Male sexual dysfunction: A review of literature on its pathological mechanisms, potential risk factors, and herbal drug intervention.

Sexual dysfunction (SD) is a disorder of sexual behavior and sexual sensation that appears as an abnormality or absence of sexual psychology and physiological reaction. It is a general term for many different symptoms includes several aspects, erectile dysfunction (ED), failure of sexual intercourse and loss of libido/desire. According to statistics, 52% of 40˜70 year old men suffer from varying degrees of SD. And these diseases caused by a variety of biological and psychological factors. In world about 15% of couples are affected by sexual disharmony among these 40 to 50% are because of male factors. Considering the sensitivity of male reproduction system, it is being easily affected by multiple risk factors, such as chronic diseases, environmental contaminants, drug toxicity and unhealthy lifestyle and so on. In the last few years, significant progress have been made toward understanding the various forms of male SD and the possible potential pathological mechanisms. However, for the time being, the exact cause of SD is not fully understood from the literature. What is also significant about there are quite limited treatments in reproductive medicine being directed against these lesions. The purpose of this review is to summarize the current findings of pathogenic factors of SD in clinical or animal studies, to elaborate the underlying mechanisms of these diseases from studies in vivo and in vitro, to analyses the risk factors, and to describe the management strategies traditionally recommended of male sexual dysfunction. The review findings elucidate a systematic strategies for effectively preventing these diseases.

Involvement of growth factors in diabetes mellitus and its complications: A general review.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a major endocrine metabolic disease and is marked by a lack of insulin. The complication of DM is one of the most difficult problems in medicine. The initial translational studies revealed that growth factors have a major role in integrating tissue physiology and in embryology as well as in growth, maturation and tissue repair. In some tissues affected by diabetes, growth factors are induced by a relative deficit or excess. Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) is a promising regulator of glucose and lipid metabolism with multiple beneficial effects including hypoglycemic and lipid-lowering. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent angiogenic and vascular permeability factor and is implicated in both of these complications in diabetes. Increase or decrease in the production of transforming growth factor-ß1 (TGF-ß1) has been associated with diabetic nephropathy and retinopathy. The insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) is a naturally-occurring single chain polypeptide which has been widely used in the treatment of diabetic glomerular and renal tubular injuries. This review summarizes the recent evidences for an involvement of growth factors in diabetic complications, focusing on their emergence in sequence of events leading to vascular complications or their potential therapeutic role in these diseases. Growth factor therapy in diabetic foot ulcers is already a clinical reality. As methods to finely regulate growth factors in a tissue and time-specific manner are further developed and tested, regulation of the growth factor to normal level in vivo may well become a therapy to prevent and treat diabetic complications.