November 19, 2009

Deus Sex Machina

[Linda MacDonald Glenn is guest blogging this month] (cross-posted on the Women's Bioethics Blog)

(Roughly translated from Latin as Sex God in the machine) We all know that technology can improve our lives (sometimes....well, at least when it's working properly), but who'd have thunk that nanotechnology could improve your sex life?

In yet one more 'tool' in the arsenal against dreaded erectile dysfunction, nanotechnology to the rescue! Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have developed a foam with nanoparticles encapsulating nitric oxide for the topical treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED). Why is topical better? Because ED medications such as sildenafil , vardenafil, and tadalafil have limitations -- they can cause systemic side effects such as headache, facial flushing, nasal congestion, upset stomach, and abnormal vision. Might this have implications for Female Arousal Disorder for which there remains little, if any, treatment? One can only hope....perhaps the announcement of the new 'female viagra' for pre-menopausal women can benefit from this new delivery system.

On balance, though, Blue Cross Biomedical has developed a new foam condom for use by women, that looks like a vaginal inhaler. The Blue Cross Foam Condom uses a “formulated condom concentrate” comprised of nano silver particles as well as 'surfactant octyl phenoxy -RH4,tween-20, sapn-60,polyethylene glycol 400, deionized water'. Perhaps a male contraceptive can be advanced utilizing a nano-delivery system?

My humble request to scientists and researchers:
Equal time for both sexes, please!

You can check out Linda's original blog at the Women's Bioethics Blogspot.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The word "sex" in Latin is the number six. The word you want is "sexus" (sexus -us m.)

Linda MacDonald Glenn said...

Thank you, Sam -- Deus Sexus Machina is what the title should read then, eh?

Anonymous said...

I can't profess to be an expert but the words are definitely right. I think the grammatically correct title would be "Deus Sexus ex Machina" (Sex-God from the machine) however I'm not entirely sure.

Anonymous said...

As long as it's clear that it's a joke and at least some people get it, who cares if it's grammatically correct? It's not like "deus sexus [ex] machina" has quite the same ring, anyway.

There's a restaurant near me named "Beau Thai". As one reviewer remarked, "It's a pun in French and Thai that only makes sense in English. This disgraces three languages with only two words!"

Anonymous said...

Heh, fair point. I'm not even sure if the "ex" is really required as long as you're using the proper tense anyways. Again, I'm definitely not the expert.

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