The Asian Erectile Dysfunction Advisory Council and Training (EDACT) Group's latest survey may use rather vivid imagery to describe its subjects' manhood, but one physician said the measurements work.
EDACT conducted a telephone survey of 1,009 Taiwanese men and then classified each man's manhood in one of four groups -- cucumbers, bananas, peeled bananas and conjac jelly.
These groups are supposed to correspond to the erection hardness score (EHS) which goes from one to four, according to Huang Yi-sheng (黃一勝), chief physician at Shinkong Hospital's urology department.
"It's a rough and ready measure, but it corresponds quite well to more sophisticated indices such as the IIEF or the QEQ," Huang told a press conference sponsored by Pfizer, the makers of Viagra.at a press conference, yesterday.
IIEF is the International Index of Erectile Function and the QEQ stands for the Quality of Erection Questionnaire. Huang did not mention whether either of those scales also have their vegetable equivalents.
Seventy-four percent of Taiwanese men fall into the "cucumber" category according to the survey, meaning that they have no erectile dysfunction. Twenty-three percent were designated as "unpeeled bananas," meaning they suffer mild dysfunction, but are still able to have penetrative sex.
"Peeled bananas," at 2 percent, and "conjac jellies," at 1 percent of the population, have moderate and severe erectile dysfunction respectively.
"The old thinking is that if you can maintain penile erection, you do not have erectile dysfunction; the new understanding is related to satisfactory sexual performance" said Andrew McCullough, associate professor of urology at New York University School of Medicine, speaking at the same news conference.
"Those with mild erectile dysfunction might be having sex almost as often as those without erectile dysfunction. The difference comes in their and their partner's level of satisfaction," McCullough said. "We used to tell those patients not to worry. But now, with the new generation of erectile dysfunction drugs, it makes no sense not to help them."
When asked whether those with mild erectile dysfunction might try other measures to improve their sex life before turning to medication, McCullough said "Of course."
"Exercise, smoking cessation and being more spontaneous with your partner can all be very helpful," he said. "But ultimately it is very hard to change human behavior."
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS