Stem cells help some men with erectile dysfunction after prostate surgery

Men unable to have an erection after prostate surgery enjoyed normal intercourse thanks to stem cell therapy, scientists are to report on Saturday at a medical conference in London.

In first-phase clinical trials, eight out of 15 continent men suffering from erectile dysfunction had sex six months after the one-time treatment, without recourse to drugs or penile implants.

The positive result showed no signs of flagging during a subsequent year-long monitoring period. “As far as we know, this is the first time that a human study with a 12-month follow up shows that the treatment is lasting and safe,” said Lars Lund, a professor at Odense University hospital in Denmark, who took part in the trials.

“That is much better than taking a pill every time you want to have intercourse,” he said.

The results were promising enough to convince Danish health authorities to authorise so-called phase III “double-blind” randomised trials in which one group of men is given stem cell therapy and another placebos.

Only men recovering from prostate cancer and able to control their bladders will be enrolled in the new experiments, Lund explained.

To perform the procedure, doctors remove fat cells from a patient’s abdomen via liposuction. The cells undergo a brief treatment and emerge as all-purpose stem cells, meaning they can mutate into almost any specialised cell in the body.

“We do not cultivate the cells or change them in any way,” said Lund’s colleague Martha Haahr, head researcher and lead author of a study detailing preliminary results, published last year in EBioMedicine.

The stem cells are then injected with a syringe into the penis, where they spontaneously begin to change in to nerve and muscle cells, as well as the endothelial cells that line blood vessels. Men are under general anaesthesia while all of this happens, and are discharged from hospital the same day.

Prostate surgery is responsible for about 13% of erectile dysfunction cases. Up to 80% of men experience difficulty having sex immediately after an operation, previous research has shown.

Diabetes accounts for 40% of erectile dysfunction cases, and vascular disease another 30%. Men with diabetes would be the next target group for clinical trials, Lund said.

The results reported at the European Association of Urology conference could be an effective “therapeutic option for patients suffering erectile dysfunction from other causes,” Haahr said.

It is estimated that nearly half of men between the ages of 40 and 70 experience erectile dysfunction to some degree.

The global market for drugs treating the disorder is expected to top $ 3.4 billion by 2019.

Failure to perform sexually can also, in some men, result from relationship problems, performance anxiety or repressed homosexuality, Haahr said.

Stem cells help some men with erectile dysfunction after prostate surgery

Natural Foods For Sexual Dysfunction

What is sexual dysfunction?

Sexual dysfunction refers to any sex-related problem from impotence to lack of libido. It can be distressing for men and women who would like to enjoy a healthy sex life. Some of the symptoms are:

Erectile dysfunction

Men can suffer from erectile dysfunction whereby they can’t gain or maintain an erection. ED can be caused by either physical or psychological factors. Physical causes include conditions such as diabetes, a drop in testosterone and high blood pressure, while psychological causes can include performance anxiety or stress. Impotence is a stressful and upsetting situation that tends to turn it into a cause and effect cycle. Men worry about getting an erection, so therefore it doesn’t happen.

Low Libido

Men and women can suffer from a lack of sex. Physical causes can include: obesity, diabetes,drug abuse, a head injury and prescription medication used for prostate problems. Psychological causes for both men and women can include: depression, stress, tiredness, childhood issues, and relationship problems.

Is It Common and Who Gets It?

Yes, sexual dysfunction is common in men and women. It’s thought 1 in 5 men will suffer from erectile dysfunction at some point in their lives. According to experts,half of all women will experience problems with sex, such as female sexual dysfunction, as they get older and can cause health issues like, dry vagina through to painful intercourse and emotional problems.

What Foods Can Help?

A healthy diet goes a long way to improving your bodily health, but there are some foods which are thought to contain minerals, vitamins and oils that can boost a libido.

Many have been recommended for thousands for years. Our ancestors understood the benefits before modern man discovered trace amount of zinc and magnesium in certain foods.

Here are some foods that may help boost your libido and improve your sex life.

Oysters

It’s a cliché but oysters have a high amount of zinc, which is important for the production of testosterone. Research, from Barry University in Miami, found that oysters containing two amino acids, increased sex hormones in rats.

There’s also a large dose of vitamin B12 for good blood flow and healthy blood, not to mention the fact the oysters look sexual and boost the psychological sex drive.

Spinach

Spinach is full of magnesium. This decreases inflammation in blood vessels, which some experts believe increases the blood flow. Good blood flow is essential for men and women to become aroused.

Dark chocolate

When we eat chocolate our levels of serotonin and dopamine increase and stress levels decrease. This can lead to more sex simply because we feel relaxed and happy. Cocoa may also increase blood flow and relax blood vessels, so reach for dark chocolate rather than the milk version because this has more cocoa included.

Peppers

Hot peppers stimulate the metabolism and endorphins in much the same way as exercise. When blood pumps efficiently around the body we feel energised and alive – this can lead to an interest in sex.

Green tea

Green tea is excellent for health all round, but it can boost your sex life because of the catechin compounds which break down belly fat and help the liver turn fat into energy. They also kill body-damaging free radicals and aid blood cell vessels to release nitric oxide, which improves blood flow. Try switching to green tea on every other hot cuppa you enjoy.

Pesto

Pesto is made from ground pine nuts and pine nuts are full of sperm-healthy zinc. Team oysters with pesto for a double dose of zinc and testosterone production.

Ginger

It’s thought that eating just one teaspoon of ginger a few times a week has heart benefits. Sweet and spicy ginger boosts blood flow so drink it in tea, sprinkle a little on your fish or nibble it raw. The taste of ginger may also calm nerves and nausea making it potentially making it useful for psychological sex worries.

Bananas

One of the best sources of potassium bananas may help counterbalance the effects of salt. Too much salt is harmful to our health, increasing blood pressure and damaging kidneys. Potatoes have the same effect. Some studies have linked a lack of potassium with depression which is a psychological libido killer.

Fatty Fish

Fatty fish is great source of essential oils. It’s good for your heart and may also raise dopamine levels. Happy hormones make it more likely you’ll enjoy sex, or more likely you’ll want it in the first place.

Red Wine

Enjoying a glass of red wine can boost sexual desire. It’s rich in antioxidants from grapes, which boosts nitric oxide torelax arteries as well.  Wine can also reduce nerves or worries. Just be careful not to go overboard because too much has the opposite effect.

A Healthy Lifestyle

Having all round good health is the best way to boost your libido. That includes mental health as well as the physical. Cut out fatty, sugary and salty foods that harm your body and replace them with more fruit, bran and vegetables plus the above mentioned foods to boost your sex drive.

Natural Foods For Sexual Dysfunction

Does Medicine Assist Avoid Erectile Dysfunction Right after Radiation Treatment For Prostate Cancer?

Day-to-day use of the erectile dysfunction drug tadalafil, compared with placebo, in men undergoing radiation treatment for prostate cancer did not help to protect erectile perform, according to results of a research published in JAMA, April 2.

Erectile dysfunction (ED) frequently develops following treatment for prostate cancer. Up to 40 % of males knowledge ED following radiation treatment, and practically 50 % of all guys use some type of treatment soon after undergoing radiation therapy.

The precise trigger of ED is not obviously defined but it is very likely attributed to penile endothelial dysfunction along with fibrosis and cavernosal hypoxia as most likely mechanisms. The phosphodiestersae-five inhibitors (PDE-5) this kind of as tadalafil used in this research are believed to boost dilatation of the cavernosa and lessen endothelial dysfunction. Whether these medication can be of utility soon after radiation and brachytherapy, which injure both blood vessels and nerves to various degrees was an curiosity of the investigators.

