A new central nervous system drug for female sexual desire disorder has just completed the first two clinical trials. The name of the drug is Bremelanotide. In the group taking the drug 67% reported feelings of desire vs. 22% of the placebo group (the most common placebo effect is about 20% no matter what is being tested). 72% of those taking the drug had genital sexual arousal vs. 39% in the placebo group. In summary 75% of the women taking the drug reported sexual arousal and 50% had increased sexual desire vs. 25% and 19% respectively.

It has long been known that there are a variety of Ginseng products from a multitude of countries – some have efficacy and some do not. In this study they used Korean Red Ginseng to men with erectile dysfunction. The study was double blinded and placebo controlled ( in other words neither the doctors doing the study or the recipients getting the product knew what they were getting until after the study was completed and the code given). Using the International Index of Erectile Function the Ginseng group reported a 66.6% improvement in erection and also improvement in rigidity, penetration and maintenance. Red Korean Ginseng is an effective alternative for men with erectile dysfunction.

In 2004 Ireland become the first country in the world to ban smoking in the workplace, bars and restaurants – nationwide. Congratulations!!

There are many states in the U.S. that have similar laws, California being the first to enact it in the U.S.

There is now irrefutable evidence that second hand smoking causes premature death and disease, lung cancer, and heart disease. Tragically there are over 5 trillion cigarettes smoked annually and even though the World Health Organization has issued a Convention of Tobacco Control and 145 countries have ratified this treaty the United States of America has not!

Indoor smoking bans have cut cigarette smoking by almost 4% and doubling  the taxes  has cut new young smokers from starting by almost 30% in Canada. We still have no national consensus (or will) to do the same throughout America. There are only 17 States that that have adopted comprehensive anti smoking legislation.

Over 100 million deaths have been attributed to smoking in the 20th Century and yet the manufacturers continue to target the adolescents, minority groups, women and the young in developing countries. This translates in to over 1.3 Billion people still smoking in the world. Congratulations to the Buddhist country of Bhutan which is the only country in the world to ban the sale of tobacco. We have the knowledge and resources to win this battle in our country so is it our lack of will or are the manufacturers smarter and stronger than our will and resources?

The FDA has just awarded the French drug company Sanofi the approval to make the first H5N1 flu virus vaccine. But before you get too complacent this is not going to totally protect you from the bird Flu. If the H5N1 mutates to become virulent for human to human transmission it will not be ‘exactly’ the current form of the existing virus. This one will have some immunity and maybe bide you some time until the virulent form has a specific vaccine against it. It will also not be available to the public because the Federal Government will buy all of the vaccine for the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile. This of course means the military, federal employees, first line medical personnel, police and National Guard will get the vaccine and it will be unlikely that it will filter down to us

There has been a lot of publicity regarding chocolate as a neutraceutical lately. It does contain anthocyanadins which is a type of flavenoid, and this mainly applies to dark chocolate. In several studies it has been shown that those people who consume the largest amount of dark chocolate tend to have less heart disease and lower blood pressure. I mean let’s face it would you like to take your beta blocker daily or two ounces of dark chocolate. Maybe the drug industry could make their beta blockers in chocolate instead of pill form?

Both chocolate and initial love produce a chemical in the brain called phenyl ethylamine. This has been found to affect many of the ‘feel good’ neuro-transmitters in the brain. The flavenoids in chocolate have also been shown to inhibit platelet aggregation – so is it a chocolate a day or a baby aspirin? You guess who is going to win.

WARTS AND FIG JUICE?

In a study out of Iran 25 patients with warts on both hands were recruited into a study using the white latex juice from a fig tree and standard cryotherapy (freezing of the wart). The fig tree latex cured 44% of the warts while the cryotherapy cured 56%. Conclusion was that fig tree juice is slightly less effective than standard therapy, and therefore a good alternative, but the latter had  more side effects such as blanching of the skin and scars.

Author’s comments: It has been well known that most warts disappear within three to five years anyway with no treatment and that if you irritate them with anything (frog juice, WD-40, pepper, window cleaner etc – you get the point) about another fifty percent will also go away.

EXERCISE – TO DO OR NOT TO DO?

It is estimated that more than 50% of Americans are now overweight and the number is rising. Obesity leads to decreased life expectancy, heart disease, stroke, elevated blood fats, high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis and gall-bladder disease. Obviously losing weight reduces the above as well as improving high blood pressure and mood.
The rebound rate for people who do “fad dieting” is almost 98% and some have surmised that this might be due to not incorporating exercise along with their reduced caloric intake. The usual barriers elicited by patients are that exercise consumes too much of their time and gyms require both time and money.
Studies have shown that exercise alone is an excellent weight reducer but when combined with caloric restriction the effect is greater. This study showed that the higher the exercise intensity the greater the weight loss. The following types of exercise all caused weight loss: walking, jogging, bicycling, swimming, weight training, calisthenics and group ball sports. (The list is obviously bigger but were not measured in this study).
Bottom line, adding exercise to your weight reduction program will improve your results!

NEW DRUG MAY CURE MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY

Within our DNA are certain mutations called ‘premature termination codons’ or (PTC’s) which tell the cells protein making machinery to stop making crucial proteins before they are completely made. Now from the University of Pennsylvania come trials with a drug PTC124 that shows promise in mice and humans to reverse the effects of muscular wasting in Muscular Dystrophy using this new drug. In muce studies it actually was able to produce normal muscle tissue.
This to me is science at its best.

ASPIRIN USE AND CANCER PREVENTION

Long term use of daily aspirin and incidence of Cancer from the Cancer Prevention Study II Nutrition Cohort Study shows ten different types of cancer were evaluated among 69,810 men and 76,303 women from 1992 to 2003. After exhaustive statistical analysis the bottom line is that one full aspirin a day for greater than five years that the overall incidence of colorectal, prostate, and breast cancers ‘may  be modestly reduced’.

HORMONES AND CAROTID ARTERY BLOCKAGE

They measured 56 women who had severe carotid artery blockages and then age matched an equal amount of controls. They then measured the testosterone, lipid levels, and all of the other sex hormonal levels. The results were that those who had blockages had significantly lower levels of testosterone and androstenedione (another male hormone) than their controls. Their conclusions were that physiological levels of androgens play a protective role in the development of atherosclerosis of the internal carotid artery.

DOES FOLIC ACID PREVENT COLORECTAL CANCERS

In a study that lasted 10 years and involved 9 clinical centers and 1021 men, there were 516 men that were put on 1 mg of Folic acid and 505 that were given a placebo. The end result was that 1 mg of Folic acid did not reduce colon cancers and there is some suggestion that it might actually increase your risk for the cancer.

SENATE PASSES DRUG SAFETY BILL

By a 93 to 1 margin the Senate passed legislation that would greatly the FDA’s safety office. There are currently 90 people in that office and this would double their office and fund it by 2012 to nearly 1 billion dollars. It is estimated that nearly one in two people today take a prescription drug and this bill will allow for extensive computerized reviews and association of any side effects that might not show up until it is too late. It goes to the House where amendments are likely to be attached.

GINGER: FOR TASTE, SEA-SICKNESS OR POST OP NAUSEA?

The pungent smell of ginger comes from the ketone gingerol and is in the family of cardamom and turmeric. And although not actually a root its culinary delights rate it extremely effective. In most studies that were double blinded ginger proved to be better than placebo for post operative nausea. In the sea sickness studies there are mixed results. In one study it was superior to Dramamine and in others it did not reduce the vertigo associated with sea sickness. Although it has been proposed for arthritis the results were mixed. Since it is safe and free of most side effects it is great for pregnancy caused nausea.

In a very encouraging report involving 44,373 patients, spanning 7 years, and involving England, Germany, Canada, France and Spain they found that the death rates fell from 8.4% to 4.5%. Even in Mild heart attacks the death rate was reduced from 2.9% to 2%. These improvements have been attributable to angioplasty (putting a catheter into the artery of the heart and opening up the blockage), and anti clotting medicines. The risk of heart failure brought on by a severe heart attack was also reduced from 7.1% to 4.7%. All of this points to coordinated efforts from the Emergency Room to the operating room in record time. Time to treatment seems to be the critical factor in heart attack survival.

From the CDC’s Clinician’s Terrorism Update comes the question of facemasks to prevent spread of the disease. Of course first line treatment should included hand washing, anti-viral medications, avoiding crowded places, stay at home as much as possible, and the use of facemasks.

The standard facemasks that you see a surgeon wearing is essentially useless in a pandemic situation. The ones you should be looking at are termed N-95 which means that it eliminates 95% of particulate matter which goes down to .3 microns. This is great for bacteria but viruses are thousands of times smaller. What they are good at is preventing you from inhaling someone’s sneeze droplets or coughing spray. Stay at least 6 feet away from infected persons, and make sure that your N-95 mask is tightly fitted.

Here is a study from the U of Texas that tells us once again that if you’re good looking you’re going to make more money – about 5%.

The better looking you are the greater your chances of promotion. You’ll be perceived to be smarter, and have more confidence. These studies have been done for the past 50 years – all with the same results. In the past they related this to the fact that you would be more likely to mate and have better offspring. Lets face it who isn’t attracted more to a beautiful person of the opposite sex (or same sex depending on your orientation)? So for the rest of us – well we’ll just have to work harder.