Tongue Untied

January 31, 2006
Personal Health

By JANE E. BRODY
In last summer's prize-winning R-rated film "Me and You and Everyone We Know," a barely pubescent boy is seduced into oral sex by two girls perhaps a year older, and his 6-year-old brother logs on to a pornographic chat room and solicits a grown woman with instant messages about "poop."

Is this what your teenage children are watching? If so, what message are they getting about sexual mores, and what effect will it have on their behavior?

The journal Pediatrics addressed the topic last July in a supplemental report, "Impact of the Media on Adolescent Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors." It is an important and, sad to say, much neglected subject. The report, based on a thorough review of scientific literature, was requested by Congress and supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

A Neglected Subject Pursued

I'll start with the bottom line: "Although a great deal is known about the effects of mass media on other adolescent behaviors, such as eating, smoking and drinking, we know basically nothing about the effects of mass media on adolescent sexual behaviors," the report's principal investigator, S. Liliana Escobar-Chaves of the university's Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research, concluded.

But to hazard a guess based on clear evidence that media representations influence teenage eating, smoking and drinking habits, adolescents are almost certainly affected — negatively — by sexual references and images from television, in movies and video games, in music, in magazines and on Web sites.

Who's monitoring what teenagers see, read and hear about sex? For the most part, no one. "There is growing concern that youth are accessing media in environments isolated from the supervision or guidance of parents or other adults," the report says. "The average American youth spends one-third of each day with various forms of mass media, mostly without parental oversight."

Despite the advent of V-chips, movie ratings and televised warnings of appropriateness for young people, American teenagers have no trouble getting access to graphic sexual presentations. And no one restricts what they hear in popular songs. The effect of abstinence-only education pales by comparison with the many graphic messages that portray sexual activity — especially unprotected sex outside of marriage — to be a part of our culture as normal and acceptable as eating a Big Mac or drinking a Coke.

The proportion of high school students who say they have had sex has declined some and the rate of teenage pregnancies has dropped, but the numbers remain staggering. The report states: "Approximately 47 percent of high school students have had sexual intercourse. Of these, 7.4 percent report having sex before the age of 13, and 14 percent have had four or more sexual partners."

Each year, nearly 900,000 teenage girls in the United States become pregnant (340,000 are 17 or younger). The rates of sexually transmitted diseases are higher among teenagers than among adults, and 35 percent of girls have been pregnant at least once by age 20. In 2002, chlamydia infections were six times as prevalent among sexually active adolescent girls as they were among sexually active women.

The risks don't end with pregnancy and disease. "Data suggest that sexually active adolescents are at high risk for depression and suicide," the report states. "Early sexual experience among adolescents has also been associated with other potentially health-endangering behaviors, such as alcohol, marijuana, and other drug use."

In an accompanying article, Dr. Joe S. McIlhaney Jr. of the Medical Institute for Sexual Health in Austin, Tex., wrote, "Many parents and some physicians underestimate the negative and lifelong impact of early sexual activity." The main report said that, in hindsight, many sexually active teenage girls wished they had waited longer.

Exposure Is Widespread

Television is the best-studied medium, and the average teenager watches it for more than three hours a day. Two-thirds of youngsters 8 to 18 have TV's in their bedrooms, and two-thirds live in homes with cable TV, providing unsupervised access to sex talk and scenes.

The sexual content of TV is pervasive and increasing. A Kaiser Family Foundation study found that "the shows most watched by adolescents in 2001-2002 had 'unusually high' amounts of sexual content compared with TV as a whole: 83 percent of programs popular with teens had sexual content, and 20 percent contained explicit or implicit intercourse."

"On average," it continued, "each hour of programming popular with teens had 6.7 scenes that included sexual topics."

The foundation study found that "characters involved in sexual behavior in TV programs rarely experience any negative consequences."

"Programs with a primary emphasis on sexual risk and responsibility themes represent only 1 percent of all shows that contain sexual content," it continues. Furthermore, only 3 percent of sex scenes observed involved protection against disease and unwanted pregnancy.

What little is known about the effects of television sex on teenage attitudes and behavior comes primarily from a national telephone survey conducted twice, in 2001 and again in 2002, among 1,792 youths ages 12 to 17.

Growing Up Faster

The survey showed that watching TV with sexual content artificially aged the children: those who watched more than average behaved sexually as though they were 9 to 17 months older and watched only average amounts. Twelve-year-olds who watched the most behaved sexually like 14- and 15-year-olds who watched the least.

The research indicated that adolescents who watched shows with sexual content tended to overestimate the frequency of certain sexual behaviors and to have more permissive attitudes toward premarital sex.

As for movies, two studies that analyzed the content of top movie videos rented by young people revealed a large amount of sexual content, mostly sex among unmarried partners.

The effects of such viewing have been minimally studied. In a 2001 study of sexually active black girls ages 14 to 18, those who were exposed to X-rated movies were more likely to have multiple sexual partners, to have sex more often, to test positively for chlamydia and to be less likely to use contraception.

The music videos aimed at teenagers are rife with sexuality or eroticism, much of it explicit, the report noted. But the effects of this exposure have yet to be studied. Likewise, nothing of a scientific nature is known about the effects of magazines, advertising or video or computer games on adolescents' attitudes and behavior toward sex.

As for the Internet, one national survey of 10- to-17-year-olds found that one in five had "inadvertently encountered explicit sexual content, and one in five had been exposed to an unwanted sexual solicitation while online."

The report called for better studies to assess the effects of sexuality in the mass media on adolescent beliefs and behavior, especially studies that measure over time how the cumulative effects of sexual content in different media affect teenage sexuality.

26 January 2006
From New Scientist Print Edition
GOT some public speaking to do? Here is a tip to keep stress at bay: have sex beforehand. But make sure it's penetrative sex - the magic vanishes if you pursue other forms of sexual gratification.

Stuart Brody, a psychologist at the University of Paisley, UK, compared the impact of different sexual activities on blood pressure when a person later experiences acute stress. For a fortnight, 24 women and 22 men kept diaries of how often they engaged in penile-vaginal intercourse (PVI), masturbation or partnered sexual activity excluding intercourse. After, the volunteers underwent a stress test involving public speaking and mental arithmetic out loud.

Volunteers who'd had PVI but none of the other kinds of sex were least stressed, and their blood pressure returned to normal faster than those who'd only masturbated or had non-coital sex. Those who abstained had the highest blood-pressure response to stress (Biological Psychology, vol 71, p 214).

Brody also made psychological measurements of neuroticism and anxiety in the volunteers, as well as work stress and partnership satisfaction. Even taking these factors into account, differences in sexual behaviour provided the best explanation for the range of stress responses. "The effects are not attributable simply to the short-term relief afforded by orgasm, but rather, endure for at least a week," says Brody. He speculates that release of the "pair-bonding" hormone oxytocin between partners might account for the calming effect.

Well sort of...not really, but it certainly seems that She Comes First is consistent with Pope Benedict's recent comments on how erotic love can be blended with and transformed into spiritual love, "where two people really love each other and one no longer seeks his or her own joy or delights but seeks above all the good of the other person". I couldn't agree more. Here's the full article from Reuters:

Pope hopes encyclical will explain true love
Wed Jan 18, 2006 7:11 AM ET

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict said on Wednesday his long-awaited first encyclical will be published next week and that he hopes it can show Christians the proper relationship between erotic love and spiritual love.

He told pilgrims at his weekly general audience that the encyclical, called "Deus Caritas Est" (God is Love), will be published on January 25 to coincide with a week in which the Catholic Church prays for Christian unity.

"In this encyclical, I want to show the concept of love in its various dimensions," he said, speaking without prepared remarks to make the surprise announcement.

"In the terminology used today, love often appears very far from what a Christian thinks," the Pope, elected in April, told listeners in the Vatican audience hall.

