(Press-News.org) A new study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine reveals that, for the first time, 5a-reductase inhibitors commonly used to treat urinary problems in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and found in popular medications to treat hair loss, can produce, persistent erectile dysfunction (ED), depression and loss of libido, even after the medication has been discontinued.
Researchers led by Abdulmaged M. Traish, MBA, PhD, of Boston University School of Medicine, examined data reported in various clinical studies from the available literature concerning the side effects of the 5 alpha reductase inhibitors, finasteride and dutasteride.
Prolonged adverse side effects on sexual function, such as ED, depression and diminished libido, were reported by a subset of men. Drug-related reduction in libido occurred in 4.2% and 1.8% of patients in the dutasteride and placebo groups, respectively. Reduced ejaculation and semen volume were also reported and in some patients, these drugs were associated with depression.
"For these reasons, patients and doctors are urged to discuss these issues openly and candidly and assess the risk benefit ratio prior to commencing therapy with 5a-reductase inhibitors" Dr. Traish notes.
Dr. Irwin Goldstein, editor-in-chief of The Journal of Sexual Medicine, has seen and evaluated numerous such patients. He further explained the importance of this study. "Young men are being prescribed 5 alpha reductase inhibitors as hair loss treatments that may negatively impact their sexual life, possibly for a prolonged time after stopping the medication. Older men with symptoms of lower urinary tract symptoms or fearful of prostate cancer, now have to deal with new onset sexual and mental health problems. The growing use of 5 alpha reductase inhibitors is causing concerns." Clearly more research is needed to better understand the basis for these drug-associated side effects but it is evident that 5 alpha reductase inhibitors prevent the synthesis of very critical central nervous system neurosteroids and lower a very important sex steroid hormone, dihydrotestosterone.
### END
Popular drugs for common male health problems can affect their sexual health
2011-03-08
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Stretchable balloon electronics get to the heart of cardiac medicine
2011-03-08
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Cardiologists may soon be able to place sensitive electronics inside their patients' hearts with minimal invasiveness, enabling more sophisticated and efficient diagnosis and treatment of arrhythmias.
A team of materials scientists, mechanical and electrical engineers, and physicians has successfully integrated stretchable electronics technology with standard endocardial balloon catheters. Led by John A. Rogers, the Lee J. Flory-Founder Chair in Engineering at Illinois, the team published its work in the March 6 online edition of Nature Materials.
The ...
New perspective diminishes racial bias in pain treatment
2011-03-08
MADISON — Years of research show black patients getting less treatment in the American health care system than their white counterparts, but a new study suggests that a quick dose of empathy helps close racial gaps in pain treatment.
College students and nurses went to greater lengths to ease the pain of members of their own race in a study led by Brian Drwecki, a psychology graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
"I want to be very clear about this: We're not saying health care professionals are racist," Drwecki says. "This is not racism. Racism is ...
DNA better than eyes when counting endangered species
2011-03-08
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Using genetic methods to count endangered eagles, a group of scientists showed that traditional counting methods can lead to significantly incorrect totals that they believe could adversely affect conservation efforts.
Andrew DeWoody, a professor of genetics at Purdue University; Jamie Ivy, population manager at the San Diego Zoo; and Todd Katzner, a research assistant professor at the University of West Virginia, found that visual counts of imperial and white-tailed sea eagles in the Narzum National Nature Reserve of Kazakhstan significantly underestimated ...
Web use doesn't encourage belief in political rumors, but e-mail does
2011-03-08
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Despite the fears of some, a new study suggests that use of the internet in general does not make people more likely to believe political rumors.
However, one form of internet communication – e-mail – does seem to have troubling consequences for the spread and belief of rumors.
"I think a lot of people will be surprised to learn that using the internet doesn't necessarily promote belief in rumors. Many people seem to think that's self-evident," said R. Kelly Garrett, author of the study and assistant professor of communication at Ohio State University.
"The ...
UCLA researchers use 'nano-Velcro' technology to improve capture of circulating cancer cells
2011-03-08
Circulating tumor cells, which play a crucial role in cancer metastasis, have been known to science for more than 100 years, and researchers have long endeavored to track and capture them. Now, a UCLA research team has developed an innovative device based on Velcro-like nanoscale technology to efficiently identify and "grab" these circulating tumor cells, or CTCs, in the blood.
Metastasis is the most common cause of cancer-related death in patients with solid tumors and occurs when these marauding tumor cells leave the primary tumor site and travel through the blood ...
Story tips from the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory March 2011
2011-03-08
CYBERSECURITY -- Software agents on assignment . . .
Tracking and protecting information stored on an organization's network could be more secure with a system developed by a team led by Justin Beaver of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Computational Sciences and Engineering Division. The challenge arises when an organization has documents that are being copied, excerpted, changed and stored in various forms across the organization's network. Host Information Value Engine, dubbed HIVE, solves the problem by dispatching software agents that automatically and quickly review ...
AGU journal highlights -- March 7, 2011
2011-03-08
1. California rapidly depleting Central Valley groundwater
Groundwater is being depleted in California's Central Valley at a rapid rate, according to data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite. Famiglietti et al. analyze 78 months of GRACE data covering October 2003 to March 2010 to estimate water storage changes in California's Sacramento and San Joaquin River basins. They find that the basins are losing water at a rate of about 30 millimeters (1.2 inches) per year equivalent water height, or a total of about 30 cubic kilometers (7.2 cubic ...
Iowa State, Ames Lab researcher hunts for green catalysts
2011-03-08
AMES, Iowa – L. Keith Woo is searching for cleaner, greener chemical reactions.
Woo, an Iowa State University professor of chemistry and an associate of the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory, has studied catalysts and the chemical reactions they affect for more than 25 years. And these days, his focus is on green catalysis.
That, he said, is the search for catalysts that lead to more efficient chemical reactions. That could mean they promote reactions at lower pressures and temperatures. Or it could mean they promote reactions that create less waste. Or it ...
UCLA engineers demonstrate use of proteins as raw material for biofuels, biorefining
2011-03-08
Two types of raw materials are currently used for biorefining and biofuel production: carbohydrates and lipids. Biofuels like ethanol are derived from carbohydrate raw materials such as sugars and lignocellulose, while biodiesels are derived from another raw material, lipid-rich vegetable oil.
In a study published online March 6 in the journal Nature Biotechnology, researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science demonstrate for the first time the feasibility of using proteins — one of the most abundant biomolecules on earth — as a significant ...
Columbia engineer observes surprising behavior of cells during blood-vessel formation
2011-03-08
Biologists tend to look at cells in bulk, observing them as a group and taking the average behavior as the norm — the assumption is that genetically identical cells all behave the same way. In a paper to be published in the online Early Edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of March 7, 2011, Sam Sia, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia Engineering, presents the results of his four-year tissue-engineering study that show a surprising range of variation in how individual cells behave during formation of a blood vessel. Sia ...