The survey showed that stress leads to emotional disorder such as anxiety, nervousness and irritability for 33 percent of the respondents, while 13 percent said that it causes heart diseases, high blood pressure and headaches. The remaining participants stated that they suffer under digestive problems when stressed.

“It is not always possible to avoid stress, especially in a growing economy like the UAE where work conditions, traffic and noise pollution can cause an immense imbalance. This kind of stress eventually causes a great deal of strain on relationships and has negative effects on partners,” said Mohamed Sameh, Psychiatrist at the Belhoul Hospital in Dubai.Feeling stressed is a prevalent condition in the UAE and getting rid of stress can be a challenge. This correlation is especially true for men because the emotional disorder or the physical disturbances caused by stress often leads to erectile dysfunction (ED). That explains for the most part why men steer away from sexual intimacy with their partners when stressed.

“Due to work stress, financial commitments and traffic, there are an increasing number of men who are being diagnosed with stress and as a result suffer from relationship problem. This is reflected in the survey where an overwhelming 91 percent of the male respondents confirm that stress could lead to ED with 24 percent avoid spending quality time with their partners. That is why after diagnosing my patients with ED, I prescribe oral medications that provide them with the freedom to choose the right moment for intimacy, without any constraints of pre-planning. An advanced erectile dysfunction medication such as Cialis is particularly relevant to working partners who feel stressed frequently and who still want to enjoy their quality time together. The medication enables men to achieve successful intercourse within 30 minutes, irrespective of food intake with 36-hour effectiveness”,.

“We found that kids who used these substances while alone were not only at higher risk for problems during adolescences, but 10 years later when they were 23,” said study author Joan Tucker, a behavioral scientist at Rand Corp.

“We need to take a closer look at this group of ‘solitary users,’” Tucker said. “They are overlooked. When we think about adolescent substance users, we think of those kids who are using substances at parties or when they are hanging out with friends. But we found that there is a significant group that are using these substances by themselves.”

Tucker noted that these teens are not loners but are socially active, using alcohol, tobacco or marijuana when they are with friends, but also when they are alone.

Her team’s report is published in the December issue of Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.

In the study, Tucker’s team collected data on over 6,500 teenagers from California and Oregon who were in a study to evaluate Project ALERT, a drug-prevention program developed by Rand for middle school children. Teens were asked about their substance use and a variety of other issues several times during middle school and high school, and again at age 23.

The researchers found that of the more than 3,300 people who completed the study, 16 percent of eighth graders had smoked cigarettes while alone, 17 percent drank while alone, and 4 percent had used marijuana while alone.

These solitary users admitted to more delinquent behavior, such as stealing and acting out at school, and were less likely to talk to their parents about personal problems than kids who indulged in bad habits more socially. They were also less involved with school, had lower grades and spent less time on homework and school activities…

Many men who use drugs like Viagra claim there is a lack of spontaneity, as sex has to be planned in advance by taking a pill.

Arnold Melman, a professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, and other researchers developed the new treatment after identifying a gene responsible for the condition, said the online edition of Daily Mail.

Thirty percent of impotence cases have psychological reasons, but the remaining 70 percent are physical. Heart disease and diabetes are two of the biggest causes in the middle-aged and elderly.

“One of the attractions of the new drug – Maxi K – is that men have just two injections a year and do not have to worry about taking pills. They can just forget they have a problem,” the researchers said.

Melman said: “The existing impotence drugs can have side effects, such as making men feel dizzy. But so far we have found none with gene therapy.

“The initial trial took 11 impotent men – two of who were able to have intercourse for six months after having their gene therapy jab.”

“It would have worked for all 11 patients, but initially we had to give a combination of low doses and high doses because this was a phase-one safety trial, principally looking at the safety of the therapy,” the researchers said.

The two men for whom it worked had the highest doses of the drug. The new treatment could become available in less than five years.

At the least, “it provides another unexplored avenue for investigation” into obesity, said Catherine Kotz, an adjunct associate professor and nutrition specialist at the University of Minnesota who’s familiar with the study findings.

While germs are generally considered to be villains, some bacteria in the body actually wear white hats. In the digestive system, they help break down food and serve other roles.

