Underlining an important new development in German sex therapy- a form of the internationally familiar "couples" therapy called "syndiastic" therapy-scientists have found a solution for treating sexual dysfunction in men.
Modern, couple-oriented treatment for male sexual dysfunction takes the psychosocial aspects of sex into account, as well as focussing on the purely physical aspects of the problem.
The importance of this biopsychosocial approach, whether one looks at disorders of desire, arousal or orgasm, is supported by intercultural comparisons, among other data.
But sexual dysfunction can also arise as a consequence of a variety of diseases and their treatments, such as depression or diabetes, or can even be an early warning sign of serious physical illness such as heart disease.
Thus, there is a need for an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on both medical and psychological techniques and insights.
Thus, urologist Dirk Rosing and coauthors present an overview of current thinking and practice in the area of male sexual dysfunction.
They used research on prostate cancer to highlight the "syndiastic" therapy.
Questionnaire surveys to men with prostate cancer show that while the importance of the genital aspects of sexuality decreased in importance following radical surgery, the relationship and physical intimacy remained as important as before.
"Syndiastic" sex therapy was introduced in Germany in 2004, and focussed for the first time explicitly on fundamental psychosocial needs, in a wider way, rather than purely on sexual function itself.
Coming from Aristotle`s dictionary, meaning a disposition to "live in pairs" or "belonging," this approach differs importantly from some other somatic or psychological treatments, which focus mainly on restoring sexual function.
Instead, it aims to broaden the understanding of sexuality, extend the range of physical experience, and improve overall satisfaction within the relationship.
The study has been published in Deutsches Arzteblatt International.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Syndiastic` therapy could treat sexual dysfunction in men
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Bone marrow extract therapy after Heart attack helpful
A new study has found that an extract derived from bone marrow cells is as effective as therapy using bone marrow stem cells for improving cardiac function after a heart attack.
The study was conducted in mice using a novel stem cell delivery method developed by researchers to show that the extract from bone marrow cells is as beneficial to cardiac function as are intact, whole cells.
Both the cell and cell extract therapies resulted in the presence of more blood vessels and less cardiac cell death, or apoptosis, than no therapy.
The study also showed that heart function benefitted despite the finding that few of the injected cells remained in the heart at one month after therapy.
"Peer-reviewed medical literature is controversial as to whether bone marrow cells differentiate into cardiomyocytes, or cardiac muscle cells, but there is general agreement that stem cell therapy with these cells results in some level of functional improvement after a heart attack. The exact mechanism for this is not yet clear,” said Yerem Yeghiazarians, MD, study author, cardiologist and director of UCSF's Translational Cardiac Stem Cell Development Program.
“Our results confirm that whole cells are not necessarily required in order to see the beneficial effects of bone marrow cell therapy," Yeghiazarians added.
Researchers are investigating these new therapies to improve cardiac function after heart attack in an effort to prevent heart failure.
"Current therapies improve symptoms but do not replace scar tissue. Our hope is to use stem cells to decrease the scar, minimise the loss of cardiac muscle and maintain or even improve the cardiac function after a heart attack," Yeghiazarians said.
The researchers are conducting further studies to evaluate bone marrow cell and extract therapies in order to identify the proteins and factors within the extract and gain insight into the possible mechanisms of cardiac functional improvement.
The findings were published online and in the July 2009 issue of the Journal of Molecular Therapy.
The study was conducted in mice using a novel stem cell delivery method developed by researchers to show that the extract from bone marrow cells is as beneficial to cardiac function as are intact, whole cells.
