Many studies addressing sexual drive and hypersexuality stated that homosexuals are used to report higher levels of sexual desire and compulsive sexual behaviors. Literature showed a lack of comparisons between perceived level of desire in hetero and gay population. This study aims to analyze some variables which could predict levels of sexual desire in both heterosexual and homosexual men such as sexual satisfaction, distress, sexism and dysfunctional sexual beliefs

Nimbi, Filippo Maria

Piacenza, Scipione

Simonelli, Chiara

Tripodi, Francesca

English

Archivio della ricerca- Università di Roma La Sapienza

23rd Congress of the World Association for Sexual Health e295Source of Funding: This investigation was possible due to the funding of theMinistry of Economy and Competitiveness (State Program of the Development ofExcellence of Scientific and Technical Research, Subprogram of Generation ofKnowledge. Ref. PSI2013-46830-P.Conflict of Interest and Disclosure Statement: None.ZINC INDUCES LIPOPOLYSACCHARIDE-MEDIATED UPREGULATION OF HUMANb-DEFENSIN-2 IN HUMAN PROSTATEEPITHELIAL CELLSJun Hyun HANDepartment of Urology, Hallym University Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital,Hwaseong-si, South KoreaMin Su KIM1, Hae Jong KIM2, Jaehyouk LEE2, Soon Chul MYUNG21Department of Urology, Seoul Medical Center, Seoul, South Korea;2Department of Urology, College of Medicine, Chung-Ang UniversityHospital, Seoul, South KoreaIntroduction & objectives: Zinc is considered to be one of the most essential traceminerals for the immune system. High levels of prostatic zinc are associated withprostatic antimicrobial activities. Zinc-deficient individuals experience increased sus-ceptibility to a variety of pathogens. Zinc appears to play a crucial role in maintainingprostate health. This study aimed to clarify the role of zinc in human prostate epithelialcell defense against bacterial infection.Methods: To explore the effect of zinc on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-mediated in-duction of human b-defensin-2 (HBD-2), the normal human prostate epithelial celllines (RWPE-1) were co-treated with zinc/LPS and HBD-2 mRNA expression wasquantitated by the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). We alsoconducted a Western blot analysis to determine whether zinc stimulates p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase-1 and -2(ERK1/2) signaling pathways. To investigate the involvement of the p38MAPK andERK1/2 signaling pathways in zinc-mediated upregulation of HBD-2, quantitativereal-time PCR and immunocytochemical staining were then used to quantify HBD-2mRNA expression and protein production, respectively, which was treated with eitherU0126 (ERK1/2 inhibitor) or SB203580 (p38MAPK inhibitor) prior to each analysisof HBD-2.Results: Cotreatment of RWPE-1 cells with zinc/LPS-upregulated HBD-2 expressionto an even greater extent than either LPS alone or zinc alone. Moreover, the treatmentof RWPE-1 cells with zinc significantly increased both the total and phosphorylatedforms of ERK1/2 and p38MAPK. ERK1/2 and p38MAPK signaling via the inhibitorsU0126 and SB203580 pharmacologically inhibited zinc-mediated upregulation ofHBD-2.Conclusions: These results strongly suggest that zinc plays an important role in theimmune response of the prostate. Furthermore, we demonstrate that zinc-mediatedupregulation of HBD-2 expression upon bacterial infection of prostate epithelial cellsinvolves the ERK1/2 and p38MAPK signaling pathways.Keywords: Zinc, defensin, prostateSource of Funding: This research was supported by the Agriculture, Food and RuralAffairs Research Center Support Program, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and RuralAffairs.Conflict of Interest and Disclosure Statement: None.BIASES OF VISUAL ATTENTION IN SEXUALANXIETY: AN EYE-TRACKING STUDYYenChin LINGraduate School of Human Sexuality, Shu-Te University, TaiwanYungjui HUANG, Yuanhsiang CHUGraduate School of Human Sexuality, Shu-Te University, TaiwanPurpose: Eye-tracking may aid in understanding the cognitive processes involvedin processing sexually appetitive material. The aim of this study was to examinethe correlation of visual attention to sexual stimuli and personal sexual anxiety(SA).Method and material: 19 heterosexual adults completed Sexual Anxiety Scale tomeasure personal SA and an eye-tracking task used free-viewing paradigm. Participantswere presented with a couple array composed of hard-core, soft-core, and neutralinteraction for 3s in each trial. Eye tracking was recorded throughout the trial to assessJ Sex Med 2017;14:e211ee350the attentional processing including first looks towards, percent time looking at, andprobability of looking at, defined regions of the pictures.Result: Higher level of SA for “Sexual Communication” had initial orienting bias andhigher fixation probability for faces in hardcore stimuli, but did not exhibit in soft-coreand neutral stimuli. No correlation was found for “Solitary and Impersonal SexualExpression” and “Exposure to Information”.Conclusions: The present findings suggest that sexual communicate anxious in-dividuals are characterized by enhanced engagement with sexual threat at an early stageof processing and difficulty in disengaging from emotional clues once their initialattention is located on it.Keywords: sexual anxiety, visual attention, eye-trackingConflict of Interest and Disclosure Statement: None.SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND DRIVE: ACOMPARATIVE PILOT STUDY ON SEXUAL DESIREFilippo Maria NIMBIDepartment of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, “Sapienza” University ofRome, ItalyFrancesca TRIPODI1, Scipione PIACENZA1, Chiara SIMONELLI21Institute of clinical sexology of Rome, Italy; 2Department of Dynamic andClinical Psychology, “Sapienza” University of Rome, ItalyIntroduction & objectives: Many studies addressing sexual drive and hypersexualitystated that homosexuals are used to report higher levels of sexual desire and compulsivesexual behaviors. Literature showed a lack of comparisons between perceived level ofdesire in hetero and gay population. This study aims to analyze some variables whichcould predict levels of sexual desire in both heterosexual and homosexual men such assexual satisfaction, distress, sexism and dysfunctional sexual beliefs.Population sample: 312 male subjects (239 heterosexuals and 73 homosexuals) wererecruited on internet. The average age was 31.95 (SD ¼ 9.62), ranged between 18 and72 years.Method(s): A self-administered online survey was available from March 2015 to April2016. It was composed of 13 questionnaires exploring biopsychosocial elementsinvolved in sexual response: IIEF, SSS-M, SDS-M, ASI, and SDBQ.Results: No significant difference was found between sexual orientation and self-re-ported level of sexual desire. Independently from their orientation, subjects with highlevel of desire reported less distress (F(2,287)¼3.11, p<.05) and more satisfaction withtheir sex life (F(2,287)¼9.54, p<.001). Gay reported lower levels of sexism anddysfunctional sexual beliefs, especially to stereotypical beliefs about male(F(1,283)¼15.72, p<.001). Dysfunctional sexual beliefs predicted lower desire level onheterosexual men, but not on homosexuals.Conclusion & recommendations: This study highlighted how sexual orientationhad no direct effect on sexual desire level. Differences between heterosexuals andhomosexuals, if any, should be search in frequency of sexual activity, easier accessibilityto sex, meaning of sex for male and gay identities, and the secondary benefit which sexcould lead to (physical contact, pleasure, temporary filling of “emptiness” feelings,sense of belonging to a minority) more than directly to sexual desire level. Moreover,homosexual people reported to be more free from some stereotypes which, in het-erosexuals, are strictly connected with sexual dysfunctions.Keywords: sexual desire, homosexuality, stereotypesConflict of Interest and Disclosure Statement: None.FRATERNAL BIRTH ORDER AND ANAL-EROTICROLES OF MEN WHO HAVE SEX WITH MENCharles WAMPOLDWidener University, United StatesIntroduction and objective: The fraternal birth order effect (FBOE) describes thephenomenon that homosexual men tend to have a greater number of older brothersthan do heterosexual men. FBOE is widely believed to be a phenomenon that is amarker for an innate, biological predisposition for androphilia in chromosomal males,and it is “the most consistent biodemographic correlate of sexual orientation in men”(Bogaert, 2006, p. 10771). The objective of the study was to determine whetherFBOE applies to all men who have sex with men (MSM), or only to MSM whose analintercourse behavior is predominantly receptive (Bottoms).Population sample and methods: The study participants included 211 NorthAmerican adult MSM who had engaged in anal intercourse with a male during thepreceding year. Each participant was surveyed as to whether his anal intercourse

Sexual orientation and drive: a comparative pilot study on sexual desire

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Sexual orientation and drive: a comparative pilot study on sexual desire

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