TUESDAY, May 20 (HealthDay News) -- Gene therapy may be a way to treat erectile dysfunction in men who do not respond to pills such as Viagra, researchers report.

Maxi-K gene therapy is a gene transfer that improves erectile dysfunction. Two studies using the gene were presented Tuesday at the American Urological Association's annual meeting, in Orlando, Fla.

"Gene transfer technology has the potential for long-term improvement for erectile function," lead researcher Dr. Arnold Melman, a professor of medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, said during a morning teleconference Tuesday.

"The market for erectile dysfunction is quite large," Melman said. "And medications such as Viagra don't work very well in 40 percent of men."

Melman noted that a recent survey showed that 50 percent of urologists would consider switching their patients from their current medications to gene transfer treatment. "So, we think this will be well-accepted by physicians and patients," he said.

Results of a phase I trial testing gene transfer in 11 men with erectile dysfunction who had failed other therapy showed that gene transfer was safe and also had restorative effects. Four different doses were tried during the trial. Men receiving the highest dose showed improvement for up to six months, Melman said.

"These men had normal sexual function for six months and then went back to the way they were," Melman said. He added that two doses a year would be enough for most men to maintain their normal sexual function.

During two years of follow-up, none of the men reported any abnormalities after the gene transfer. The procedure was safe, and no adverse effects were seen, Melman said.

Based on these findings, Melman's group is moving on to new trials and hopes to have a product on the market within two years.

In another trial, four monkeys were fed a high-fat diet, which reduced their sex drive. After the monkeys received a Maxi-K gene transfer, they became friskier.

In addition, the number of partial and full erections increased about fivefold, the researchers found. Also, the frequency of ejaculations increased among the monkeys that received the gene transfer. Moreover, the gene transfer affected how the monkeys behaved with female monkeys.

"The most fascinating thing is there was the increased socialization," lead researcher George J. Christ, a professor of urology and head of the Program in Cell Tissue and Organ Physiology at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, said during Tuesday's teleconference. "After receiving a gene transfer and regaining sexual function, they felt better about themselves."

More information

For more on erectile dysfunction, visit the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

SUNDAY, May 18 (HealthDay News) -- If an expectant mother is exposed to high levels of stress, her baby may be more likely to develop asthma or allergies later in life, new research suggests.

Babies born to mothers experiencing high levels of stress had more IgE in their blood at birth than did babies born to less-stressed moms. IgE is an antibody involved in allergic and asthmatic reactions.

"Moms who had elevated levels of stress had children who seemed to be more reactive to allergens, even when exposed to low levels of allergens," said study co-author Dr. Rosalind Wright, an assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Wright's colleague, and another author of the study, Junenette Peters, said that stress may make women more susceptible to allergens because it "may make the cells more permeable" so that even low levels of exposure trigger a reaction. And, women whose immune systems are altered by stress may, in turn, pass down that trait to their infants.

Peters, a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard Medical School, was to present the findings Sunday at the American Thoracic Society's 2008 International Conference, in Toronto.

The study, which was funded by a grant from the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, included 315 expectant mothers and their infants. All of the mothers lived in an urban environment.

Mothers filled out a questionnaire designed to assess their levels of stress in many different domains. Financial issues, home issues, community safety, relationship problems and medical issues were the most frequently reported negative events experienced by the mothers.

Dust mite exposure was also assessed using samples obtained from the pregnant women's bedrooms. When the babies were born, a sample of cord blood was taken.

After controlling the data to compensate for maternal age, race, smoking, education, history of allergy and asthma, the child's gender and the season of birth, the researchers found that the number of negative domains -- stressors -- reported was associated with an increased risk of elevated IgE in the cord blood.

"A mom who had three or more negative events would have a 12 percent increased chance of having a baby with elevated cord blood IgE," Peters said.

Wright pointed out that elevated IgE is "suggestive" of an increased risk of developing asthma and allergy later in life, but that the association isn't clear-cut and likely depends on exposure to other risk factors. The researchers will be following these children until they're 5 years old to see if they end up developing asthma and allergies later in life.

Dr. Ashlesha Dayal is a maternal fetal medicine specialist at Montefiore Medical Center, and an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Albert Einstein Medical College in New York City. She said: "There's definitely emerging data that stress in pregnancy can affect the pregnancy in different ways; for example, stress has been linked to growth restriction, decreased bonding, and even preterm delivery. So, it wouldn't be unreasonable to think that it would precipitate a disease that's triggered by stress."

But, added Dayal, "This is a small study that needs to be validated. We really need more numbers to verify this association."

Dr. Jennifer Appleyard, chief of allergy and immunology at St. John Hospital in Detroit, agreed. "This is an interesting study, but it hasn't demonstrated cause and effect. Maybe what goes on before birth can have long-lasting effects," she said, but added that she doesn't think this is something expectant mothers needed to be overly concerned about in most cases.

Wright said that, although the researchers aren't making specific recommendations on stress reduction based on this study, for your general well-being, it's a good idea to reduce your stress levels whenever possible.

More information

To read more about stress and pregnancy, visit the March of Dimes  .

TUESDAY, May 6 (HealthDay News) -- Couples trying to conceive should choose the lubricant they use wisely because some lubricants can affect sperm motility, a new study finds.

"Most commercial lubricants are toxic to sperm, and couples who want fertility should think about carefully choosing the lubricant they want," said study author Dr. William H. Kutteh, a reproductive endocrinologist at the University of Tennessee, in Memphis.

For the study, Kutteh and his team tested four commercially available lubricants against a new "fertility-friendly" lubricant developed by the researchers.

Their lubricant, called ConceivEase, didn't adversely affect sperm motility, Kutteh said, although the other four lubricants did. The new lubricant, with a patent pending, is made by Reproductive Laboratory Inc. in Memphis. Kutteh is an owner of the company and the product is distributed by Sepal Reproductive Devices in Boston, he said.

Kutteh was to present the findings Monday at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists annual meeting, in New Orleans.

The test results could be good news for couples having difficulty conceiving, he said. "People are afraid of going to a fertility doctor because they think they will have to spend $10,000 on IVF [in vitro fertilization]," he said. "Sometimes all you need is a $14.99 oil change."

If sperm aren't moving properly, fertility is affected, Kutteh said. "The sperm have to move through the vagina, through the cervical mucus and out to the fallopian tube. Anything that decreases the motility of the sperm will make the pregnancy rate decline. Sperm can live for 48 to 72 hours."

For the study, five men who had initial sperm counts above 65 percent motility donated sperm. Kutteh's team then exposed the sperm to four commercially available lubricants -- K-Y Jelly, Replens, Touch and Astroglide, along with ConceivEase.

The effects on sperm motility were evaluated at 1 minute, 15 minutes, 30 minutes and one hour. While the ConceivEase maintained sperm motility at 65 percent, the others did not. At one hour, the motility of the sperm exposed to Touch was down to 10 percent, while sperm exposed to the other three lubricants was down to zero, the study found.

Kutteh said he first began noticing the effect of lubricants on sperm more than a decade ago. While at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, he published a report in the International Journal of Fertility showing that commercial lubricants were harmful to sperm motility, he said.

Kutteh said he's been giving the lubricant to his own patients for years. Lubricant use during intercourse is common among couples undergoing fertility treatment, he said, partly because ovulation-inducing agents can cause vaginal dryness.

The new lubricant includes light mineral oil, Vitamin E, and glycerol buffered with a certified growth medium. It protects the sperm from pH changes and other factors that can decrease fertility, according to literature from the company.

Dr. Jennifer Wu, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, called the new study interesting, adding that it "holds promise because it doesn't alter sperm motility at one hour."

But, she added, she'd like to see results beyond the one hour, up to 72 hours.

Wu said she typically advises couples trying to conceive not to use commercial lubricants at all, and she thinks that's common advice from doctors. "We don't want to do anything that narrows the window of opportunity for sperm to meet the egg."

And, while the commercially available lubricants were found to kill off sperm, Kutteh added a caveat for those couples not trying to conceive: Don't trust them as contraceptives.

More information

To learn more about infertility, visit the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

THURSDAY, April 24 (HealthDay News) -- New information about how the brain processes social status is outlined in a study by researchers at the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

Using functional MRI scans, they found that different brain areas are activated when a person moves up or down in social status or sees people who are socially superior or inferior. Brain circuitry activated by important events responded to potential change in social status as much as it did to winning money.

The study was published in the April 24 issue of Neuron.

"Our position in social hierarchies strongly influences motivation as well as physical and mental health. This first glimpse into how the brain processes that information advances our understanding of an important factor that can impact public health," NIMH Director Dr. Thomas R. Insel said in a prepared statement.

Previous research has shown that social status has a strong effect on health. For example, one study of British civil servants found that the lower a person's rank, the more likely they were to develop cardiovascular disease and die early. Psychological effects, such as having limited control over one's life and interactions with others, may be one way that lower social rank compromises health, according to background information in a news release about the study.

The NIMH researchers created an artificial social hierarchy in which 72 volunteers played an interactive computer game for money. The participants were assigned a social status and were told it was based on their playing skill. However, the game outcomes were predetermined, and the other "players" were simulated by computer.

While their brain activity was monitored by fMRI, the volunteers intermittently saw pictures and scores of inferior and superior "players" they believed were playing in other rooms at the same time. The fMRI showed that the participants' perceived position in the gaming hierarchy greatly influenced their brain activity and behavior.

"The processing of hierarchical information seems to be hard-wired, occurring even outside of an explicitly competitive environment, underscoring how important it is for us," said study author Caroline Zink, of the NIHM Genes Cognition and Psychosis Program.

More information

For more on the parts of the human brain, visit the National Institute on Aging.