The main theme of the encyclical, the highest form of papal writing, is love and charity. A pontiff's first encyclical is always keenly awaited because it is seen as a keynote for his entire papacy.

In the writing, about 50 pages long, the Pope discusses the relationship between "eros", or erotic love, and "agape", (pronounced ah-gah-pay) the Greek word referring to unconditional, spiritual and selfless love as taught by Jesus.

In his comments on Wednesday, the Pope suggested that his encyclical will warn that erotic love risked being degraded to mere sex or merchandise if it did not have a balancing component of spiritual or divine love founded on the Christian faith.

"GIFT OF EROS"

"Eros, this gift of the love between a man and a woman, comes from the same source, from the goodness of creator," he said.

He said erotic love can be blended with and transformed into spiritual love, "where two people really love each other and one no longer seeks his or her own joy or delights but seeks above all the good of the other person".

The Pope told the audience he hoped his first encyclical would "illuminate and help our Christian life".

Vatican sources familiar with the encyclical said that in explaining his position in the encyclical, the Pope quotes not only from Biblical writings, his predecessors and Church teachings, but also from philosophers including 17th century thinker Rene Descartes.

While the Pope is believed to have written the first part himself, the second part, dedicated to the theme of charity, was already on the burner in the final years of the pontificate of his predecessor John Paul.

The second part, believed to have been written by experts and edited by the Pope, deals with the need for Christians to do charitable works.

The encyclical was due to have been published on December 8 but Vatican sources said it was delayed by a series of additions, deletions and changes after observations from various Vatican departments and cardinals who had read a draft.

Pope John Paul wrote 14 encyclicals during his nearly 27-year reign, including several so-called social encyclicals on themes such as the rights of workers and the relationship between the superpowers during the Cold War.

Pope Benedict has said he does not expect to write as much as his predecessor did but wanted to spread John Paul's teachings and see that they were properly understood.

Do we care about being faithful? Are we happy with our sex lives and relaxed about how others behave? The results of a MORI poll for The Observer show that Britain is gradually becoming a more tolerant society. Denis Campbell reports

Denis Campbell
Tuesday January 24, 2006
Observer

Whether it's the graphic intercourse in Michael Winterbottom's film Nine Songs, Eve fondling Jesus's genitals in Jerry Springer The Opera, or the recurring concern over issues such as teenage pregnancy, the subject of sex is often mired in controversy.
Bellowing headlines of the 'where will it all end' variety often suggest a country that would be more comfortable with the sexual mores of the 1950s than the 21st century. Raise the issues of prostitution, of the age of consent for gays, or of sex education and the very public debate that ensues seems to reveal that the British remain resolutely reactionary about their most intimate relations.

However, The Observer's authoritative survey this month of sexual behaviour and attitudes shows that, in a quiet revolution, Britons have become strikingly liberal over a range of key issues. Among a plethora of fascinating, revealing and sometimes contradictory findings, this significant degree of tolerance and an increasing appetite for more adventurous sex comes through strongly.

Most conspicuously, 84 per cent agree that schools should teach children about sexual behaviour and relationships - going beyond the basic biology of reproduction, the only sex-related education they are currently obliged to provide. On that issue, public opinion is far ahead of the government, which will almost certainly reject the recent call by its own independent advisers on sexual health to make such tuition mandatory.

'For years young people have told us this part of their school education is "too little, too late and too biological",' said Anne Weyman, head of the FPA (formerly the Family Planning Association). 'It's a big step forward to see so many adults agreeing with them at last.'

Similarly, about two-thirds (65 per cent) believe prostitution should be legalised, an increase of 4 per cent since our last survey in 2002. The number of people who have had some form of same-sex 'sexual contact' has also risen, from 11 to 15 per cent. And almost one in three people (27 per cent) has slept with someone from a different ethnic background. People from a non-white background make up 8 per cent of the UK's population.

'The survey has highlighted a definite softening of attitudes, which is heartening,' said Kaye Wellings, professor of sexual and reproductive health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. 'It shows that as a society we are losing our hypocrisy towards sex - thinking one thing and doing another - which has been a feature of our sexual mores in the past.

'It's better for society to have tolerant attitudes but quite constrained behaviour, rather than censorious attitudes and repressed behaviour. While Britons are becoming increasingly tolerant towards same-sex sex and paying for sex, for example, the vast majority of people are not doing the things they're quite relaxed about. That's good for the country's sexual health.'

As we become more comfortable with sex, we also appear to be more prepared to wait to have sex for the first time until we feel ready. The MORI poll reveals that the proportion of people losing their virginity before the age of consent, 16, has fallen from 32 per cent in 2002 to 20 per cent, with the number losing their virginity at age 14 or 15 dropping from 23 per cent to 15 per cent. The average age at which people have sex for the first time has actually gone up from just over 17 to nearer 18. The notion of commonplace underage sexual activity is just one of many myths that the poll dispels.

The average number of times Britons have sex every month has remained constant, at around six. There has also been a slight decrease in the number of sexual partners which the average Briton has had, from 9.6 in 2002 to 9.55. As Wellings says, the fact that most people do not have a greater number of sexual partners 'contradicts the misleading impression you get from the media of sexual hyperactivity and exoticism, the idea that there is more and more unselective, uncontrolled sexual behaviour going on'.

Fewer people had sex with someone whose name they did not know (17 per cent, down from 21), or with a work colleague (down from 31 to 28 per cent), or in order to boost their job prospects (18 per cent down to just 5), further substantiating that trend. The morals surrounding sex and faithfulness also appear to be changing. Yet as a nation we are often unconstrained - what some would call amoral - as the survey shows.

Two in five (40 per cent) have been unfaithful - 10 per cent 'frequently' or 'occasionally', despite the greater risk of detection from emails or text messages being read by the person being cheated on. The same number (39 per cent) have been involved in two overlapping sexual relationships - behaviour which experts say carries one of the greatest risks of catching herpes, chlamydia or other sexually transmitted diseases. And more Britons are having one-night stands: 53 per cent, up from 51 per cent in 2002.

Are we happy with our sex lives? Yes, according to The Observer's survey: 28 per cent declared themselves 'very satisfied' and another 34 per cent 'fairly satisfied'. As one in five (19 per cent) were 'fairly' or 'very dissatisfied', it appears that on the surface all is well.

But, as Paula Hall, a sexual psychotherapist with relationship counsellors Relate, points out: 'Add the 17 per cent who said they were "neither satisfied nor dissatisfied" to those 19 per cent who are unhappy, and that shows that 36 per cent of people can't say they are satisfied, which is disappointing. There's a mythology that says that everyone else is having a great sex life, which creates anxiety in people who feel they should be satisfied as much as everybody else. But a third of us aren't, which is sad.'

Hall, whose client list is drawn from that dissatisfied minority, believes 'the increased medicalisation of sex in recent years, through things like Viagra and firms offering solutions to female sexual dysfunction, has increased the pressure on people to feel they are "good at sex". It has made us focus more on performance rather than pleasure. It has prioritised physical fulfilment, through the number of orgasms and erections achieved, over emotional and sensual fulfilment. We have lost sight of the fact that real sexual fulfilment lies in the whole of your body and your heart and your head.'

Perhaps inevitably, our poll brought out some big differences between the sexes. Women, in general, come over as more cautious and less adventurous than men. For example, the average woman has had eight sexual partners, three fewer than men. More than a third of women wish they had waited longer before losing their virginity, but only one in seven men said the same. And 18 per cent of men compared, with 2 per cent of women, would consider paying for sex.

Asked 'After starting a new relationship, how long do you usually wait to have sex with that person?', 20 per cent of men answered either 'immediately' or 'one week', whereas 6 per cent of women gave the same answers.

Wellings said that the survey's findings will put many people at ease about their sex life. 'Despite the sexualisation of society, and the impression you get from the media about unselective and uncontrolled sexual behaviour, and the fact that we're constantly bombarded with advice about how to improve our sex lives, it's heartening that most people are still having sex six times a month with a monogamous partner,' she said. 'That may not fit with the more salacious impression the media gives, but it's actually the case, and that will be reassuring from the point of view of both our sexual health and ordinary people's expectations.'

MORI conducted the fieldwork online among 1,790 British adults aged 16-64 between 6 and 10 January. Data were weighted to reflect the national population profile.

Twentysomething

Emily Bynoe, 27, regeneration worker, London. Lives with long-term boyfriend

For me, sex is really important; it's one of the vital aspects of a relationship. I'm very relaxed about sex and, in terms of my own sex life, very open to trying new things. Even though I was brought up as a Roman Catholic, I don't link sex to guilt.

Sex is one of those things that changes when you've been with someone for a while. It means more, gets better because you know each other and becomes differently satisfying. But some of my friends who are in long-term relationships say they just don't have it any more. I think they carry on in their relationship because sex isn't that important to everyone, and people are in relationships for friendship too.

In theory, the sexual power balance between men and women has changed significantly, but not in reality. More women dress more overtly sexily than before, and some people say that's a sign of women being more in control of their bodies. They may well be, but I think we should move away from seeing women's bodies as their only playing card. We are sometimes the ones to make ourselves one-dimensional sexual creatures.

Of course women should be able to wear what they want without people making judgments about them. But with the emphasis on how everyone looks these days there's a danger that we go down a road where a woman's sexual attractiveness is seen as her most important quality. Men treat women pretty much as they always have done, and women treat men the same as they always have, except for a small minority. It's sad that so little has changed.

Fortysomething

Trish Malone, 40, former development executive in BBC Scotland drama department. Single

About 70 per cent of my female friends are in serious long-term relationships and the other 30 per cent are single, like me. The single ones really want to find a man, to be in a relationship and have all the fulfilling things that involves. They're frustrated because there aren't many decent men - interesting, available men - out there, even for very attractive women. In your twenties the pool of talent seems endless, but in your forties it's very limited indeed. Relationships are much more complicated once you hit 40. Your body clock is ticking really loudly by then, so do you want kids or not? If you want a child, does the man you're seeing want the same?

You find that a lot of attractive single women in their forties date younger men. I love the excitement of a younger guy, who may have less baggage than someone older.

Being 40 now feels very different to 10 years go. I don't feel on the shelf. There are great role models, like Madonna and Sharon Stone, who look great and are happy. I could have had children in the two long-term relationships I had in my twenties and thirties, but assume now that I won't. I'm philosophical about that.

If I met Mr Right tomorrow and we fell madly in love I could envisage trying to get pregnant, though.

Seventysomething

Alec Grieve, 72, retired GP, Glasgow. Widower and father of three

When I was growing up in the late Forties and early Fifties, you were taught that there was no sexual intercourse before marriage. You didn't expect to have sex with a girl after a date; if you were lucky, you got a bit of heavy petting. Even if you were going steady, you felt constrained not to go that final mile. The sexual climate now is different. The only sexually stimulating material available in my day was the odd magazine. Nowadays even the posh papers have sex advice columns and problem pages.

The world trivialises sex in a way that didn't happen before. Previously a sexual relationship was the culmination of a love affair. Nowadays the view often is, "she's young, she's attractive, let's have it" rather than "do I like this person?". I have been married twice, and had other relationships. I have always respected the woman involved, whether the relationship lasted just one month, a year or 28 years - like with my second wife.

By Will Boggs, MD
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=117&art_id=qw1137740582624B243

New York - Thyroid disorders are associated with a variety of sexual
symptoms in men, according to a new report.

