P.Ink Day 2014

P.Ink Day 2014

Artwork used with permission from P.Ink              The National Cancer Institute estimates there will be 232,670 new cases of breast cancer among women and 2,360 new cases of breast cancer among men in 2014, with an estimated 40,000 deaths among women and 430 deaths among men. This number has increased steadily since 2012, which is when I personally started keeping track of these numbers.              Breast cancer treatment can include mastectomy, which is the total removal of one or both breasts. According to the Mayo Clinic, newer mastectomy techniques can preserve breast skin.              Some women who undergo mastectomy choose to have breast reconstruction surgery, which can restore shape to a breast with the option to have a nipple implant performed during the reconstruction surgery. Breast reconstruction surgery can be done immediately after a mastectomy or in a separate surgery at a later date. According to the Mayo Clinic, newer mastectomy techniques can preserve breast skin. Cancer survivors who have undergone a mastectomy are left with scars from these surgeries.              P.Ink is a non-profit organization that helps partner mastectomy patients with tattoo artists so that scars can be transformed into beautiful designs. Areola pigmentation professionals help survivors by restoring the circular pigmentation around reconstructed nipples using a tattoo technique so reconstructed breasts will have a more natural look.              P.Ink Day’s inaugural event was held in 2013 at Saved Tattoo in New York City. At this event, ten tattoo artists helped ten breast...

Sex in the News

            This blog pays homage to the syndicated column, News of the Weird, by creating a list of sexual issues, sexual health, and other taboo topics in the recent news.             Holly Stewart, a grandmother from Kansas City, Missouri, asked for money on Kickstarter to help fund her penis art business. She wanted to raise $250 to pay for promotional posters to advertise her art exhibit HollyPolyester: Local Grandmother Quilts Giant Penises, which ran from September 4-19, 2014, at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Gallery of Art. The grandmother raised $300 on Kickstarter, and her art show took place as planned. Stewart’s art includes life-size and giant quilted penises made from colorful materials and penis sculptures made from pins and sequins. Sources: elitedaily.com and the UMKC Gallery of Art website             Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, a drug maker located in Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania, laid off 200 workers, or 30 percent of its workforce, on September 10, 2014. The pharmaceuticals company, which has not made a profit since 2012, sells 12 products dedicated to men’s health, including the testosterone gel Testim, the erectile dysfunction drug Stendra, and the Peyroine’s disease (penile curvature deformity) drug Xiaflex. Stendra is the first new erectile dysfunction drug to hit the American market in nearly a decade, and the company is awaiting a decision from the Food and Drug Administration to change the drug’s label to indicate a 15-minute onset of action over the current label’s 30-minute onset of action, which means it may take less time than previously thought for the drug to take effect. Auxilium expects to pay $20 million in...

The Pharmaceutical Side of Erectile Dysfunction

            A man’s erection is caused when nitric oxide is released from local nerve endings, which initiates a chemical reaction that allows blood vessels to dilate, or expand. A protein called cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) and an enzyme called PDE 5 play important roles in helping create an erection. cGMP signals the muscles in the blood vessel walls to relax and fill with blood. The amount of blood flowing into these blood vessels must be strictly controlled, filling them to capacity but not to bursting. PDE 5 breaks down cGMP to prevent overstimulation of the blood vessels and to prevent excessive relaxation as well.             Problems start to occur when there is not enough cGMP present or if cGMP is broken down too quickly by PDE 5. In either case, the blood vessels don’t remain relaxed long enough to fill with a sufficient amount of blood to allow the penis to become erect, thus giving rise erectile dysfunction. Current erectile dysfunction drugs, such as Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, and Stendra, work by inhibiting or blocking the effect of PDE 5 and thus allowing cGMP to remain active longer which in turn makes it easier to both achieve and maintain an erection. For erectile dysfunction drugs to work, a man must be sexually aroused as this allows the body to release cGMP which allows the blood vessels to fill with blood.             Cialis is slightly different in chemical makeup than Viagra and Levitra, which are both essentially the same in chemical makeup. Foods, especially fatty foods, affect how Viagra, Levitra, and Stendra are absorbed by the...

Herpes: the Facts Amid the Myths

             Herpes simplex virus is a common contagious viral infection and is classified into two categories: herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) and herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2). Under a microscope, the two viruses are almost identical as they share about 50 percent of their DNA. Both strains of the herpes virus infect human mucosal surfaces before establishing latency, which is the period between infection with a virus and the onset of symptoms, in the nervous system. Basically, the virus lies in wait in a person’s nerves until the time is right for an outbreak of herpes. The HSV-1 virus prefers to establish latency in the trigeminal ganglion, a collection of nerve cells near the ear, and from there can recur on the lower face or lip. The HSV-2 virus prefers to establish latency in the sacral ganglion at the base of the spine and recurs in the genital area. Thus why HSV-1 is often referred to as oral herpes and HSV-2 as genital herpes. About two-thirds of people infected with herpes, regardless of the type, are asymptomatic, or without symptoms, or they experience symptoms too mild to notice. Both types of herpes viruses can recur and spread even when no symptoms are present.              HSV-1 causes oral herpes on the lips, mouth, gums, and/or face. These small, usually painful blisters are often referred to as cold sores and like to form in the soft moist skin that lines the lips, mouth and nose. Cold sores can form on ordinary skin if there is a break in the skin that...
Help Wanted: Experience Preferred

Help Wanted: Experience Preferred

            Your Sexy Librarian is a real woman with family and social obligations, a relationship that takes compromise and understanding in order to remain strong, and a demanding job in the corporate world. I research and write all of my blogs. Each blog is then edited by one of three editors: an experienced copy editor at a newspaper, an ace reporter who specializes in government and investigative journalism, and a former sports writer and editor who now works in the pharmaceutical industry. My editors work for free because they believe in me. And where else will they get to edit writing about sexual health, sexual issues, and other taboo topics?             I want to write blogs about interesting topics, and I need real people with experiences who will share their stories with me to help keep my blog going. When I attend networking events, I ask people to suggest stories or sources to me. I am usually met with wide eyes and hesitation, which is why I am asking via the internet for reliable sources to help me educate and re-educate adults in this country and abroad. I work in the healthcare industry and deal with hundreds of people’s most personal information on a daily basis. It is a Federally-mandated job requirement to keep that patient information confidential, and I will treat sources for my blogs with the same respect by ensuring all sources will be protected and kept confidential. Names can and will be changed to better conceal the identities of those who do not want their confidences told to their families, neighbors,...