of the penis. Sometimes the O-ring prevents semen from going out. It is not harmful and the problem will resolve by its own when the ring will be taken off. Coldness and/or numbness of the penis after the O-ring are possible. The ring shall not be worn more than 25 to 30 minutes, because it prevents blood circulation. Men having blood clotting problems or using blood thinners shall not apply vacuum devices.
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Viagra firm faces High Court bid
Thursday, November 8th, 2007&39;
The Dispensing Doctors Association (DDA) - which represents family GPs prescribing medicines - is supporting the wholesalers in their injunction bid against Pfizer.
DDA chief executive Dr David Baker said there were fears within the wholesaler community that the supply of medicines throughout the UK would be at the mercy of big drugs companies.
“If a single supple chain breaks down there will be nowhere else for us to get Pfizer drugs which is worrying,” he told BBC Radio Five Live.
Dr Baker also said that if Pfizer products could only be bought from Unichem, there would be a loss of competition and choice.
“Our members are very unhappy about the loss of choice and competition among wholesalers who do compete very hard for our business,” he said.
charges are fixed by the NHS. But Dr Baker added that as NHS prices are based on what prices are paid for the drugs, prices paid by patients could go up if a single wholesaler was able to charge more.
Pfizer, whose products also include the anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor, said it would defend the legal challenge.
“The wholesalers are acting to protect their interests,” it said in a statement.
“The legal challenge may jeopardise supply to patients because wholesalers have been encouraging pharmacists not to sign up with Unichem.”
The wholesalers bringing the appeal are AAH , Phoenix Medical, Mawdsley Brookes, Munro Wholesale Medical Supplier, Maltby & Sons, Norchem, PIF Medical Supplies and Sangers (Maidstone).
Original article
Reported Assassination of Russian Spammer a Hoax
Wednesday, November 7th, 2007
The reported assassination of an alleged Russian spammer is a hoax, according to security researchers.
On Thursday, a blog post on the Web site Loonov.com claimed a spammer named Alexey was found murdered in a villa outside Moscow. “He has been shot several times with one bullet stuck in his head. According to , this last head shot is a clear mark of Russian hit men,” the post said. The reported assassination of Tolstokozhev echoed the 2005 murder of an actual Russian spammer, Vardan Kushnir. Kushnir was found beaten to death in a Moscow apartment, prompting speculation his murder was related to his activities as a spammer. However, a police investigation later said Kushnir was killed by robbers and his death was not connected with his spam activities. The Tolstokozhev story caught the attention of the security community as well as blogs, even making it on to Slashdot, one of the most popular sites for technology-related news. But security researchers soon debunked the report. The story began to unravel when researchers failed to locate Tolstokozhev in records of known spammers, even though Loonov.com claimed he was responsible for “up to 30 percent of all Viagra and penis enlargement-related spam” and made more than US$2 million [M] in 2007 from these unsolicited e-mails. More questions were raised when researchers discovered that the Loonov.com domain name was registered on the same day the assassination post appeared. “We got the feeling pretty quickly that it was a hoax,” said Dave Marcus, security research and manager at McAfee&39;s idea of a joke or they were using a real person&39;s SunbeltBlog and Taint.org, a blog written by Justin Mason, a software developer in Ireland. The motivation behind the Tolstokozhev hoax is not clear. The Loonov.com domain was registered anonymously and the identity of the person behind the hoax is not known. “It&39;s name, because this guy&39;s computer, but didn&39;t found any malicious code embedded in the site,” he said. Perhaps ironically, all of the attention that&39;s getting an awful lot of traffic being driven to the site because of all the attention he&39;ll get a lot of Google juice out of this,” Marcus said, referring to the way Google Inc.&39;ve already got good Google activity built up, but that's just a guess.”
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Revving Up Women’s Sex Drive
Tuesday, November 6th, 2007Six years after Viagra revolutionized sexual ability for men, It’s no small problem. A low sex drive is the most common Throughout the ages, various potions and contraptions have Just because someone makes a claim about boosting female Yet, even if something appears to work in scientific research, “It has to do with women’s and hope that any The power of placebo is so strong that many health experts look Apply this criterion to the dozens of for women There is a consensus, however, on just how intricate female Besides biology, the following factors can affect female
Trouble with one or a combination of these factors can affect There are some popular products that have either been designed Despite rumors and various advertising claims to the contrary, “We know that Viagra doesn’t work in women,” says “Women are not minimen,” Whipple explains. “We are Female sexuality is, indeed, so much more complex than male But this does not mean there isn’t hope for some women.
Original article
many women are still hoping for their turn. To date, the FDA hasn’t approved a
product to boost female sex drive.
sexual complaint made by women — up to 30% to 40% of them, according to Sandra
Lieblum, PhD, director for the Center for Sexual and Health at the
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey.The Search for a Cure
pledged relief, but the discerning have wondered if the so-called remedies are
truly love liniments, or merely snake oil.
libido, it doesn’t mean that it’s true, says Beverly Whipple, PhD, RN, FAAN,
vice president of the World Association for Sexology. “We have to make sure
that the claim is being made on scientific evidence.”
there is the concern that just being part of a study to improve a women’s sex
drive might itself have a suggestive effect on libido; it’s called a placebo
effect.
intervention will prove beneficial,” says Lieblum, noting that anticipation
can also change behavior. “Any woman who goes into a trial to improve
libido is motivated to be more active.”
only to double-blind, placebo-controlled trials to prove a product’s
effectiveness. In these studies, a group of subjects receive a real drug, while
another set gets a dummy substance. Neither the researchers nor the
participants know which the real medicine is.
out there, and the number of suitable elixirs dwindles down to possibly one or
two that work for some women. Even with the best of studies, expert opinion
varies on what works best for female libido.
desire is. “Women’s drive is so complex that biology is only one factor
that drives sex drive,” says Jean Koehler, PhD, a licensed family and
marriage therapist in Louisville, Ky., and past president of the American
Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists.
libido:
women’s sex drive. Such loss of interest in sex is medically identified as
hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD).
or tested to treat HSDD.Viagra
there isn’t a female Viagra out there.
Whipple.
different than men in what we want, what we desire, what feels good to us, and
we’re also different at the biochemical level.”
sexuality that even after several scientific studies involving about 3,000
women, Viagra-maker Pfizer hasn’t been able to come up with conclusive
findings. Earlier this year, the company announced it was ending research of
Viagra in women.
Research is ongoing on several other products for female libido.