English: Micrograph showing prostatic acinar adenocarcinoma (the most frequent form of prostate cancer) Gleason pattern 4. H&ampE stain. Prostate currettings. See also Image:Gleason 4 and 5 intermed mag.jpg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Although tadalafil [Cialis] is used to deal with ED right after prostate cancer treatment method, the authors of this review sought to figure out if there may possibly be a function as a preventive agent. The lead writer, Dr. Thomas M. Pisansky along with his colleagues from the Mayo Clinic, randomly assigned 242 guys with prostate cancer to obtain tadalafil (five mg) or placebo daily for 24 weeks starting up with radiation treatment (either with external radiotherapy [63 percent] or brachytherapy [37 percent]).

The research was carried out at 76 internet sites in the United States and Canada amongst November 2009 and February 2012, with comply with-up by means of March 2013. At 28 to thirty weeks after the start off of radiation therapy, 79 % of the eligible sufferers who acquired tadalafil had preserved erectile perform in contrast with 74 % who acquired placebo, an absolute difference of five percent. A considerable distinction amongst groups was also not observed at one yr (72 percent vs. 71 %). In accordance to the benefits of the study, tadalafil did not lead to enhanced total sexual perform or enhanced satisfaction. In addition, the partners of guys utilizing tadalafil observed no considerable result on sexual satisfaction.

According to Pisansky, “These findings do not assistance the scheduled as soon as-day-to-day use of tadalafil to stop ED in guys undergoing radiotherapy for localized prostate cancer.” The authors suggest that alternative approaches to avoid ED ought to be regarded as, such as change in frequency or intensity of dosing as effectively as option approaches to truly supply the radiation.

One skilled in the management of prostate cancer described limitations of the study.

“The shortcoming of this examine is that it is tough to know if there is any underlying erectile dysfunction in the sufferers to start with, and what’s the nature of their ED.”, in accordance to Dr. David Samadi, Chairman of Urology, and Chief of Robotic Surgical treatment at Lenox Hill Hospital, in New York City.  “Was it really a vascular dilemma, a sensory difficulty or attributed to other brings about.”

“I was in no way a believer that including these variety of prescription drugs before surgery or radiation is going to make a massive variation. If you are definitely perfect, adding some Viagra 2 weeks before surgical procedure will not help you,” Samadi explained.

Soon after surgical treatment, nevertheless, drugs for erectile dysfunction may possibly have a position. This may possibly be observed in particular sorts of surgical approaches for localized prostate cancer.

“The drugs could have a fantastic function right after nerve-sparing surgical treatment throughout penile rehab,” Samadi stated. “As far as radiation is concerned, it takes time for the ED to kick with radiation due to the nature of the ailment itself—but a great deal of instances it is the vascular problem, with less blood getting to the penile tissue and in individuals circumstances these medications will not be successful, ” extra Samadi.

Referring to Pizanky’s study, Samadi commented, “It’s just a single research and it will not show a lot”.  It is an interesting locating, but I’m not shocked.”

In accordance to Samadi, these drugs need to not be regular of care.  As Samadi described, “These prescription drugs are very high-priced, and insurance businesses are not covering this. We will result in a enormous monetary burden on these individuals.”

Timing of Development of ED  

Though many opt for the much less invasive technique and forgo surgical treatment, radiation is nonetheless connected with development of ED—it’s just the timing that defines the distinction.

Does Medicine Assist Avoid Erectile Dysfunction Right after Radiation Treatment For Prostate Cancer?

"Almost everything Is Great" And "Sterile Productivity": Two Frequent Sources Of Organizational Dysfunction -- And Hope -- In Biopharma

Two of the most typical causes of organizational dysfunction may possibly also be powerful forces for great – if only we can identify and control them appropriately.

“Everything Is Awesome”

We’ve all been there, struggling to keep our jaws from dropping as we observe a polished colleague make clear to senior management how a particular venture is moving much quicker, far better, or cheaper than the information as we know them may propose.    The opportunity – better than anticipated!  The difficulties – manageable, and largely solved!  The staff – collaborative and impassioned!  Everything – wonderful!

It tends to make sense.  Everyone prefers hearing very good news to bad news, and everyone likes the notion of problems eliminated from their plate rather than added.   You will nearly definitely go further, faster if you constantly supply very good information and remedies rather than bad news and much more troubles.

