Saiba tudo sobre 'Viagra feminino', que pode ser aprovado

Especialistas divergem quanto à origem da falta de desejo sexual em mulheres

Barbara Gattuso já tinha mais de 35 anos quando percebeu que estava perdendo o interesse em fazer sexo com o marido, Gregg. Passou vários anos usando desculpas e evitando-o, em vez de se abrir com ele. "Até que comecei a me dar conta de que devia haver um grande problema comigo: eu amava meu marido, tinha um casamento incrível e filhos maravilhosos. O que estava acontecendo?", lembra ela, hoje com 66 anos.

O problema era o desejo. Gattuso não sentia nenhuma vontade de se relacionar sexualmente – não só com seu marido, mas com ninguém mais.

Muitos sexólogos acreditam que essas oscilações no desejo sexual são perfeitamente normais – principalmente entre mulheres a partir de uma certa idade. Já outros especialistas defendem que a falta de desejo é um distúrbio que resulta do desequilíbrio de algumas substâncias químicas do cérebro e poderia ser tratado com medicamentos específicos.

Esta semana, a Food and Drug Administration (FDA), órgão dos Estados Unidos que regulamenta a produção e a comercialização de remédios e alimentos no país, reúne um painel de consultores para decidir sobre a aprovação do Flibanserin – medicamento que já foi apelidado de "Viagra feminino".

Equilíbrio cerebral

Flibanserin já foi reprovado pelo FDA em 2010, mas foi reformulado desde então

Apesar de não ser uma exclusividade das mulheres – e o Viagra e seus similares estão aí para provar que os homens também enfrentam distúrbios sexuais ao envelhecerem -, a natureza do problema é bem diferente em cada caso.

"Nós, médicos, costumamos dizer que existem três formas de disfunção sexual entre os homens: ereção, ereção e ereção", afirma Stephen Stahl, psquiatra da Universidade da Califórnia em San Diego. "Entre as mulheres, os problemas também são três: desejo, desejo e desejo."

A causa precisa desse declínio – e até as origens do desejo – é um mistério para os cientistas, apesar de eles saberem que é algo relacionado ao circuito de compensação do cérebro.

Uma das teorias é que o distúrbio, conhecido como frigidez ou anafrodisia, resulta de uma incapacidade de "desligar" as partes frontais do cérebro responsáveis pelas tarefas cotidianas. Como resultado, esse circuito, que lida com motivação e prazer, é inibido.

Desde que o Viagra comprovou ser eficiente do tratamento da disfunção erétil (sem falar nos lucros gerados para a empresa que o desenvolveu), começou uma corrida para encontrar um medicamento semelhante para as mulheres – mas um que tenha uma ação no cérebro e não nos órgãos genitais.

O Flibanserin foi um dos primeiros a largar nessa corrida. Inicialmente desenvolvido para ser um antidepressivo, provou-se ineficaz na alteração do humor. Mas nos estudos clínicos com a droga, as mulheres manifestavam um efeito colateral inesperado: um maior interesse em sexo.

O remédio parece agir regulando o equilíbrio dos neurotransmissores nos circuitos cerebrais, principalmente a dopamina, a noradrenalina e a serotonina. "Acreditamos que a droga normaliza ou compensa algo que não esteja ajudando a afinar esses circuitos", afirma Stahl. "Ou ainda, ela pode permitir que as mulheres se libertem da ação desses circuitos frontais que estão inibindo o desejo sexual."

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Detonador do desejo

Alguns sexólogos temem que solução química substitua recursos como o aconselhamento psicológico

Apesar de o Flibanserin ter sido descartado como antidepressivo, ele foi logo reformulado para funcionar como um detonador do desejo sexual para mulheres com frigidez.

No entanto, os primeiros testes não conseguiram provar um efeito significativo, mesmo com algumas voluntárias relatando terem experimentado "eventos sexuais satisfatórios". Por isso, o FDA reprovou o medicamento em 2010.

Outros estudos realizados desde então, entretanto, sugeriram que a droga aumenta o desejo sexual, mas com um efeito modesto.

"O problema é: como você mede a melhora?", pergunta Susan Scanlan, diretora da campanha Even The Score, que defende uma solução medicinal para a frigidez.

Segundo ela, a base de referência é baixa. "A mulher americana média faz sexo três vezes por mês. Se uma paciente não tiver essa frequência, será que isso significa que o medicamento não funciona?", questiona. De fato, as voluntárias que tomaram Flibanserin relataram ter tido uma média de 2,5 eventos sexuais em um período de 28 dias – mais do que as mulheres frígidas que não estavam usando o remédio, cuja média foi de 1,5 evento.

Muitas das voluntárias também acreditam ter sentido uma grande melhora. Entre elas está Gattuso, que participou de um teste com o Flibanserin em 2011. "Depois de duas semanas, eu era outra pessoa", conta. "Eu acordava no meio da noite, acariciava meu marido. A intimidade, o desejo, a troca... Tudo estava 100% ali."

Efeitos colaterais

Uma das preocupações tem sido os efeitos colaterais do medicamento, como sonolência, tontura e náusea. Scanlan argumenta que esses sintomas são bem menos agressivos do que aqueles que decorrem do uso do Viagra e de outros remédios para a disfunção erétil, como problemas cardíacos, por exemplo.

Outros grupos temem que a aprovação do Flibanserin incentive mulheres a buscar uma solução química para um problema que poderia ser resolvido com aconselhamento psicológico ou tratando de outros problemas, como estafa e depressão.

"No desejo, as relações são importantes, o contexto é importante e fatores situacionais como o humor e a privacidade são importantes", afirma Cynthia Graham, professora de saúde psicológica na Universidade de Southampton, na Grã-Bretanha.

Ela, no entanto, concorda que uma solução farmacêutica poderia ajudar em determinadas situações, "desde que se conheça bem os efeitos colaterais".

Há ainda especialistas que acreditam que a reprovação do Flibanserin atrapalhe outras tentativas para se buscar alternativas mais eficazes para o problema.

Certamente, ninguém está sugerindo uma solução rápida para a falta de desejo, sem se levar em consideração fatores como cansaço, stress, outros medicamentos e questões do relacionamento. "Uma pílula não vai salvar um casamento que está indo mal", lembra Stahl.

'It's a kick in the gut,' Ferguson leader says of violence, shooting

Ferguson,  Mo.,  again found itself in turmoil Monday after overnight violence -- including the police shooting of a man who officials say opened fire on officers -- marred a demonstration marking the first anniversary of the death of Michael Brown.

In separate incidents, police said St. Louis County detectives shot and critically wounded a man after a gun battle, a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter was beaten and robbed, and one police officer was hit in the face with a rock and taken to a hospital.

Also, two teenagers were shot and wounded in a drive-by shooting near Brown’s memorial in Ferguson early Monday morning, police officials said.

 “This is a sad turn of events, and I thank the brave and dedicated law enforcement officers who worked into the early morning hours to protect citizens, businesses as well as peaceful protesters and members of the media,” Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, said in a statement Monday morning.

“Those who terrorize communities with gunfire and commit violence against police officers are criminals, and their reprehensible acts must not be allowed to silence the voices of peace and progress,” Nixon said.

St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger issued a state of emergency Monday, a move that authorizes county Police Chief Jon Belmar to take control of police emergency management in and around Ferguson.

Anniversary protests continued Monday, a year after Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson’s shooting of 18-year-old Brown sparked a national protest movement.

Several demonstrators were peacefully arrested at midday during a sit-in protest outside the federal courthouse in downtown St. Louis, which was ringed by law-enforcement officials. Reporters at the scene said that the professor and philosopher Cornel West as well as prominent Black Lives Matter activists DeRay Mckesson and Johnetta Elzie were among those taken into custody.

One local official expressed unease about the violence that emerged from Sunday night’s protest, which brought a sense of déjà vu to many onlookers who remembered many previous nights over the last year marred by sporadic gunfire and violence.

“It’s a kick in the gut,” said Patricia Bynes, the Democratic committeewoman for Ferguson Township who has been active in protests since last year. She said some troublemakers have used the protests as a staging ground to settle their own disputes in recent months.

“People are starting to use the protests as a reason to shoot at one another over whatever their little beef is,” Bynes told the Los Angeles Times on Monday.

"How dare they use it as an opportunity to shoot at each other,” Bynes said. “People all over this country and especially this community have been doing a lot of work, community work, outreach, development, trying to get engaged … it’s beyond frustrating.”

The trouble began later Sunday evening when a crowd of demonstrators, after braving a rain storm, gathered on Ferguson’s West Florissant Avenue.

