Sexual Health
Study Finds Genetic Link to Herpes Susceptibility
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There’s a high probability that people who are prone to herpes simplex virus (HSV) outbreaks can inherit that susceptibility through their genes, University of Utah researchers report in a new study.
In the Feb. 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, the researchers identify a region on the long arm of human chromosome 21 with high odds—at least 1,000-to-1—of being linked to cold sore susceptibility. The researchers further say they pinpointed six specific genes in that chromosomal region as candidates for making people prone to outbreaks of cold sores (also called “fever blisters”). Cold sores occur when the herpes virus reactivates from its quiescent state within the nerve, infecting the lip, nose, or face.
Discovery of the probable link could lead to the development of new drugs that reduce the frequency of herpes outbreaks, according to John D. Kriesel, M.D., the study’s corresponding author and research associate professor in the U School of Medicine’s Division of Infectious Diseases.
Prostatitis May Effect Up To One-half of All Males During Their Lifetimes
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Estimates on the number of males in the United States who will experience prostatitis during their lifetimes range up to 50 percent. Many urologic disease experts feel that from 5 to 10 percent of males are experiencing prostatitis at a particular time, making it one of the most common urologic diseases in the U.S.
Prostatitis is an infection or inflammation of the prostate gland that causes intense pain, urinary complications, sexual dysfunction, infertility, and a significant reduction in the quality of life Prior to the mid-1990s, very little research had occurred that could lead to improved diagnostic techniques and a cure.
Prostatitis is difficult to diagnose and treat, and has a wide range of debilitating and troublesome side affects. Unlike prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), prostatitis often affects the lives of young and middle-aged men.
Expert commentary on origins of syphilis study
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Next week the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases will publish a new phylogenetic analysis by Kristin Harper and colleagues on the origins of venereal syphilis.
Along with the analysis, the journal will also publish an expert commentary by Sheila Lukehart (University of Washington, Seattle) and colleagues that discusses the strengths, limitations, and implications of the new study. The commentary is attached and will be online at http://www.plosntds.org on January 14 at 5pm PDT.
Aggression as rewarding as sex, food and drugs
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New research from Vanderbilt University shows for the first time that the brain processes aggression as a reward - much like sex, food and drugs - offering insights into our propensity to fight and our fascination with violent sports like boxing and football.
The research will be published online the week of Jan. 14 by the journal Psychopharmacology.
“Aggression occurs among virtually all vertebrates and is necessary to get and keep important resources such as mates, territory and food,” Craig Kennedy, professor of special education and pediatrics, said. “We have found that the ‘reward pathway’ in the brain becomes engaged in response to an aggressive event and that dopamine is involved.”
Sex Keeps Love Alive Throughout Adult Life
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Sex, as well as romance, is an important part of couple’s lives and health well into their retirement years. Researchers at the University of Chicago have conducted some of the nation’s most comprehensive studies of sexual behavior, looking at sexuality from early adulthood until late in life. Their work shows that sexuality remains an important part of life as people age and that the frequency of sexual activity, for those who are active, declines only slightly from the 50s to the early 70s.
Daily alcohol use causes changes in sexual behavior, new study reveals
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A team of researchers at Penn Sate has used an animal model to reveal, for the first time, a physiological basis for the effect of alcohol on male sexual behavior, including increased sexual arousal and decreased sexual inhibition. The research, which will be published on 2 January 2008 in the scientific journal PLoS ONE, resulted in four novel findings with broad importance for further addiction research. It is the first study to characterize the effects of chronic alcohol exposure in fruit flies.
“Physiological evidence supporting various theories about the effect of alcoholic drinks has been lacking, so our now having a suitable animal model makes it possible to conduct much-needed laboratory research on this issue,” explains research-team-leader Kyung-An Han, associate professor of biology and a neuroscientist at Penn State. Information from this research can serve as a baseline for similar studies in other animals, including humans.
Older white women join Kenya’s sex tourists
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Bethan, 56, lives in southern England on the same street as best friend Allie, 64.
They are on their first holiday to Kenya, a country they say is “just full of big young boys who like us older girls”.
Cialis effective for men with spinal cord injury
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A long-acting drug for erectile dysfunction is safe and effective for men with spinal cord injuries who have difficulty achieving erections, a new study shows.
A total of 186 men were randomly assigned to receive treatment with Cialis or placebo for 12 weeks. The study was completed by 129 in the treatment group and by 34 in the placebo group. The subjects, who were an average of 38 years old, had experienced erectile dysfunction for six months or longer. They were instructed to take the drug when they planned to have sex.
HPV common in sexually active male college students
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In a study of sexually active young male, heterosexual college students, almost two thirds developed genital human papillomavirus (HPV) infection over 2 years of follow-up, according to Seattle-based researchers.
Certain strains of HPV, which can be transmitted from male to female partners, are responsible for most cases of cervical cancer.
Soy Food Effects on Semen Quality
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Isoflavones are plant-derived polyphenoloic compounds with weak estrogenic activity found mainly in soybeans and soy-derived products. High isoflavone intake has been reported to be associated with decreased animal fertility. The impact of high isoflavone intake on human fertility is unknown. This Cross-sectional study assesses isoflavone intake in males of sub fertile couples who had semen analyses. The questionnaire was designed to assess intake of 15 soy-based foods in the last three months was collected.
100 men with semen data and completed questionnaires were studied. There was an inverse association between soy food intake and sperm concentration that remained significant when evaluated with respect to age, abstinence, body mass, and caffeine, each of tobacco intake. There was no impact on sperm motility of morphology.
US FDA adding hearing loss risk impotence drugs
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U.S. regulators on Thursday said warnings about the risk of sudden hearing loss linked to popular drugs for impotence, including Viagra, Cialis and Levitra, would be added to the drugs’ labels.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration was prompted to look into a possible connection after a published report of a man taking Viagra, made by Pfizer Inc, who suffered from sudden hearing loss, a rare condition.
Control of diabetes may prevent infertility
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A Swedish study indicates that the fertility of women with type 1 diabetes was reduced prior to 1985, but since then is its begun to normalize, if diabetic complications were avoided.
“Stricter metabolic control exercised in the past 20 years may have helped prevent subfertility,” the researchers speculate in the September issue of Diabetes Care.
Living fossils have hot sex
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University of Utah scientists discovered a strange method of reproduction in primitive plants named cycads: The plants heat up and emit a toxic odor to drive pollen-covered insects out of male cycad cones, and then use a milder odor to draw the bugs into female cones so the plants are pollinated.
The unusual form of sexual reproduction used by some species of cycads – primeval plants known as “living fossils” – may represent an intermediate step in the evolution of plant pollination, the researchers report in the Friday, Oct. 5 issue of the journal Science.
The best both of worlds—how to have sex and survive
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Researchers have discovered that even the gruesome and brutal lifestyle of the Evarcha culicivora, a blood gorging jumping spider indigenous to East Africa, can’t help but be tempted by that ‘big is beautiful’ mantra no matter what the costs. A study recently published in Ethology found that despite the inherent risk of sexual cannibalism, virgin females were attracted to bigger males when losing their virginity before opting for the safer smaller male as a longer term mate choice.
It is quite common for male spiders to fall victim to female sexual partners once they have mated as the female is more often than not bigger than her mate.
Teenage weight may affect later fertility
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Teenagers who are either underweight or obese are likely to have fewer children in adulthood, a study has found.
It’s known that both obesity and abnormally low body weight are related to reproductive difficulties, and that obesity raises the risk of a number of pregnancy complications. However, it has not been clear whether underweight and obese teenagers go on to have fewer children than their normal-weight peers.