The real kicker right here is attribution bias.  We inevitably attribute good results or failure to leaders rather than circumstances.  A coach that can make a statistically foolish decision that takes place to lead to victory will be lionized, even though a wise coach who occurs to get rid of the huge game might be fired.  (See Michael Mauboussin’s fantastic Achievement Equation for a a lot more total, extremely engaging discussion of these troubles.)

The collective consequence of these influences are properly-known: troubles are minimized or kicked down the road – arguably an even much more frequent technique in today’s IBGYBG world of intense employee mobility, but also a distinct issue in industries like pharma characterized by unusually long timelines.  It is undoubtedly tempting to imagine this bias assists clarify the remarkably high failure price of phase 3 research – earlier phase trials may possibly not have been designed with adequate stringently, nor evaluated with appropriate rigor.

At the same time – though perhaps much less obviously – we should also identify how important, vital, and needed (at least to a level) a deep sense of optimism is to organization success, especially in industries requiring substantial innovation, and exactly where important new products emerge from higher threat, higher reward projects, an setting exactly where most factors will not function, and the ingoing probability of achievement is inherently really minimal.

Most essential progressive tasks wouldn’t get really far without having  irrationally positive leadership, an advocate with the potential to see a ray of hope by means of a sea of gloom, and the audacity to continue where a lot more affordable folks might quit.  Data also suggest confidence (even, and possibly specifically excessive confidence) can enhance overall performance in some situations.

Taken to an excessive, nevertheless, and you have (in accordance to a priceless Valleywag post by Sam Biddle), today’s Silicon Valley, which “demands uniform positivity, towards all evidence for positivity, and punishes cynicism or mere criticism as witchcraft.”

At least in drug advancement, traders usually identify the optimism that’s baked in, and (outdoors of ultrasexy areas like immuno-oncology) tend to be really cautious about early outcomes.  The challenging challenge for biopharma executives is cultivating optimism — so that teams sally forth into brutal battles against outrageous odds — even though preserving a sense of pragmatism, so that excessive very good income does not go into bad, doomed tasks.

In addition, given the inevitable incentives for participants to game the method, and the asymmetric details among participants and everybody else, the perfect remedy would look to involve, inevitably, making sure participants have real skin in the game, and a stake in the ultimate final result – i.e. have more to drop by kicking the can down the street then by calling it quits and shifting consideration to a a lot more promising undertaking .  Notably, this is specifically the kind of strategy David Grainger of Index Ventures has repeatedly advocated.

“Sterile Productivity”

It is difficult to think of a trait that better defines the productive middle manager – specifically in huge and mid-sized pharma – than the capacity to search occupied, with tons of deliverables, lots of reviews, tons of exercise, and all of it documented – or at least documentable.   It’s sterile productivity.

My sense is this reflects a mixture of personality and function, but the result is that most organizations harbor a huge number of pretty influential managers who produce little light but a ton of heat, the result of futile cycles that churn by way of resources and leave employees dispirited.

As soon as once again, I suspect that a key component of the issue, at least in biopharma, stems from the length of growth cycles, which are so long that it can be tough to effectively assess overall performance based mostly on the high quality of selections, and rather, there is a powerful tendency to revert to proximal, method metrics that are effortlessly measured.  The outcome: you get what you incent, and the consequences can be a rather cynical, procedure-oriented culture that values exercise over all else, and exactly where creativity can struggle for expression.

But, just before we indulge ourselves in this generalization, we would do effectively to keep in thoughts the suggestions of IDEO’s Kelley brothers, creativity experts who remind us of the significance of doing versus simply considering.  The most successful creatives in organizations seem to be to be the ones biased in the direction of action, who are ready to get something accomplished, and then iterate, versus abstractly and incessantly questioning which strategy may be best.

"Almost everything Is Great" And "Sterile Productivity": Two Frequent Sources Of Organizational Dysfunction -- And Hope -- In Biopharma