New SUPER-Viagra pill is stronger and could have fewer side effects, scientists find
Experimental drug simenafil was tested on 706 men by a team at the Peking University First Hospital in China.
1
Results showed that 12 weeks of treatment improved men's erectile function by an average of 12.3 per cent.
The scientists said original Viagra, known as sildenafil, caused an approximately 11.8 per cent improvement in studies and other brands are less effective.
The real catch is that the dose is tiny in comparison, they added – just 5mg compared to a standard 50mg dose of Viagra.
This could make it cheaper or reduce the risk of side effects.
The drugs are called PDE5 inhibitors and work by blocking an enzyme that restricts blood flow to the penis, causing it to relax and function normally for sex.
Unwanted side effects might include headaches, sickness, hot flushes, indigestion, a stuffy nose or feeling dizzy.
'Effective at low doses'
Writing in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, study author Dr Hui Jiang said: 'Owing to these adverse events, novel and alternative therapies are needed for patients with erectile dysfunction.
'The results so far show oral simenafil was effective and well-tolerated in male patients.
'Therefore, we believe that it will provide an additional reliable treatment option.
'Overall, the evaluation indicated that simenafil was as effective as other PDE5 inhibitors even at very low doses.
'It showed that intercourse satisfaction, orgasmic function, sexual desire and overall satisfaction increased.'
Erectile dysfunction is common and becomes more likely with age, illness and weight gain.
What is Erectile Dysfunction?
At least half of men are expected to suffer once they get into middle and old age.
NHS doctors last year prescribed record amounts of bedroom-boosting drugs like Viagra, dishing out 4.7million prescriptions at a cost of £17.6million.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Our body is a mosaic of fungi. Some scientists think they could be influencing our brain
The fungi within our bodies may have a much greater effect on our health than we've long given them credit for. Amongst the millions of tiny life forms living on and inside our bodies are countless species of fungi. Our skin is a mosaic of them, membranes inside the nose and vagina are full of them, and fungi even live alongside the bacteria inside our guts. While we might acquire some fungi from our mothers at birth, new fungi are also constantly entering our bodies; we ingest yeasts every time we drink beer or eat bread, and we inhale floating fungal spores with every breath. Many of these fungi are quickly killed off by our immune systems, but others are transient passengers or lifelong acquaintances. Lately, scientists have been exploring how our fungal inhabitants could even influence our brains, minds and behaviour. Doctors have long known that fungi can cause dangerous brain infections. But researchers are now also finding curious – albeit sometimes controversial – hints that these microbes might have other neurological effects on humans. The idea might evoke images of the human-zombifying fungus from HBO's apocalyptic series The Last of Us. But while scientists agree that the idea of fungi taking complete control over our bodies is implausible, they're earnestly investigating whether some fungi inside us could contribute to brain-damaging diseases, or if gut-dwelling fungi could influence our behaviour and mental health. Much more research is needed, experts say. But these possibilities are important to study – both to understand the deep and complex relationships with the microbes within us and to explore new ways of boosting our health. In general, humans are pretty good at resisting fungi (our warm body temperature tends to make it hard for them to take hold). And many of the fungi that do might actually be good for us, possibly supporting our immune systems or helping wounds to heal, says microbiologist Matthew Olm of the University of Colorado Boulder, US. "I would say fungi are definitely a critical part of being a healthy human," he says. But many other fungi can cause infections, from athlete's foot to thrush. This happens when we encounter new, harmful fungi in our environment or when fungi that naturally coexist with us are under certain conditions triggered to explode in abundance, says Rebecca Drummond, a fungal immunologist at the University of Birmingham, UK. It's rare for fungi to reach the brain, thanks to protective barriers in the lungs and intestines, along with the brain's own defensive wall, the blood-brain barrier, and immune cells that are primed to destroy any fungi that slip through. But fungal brain infections do happen, and the number of cases has increased in recent decades. This is due to a growing number of people with weakened immune systems, Drummond says, partly because of the global spread of the immune-crippling virus HIV, especially in parts of Africa but also due to rising use of immune-suppressing medications in cancer patients and organ transplant recipients. "The more of these immune-modulating drugs we use, we'll see more of these fungal infections," Drummond says. Fungi that infect the brain sometimes originate in the lungs, including Aspergillus or Cryptococcus, which we inhale as airborne spores that can germinate, grow and spread if left unchecked, Drummond says. Less often, common gut residents such as Candida albicans grow out of control and, once in the brain, branches out and produces nerve-killing toxins, Drummond adds. Cryptococcus, meanwhile, can grow into tumour-like masses. "Obviously, that causes huge amounts of damage," she says. Fungal brain infections are often fatal, with Aspergillus reaching mortality rates of above 90%. They can be tricky to treat, says Drummond: there aren't many antifungal medications, and not all drugs get across the blood-brain barrier to kill off brain-dwelling fungi. Some fungi have also already developed resistance to these drugs. People who survive fungal infections of the brain are often left with long-term brain damage. Aids patients who have survived cryptococcal meningitis, which arises from a brain infection by Cryptococcus x, suffer vision impairments, memory loss and dizziness, says Drummond. Scientists have long known of the dangers of fungal brain infections. But in recent years, some have been exploring the possibility that fungi are getting into the brain much more frequently than previously believed, and may even be contributing to the loss of nerve cells that occurs in conditions like Alzheimer's disease. To Richard Lathe, a molecular biologist at the University of Edinburgh, UK, some of the most interesting evidence for this theory comes from a handful of cases where fungal and other microbial brain infections were coincidentally discovered in people initially diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. In several cases where doctors prescribed infection-fighting medication, "the symptoms of dementia remitted", Lathe says. "Quite remarkably, some of them went back to work". Lathe believes that microbes slip across the blood-brain barrier quite frequently but are usually suppressed or killed in people with healthy immune systems. Because our immune systems weaken with age, that could allow microbes to accumulate in the brain, perhaps triggering nerve-killing inflammation. "It's only when the immune system declines that you see damage," he says. Scientists have long linked Alzheimer's to a build-up of certain proteins in the brain, but there's now a growing debate over whether the presence of those proteins is the cause or merely a symptom of the disease. Lathe argues these proteins are actually produced as a defence mechanism against microbial intrusion, based on research suggesting the proteins have infection-fighting properties. Further evidence that brain-intruding microbes could be causing Alzheimer's comes from experiments in mice, where scientists have witnessed the fungus Candida albicans entering the brain after the rodents' immune systems were compromised. And in one pre-print study – which hasn't yet been peer-reviewed by other scientists – Lathe and his colleagues examined brain slices from deceased healthy people and Alzheimer's patients. They found large quantities of bacteria, viruses and fungi in both groups – but more in the brains from patients who had Alzheimer's. If microbes are indeed a factor in Alzheimer's, we may be able to mitigate or even prevent the disease by strengthening people's immune defences, for instance with vaccines that have been shown to boost general immunity. But this theory is young, Lathe says. "It's a new idea." And a debated one, too. Olm and others argue it's hard to rule out that the microbial genetic material may have appeared because of contamination, as fragments of microbes tend to be ubiquitous. Lathe finds that unlikely, though, pointing to reports that microbe fragments in brain tissue are just as abundant inside the samples as they are on the surface, whereas contamination from the air would mostly settle on the brain surface. Still, Olm says that finding more microbe fragments in Alzheimer's brains isn't proof that those microbes cause the disease. For instance, those people's brains might simply have had a weaker blood-brain barrier or some other issue, meaning more microbes entered their brains over time before being killed off by their immune systems. However, new evidence that microbes can invade the brains of animals like fish strengthens the notion that this could be happening in mammals – and perhaps even humans, Olm says. In a 2024 study, scientists labelled bacteria with tiny, fluorescent green molecules and added them to tanks housing salmon and trout. "After a week, you see these microbes making their way into the fish brain, lighting the fish brain up green," Olm says, and curiously, "[the microbes] seemingly live there without huge consequences for these fish over their lifetime." In any case, the notion of fungi and other microbes getting into the brain in old age – either due to a weakening brain immune system or a worn-out blood brain barrier – is more plausible. "I think we've now reached that threshold where there's enough smoke around this hypothesis… it's worth spending money on figuring out if that is happening," Olm says. More like this:• What your snot can reveal about your health• Why the microbes that live on your skin matter• The mystery origins of Candida auris Interestingly, fungi might not need to enter the brain in order to influence it. In a 2022 study, immunologist Iliyan Iliev of Weill Cornell Medicine in the US and colleagues found that adding Candida albicans to the guts of mice made them more resilient to damage of their gut linings caused by bacterial infections or heavy antibiotic use. Strengthening the gut wall may be a defence mechanism by the body to prevent the fungus and other microbes from escaping the gut and infecting other tissues, Iliev says. But the big surprise came when the team observed the rodents' behaviour. Remarkably, fungi-colonised mice were much more likely to sniff, communicate and engage with other mice – meaning that exposure to the fungi appeared to have some sort of behavioural effect too. Based on other experiments, the scientists theorise that certain molecules released by the mice's immune cells enter the bloodstream and somehow stimulate certain nerve cells in the brain that are involved in behaviour. "It was very surprising to us," Iliev recalls. It's a mystery why, at least in mice, this crosstalk between gut fungi and the brain exists. Is it a coincidence that fungus-triggered immune signals affect the brain, or "is that actually deliberately done by the fungus to benefit its survival?" Iliev asks. Perhaps mammalian bodies somehow benefit from changing their behaviour in response to fungi, Iliev speculates. There's no evidence yet that this crosstalk between gut fungi and the brain happens in humans, but the possibility would be worth investigating, Olm says. In recent years, evidence has mounted that gut-dwelling bacteria may be able to send signals to the brain via the immune and nervous systems, or by producing substances associated with the symptoms of depression, anxiety, and relaxation. In principle, Olm says, "there's no reason to think that fungi aren't doing this as well". (Read more about how gut bacteria could be influencing the brain). Some scientists are even investigating whether fungi could be involved in mental disorders. Several studies have found differences in the makeup of gut fungi in people who suffer from depression or bipolar disorder. In women with schizophrenia, those who showed signs of exposure to the gut-dwelling Candida albicans tended to score lower on tests of memory and other cognitive abilities, according to a 2016 study by Johns Hopkins neuroscientist Emily Severance and her colleagues. She is exploring the possibility that Candida overgrowth – caused by stress or antibiotics, for instance – provokes an imbalance of gut microbes, altering the substances they produce in ways that make susceptible people more likely to develop schizophrenia. If true, it could allow doctors to treat schizophrenia symptoms by giving people probiotics that help reverse the overabundance of Candida – which would in any case be helpful, she says. But finding an association doesn't mean that the fungi cause schizophrenia. It could simply be that these patients are somehow more prone to high levels of Candida. So far "we can only come up with associations", says Severance. 'I think that that's typical for a field of study that is very exciting – but still very early on in the timeline.' Which of our fungal inhabitants – if any at all – are really influencing our brains is something scientists hope to learn in the coming years. "[Fungi are] definitely important," Drummond says, "but exactly how they're important, I think, is still being worked out." One thing is already clear: while bacteria have long been in the limelight, it may be time we also pay serious attention to the fungi quietly shaping our health from within. -- For trusted insights into better health and wellbeing rooted in science, sign up to the Health Fix newsletter, while The Essential List delivers a handpicked selection of features and insights. For more science, technology, environment and health stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Medical News Today
6 hours ago
- Medical News Today
