Activities at the Center of Excellence for the acceleration of Harm Reduction at the University of Catania (CoEHAR) are in full swing.
After presenting to the press the first 9 approved projects, prof. Riccardo Polosa flew to China with another well-known Italian scientist affiliated with CoEHAR, the sexologist Emmanuele A. Jannini, Professor of Endocrinology, Metabolic Diseases and Andrology at the Tor Vergata University of Rome. Prof. Jannini is a world-renowned scientist who is an excellence in the field of sexual and couple dysfunctions.
With over 300 million, China has the largest number of smokers in the world; one smoker out of three is Chinese, most of them are very young, half of them being between 20 and 34 years old. Smoking is known to significantly reduces fertility and sexual power. Infertility and impotence are very concerning problems in China and this explains the vast diffusion of private and university clinics that treat these dysfunctions.
In this context, Jannini and Polosa have discussed with a group of Chinese andrologists and sexologists to evaluate the possibility of launching programs to reduce risk from smoking, in order to improve the quality of sexual life through strategies based on the use of new reduced-risk technologies among patients with sexual dysfunctions and fertility problems.
The two Italian scientists have illustrated the project proposal to researchers headed by prof. Gao Yong of the Center for Reproductive Medicine and prof. Yadong Zhang from the Department of Urology, both from the first affiliated hospital of the Sun Yat-Sen University of Guangzhou.
The aim of this CoEHAR’s proposal – also developed together with the collaboration of the andrological research group directed by prof. Aldo Calogero of the University of Catania – is to investigate possible improvements in the quality of the sexual life of male smokers who switch to combustion-free products compared to those that continue to smoke conventional cigarettes.
“I am very happy to establish this collaboration with colleagues from the Sun Yat-Sen University of Guangzhou and with the research group of Prof. Jannini – said Polosa – we have laid the foundations to start an effective dialogue to develop original and innovative research whose results I am sure will confirm the validity of the risk reduction paradigm also in the sexual sphere. These themes are not only highly topical, but represent central values for the individual and for the couple”.
“Meeting the Andrological community of the Sun Yat-sen University of Guangzhou, was an important milestone for the CoEHAR – stated Jannini – We have illustrated a new strategy facing the growing epidemic of smoke-related diseases in China, where 1/3 of cigarette smokers in the world are concentrated, with a specific focus on the ability of sexual and reproductive health to act as a biomarker of the possible effect of switching from the regular cigarette to electronic cigarettes. By reducing dramatically the impact of tar from combusted tobacco on sexuality and fertility we have introduced new innovative paradigm in the philosophy of harm reduction”.
