Generic Viagra

The cellular response to Viagra may be harnessed to help create new anticoagulant therapies, according to an article released on August 26, 2008 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS.)

The enzyme PDE5 is known to modulate platelet activity. Normally, platelets exist in the blood and have an integral role in blood clotting. However, when patient have certain biomedical devices implanted, such as stents, which are installed in the arteries to maintain blood flow through them, the foreign materials of the devices , are recognized by the body and platelets often clot to them. If too many clot, this can block blood flow, potentially inducing a stroke or heart attack.

While Viagra is most famous for its use in treatment of erectile dysfunction, it was initially targeted as a drug for the cardiovascular system as a whole and is also used to treat pulmonary hypertension in some patients. Drugs like Viagra have been previously shown to inhibit PDE5, but further research was necessary to understand where or how this was occurring.

This study, led by Prof. Donald Maurice of Queen’s College focused on the relationship between Viagra and the levels of PDE5 inhibition in cells. They showed that, within each cell, several pools of the PDE5 enzyme may exist. However, only one of these pools might regulate platelet activation. By targeting each pool, it may be possible to revamp Viagra’s use to regulate clotting in the blood, helping prevent heart attacks and strokes. “Understanding how the cell works should allow us to affect the activity of enzymes in one neighborhood — and leave alone their ‘identical twins’ in a different neighborhood in that cell,” says Ms. Wilson, lead author on the study.

The authors note the potential that arises from these developments, both in basic and clinical science. “As scientists, we’re excited about this discovery because it’s a fundamentally new approach to regulating what enzymes do in cells,” states Dr. Maurice. “The fact that it also offers a potentially novel use of a drug already widely in use for other applications is an unexpected bonus.” Ms. Wilson continues, hopeful for the potential application of this new knowledge: “The idea is to use a PDE5 inhibitor such as Viagra selectively to inhibit platelet function. We now know that not all the enzymes in the cell are doing the same job. Just like in real estate, it’s all about the location!”

One of our junior budding magazine newsroom staff came out with a question that got us all talking last week. Why does the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra need a prescription? That got us all thinking and there were plenty of arguments for and against making Viagra an Over The Counter drug.

For example if panadol, asprin or sleeping pills can be bought easily without the need for a prescription what is the problem with Viagra? Viagra is not addictive (have you ever heard of a Viagra addiction), it is unlikely to be used in suicide bids like panadol and asprin (have you ever heard of suicide with a Viagra overdose?) and lastly you can’t get a high on sildenafil.

So what is the problem with Viagra being an OTC drug? Well firstly having a little bit of a headache or being unable to sleep well is not nearly as serious as having erectile dysfunction. Erectile dysfunction can be caused by a host of different things like high blood pressure, diabetes, a weak heart and other factors and that is why a consultation is needed for your erectile dysfunction before you buy the drug. It is not really the drug itself that is dangerous but it is important that the actual cause of your impotence is established before you use the Viagra drug.

Using Viagra for healthy people is no problem but the use of Viagra in people who have low pressure can be very dangerous and cause serious side effects. Also people with heart problems who are using nitrates could die form the effects of Viagra and that is why a chat with a doctor online or otherwise is so important to the safe use of the drug.

Using Viagra safely with a prescription will give you peace of mind and will make sure that you are not putting yourself in danger health wise. The same applies to the other erectile dysfunction drugs Cialis and Levitra that work in a similar way and have more or less the same side effects and contraindications.

Everyone has heard of the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra and its amazing effects on impotence and those of you who are up to date in the wold of drugs will lnow that it has been shown to be good for reducing the effects of pulmonary arterial hypertension as well for helping the heart after a heart attack. However in a new developement scientists have shown that the the impotence drug Viagra could even be used as a performance boosting drug that atheletes and people who need to exert themselves at high altitudes could really benefit from.

The research examined by Ukmedix clearly shows the benefits of Viagra with poor oxygen levels. The reserach was conducted using special masks to reduce the levels of oxygen taken in by the participants and to imitate a high altitude. The groups of participants were made to ride exercise bikes while wearing the masks and it was noted that those who took the Viagra drug were able to complete a 6 km cycle by an average of nearly 40% faster than those who didn’t.

The research was conducted at Stanford University over a number of weeks and the participating cyclists were monitored 3 times at for the distance of 6km at the simulated altitude of 12,700 ft while being timed. The cyclists were given either a placebo pill, a 50 mg dose of Viagra or a 100mg dose of Viagra.

Not all the cyclists respnded well to the Viagra but 4 of them had real improvements in their cycling times over the 6km when given the 50mg dose and in fact the average cycling time was 10mins 48 sec as compared to 15mins with the placebo pill. Using the 100mg of Viagra did not chance the cyling times over the 50mg dose.

At normal altitudes the Viagra did not show any benefits and the scientists are also baffled by the fact that only 4 of the cyclist responded to the Viagra. To the relief of the researchers and the cyclist there were no reports of an erection during the cycling.

The active ingredient of Viagra is sildenafil citrate. The Viagra drug doesn’t actually increase sexual desire but just enables the physical mechanism of the blood vessels in the penis to function better. Viagra has been on sale since 1998 and was a real relief for men suffering from erectile dysfunction and it made millions for the drug firm Pfizer who made it. Viagra is still the best selling impotence medication in the world despite the arrival of Cialis and Levitra as rivals.

The figures for the sales of Viagra since its launch in June 1998 in the United States are astounding. For example the figures show that over one million doctors have issued over 150 million doctor’s prescriptions for the miracle erectile dysfunction drug. It is also estimated that as many as 40 million men have made use of Viagra at some point in around 120 different countries around the world.

Other fascinating Viagra facts are that 9 Viagra tablets are issued by pharmacies around the world every single second which means over 500 each minute. Considering the vast amount of Viagra issued the drug has a very credible safety record and its side effects are minimal.

Viagra is also the most plagarised drug in the world with secret (and not so secret factories) in China and India churning out vast quantities of illegal Viagra that has differing quantities of the all-important active ingredient of the impotence drug namely sildenafil citrate. In fact the incredible statistics of the sales of the Viagra drug would be considerably better (double according to some analysts) if the problem of these fake copies could be stamped out.

It is also thought that many men who have erectile dysfunction are still hesitant about coming forward to see a doctor and get medical help. It is estimated that as many as a third of all men in the world who are over the age of 40 suffer from at least a mild form of erectile dysfunction that can often be resolved with Viagra.

Viagra’s popularity and ease of application has caused a big reduction of sales and popularity for the industry of penile implants, which pre Viagra were the only real way of curing chronic erectile dysfunction.

Unlike many drugs it is not possible to get addicted to Viagra. It is true that some men get psychologically dependent on the drug to feel sexually confident in bed and this could mean that they have problems with getting an erection without it when in fact they are physically able to do so. It is advisable to only use Viagra when you really need it rather that to use it as a lifestyle drug, as increased used of the drug when you don’t really need it could mean that in later life it will not be such a novelty and you will be so used to it that it may not be so effective.

A new survey that examined the hardness of a man’s penis when he makes love has been done in Taiwan. The idea was to look at erectile function not purely from the point of whether a man gets an erection or not but to see if when he does get an erection whether it is satisfactorily hard. It may be that some men who suffer from mild erectile dysfunction may be having a lot of sex but sex that is not as good fro them or their partners because they suffer from penises that are not as hard as they should be.
The survey decided to categorise the hardness of a penis by comparison with objects. The objects were Cucumber, Banana, Peeled Banana and lastly Conjac Jelly. The survey was done by the Asian Erectile Dysfunction Advisory Council and they say that the use of objects to describe the various states of hardness of the male member is much more effective than trying to use numbering or descriptions. The survey was done over the phone and involved over one thousand men from Taiwan.

At Ukmedix News we have seen other surveys that sought to classify erection hardness in men. For example the Quality of Erection Questionnaire (QEQ) that Pfizer recently sponsored was one such survey as well as the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF). In the survey the vast majority of men (74%) claimed that they had cucumber hardness and only one percent said that they had conjac jelly hardness. Twenty four percent said that they had Banana hardness and 2% said that they had unpeeled banana hardness.

At Ukmedix News we had a long talk about this survey and while we applaud the initiative of the Asian Erectile Dysfunction Advisory Council we noted that there were a few flaws with the survey. Men always overstate their erection hardness and that is why so many of them claimed to have cucumber penises. Men are very rarely honest and open about their sexual prowess even on the telephone.

At Ukmedix News we reckoned that this survey would have been far more effective if instead of the men being questioned women were anonymously questioned over the telephone about the hardness of the erections of their partners. If you have banana hardness and you want to get to cucumber strength your best bet is to get fit and healthy, give up smoking and lose weight.

In Qatar there has been a big increase in the amount of men seeking help for erectile dysfunction problems according to the doctors of the region. They noted that it is likely that lack of exercise and poor diets were causing hormonal imbalances and erectile dysfunction among men. A Consultant Urologist at the Doha Sexual Disorders Clinic reported that nearly 750 males had come in for various impotence treatments. In 2005 however more than 1,100 people had come to the clinic.

The consultant was of the opinion that many men chose to not do anything about their impotence as they were embarassed to face a doctor with the problem and he estimated that ninety percent of impotence sufferers never go and get medical help for the problem.

The consultant said that the patients suffered from impotence in different degrees. About 1 in 10 of the impotent men had complete erectile dysfunction and 1in 4 had only partial erectile dysfunction. The fact that more people were visiting the clinic was a sign however that attitudes were changing and that people were aware that treatment was available to help with erectile dyfunction.

Futher studies in Qatar have also shown that about half of all men between forty and seventy get some form of sexual problem like erectile dysfunction, lack of desire, premature or delayed ejaculation, uncomfortable erections, discomfort during intercourse and low semen volume. The actual statistics are just the tip of the iceberg as due to the personal nature of these problems not many men were willing to come forward and discuss them.

Erectile dyfunction is nearly always completely curable if the patient can see a specialist doctor. The damage that erectile dysfunction can do to relationships is huge and patients must be brave and come forward as ED is just a simple medical problem and should not be the cause of an unhappy home.

The Mayor of Mexico City has followed the lead of other smaller towns in Mexico by handing out free erectile dysfunction medication to men. Unlike the Mayor of the little town in Chile who handed Viagra out to all men over the age of sixty, Mexico City’s men will have to reach the age of 70 before getting the free drugs Viagra, Cialis or Levitra.
The Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said that as of December 1st men will be given free medical examinations at three specialist health centres and then the impotence drugs will be given out. He said that the reason for this generous move was that he believed that sexuality had a lot to do with a “quality of life and our happiness”. The Health Secretary of Mexico City, Senor Armando Ahued explained men would be entitled to up to two doses of Viagra, Cialis or Levitra. It is estimated that around 112,000 men are over the age of 70 or more in Mexico City which has a total population of 20 million people.

Cynics pointed out that this gesture by the Mayor was more to do with a vote catching exercise than a serious concern for the health of elderly male citizens in the city. Ukmedix News has reported on different occasions about how politicians sometimes use the issue of free erectile dysfunction medication as a popularity boosting measure. In one case we even came across reports of politicians in Indonesia giving prospective voters free Viagra tablets.

It is hoped that this new campaign in Mexico City will not undermine the integrity of the Viagra drug as a serious medication to treat a serious medical problem. Erectile dysfunction can be very serious not only because of the physical implications of the problem but also because of the chronic distress that it causes men and their sexual partners.

Cut the Shape From the Foam Panels

To prepare the panels, we stripped the plastic film off of the foam insulation sheets to create a better surface for the adhesive. Using the L-square to lay out guide lines, we drew up a template of the tablet on the brown paper, in the distinctive rounded diamond shape. The ratio of the height of the tablet to the width is about 1:1.5. Ours measured about 23”x33”. Then we traced the template onto the foam panels. Using the serrated knife, we cut the outline of each tablet shape.

Glue and Polish

Then we spread a thin layer of Gorilla Glue on each sheet and stacked them up, being careful to line up the edges as evenly as possible. When the panels were all glued together, we weighed them down and waited for the glue to dry overnight. After the glue had dried, we used the serrated knife to plane down the rough edges on the sides of the tablet to make an even surface. Then we carved the edges of the tablet to round them off.

Oops…We Lost Our Head

At this point we realized that we left a step out…Before gluing the panels together, we had meant to cut out the areas that would accommodate the wearer’s head and shoulders. But in our excitement to rush ahead with the project, we forgot. So we hacked the space out using our trusty serrated knife. For comfort and stability, a bicycle helmet will go inside the headpiece. We took a banged up helmet and stripped off the outer covering. To get the helmet to fit inside, we sawed off the back portion with a jigsaw.