The study authors at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis wondered if the makeup of gut bacteria differed between lean and fat people. So they studied bacteria from the feces of 12 obese people over a year-long period while the subjects were on strict diets.

The researchers found that the obese study participants had fewer of the Bacteroidetes type of bacteria and more of the Firmicutes type than a group of lean people. The same researchers found in a related study that a similar germ makeup in mice appears to make their bodies better able to extract calories from food — resulting in weight gain.

However, as the obese individuals continued to diet, their bacterial levels became more like those of the lean people.

Lead investigator Dr. Jeffrey Gordon, director of the university’s Center for Genome Sciences, said these twin studies raise a number of questions. “Are some adults predisposed to obesity because they ‘start out’ with fewer Bacteroidetes and more Firmicutes in their guts?” he asked in a prepared statement. “Can features of a reduced Bacteroidetes-Firmicutes enriched microbial community become part of our definition of an obese state or a diagnostic marker for an increased risk for obesity? And can we intentionally manipulate our gut microbial communities in safe and beneficial ways to regulate energy balance?”

Kotz said the study, which is published in the Dec. 21 issue of Nature, appears to be well done.

Still, she said, “more work needs to be done to confirm this work and to determine whether gut bacterial can predispose one to obesity, or whether changing gut bacteria can in fact influence body weight. The current data indicates that gut bacteria may be associated with body weight but does not show that it contributes to the regulation of body weight.”

“I Quit Smoking (IQS)” is the registered Hong Kong master franchise of a European-based company Quit Smoking International, an international franchise network offering therapy to help people quit smoking.

In view of the growing awareness on health among the community and the government’s commitment to control smoking, the company sees tremendous business opportunities in the market for health- related therapies, said the statement.

Hong Kong has demonstrated increasing focus on community health and fitness. In particular, it is focusing on the risks of tobacco smoke and is introducing anti-smoking legislation in January 2007, Managing Director of IQS Gary Clark was quoted as saying.

“In this regard, Hong Kong is leading the way in Asia. And yet there seems to be very few services on offer to actually help smokers quit. This is a great opportunity for IQS Hong Kong to offer a valuable service to the local community,” he said.

He pointed out that the launch in Hong Kong was an important first step for the company’s Asia strategy. “Hong Kong is our springboard to expand in the Asia Pacific region. This is our first Asian operation and will become the Reference Center for the region.”

Quit Smoking International, the parent company of IQS, was established six years ago with its patented therapy for Smoking Cessation. It has successfully launched over 300 centers throughout Europe, the Middle East and the U.S.

Its effect was discovered by accident when it was being tested as an anti-depressant. Participants in the trials reported that their depression was no better but that they had experienced a boost in sexual desire.

The company is conducting four trials on 5,000 women in 220 locations and hopes for approval from the US Food and Drug Administration in 2009.

The company is not yet sure exactly how flibanserin works, but Dr Charles de Wet, Boehringer Ingelheim’s medical director for the UK, said: “As many as two out of every 10 women describe some degree of decreased sexual desire. Female sexual dysfunction is not just related to blood flow, but also affected by stimulation of certain brain areas dealing with sexual stimuli.”

He added: “The aim of flibanserin is to return women’s sexual desire to a normal state — no excessive sexual effects have been reported from the treatment in any clinical trial.”

Flibanserin pills stimulate parts of the brain associated with emotions and pleasure, including a circuit that appears to control desire and sexual arousal.

Viagra, which dominates the £1 billion worldwide market for men’s sex drugs, is frequently used to increase the sexual enjoyment of men without a medical condition. Flibanserin takes several weeks for a significant effect to build up in the brain, meaning that, unlike Viagra, it cannot be “popped” in advance of an evening out.

Paula Hall, a sex therapist for the charity Relate, said she was doubtful whether such a drug would deal with the root problems of poor sex lives.

“The biggest cause of low sexual desire is relationship problems,” she said. “Many women with low sexual desire have no problem with sexual excitement. The desire is there, but they are blocking it.”

Quitting aids have remained prevalent since the FDA approved nicotine gum in the early 1980s. But thousands of smokers who try the gum, the patch and lately Zyban become addicted to the nicotine replacement, said Dr. Albert Polito, a lung doctor at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore.

