The objective of this study consisted in assessing the prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED) and other sexual dysfunctions in a group of men who attended a prostate awareness week campaign. In total, 2715 men attended to 'Semana de la Prostata 2001' campaign and received an additional questionnaire on sexual health. The prevalence of ED, desire and ejaculatory disorders was of 41.7, 33.8 and 49.3%, respectively; however, not all of them lived these difficulties as a real sexual problem because only 918 men (37.8%) acknowledged having 'any sexual difficulty'. Only 13.7% of the attendees consulted a physician for this reason in the past. This first Argentinean study proves the high prevalence of sexual dysfunctions in our population.

The objective of this study was to assess the potential of phentolamine as a treatment of postmenopausal women with female arousal disorder (FSAD). Vaginal photoplethismography and a subjective questionnaire were used. Forty one women were enrolled and four treatments were tested: vaginal solutions 5 mg and 40 mg and an oral tablet each of 40 mg of phentolamine and placebo. Physiological readings were significantly different from placebo in the women using hormone replacement therapy (HRT) with 40 mg of phentolamine in vaginal solution (p = 0.0186). Subjective reports also were significantly different from placebo with the vaginal solution 40 mg and the oral tablet of 40 mg of phentolamine among hormone replacement users. No significant differences were found among women not receiving HRT. Results indicate that phentolamine may show promise as treatment for FSAD in estrogenized postmenopausal women.

Endoglin is a transmembrane auxiliary receptor for transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) that is predominantly expressed on proliferating endothelial cells. It plays a wide range of physiological roles but its importance on energy balance or insulin sensitivity has been unexplored. Endoglin deficient mice die during midgestation due to cardiovascular defects. Here we report for first time that heterozygous endoglin deficiency in mice decreases high fat diet-induced hepatic triglyceride content and insulin levels. Importantly, these effects are independent of changes in body weight or adiposity. At molecular level, we failed to detect relevant changes in the insulin signalling pathway at basal levels in liver, muscle or adipose tissues that could explain the insulin-dependent effect. However, we found decreased triglyceride content in the liver of endoglin heterozygous mice fed a high fat diet in comparison to their wild type littermates. Overall, our findings indicate that endoglin is a potentially important physiological mediator of insulin levels and hepatic lipid metabolism.

Nature Communications 8: Article number:15111 (2017); Published: 8 May 2017; Updated: 16 June 2017 The affiliation details for Paula Iruzubieta and Javier Crespo are incorrect in this Article. The correct affiliation details for these authors are given below: Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBERehd).