Asian journal of andrology
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Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a common medical disorder whose prevalence is increasing worldwide. Modifiable risk factors for ED include smoking, lack of physical activity, wrong diets, overweight or obesity, metabolic syndrome, and excessive alcohol consumption. Quite interestingly, all these metabolic conditions are strongly associated with a pro-inflammatory state that results in endothelial dysfunction by decreasing the availability of nitric oxide (NO), which is the driving force of the blood genital flow. ⋯ In clinical trials, lifestyle modifications were effective in ameliorating ED or restoring absent ED in people with obesity or metabolic syndrome. Therefore, promotion of healthful lifestyles would yield great benefits in reducing the burden of sexual dysfunction. Efforts, in order to implement educative strategies for healthy lifestyle, should be addressed.
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The European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate (ERSPC) has updated their previous seminal report on prostate cancer mortality comparing screened men to controls. Now with 13 years follow-up, the rate ratio of prostate cancer mortality was 0.79 favoring the screened population. The authors concluded that there was a "substantial reduction in prostate cancer mortality attributable to testing with prostate-specific antigen (PSA)" but they also stated that a "quantification of harms" needed to be addressed. The issue of harms was not addressed by the ERSPC (at least not in this report) and hence this additional statement most likely reflects the controversy currently surrounding the risks associated with over-diagnosis and treatment of indolent diseases inadvertently detected by a screening protocol. [1] In addition, the positive results from this trial conflict with those of the prostate, lung, colorectal and ovarian (PLCO) [2] study and require further elaboration.