Dr Emmanuele A Jannini from University of L'Aquila, Italy, and associates
looked into the prevalence of sexual difficulties in 48 adult male
patients with either underactive or overactive thyroid conditions, before
and after they recovered.

Based on interviews with the 34 men with hyperthyroidism (overactive
thyroid), 18 percent had below-normal sexual desire, 3 percent had delayed
ejaculation, 50 percent had premature ejaculation, and 15 percent had
erectile dysfunction.

'Men with overactive or underactive thyroid "must be evaluated for their
sexual function'
Among the 14 men with hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid), 64 percent had
low sexual desire, delayed ejaculation, or erectile dysfunction, while 7
percent suffered from premature ejaculation, the researchers report in the
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

When patients with hyperthyroidism were treated for the condition, the
rate of premature ejaculation fell from 50 percent to 15 percent - a
figure similar to that found in the general population, the report
indicates. Low sexual desire and delayed ejaculation resolved with
treatment in most of these patients.

Delayed ejaculation resolved in half of the hypothyroid men after
treatment, the researchers note. Erectile dysfunction almost disappeared
in these patients, and low sexual desire improved significantly.

All men with overactive or underactive thyroid "must be evaluated for
their sexual function," Jannini said. He suggested that doctors ask men
three questions: 1 During the thyroid disease did your desire change? 2
Did your ability to have and to maintain the erection change? 3 Did your
ability to control ejaculation or to ejaculate change?

Reuters

Ian Sample, science correspondent
Tuesday November 1, 2005
Guardian

They might not huddle round a marvellous mechanical mouse organ or live with an old cloth cat called Bagpuss, but scientists have discovered that mice are more musical than their simple squeaks suggest.
Research by a team of neuroscientists has revealed that male mice construct complex songs and sing them for minutes at a time when they come across sex pheromones produced by potential mates. The songs are not audible to the human ear because they are too high frequency and although scientists knew mice emitted ultrasonic chirps, recordings of the noises had never been fully analysed.

Tim Holy and Zhongsheng Guo at Washington University School of Medicine in Missouri discovered the murine melodies by accident. In experiments to test how male mice responded to sex pheromones - chemicals which are found in the urine of female mice - they recorded males as they sniffed cotton swabs dunked in urine from females, males and a mixture of the two.

"We were trying to find out the brain mechanisms they used to detect and recognise pheromones, but we noticed the sounds they made on encountering swabs were interesting in their own right," said Dr Holy, whose study appears in the open access journal, Public Library of Science, Biology.

Instead of turning up their snouts, within seconds of encountering the scent of female mouse urine, the males broke into ultrasonic song. Dr Holy and his team processed the sound recordings on a computer and made them audible to the human ear, first by slowing down the entire audio track, and then by keeping the tempo but significantly lowering the pitch. "The first moment I heard them I thought they sounded like songs, and they really do," said Dr Holy.

If the researchers are right, it will elevate mice to an exclusive musical club until now populated mostly by birds, whales, dolphins and gibbons.

The mice used in the experiment were genetically identical and the same age, but still the songs varied widely from mouse to mouse. Some showed a preference for certain syllables over others while others varied how long they spent on different syllables. There is no universal definition of song, but variations in the sounds made and a structure that gives the utterances rhythm make for more convincing songs, said Dr Holy. "Instead of making sounds randomly, mice tend to repeat certain syllables a number of times, then shift to a different syllable. It sounds a lot like the twittering of a bird," he said.

In many bird species, song helps in mate selection, with females choosing males with the most impressive melodies.

"We don't know for sure why mice sing, but it probably plays a part in courtship. But whether a male gains an advantage when it comes to mating by singing well is something nobody has yet looked at," said Dr Holy.

Because mice can easily be genetically modified to test the importance of different genes, the discovery could have a huge impact on research as diverse as the origins of speech, the causes of speech defects and the role of song.

Peter Slater, head of the bird and mammal sound communication group at St Andrews University, said: "With birds it's really only the males that sing, so it would be good to see if that's true of mice too. It would confirm it's a sexual thing.