Belmar said in an early morning news conference that officers earlier during the protests had eyed a suspect in the crowd they suspected was armed, along with three or four others who appeared to be with him.

Then a gun battle broke out around 11:10 p.m. Sunday, sending bystanders scurrying for cover. A hail of gunfire erupted, possibly 40 to 50 shots over a period of 45 seconds that appeared to be an exchange between two groups, Belmar said.

Meanwhile, he said, a group of plainclothes detectives in an unmarked sport utility vehicle with police lights were tracking the original suspect, who had crossed the street after the shooting.

“I think he was afraid he was going to be shot, and I think that’s why he crossed the road,” the police chief said.

The man – whom officials have since been identified as 18-year-old Tyrone Harris -- opened fire at the SUV, striking the windshield four to five times, as well as the hood, Belmar said. The detectives returned fire from inside the vehicle and the suspect fled behind a building as more shots were fired.

Once behind the building, he was in a fenced-in area with “nowhere to go,” Belmar said, and “engaged the officers.”

All four detectives fired on the suspect and he collapsed, he said.

“It is truly a tragedy,” Belmar said. “There is a small group of people out there that are intent on making sure that we don’t have peace that prevails. I don’t know how else to say that.”

Ferguson activist Tony Rice said that when he ran over to the scene of the shooting, he saw officers standing over a handcuffed black male, later identified as Harris.

"The body couldn't have been on the ground for more than a minute before I got there," Rice told the Los Angeles Times in a telephone interview. "I saw him breathing. I saw him moving."

In videos he uploaded to Twitter, Rice grows passionate and begs officers to call for medical attention.

Rice said that as he continued to plead with an officer ordering him to move away from the scene, he was briefly detained by police, but was released after about 20 minutes.

The man appeared to be alive when he was put into an ambulance, Rice said.

Harris was in critical condition midday Monday when St. Louis County police announced that he had been charged with four counts of first-degree assault on law enforcement, five counts of armed criminal action, and one count of shooting at a vehicle. He had a stolen 9-millimeter Sig Sauer handgun, Belmar said.

Harris was ordered held in lieu of $250,000 cash-only bond.

His father, also named Tyrone Harris, told the television station that his son was in the intensive care unit after being shot several times. 

The detectives, who authorities said have experience on the police force ranging from six to 12 years, have been placed on administrative leave.

Afterward, police said, they searched in vain through the crowd for possibly six people who also had fired weapons in the shootout several minutes earlier.

“There were several people shooting. There were several rounds shot,” Belmar told reporters. “There were probably six different shooters on the other side of the street.”

Belmar said the prosecuting attorney would likely be asked to determine whether the shooting by police was justified.

The department released photos showing what it said were two unmarked police vehicles peppered with several bullet holes.

Belmar asked members of the public to come forward with information and videos to help determine who was shooting in the crowd.

“My prayer is that we can move forward without the violence that unfortunately been associated with this,” he said. "The stakes are very high here.”

 

After the gun battle, one police officer was injured by a flying rock, one of several missiles hurled at officers during protests that became increasingly chaotic as police moved in to respond to reports of weapons in the crowd.

Earlier in the evening, St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Paul Hampel, who was reporting on the protest, was beaten and robbed by several attackers and taken to a hospital for his injuries, police said.

The drive-by shooting near Brown’s memorial on Canfield Drive happened later, at 2:15 a.m., according to the St. Louis County Police Department.

“The two male victims, 17 and 19 years of age, stated they were walking on the sidewalk near the Michael Brown memorial in the Canfield Apartments when an unknown black male wearing a red hooded sweatshirt started shooting at them from the rear passenger side of an unknown vehicle,” the department said in a statement early Monday. “The 17-year-old victim was shot once in the chest/shoulder, and the 19-year-old victim was shot once in the chest.”

Both were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

Ferguson has been the scene of regular protests since Brown, an unarmed black man, was shot to death on Aug. 9, 2014, during a confrontation with Ferguson police Officer Wilson, who is white.

The case spawned a protest movement and led to a number of changes in Ferguson’s Police Department and city government, but the city has remained the scene of periodic turbulence and enduring racial division.

Earlier Sunday, Brown's father, Michael Brown Sr., led a march through town, and hundreds of people observed 4 1/2 minutes of silence to commemorate the 4 1/2 hours that Brown’s body lay in the street after he was shot.

Activists continued to protest Monday, and dozens of protesters reportedly gathered in downtown St. Louis. Near St. Louis’ iconic arch, activists lifted a black-and-white banner that read, “RACISM STILL LIVES HERE #FIGHTBACK”.

Jovem Petrolinense de 21 anos morre atropelado por um trem nos Estados Unido

Uma tragédia, podemos classificar assim  o que aconteceu na tarde do último sábado (25), na cidade de Brockton nos Estados Unidos, envolvendo o Petrolinense Jonnas Carvalho de 21 anos de idade, filho de Luciana Moraes e Josué Souza, que morava no Bairro Gercino Coelho.

Jonnas estava nos Estados Unidos apenas há 3 meses, e na tarde do sábado segundo informações em um acidente até o momento não explicado foi atropelado por um trem morrendo no  local.

A família que transtornada com a tragédia preferiu não se pronunciar, contato já foi mantido com o consulado Brasileiro nos Estado Unidos que já entrou no caso e deverá se pronunciar nas próximas horas.

Ainda segundo  informações ele foi aluno de escola pública em Petrolina, concluindo o ensino médio  no Erem, conhecido como Clementino Coelho, tendo sido aprovado no curso de Psicologia da Univasf no último ano.

O Acidente foi  considerado como uma tragédia, pelas autoridades americanas, as investigações foram feitas no local, mais até o momento do fechamento dessa matéria não foi concluída.

O Corpo de Jonnas deverá chegar ao Brasil em uma semana, segundo informações do consulado Brasileiro.

What Greece must do to secure its $96-billion bailout

I exchange for a promised $96-billion bailout, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has committed his deeply indebted country to a slate of tough new austerity measures and reforms that have proven elusive for

The promises extracted from the Greek delegation by leaders of the 18 other countries that share the euro currency appear even harsher than those rejected by Greek voters in a July 5 referendum. But with banks closed and on the verge of collapse and commerce at a standstill, the Athens government appeared to have little choice but to accede to its creditors' demands.

Here are the steps the Greek government must take, and the divided Parliament must approve, before fellow Eurozone members will formally negotiate a third bailout of Greece since 2010, as outlined in a statement from European Union headquarters in Brussels:

By Wednesday:

• Streamline the value-added tax system and extend it to service industries previously exempt to increase revenue;

• Conduct a comprehensive reform of the pension system to make it self-financing;

• Safeguard the full legal independence of ELSTAT, the Greek statistics office accused of misreporting finances in the past

By July 22:

• Overhaul procedures and arrangements for the civil justice system that should significantly accelerate the judicial process and reduce costs; and,

• Implement the European Union's Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive, with the assistance of the European Commission, to secure new liquidity infusions.

• Carry out ambitious pension reforms by October so that no deficit financing is necessary, or come up with unspecified alternatives;

• Relax state controls on Sunday trade, pharmacy ownership, milk, bakeries, ferry transportation and other closed professions;

• Privatize the electricity monopoly;

• Undertake rigorous review of the labor market to align it with European best practices, and to modernize collective bargaining, management and termination;

• Strengthen the financial sector, including decisive action on non-performing loans and elimination of political interference;

• Scale up privatization by transferring at least $55 billion in valuable state assets to an independent fund, using half the proceeds to recapitalize state banks and the rest to pay down debt and invest in growth;

• Produce by July 20 a plan to modernize, depoliticize and reduce the cost of the Greek administration system; and,

• Allow creditor institutions to work in Athens to monitor and assess progress in implementing the necessary reforms.

Chicana Service Action Center executives charged in $8.5-million fraud case

For decades, the Chicana Service Action Center received millions of dollars in taxpayer money to help some of the county's most disadvantaged residents: the homeless, the unemployed, victims of domestic violence, foster youth looking for work.

The nonprofit organization also played a pivotal role in launching the political career of former County Supervisor Gloria Molina, who described herself as one of the group's earliest supporters. In the last few years, its influence had gone far beyond its Eastside origins, extending its reach from downtown to the eastern edge of the San Gabriel Valley.

Now, prosecutors have charged three of the group's executives with embezzlement and conspiracy, accusing them of participating in a "billing scam" that defrauded the county of more than $8.5 million, according to the district attorney's office.

Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey's office alleges that Sophia Esparza, the Chicana center's chief executive officer, used public funds to pay for expensive cars, homes, meals and even a political campaign fundraiser. Roughly $1.8 million went toward Esparza's "lavish" lifestyle, prosecutors say, including season tickets to the Dodgers and Clippers and rent on a home in affluent San Marino.

The district attorney's complaint says Esparza improperly used $35,000 in taxpayer funds to charter a yacht in Seattle; $81,873 to purchase a 2010 Jaguar in Pasadena; and $145,653 to cover five years' of rent at the Visconti, an apartment complex in downtown Los Angeles. None of those purchases were authorized by the group's board of directors, the complaint states.

Prosecutors also allege the three defendants created "fraudulent records and/or client files" to support the monthly invoices that were sent to the county's Department of Public Social Services.

The three defendants — Esparza, Chief Financial Officer Silvia Gutierrez and Vice President Thomas Baiz — are scheduled to appear in court Wednesday for a preliminary hearing. Deputy Dist. Atty. Marian Thompson said in a statement that the defendants "tainted the reputation" of a long-standing nonprofit organization and "betrayed the people they were supposed to help."

Lawyers for Esparza, 63, and Gutierrez, 69, issued a joint statement Tuesday saying the allegations are "based on a misunderstanding of the facts and a misinterpretation of the law by an overzealous prosecutor."

"The result is that a wonderful organization has been destroyed leaving hundreds, if not thousands of people without services," said attorneys Michael Nasatir, Victor Sherman and Matthew Lombard. Chicana Service Action Center, they said, has "cooperated with this investigation from the beginning. We are confident that an objective review of the evidence will demonstrate that they are innocent."

An attorney for Baiz, 60, did not respond to requests for comment.

The nonprofit received more than $16 million in county funds between 2007 and 2014, operating job training, domestic violence counseling and other programs in locations such as Pomona, San Gabriel and East L.A., according to county officials.

The group attracted high-level political support. Last year, Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar took part in a ribbon-cutting for a Chicana Service job center in Boyle Heights. At the time, he boasted that he had helped secure $440,000 in city funds for the facility. Molina, for her part, made an unsuccessful effort two years ago to help the group, after county managers opted not to renew the group's contracts.

County officials said the district attorney's criminal case was prompted by a review conducted in 2011 by the Department of Community and Senior Services, which found billing irregularities in invoices submitted by the group. The Office of County Investigations, which examines allegations of fraud and works closely with the district attorney's office, initiated a probe of the nonprofit days later.

In March 2013, Molina made a last-ditch effort to help the group secure more job-training funds, saying the nonprofit did good work and was on the verge of collapse. Her four colleagues on the Board of Supervisors rejected that idea.

On Tuesday, Molina said she was unaware of the embezzlement allegations at the time. Molina said that when she advocated for the group, she thought the organization's problems stemmed from less serious missteps, such as using incorrect zip codes for some clients in its filings with the county. The group, she said Tuesday, had acknowledged those errors and refunded money to the county.

"This is really a huge disappointment, particularly because I did defend them," Molina said. "And I defended them with the idea that they were doing the work they were paid to do."

Molina said her involvement with the organization dates back to the 1970s, when she and other activists were searching for ways to provide job training and other services for Latinas. The group, she said, empowered many of the women who volunteered for her 1982 campaign for the state Assembly.

Prosecutors contend that Esparza improperly provided herself and her fellow executives salary and compensation packages by creating fraudulent Board of Directors' meeting minutes. Esparza, according to the criminal complaint, listed several people as being members or board members without the individuals' knowledge or permission.

Esparza also is accused in the district attorney's complaint of using taxpayer money for groceries, restaurant bills and other expenses in Santa Fe, N.M., where she had a vacation home, and using public funds for a May 2011 fundraiser for a city councilman.

Prosecutors declined to name the politician. Los Angeles Ethics Commission records show that Baiz, the Chicana Service group's vice president, contributed $500 to Huizar's reelection bid on May 27, 2011. That same day, Huizar received $500 from Fernando Cerda, owner of a Boyle Heights upholstery shop, according to Ethics Commission records.

In their complaint, prosecutors said Cerda provided upholstery work for Esparza's home, cars and a boat. Those services were paid for with public funds, prosecutors said.

Cerda and his attorney had no comment. Huizar referred questions about Chicana Service Action Center to spokesman Rick Coca, who did not respond to emails from The Times.