Initially approved as an anti-depressant, doctors found Zyban helped smokers quit as a side effect, Polito said.

An article in the current issue of HEALTH magazine noted that the new drug, Chantix (generic name Varenicline) is four times as effective as a placebo in reducing withdrawal symptoms and twice as effective as Zyban.

It replaces nicotine in certain receptors in the brain, rendering the active ingredient in tobacco ineffective at those receptors, Polito said.

“It’s not the magic pill,” he said. “If you have a motivated person who wants to quit, this will improve their chances.”

Polito has no investments in the drug or connection to its maker, but said he has seen it work in his practice.

“A lot of the illnesses I treat are directly caused by smoking,” he said.

Cigarette smoking contributes to stroke and heart disease, according to the American Heart Association Web site. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona described cigarette smoking as “the leading preventable cause of disease and deaths in the United States.”

The drug is not cheap, unless you compare it to the cost of smoking one or two packs of cigarettes a day, Polito said. No smoking cessation drugs are covered by insurance.

This TOC diet drug, to be sold under the trade name of Alli, has the same ingredient as the prescription diet drug xenical, which was approved in 1999. Both contain orlistat. Both are made by Roche Holding AG and marketed or to be marketed by GlaxoSmithKline PLC.

The difference is, Alli contains 60 mg orilistat per capsule and is indicated for overweight adults while xenical contains 120 mg per capsule and is for obese adults.

Both diet drugs work only if patients follow a comprehensive program designed to boost the weight loss effect of orlistat. In early trials, participants were offered advice on nutrition and exercise.

The way orlistat works to prevent weight gain or promote weight loss is to inhibit enzymes that would otherwise facilitate absorption of fat in the gastrointestinal duct. As reported, the drug can stop as much as 20 to 30 percent of dietary fat from being absorbed.

Because fat-soluble nutrients need fat as carrier to get into human body, the diet drug inevitably blocks absorption of fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamin D, K, E, and other fat soluble nutrients. For this reason, the consumers of orlistat are suggested to take a multivitamins at bedtime to compensate the loss of nutrients due to the use of the diet drug.

To have the maximum effect, along with orlistat, one needs to use a low fat diet with total calories reduced by 20 percent and do physical exercise as instructed in a 250-page users’ book which is given when the medication is purchased, according to news reports. This means that the dieters will do more than just popping pills three times a day with a glass of water.

Although the regimen including counting of calories is complicated, trial results indicate the weight loss resulting from the diet drug can be marginal, as Public Citizen, a not-for-profit organization that defends consumers’ interest calls it.

In early trials, two groups of men and women were instructed to use a low fat diet with total calories reduced by 20 percent and to do physical exercise. One group was assigned orlistat and the other a placebo.

As a result, participants who were assigned orlistat experienced a loss of 5.7 pounds over a period of six months, 50 percent more than what those who were not on the drug did.

In the trials, the low fat diet might to play a more significant role than the diet pill in the loss of the 5.7 pounds. Using a diet with total calories reduced by 20 percent means that one ate 400 calories less each day during the six month study.

In contrast, the magnitude of weight loss experienced by the subjects on orlistat amounted to loss of 110 calories per day for six months, which was not much as compared to the reduction of calories by using a low fat diet.

Although the loss of 5. 7 pounds in six months was not as much as desired, it still required much of other efforts including physical excise and using a low fat diet, meaning that using the diet drug was not easy.

Suppose that the dieters used a diet with calories reduced by 25 percent rather 20 percent as in the trials, those patients in trials would possibly have achieved the same effect without taking orlistat.

While the effect of orlistat is moderate or even marginal, it is pretty costly. For a six-month program, one needs to spend $300 or more on the pill. For one week, it costs $15 to 25. The investment does not count the time spent as required by the comprehensive weight loss program.

The worse part is this: early studies showed the weight loss effect diminished and lost weight came back after use of the drug was discontinued. Those who want to keep the pounds off need to keep taking the pill. But that is not advisable because the long term adverse effects of this diet drug remain unknown.

Considering the fact that the drug prevents absorption of fat-soluble nutrients, potentially leading to malnutrition, it is unreasonable for one to continue the dieting regimen beyond six months. What does that mean is, you may have to lose the regained weight again later.

The side-effects of using orlistat, prescription or TOC, include gas with discharge, oily discharge, increased number of bowel movements, oily spotting, oily or fatty stools, urgent need to have a bowel movement and inability to control bowel movements. About 50 percent of patients on the drug experienced some side-effects and seven percent lost bowel control. For this reason, one may have to take another drug to get the side-effect under control.

The scariest thing is, mice treated with orlistat were found to develop precancerous lesions of the colon, which could cause colon cancer, according to Public Citizen, a not-for-profit organization that defends the interest of consumers. We just do not know if this side-effect would occur in humans.

While the weight loss caused by orlistat may be marginal, to lose 5.7 pounds with orlistat is not as easy as popping a pill a time, three times a day. Overall, using weight loss drug seems quite a task for many people, considering it only causes a modest weight loss.

Public Citizen calls the plans to market a non-prescription version a “dangerous mistake” because the benefit of the weight loss pill is “marginal” while the diet pill can have “bothersome adverse reactions.”

Sidney M. Wolfe MD and Elizabeth Barbehenn, Ph.D., with Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, on Jan. 23, 2006 testified before the FDA advisory committee raising their concerns based on certain facts little known to outsiders.

They said that, “The long-term effects of Orlistat on morbidity or mortality associated with obesity have not been established.” Glaxo did not report earlier how the diet pill affects blood pressure and serum lipids, which are commonly associated with obesity.

“Although a statistically significant weight loss for Orlistat 60 mg compared to placebo is seen, there is no evidence presented that a modest, transient weight loss due to orlistat will afford any long term clinical benefit either through a change in behaviuor or a reduced risk of serious clinical disease manifest by being overweight,” Wolfe and Barbehenn said in their testimony.

“Physicians are increasingly rejecting the prescribing of Orlistat (decrease from 2.6 million US prescriptions in f.y. 2000 to 1.0 million in f.y. 2004). It is clearly in GSK’s (and partner Roche’s) interest to seek OTC approval. Your committees need to reject this desperate attempt to revive this barely effective drug by an OTC switch.”

A scientist affiliated with foodconsumer.org suggests that there are better ways than taking this drug to shed pounds. The most concerned is not that the pill does not cause bigger weight loss. It is rather that this approach could harm one’s overall health.

Glaxo said in a statement that the company would make Alli, the TOC version of orlistat, available nationwide within six months. It expects that 2 to 4 million Americans will buy the diet pill.

As many as 18 million men may be affected with erectile dysfunction in the United States. The recent development of effective oral medications to treat erectile dysfunction has raised awareness and furnished treatment options, however lifestyle changes like increase of physical activity, stricter dietary control and other measures for the prevention of cardiovascular disease and diabetes may prevent decrease in erectile function.

The study was undertaken to assess the prevalence of erectile dysfunction in the general U.S. male population overall and by age; to assess the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors among individuals with erectile dysfunction; and to determine associations of cardiovascular risk factors, including lack of physical activity with prevalent erectile dysfunction. Prevalence estimates from this study are nationally representative of the noninstitutionalized adult male population in the United States.

Using data obtained from a computer-assisted self-interview in a private room, the authors found that 18.4% of men 20 years and older experienced erectile dysfunction, defined as “sometimes able” or “never able” to get and keep an erection. Demographic data, cardiovascular risk factors and levels of physical activity were extracted from the NHANES study.

Writing in the article, investigator Elizabeth Selvin, PhD, MPH, states, “The association between erectile dysfunction and lack of physical activity suggests that lifestyle changes, especially increasing exercise level, may be effective nonpharmacological treatments. The associations between erectile dysfunction and diabetes and other known cardiovascular risk factors should serve as powerful motivators for male patients for whom diet and lifestyle changes are needed to improve their cardiovascular risk profile. These data suggest physical activity and other measures for the prevention of cardiovascular disease and diabetes may prevent decrease in erectile function.”

The study is “Prevalence and Risk Factors for Erectile Dysfunction in the US” by Elizabeth Selvin, PhD, MPH, Arthur L. Burnett, MD, and Elizabeth A. Platz, ScD, MPH. It appears in The American Journal of Medicine, Volume 120, Issue 2 (February 2007), published by Elsevier.