Issues seen with drugs to curb prostate cancer: FDA

FDA is concerned about new uses of existing prostate drugs: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulatory staff have raised concerns about data for two drugs by GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Merck & Co Inc and their effect on reducing the risk of prostate cancer in certain men.

Both drugs are already approved to treat symptoms in men with enlarged prostate

Food and Drug Administration staff, in documents released ahead of a public advisory meeting on Wednesday, said overall, large trials for each of the drugs showed benefits after four years with Avodart and seven years with Merck's drug, Proscar -- mostly in men with certain grades of the cancer.

They noted that "neither trial was adequately designed and conducted to characterize the ultimate outcomes of interest," such as death. "In both trials, there was also an unexpected finding of an increased incidence of high-risk prostate cancers among men receiving" the drugs

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Treating a common testicle problem early may save fertility

Treating testes trouble early may save fertility: "NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Infertility is probably the last thing on teenage boys' minds. However, a new study out of Brazil suggests that early treatment of a common testicular condition could preserve future fatherhood potential for some adolescents.

A varicocele is like a varicose vein in the scrotum which houses the testicles and is estimated to affect 15% of men over 15 years of age. In men diagnosed with primary infertility, however, over 33% of men are found to have a varicocele.

Although varicoceles may not be the sole cause of infertility in all those cases, the close association with infertility and apparent worsening of the effect over time suggest early surgical correction of the flawed veins could have important benefits later on

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Eat more protein, fewer refined carbs to stay slim

Eat more protein, fewer refined carbs to stay slim: "NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A team of European researchers confirms what many weight-loss gurus have claimed: eating more protein and fewer refined carbohydrates helps to keep the pounds off.

People can definitely try this at home. "Adding a serving of nuts and beans to the diet every day and cutting back on the refined grains will produce at least as much dietary change as they obtained in the study," "If everyone in America could cut back on two servings of refined grains and substitute that with one serving of nuts and one serving of beans, the impact on public health would really be potentially enormous, and that's a change within everyone's reach."

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Once-daily pill helps prevent HIV infection in men

Once-daily pill helps prevent HIV infection in men: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A once-a-day pill combining two Gilead Sciences Inc AIDS drugs reduced the HIV infection rate by nearly 44 percent in high-risk gay and bisexual men, researchers reported on Tuesday.

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Prostate cancer treatment may up colon cancer risk

Prostate cancer treatment may up colon cancer risk: "NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Men who opt for hormone-blocking therapy to treat prostate cancer may be increasing their risk of developing colon cancer, hints a study published this week in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

It's important to note, however, that this was an "observational" study, which can only point to a link (or lack thereof) between two variables - in this case, ADT and colon cancer. This type of study cannot prove cause-and-effect.

Shahinian told Reuters Health, the absolute risk of colon cancer in all of the men was small; over 5 years, it was just 2.2 percent for men on androgen-blocking drugs and 3.2 percent in those who had surgery, compared with 1.8 percent in the men who did not receive ADT.

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Fracture Risk Seen With Hormone Therapy for Prostate Cancer (HealthDay)

Fracture Risk Seen With Hormone Therapy for Prostate Cancer
(HealthDay): "HealthDay - TUESDAY, Nov. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Long-term use of androgen
deprivation therapy to treat prostate cancer may increase older patients'
risk of broken bones, according to a new study."

Screening for Prostate Cancer: Could it be hazardous to your health?