We put the helmet inside the form and tried it on to get a rough idea of where the eye holes and breathing holes should go, and marked them on the inside. Then we carved out a bit more area on the inside to accommodate the wearer’s face, and cut eye, nose and mouth holes through the front of the foam. The nose and mouth holes are just for breathing and will be covered with fabric, so they don’t have to be big enough for the nose and mouth to fit through.

Place the Fabric

Using brown paper, we layed out a pattern for the fabric covering. First we cut long strips to cover the flat portion of the sides. Then we cut pieces to cover each of the faces. We just used our original pill template and cut it about 3 inches larger all around.

We glued the fabric onto the form with Gorilla Glue, starting with the sides. We glued the flat part and curved portion of only one pill face at a time, so gravity would keep the fabric in place. When the first side was dry, we flipped it over and repeated the process. We left the seams for later.

After the glue on the main fabric panels had dried, we finished the seams using the hot glue gun. The hot glue was so hot it was melting the foam, so we just glued the fabric edges together. We pressed them into place with the edge of a putty knife to avoid burnt fingers and a sticky mess.

After tracing paper templates for the lettering VGR 50, we cut out the felt forms and lined them up on the front face of the pill. These were glued into place with the hot glue gun, except for the bottom part of the R.

We had planned out the lettering so the two legs of the R would go over the eye holes, which would be covered with a see-through white material, making two “windows”. We carefully cut out rectangles in the blue fabric over the eyeholes so they would align with the letter. Then we cut out sections of dryer sheet that would cover the eyeholes and be inlayed for that portion of the R. We glued them in place over the holes, then cut out those sections of the R and glued the remaining felt pieces into place.

After dusting out the styrofoam bits and wedging the helmet securely into the form, it was ready to wear.

Think you’re human Viagra? Or maybe you just want to express your devotion to the magic blue pill. Dress up as your favorite pharmaceutical this Halloween. We’ll show you how to make a costume that will really raise the dead and, needless to say, keep you up all night long.

Materials
Styrofoam sheets (we used 7 sheets of 24”x48”x2” foam insulation, available at hardware stores)
Gorilla Glue or other extra strength glue
Hot glue gun
Scissors
Utility knife
Long serrated knife
Hand-held jigsaw
Small and large disposable putty knives
Butcher paper or large paper bags
Marking pen
L-square
Old bicycle helmet
Light blue fleece material (we used about 3.5 sq. yards)
White felt (about 4 sq. feet)
Dryer sheets or gauze

See the instructions on how to make the costume in my next post here!

Scientists at the Di Napoli University in Florence, Italy have announced a startling discovery. In investigating the history of the tale of Pinocchio they found evidence of a Viagra-like substance they believe to be the possible cause of the puppet’s growing nose as related in the classic fable.

“The excavation of Gepetto’s workshop was exciting enough in itself,” said Professor Fulvio Gaspari of the University’s Department of Archaeology, “but this was an unexpected revelation. We did a chemical analysis of wood shavings found in the site and residue on woodworking tools, expecting to find pine and balsa, typical materials used in marionette construction.” Instead, Gaspari said, the team found it had collected some rather exotic wood samples.

Scientists determined the wood to be yohimbe, a West African species of tree whose bark is commonly used as an aphrodisiac. In addition, Gaspari said, “Spectroscopic analysis showed the presence of a chemical compound similar to sildenafil citrate, the active ingredient in the pharmaceutical Viagra.”

Although more research is necessary, Gaspari confirmed that the scientists believe it is likely that the presence of this Viagra-like chemical in the wood may account for the “growing nose” phenomena recorded in the story of Pinocchio.

Gaspari added that the team also recovered as yet undiscovered sketches from Gepetto’s work notebooks that look like the sketches for a novel, if a bit disturbing, sex toy..

“I’m not at liberty to reveal details in the text, as the ownership of the manuscript is being contested by the author’s estate” said Gaspari, “However, I can say that the original wooden figure designed by the puppet maker Gepetto was apparently anatomically correct in all respects, and the nose is apparently not the only part of the anatomy engineered to grow.” Gaspari added that this recent discovery may also explain the origin of the expression “to get a woody.”