Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine say preliminary results of a small study show promise in improving erectile dysfunction  in men who had shown minimal reaction to Viagra. The study results are published in the March issue of the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

Erectile dysfunction is often a sign of a more severe vascular problem that involves abnormalities in the lining of the blood vessels. And often, endothelial dysfunction is an underlying problem for erectile dysfunction - it can be one of the first signs of atherosclerosis, a build-up of plaque and blockages

Heart function significantly improved in children and young adults with single-ventricle congenital heart disease who have had the Fontan operation following treatment with sildenafil, a drug used to treat erectile dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension, say researchers from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Single-ventricle defects are a collection of cardiac malformations that impair the heart's ability to pump blood. Examples include tricuspid atresia, pulmonary atresia/intact ventricular septum and hypoplastic left heart syndrome.

The Fontan operation

The options to treat erectile dysfunction have increased in the past few years with the introduction of medications that can help promote an erection in males. Once thought to be due only to psychological factors, erectile dysfunction may occur because of a variety of medical conditions and in fact, it may be the initial presenting symptom of serious illness such as atherosclerosis and diabetes.

This illness often remains difficult for patients to discuss with their health care practitioners. With the advent of medications that help promote an erection and with increased advertis

New recommendations from an NICHD study question current standards for determining whether a semen sample is normal or abnormal. Under the new recommendations, many men formerly considered fertile may, in fact, have difficulty fathering a child. Conversely, men who fall below the threshold of the current standards, may be capable of fathering a child.

The study, based on the most comprehensive analysis of its kind, was conducted by researchers in the NICHD-sponsored National Cooperative Reproductive Medicine Network, and appears in the November 8 "New England Journal of Medicine&quo

An FDA advisory panel unanimously rejected what some had hoped would become the first drug approved to boost sexual desire in women.

Experts said the drug, widely dubbed "female Viagra," showed little evidence of working and raised safety concerns. If the FDA follows the recommendation of the advisory panel, it would send drugmakers back to the lab in their quest to come up with a drug that could be marketed to women with lower-than-desired libidos.

German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim had hoped to sell the drug, known as flibanserin,