Eating 1 egg per week linked to lower Alzheimer's risk, study finds
A study finds that eating eggs is associated with a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer's brain autopsies, the scientists also showed that those who ate eggs more regularly had less protein buildup in the brain associated with Alzheimer' researchers conclude that this link may be due to eggs' choline and omega-3 have been a dietary staple since before humans evolved to be humans. Although they are packed with nutrients, relatively cost-effective, and easy to source, they have been the subject of much controversy in the health and wellness domain over the years.A study whose results appear in The Journal of Nutrition, however, may help reestablish their good reputation. According to the authors, eating one egg per week was associated with a 47% reduction in Alzheimer's risk compared with eating eggs less than once each month. They also showed that those eating eggs had a reduced buildup of the toxic proteins associated with Alzheimer' we get into the details, we should mention that some of the authors received funding from the Egg Nutrition Center, 'the science and nutrition education division of the American Egg Board.'The trouble with eggs: Are they good or bad for health?Are eggs good for you or bad for you? One hundred years ago, and for thousands of years before that, eggs were considered essential. Nutrient-dense and rich in protein and micronutrients, eggs were a staple throughout the a few decades ago, scientists found that high levels of cholesterol in the blood were a risk factor for heart disease, so high-cholesterol eggs were pushed to the naughty as nutrition science progressed, it became clear that dietary cholesterol did not significantly impact blood levels of to this new understanding, and a healthy dose of research funding from the Egg Nutrition Center, eggs were edged slowly back into saturated fat content, though, is still a concern, so eggs are still partially sidelined. Still, they are likely much healthier than many of the low-fat, highly processed snacks that have replaced eggs in modern kitchens. In fact, eggs contain all essential trace most nutritionists and associated experts have a relatively neutral view of eggs. In general, the advice is that they can form a part of a healthy, well-balanced diet, but at the same time, eating multiple eggs per day could be and Alzheimer's: What is the link?Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia, and despite decades of research, there is no cure, and treatments that can slow the disease are severely that reason, understanding the lifestyle factors associated with increased risk is essential. In this vein, many scientists are focusing on dietary research has shown that choline is important for cognitive function. It has also identified a potential link between moderate choline intake and a reduced risk of dementia. As the authors of the latest study explain, eggs are the 'top food source' of choline, so they are worth investigating. Choline has many important functions; for instance, it is a precursor to the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, plays a pivotal role in cell membranes, and has neuroprotective powers. Also, as the authors explain, 'choline modulates the expression of key genes related to memory, learning, and cognitive functions via epigenetic mechanisms.'Although our body can synthesise choline, it cannot synthesize enough to meet all the body's needs, so some must be taken in with our diet. Aside from choline, eggs contain essential omega-3 fatty acids, which support brain health as we age. Worryingly, studies show that the majority of adults in the United States do not consume enough of these essential fatty facts led the authors of the new study to investigate links between egg consumption and Alzheimer's risk and less protein buildupThe recent study included data from 1,024 older adults with an average age of 81.4. All participants lived in retirement communities and residential facilities in Illinois. They attended yearly checkups and completed food frequency questionnaires, and the researchers followed them for an average of 6.7 years. During this time, a little over one-quarter of them developed Alzheimer's analysis, the scientists found that individuals who consumed at least one egg per week had a 47% reduced risk of developing Alzheimer's during follow-up compared with those eating one egg per month or the second part of their study, they looked at the post-mortem brains of 578 participants. They found that those who ate one or more eggs each week were more likely to have less Alzheimer's-associated protein and omega-3 synergyOverall, the authors suggest that consuming at least one egg per week may help reduce the risk of Alzheimer's. They explain that the choline and omega-3s in eggs might have a 'synergistic' effect, whereby they join forces to protect brain health during News Today spoke to Christopher U. Missling, PhD, president and CEO of Anavex Life Sciences, who was not involved in the study. Missling explained that:'About 39–40% of the protective effect was explained by higher dietary choline intake. Egg yolks also contain omega-3 fatty acids, which have known neuroprotective properties. The combination of choline and omega-3s may be particularly beneficial for brain health.'The study authors also point to previous research demonstrating that people with Alzheimer's are more likely to be deficient in omega-3s and the scientists conclude that, 'once replicated in other prospective cohorts and confirmed by clinical trials, these findings may have important public health implications for reducing the population's risk of [Alzheimer's].'If the results are replicated, this could be a very useful, low-cost intervention. MNT also spokle with Maddie Gallivan, RD, a registered dietitian who was likewise not involved in the recent study.'Eggs are often a go-to food for older adults, as they're soft in texture, which can be helpful for those with dentures, quick to prepare, and packed with key nutrients,' Gallivan explained. 'So it's great to see a study focussing on how they may support cognitive health in later life.'Limitations and future researchHowever, the study does have certain limitations. For instance, they only had a relatively short follow-up — just 6.7 years. This, as the authors explain, increases the risk of reverse causality. 'The study population consisted of older adults from the Rush Memory and Aging Project, a specific U.S.-based cohort,' Missling told MNT. 'The findings may not generalize to younger populations or those from different cultural or dietary backgrounds.'He also reminded us that 'dietary intake was assessed through self-reported food frequency questionnaires, which are subject to recall bias and inaccuracies.' So, participants may not have accurately reported or remembered their egg consumption.'It's important to remember that no single food acts in isolation,' Gallivan told us, 'and it's our overall dietary pattern that really counts. A varied, nutrient-dense diet rich in whole foods is key to supporting brain health and reducing dementia risk.'For now, if you like eggs, enjoy them. They may reduce your dementia risk, but if not, they will certainly provide you with a good dose of protein and a healthy range of micronutrients.
The Guardian
9 hours ago
- The Guardian
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki: ‘I took my hands off the artery – blood squirted up and hit the ceiling'
You're about to give a series of talks on the history and explosion of AI. Who is your favourite fictional robot? I guess the robots in general from Isaac Asimov. He came up with the three laws of robotics, which are basically that a robot has to obey a human, it can't harm itself, and it can't harm another human. My favourite robot is one [from Asimov's The Bicentennial Man] that served a family for many, many years – in fact, generations – and eventually became human. If you could change the size of any animal to keep as a pet, what would it be? To put a downer on it, we're full of children and nieces and nephews and grandkids, so we don't want pets. But I do see the value of a pet. It's tricky. In Australia, cats kill a million birds a day. Dogs are nice, but when I was a doctor in a kids hospital, once I realised that dogs would rip the faces off 15,000 kids every year, I kind of fell out of love with big dogs. So I reckon dogs. Shrink them down. A border collie, they're the smartest dog. What do you do when you can't get to sleep? Get up, work for a bit, then go to sleep again when I feel tired. If I'm awake enough to do stuff, I'll do stuff. I love reading. My job is to read the scientific literature and turn it into stuff that people can understand. I've been reading articles about how we've got this history of human diseases over the last 37,000 years, and how many diseases have actually invaded our DNA, or how some frogs will fake death to avoid sex, or how the French in the early 1800s had the great moustache wars, or the TV viewing habits of dogs. Or the word 'cool' – where did it come from, and what's the concept behind it? Or the amount of energy used from AI to make a single picture, as opposed to a human, or why you get traffic jams in the middle of nowhere, or how you use earwax as a diagnostic tool. Or, if you get a shark and turn it upside down, about half the species will just stop moving. And that's just today's reading! What is your most controversial scientific opinion? The two big ones would have to be climate change and vaccination, and the controversy behind them is just pointless. You know how insurance companies are making it more expensive in certain areas to insure because of extreme events caused by climate change? OK, so when do you think the insurance companies started doing that? 1973! [It wasn't until 1980 that] fossil fuel companies, with a budget of up to a billion dollars a year, started denying climate change. And that's why I've got this so-called controversy. What is the oldest thing you own, and why do you still have it? I've got a bit of rock from a mining site that was dated to 1bn years old. I've also a meteor that my father saw land in our front garden when I was a kid, and the next morning, we went out to dig it up. I reckon that'd be a couple of billion years old. It's about the size of a golf ball. It's now on the display shelf halfway up the stairs. Would you rather die at the bottom of the ocean or out in space? Probably space. But it depends how it happens. One thing I learned as a medical doctor is that everybody has to die, but you should have a good death. We had one patient who had cancer of the everything, and she was really going to die. We made it our personal project that she'd have a good death. We ended up cranking her morphine from 5mg a day to 30,000 – that's a big jump, isn't it? Her legs were the diameter of your wrist by the time she died, but she didn't die in pain. So that convinced me, I want to have a good death. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning If you're in, say, a submarine, and then the pressure overcomes the structural integrity of the vessel's walls, then you're dead in about a tenth of a second, a hundredth of a second – whereas in space, it might take a while to die, maybe a few minutes. So whichever one was quicker. But the view's nicer in space. What is the strangest job you've ever had? I started working at the steelworks at Wollongong when I was about 19. I ran a little aluminium boat measuring the acidity or alkalinity of the water in this little creek inside the steelworks. Depending on whether it was green or orange, it varied between incredibly acid and incredibly alkaline. And either way, it would eat through the skin of the aluminium boat in about six months. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion Back then, I was taught 'the solution to pollution is dilution' – chuck it in the ocean, nobody will ever notice. It was pretty bad back then, and hasn't got much better since. What is the most chaotic thing that's ever happened to you at work? I was in an operating theatre. I was assisting. I was really tired. I'd done an incredibly long number of shifts, dozens of hours in a row, and I was instructed to lean on an artery. I started to fall asleep standing up, and the surgeon said, 'Hey, wake up, Karl!' I stood up with a jerk and took my hands off the artery – blood squirted up and hit the ceiling. If you had to add any colour to the rainbow, what would it be? Around the world, the number of colours that people see in the rainbow varies between four and 16. The reason we have seven colours in our rainbow is because of Isaac Newton. Besides being one of the true geniuses, he also spent more time on Bible studies than he did on science. And all the way through the Bible the number seven comes up all the time. Based on him following the work of some Muslim scientists, he did an experiment with a prism – like the Dark Side of Moon album cover, which, by the way, is wrong from a physics point of view. Anyway, he sees these colours. Six colours. But he loves the Bible, and the Bible has seven everywhere, so he sticks in stupid fucking indigo. What sort of colour is indigo? It's just blue! So I refuse to add another colour to the rainbow. I'll go the other way; I'll remove indigo and get back to six colours. Lastly, please settle this debate for us once and for all, scientifically: should tomato sauce be kept in the fridge or the cupboard? The problem that you want to avoid is bacterial or fungal infection of the tomato sauce. Now, the tomato sauce, I imagine, would be mostly water, and then it's got some varying mix of fat, protein and carbohydrate, which would be foods for bacteria and yeast. If you stick it in the fridge, you really lengthen the time before the bacterial or fungal overgrowth gets dangerous. But you end up in the terrible situation that you shake and shake and shake the bottle and first none will come, and then the lot will because it's been frozen to a solid lump. So the argument for not putting in the fridge is that it'll pour more easily. In that case, you need to actually observe, and if you start to see the first hint of bacterial or fungal contamination, feed it to the compost and get another bottle. It sounds like you're pro-cupboard, pro-observation. Well, life's complicated. Nothing's simple. I'm sorry. I'm probably overcomplicating life. Dr Karl will appear at three events at Tasmania's Beaker Street festival, 12-24 August
