Progressive arousal: a new concept and definition for premature ejaculation.

Background: Premature ejaculation (PE) is a nosologic entity with issues in its conceptualization and definition. Aim: To understand if the altered sexual response in men with PE is in the orgasm phase, as currently assumed, or the arousal phase with difficulties in modulating, regulating, or decreasing sexual arousal. Methods: Men were recruited who looked for help for PE and met the diagnostic criteria according to clinical standards. The participants completed a sociodemographic survey and the Premature Ejaculation Diagnostic Tool. They also performed a masturbation exercise with a maximum of 5 stops, with the intention of prolonging the arousal phase. The time of the exercise was measured from the beginning of genital masturbation to ejaculation. Outcomes: We calculated the total time of the exercise, the median time at each start, and the number of dropouts. We performed a pairwise comparison analysis between starts and made a survival curve representing the percentage of men who remained in the exercise. Results: A total of 481 men with PE participated (mean ± SD; age, 29.25 ± 8.72 years). We found that the expected median survival time until ejaculation was 317.00 seconds (95% CI, 288.34-345.65). However, the average time during stimulation decreased as the exercise progressed, and statistically significant differences were observed in their pairwise comparison (P < .001). Also, the chances of ejaculation increased as the exercise progressed, with 62.16% of the participants ejaculating before the end of the exercise. The results indicated increasing sexual arousal, where stops in stimulation were progressively less effective at maintaining ejaculation times at starts. Clinical Implications: We showed that the arousal phase is altered in PE, not the orgasm phase, and this could finally have implications in the diagnosis and/or treatment of this condition. Strengths and Limitations: The analysis of the times at starts and stops in a masturbation exercise in men with PE, had been barely addressed before. In the future, it would be important to verify the effect of stops during sexual intercourse and to incorporate a control group of men without PE. Conclusions: We propose a new conceptualization and definition for PE: progressive arousal disorder is the inability to modulate, regulate, or decrease arousal during any sexual activity, even with brief stops during sexual stimulation, causing unwanted ejaculation.

mHealth system (ATOPE+) to support exercise prescription in breast cancer survivors: a reliability and validity, cross-sectional observational study (ATOPE study).

Physical exercise is known to be beneficial for breast cancer survivors (BCS). However, avoiding nonfunctional overreaching is crucial in this population, as they are in physiological dysregulation. These factors could decrease their exercise capacity or facilitate nonfunctional overreaching, which can increase their risk of additional morbidities and even all-cause mortality. The focus of this study is to evaluate the reliability and validity of the ATOPE+ mHealth system to estimate autonomic balance and specific wellness parameters associated with BCS' perceived load, thereby informing nonlinear prescriptions in individualized physical exercise programs for BCS.Twenty-two BCS were included in the reliability and validity analysis. Measures were taken for four days, including morning autonomic balance by heart rate variability, self-reported perception of recovery from exercise, sleep satisfaction, emotional distress and fatigue after exertion. Measures were taken utilizing the ATOPE+ mHealth system application. The results of these measures were compared with criterion instruments to assess validity.The reliability results indicated that the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) showed an excellent correlation for recovery (0.93; 95% CI 0.85-0.96) and distress (0.94, 95% CI 0.89-0.97) as well as good correlation for the natural logarithm of the mean square root differences of the standard deviation (LnRMSSD) (0.87; 95% CI 0.74-0.94). Sleep satisfaction also showed an excellent correlation with a weighted kappa of 0.83. The validity results showed no significant differences, except for fatigue. ATOPE+ is reliable and valid for remotely assessing autonomic balance, perception of recovery, sleep satisfaction and emotional distress in BCS; however, it is not for fatigue. This highlights that ATOPE+ could be an easy and efficient system used to assess readiness in BCS, and could help to improve their health by supporting the prescription of optimal and safe physical exercise. Trial registration NCT03787966 ClinicalTrials.gov, December 2019 [ATOPE project]. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03787966 .

Attenuating Treatment-Related Cardiotoxicity in Women Recently Diagnosed With Breast Cancer via a Tailored Therapeutic Exercise Program: Protocol of the ATOPE Trial.

OBJECTIVE: Therapeutic exercise is already used to ameliorate some of the side effects of cancer treatment. Recent studies examined its preventive potential regarding treatment-related toxicity, which can increase the risk of functional decline and lead to disease recurrence and death. This trial will examine whether the Tailored Therapeutic Exercise and Recovery Strategies (ATOPE) program, performed before treatment, can mitigate the onset and extent of cardiotoxicity beyond that achieved when the program is followed during treatment in recently diagnosed breast cancer patients. METHODS: The intervention has a preparatory phase plus 12 to 18 sessions of tailored, high-intensity exercise, and post-exercise recovery strategies. A total of 120 women recently diagnosed with breast cancer, at risk of cardiotoxicity due to anticancer treatment awaiting surgery followed by chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy, will be randomized to either group. In a feasibility study, measurements related to recruitment rate, satisfaction with the program, adherence to them, the retention of participants, safety, and adverse effects will be explored. In the main trial, the efficacy of these interventions will be examined. The major outcome will be cardiotoxicity, assessed echocardiographically via the left ventricular ejection fraction. Other clinical, physical, and anthropometric outcomes and biological and hormonal variables will also be assessed after diagnosis, after treatment, 1 year after treatment ends, and 3 years after treatment ends. CONCLUSION: Given its potential effect on patient survival, the mitigation of cardiotoxicity is a priority, and physical therapists have an important role in this mitigation. If the ATOPE intervention performed before treatment returns better cardioprotection results, it may be recommendable that patients recently diagnosed follow this program. IMPACT: The ATOPE program will highlight the need for a physical therapist intervention from the moment of diagnosis, in the prevention or mitigation of cardiotoxicity, in women with breast cancer. It could help physical therapists to establish an adequate therapeutic exercise dose adapted to breast cancer patients and to propose correct therapeutic exercise prescription according to the assimilation of the sessions.