From annanova.com

A Brazilian woman is suing her partner for not giving her orgasms.

According to Terra Noticias Populares reports the unnamed 31-year-old filled a complaint at Chacar Urbana Police station in Jundiai.

She complained that her 38-year-old partner reached an orgasm and then simply stopped the sexual intercourse.

Police chief Jose Roberto Ferraz is investigating the case.

Police spokesperson said: "We will look into it, we will treat it as an ordinary complaint and let the judge decide."

Mountain View, Calif., October 26, 2005) – ALZA Corporation announced today that it has received a not approvable letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on their New Drug Application for dapoxetine hydrochloride, an investigational compound for the treatment of premature ejaculation (PE).
ALZA Corporation is committed to developing safe and effective medicines that address important unmet medical needs. The company continues to believe that dapoxetine provides important benefits for men who suffer from PE. ALZA plans to address questions raised in the FDA letter and continue the global development program.
PE is a distinct medical condition that has been recognized by the American Urological Association (AUA), the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and the World Health Organization (WHO). PE can have a significant impact on many aspects of a man’s life, including his and his partner’s sexual satisfaction, the ability to build and maintain relationships, and a general sense of confidence. Currently, there are no drugs approved by the FDA for the treatment of PE. Traditional methods of PE treatment rely heavily on behavioral therapy and/or off-label use of older drugs that are approved for other conditions, all of which yield limited success.
ALZA Corporation, headquartered in Mountain View, California, is leading the next generation of drug delivery, with the world's broadest array of technology platforms, including oral, transdermal, implantable, and liposomal technologies. More than 30 products marketed in over 80 countries worldwide now incorporate ALZA's drug delivery technologies.

By DENISE GRADY, for the NY Times

An experimental vaccine has proved highly effective at preventing cervical cancer in a two-year study involving more than 12,000 women, researchers reported yesterday.

The vaccine works by making people immune to two types of a sexually transmitted virus that cause most cases of the disease. It is the first successful vaccine ever developed specifically to prevent cancer.

The vaccine, Gardasil, is made by Merck & Company, which plans to apply for approval to the Food and Drug Administration before the end of this year and, if the vaccine is approved, to market it in 2006.

If widely used, the vaccine could save many lives. Worldwide, there are about 500,000 new cases of cervical cancer a year, and 290,000 deaths. Most of the cases and most of the deaths occur in poorer countries where women do not have regular Pap tests, which can detect cancers or precancerous cells early enough for them to be cured. In the United States, where Pap tests are common, 10,400 new cases are expected in 2005, and 3,700 deaths.

"The potential, particularly in the undeveloped world, particularly if they can overcome the logistics and get the vaccine to those women, could be enormous," said Dr. Deborah Saslow, director of breast and gynecological cancer at the American Cancer Society. The vaccine could prevent at least 70 percent of the deaths from cervical cancer, Dr. Saslow added.

But Dr. Allan Hildesheim, an epidemiologist at the National Cancer Institute, cautioned that even if women are vaccinated, they will still have to be screened regularly for cervical cancer because the vaccine does not prevent all cases of the disease.

"This is not a panacea," Dr. Hildesheim said.

The vaccination will require three shots over six months. Merck has not said what it will cost.

The ideal time to vaccinate girls is before they become sexually active and risk being exposed to one of the cancer-causing viruses, said Dr. Eliav Barr, a research director at Merck. Once cancer develops, it is too late for the vaccine to help. The median age at which girls first have sex in the United States is 15.

It is not known yet how long the protection from the vaccine will last, or whether booster shots will be necessary, Dr. Barr said.

The vaccine works against viruses that belong to a group called human papillomaviruses, or HPV. Nearly every case of cervical cancer is caused by HPV. The viruses are sexually transmitted, extremely common and almost impossible to avoid. At least half the adults in the United States have been infected.

More than 30 types of HPV infect the human genital area. Only some types cause cancer; others cause genital warts. A type known as HPV-16 causes 50 percent of cervical cancers, and HPV-18 causes 20 percent. Other types cause the rest. But even the cancer-causing types are harmless in most people because their immune systems fight them off.

The virus persists in some women, however, causing abnormal growths on the cervix. Most of the growths go away, but some turn cancerous.

Gardasil protects against HPV 16 and 18, which together cause 70 percent of cervical cancers. It is also designed to prevent infection with two other virus types, 6 and 11, which cause 90 percent of cases of genital warts. The four virus types can cause non-cancerous cervical growths that lead to nerve-racking false alarms on Pap tests, and the vaccine is expected to spare many women the abnormal test results.

Merck scientists were scheduled to present the results of the two-year study today at an infectious disease conference in San Francisco.

Their test group included more than 12,000 women, ages 16 to 26, from 13 countries. Half got Gardasil and half placebos.

Among the women who received all three doses of vaccine and did not have HPV infection when they started the study, the researchers found no precancerous cells or early cervical cancers associated with HPV 16 or 18. But among those who got placebos, there were 21 cases.

The findings mean the vaccine was 100 percent effective at preventing the cancers caused by types 16 and 18. But some women in the vaccinated group did develop precancerous cells caused by other HPV types; the company did not disclose how many.

The vaccine is made up of proteins that are normally found on the outer shell of HPV. The proteins, called viruslike particles, are produced by yeasts that have been spliced with viral genes. They provoke a strong immune response that can then prevent infection.

Although Merck will first seek permission to vaccinate girls and women, the company plans eventually to seek approval to use Gardasil in boys and men as well. The company hopes the vaccine will appeal to men because it may prevent genital warts, which can turn into large, ugly growths on the penis.

Vaccinating men might protect their sexual partners as well, including not just women but men who have sex with men, a group at risk for anal cancer caused by HPV. However, Merck has not disclosed any data on whether the vaccine works in men.

Another drug maker, GlaxoSmithKline, is also working on a cervical cancer vaccine, one that does not include wart protection. The company did not respond to several telephone requests for information on the status of its vaccine.

From the New York Post

By LUKAS I. ALPERT

Sex in the city is as hot as ever.

Nearly one-quarter of New York City women say they're doing the deed several times a week, according to a new survey, far outstripping the competition.

Twenty-three percent of Big Apple gals say they're regularly steaming up the sheets, compared with 18 percent of women in Los Angeles, and 17 percent in Dallas, Miami and Chicago, the Trojan Survey of Women and Desire found.

But don't expect to see the city's nickname changed from the Big Apple to the Big Ohh anytime soon — only 22 percent say they have an orgasm during sex.

The survey found that as far as sex is concerned, New York is the safest city in the country, with 93 percent of respondents saying they use condoms the first time they get down with a new partner. By comparison, it's 87 percent in L.A. and 85 percent in both Dallas and Chicago. But New York women are willing to take more chances in some regard, with 68 percent admitting they have had a sex partner whom they don't consider "relationship material," but whom they consider "thrilling" anyway. Only 58 percent said the same in the rest of the country.

Big Apple feminine sexuality was more on par with the rest of the nation in several areas, though. Both in New York and across the country, 42 percent of respondents said they considered themselves "very sexually confident."

And while 72 percent of women in other parts of the country said experimentation was an important part of sexual fulfillment, only 68 percent of Gotham babes thought so.

And most still want guys to make the first move, though barely so. While 96 percent of women say they love it when men approach them, 51 percent say they never turn the tables and approach a man, according to separate survey done by the global dating service It's Just Lunch.

Trojan's nationwide online survey of 1,639 woman, ranging in age from 18 to 59, was conducted as part of a marketing push for its soon-to-be released Elexa — a line of sexual health products geared toward women.

"Despite regional differences, women across America believe that good sex is a must-have as part of a healthy and fulfilling relationship," said Cassandra Johnson, Trojan's product manager for Elexa.