Men’s Health News
Counting the number of tumor cells circulating in the bloodstream of patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer can accurately predict how well they are responding to treatment, new results show.
At the ESMO Conference Lugano (ECLU) organized by the European Society for Medical Oncology, researchers showed that changes in the number of circulating tumor cells predicted the outcome after chemotherapy in this hard to treat cancer.
"The results add to a growing body of evidence showing that counting these cells is a valuable method for predicting survival and for monitoring treatment benefit in these patients", said Dr. Buy soma without prescription David Olmos from The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust in the UK.
"Our study shows that circulating tumor cell counts could provide information about how patients are responding to therapy earlier than other markers such as prostate-specific antigen (PSA) or time-to-disease progression," he said. "We have observed that patients with declining numbers of circulating tumor cells can see a change in their initial prognosis, reflecting a potential benefit from therapy."
Among the 119 patients in the study, researchers found that those with the lowest circulating cell counts had on average the longest survival.
"Cancer cells can be detected in the circulating blood by a range of methods", Dr. Olmos said. "The technique we used in our study is classified as a cytometric approach. We use an antibody that is widely expressed by epithelial cancer cells, and then use a range of cell-staining techniques to ensure it is a cancer cell."
"Because these circulating cells have broken away from either primary tumors or metastatic sites in other parts of the body, they could potentially be used to help study the specific characteristics of the cancer and perhaps personalize therapy", Dr. Olmos said.
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Men’s Health News The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) joined with The Advertising Council today to launch a national public service campaign designed to raise awareness among middle-aged men about the importance of preventive medical testing.
Men are 25 percent less likely than women to have visited the doctor within the past year and are 38 percent more likely than women to have neglected their cholesterol tests (Source: AHRQ Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, 2005). Furthermore, men are 1.5 times more likely than women to die from heart disease, cancer and chronic lower respiratory diseases (Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2005).
The new campaign encourages men over 40 to learn which preventive screening tests they need to get and when they need to get them. This campaign complements AHRQ’s existing efforts toward improving the safety and quality of health care and promoting patient involvement in their own health care, including the "Questions are the Answer" campaign launched with the Ad Council in March 2007 and the "Superheroes" Spanish-language campaign launched in March 2008.
"We hope this campaign will inform men about the importance of prevention and show them that they should work with their health care providers to find out what they should do to stay healthy," said AHRQ Director Carolyn M. generic amoxil online buy Clancy, M.D.
The campaign highlights the work of the AHRQ-sponsored U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which is an independent panel of experts in primary care and prevention that systematically reviews the evidence of effectiveness and develops recommendations for clinical preventive services. "By taking steps to prevent disease and stay healthy, men can live longer and more productive lives," said Task Force Chair Ned Calonge, M.D., M.P.H. "Prevention is a decision that includes participating in regular physical activity, eating a healthy diet and finding out which preventive medical tests are right for you."
Created pro bono for the Ad Council by McCann Erickson Detroit, the public service advertising campaign includes new television, radio, print and Web advertising featuring the theme "Real Men Wear Gowns." The lighthearted ads incorporate family as a key motivating factor for men to take a more active role in preventive health. They show the target audience that being a real man means taking care of themselves (and their health) in order to be there for their families and in the future. Ad Council research showed this was a strong motivating factor for men. To view the PSAs, visit
"Our research conducted during the development of this campaign found that despite their increased health risks men aren’t taking preventive steps and are often only visiting their doctors when they experience symptoms," said Peggy Conlon, President & CEO of the Ad Council. "We are proud to continue our initiative with AHRQ with this wonderful series of PSAs designed to motivate men to take a more active role in their preventive health care.
The campaign encourages men to visit a comprehensive Web site. The site provides the recommended ages for preventive testing (as well as a list of tests), a quiz designed to test your knowledge of preventive health care, tips for talking with your doctor, a glossary of consumer health terms, and links to online resources where you can find more medical information.
Public service advertisements are being distributed to approximately 33,000 media stations nationwide this week. Per the Ad Council’s donated media model, all of the new public service advertisements will air and run in advertising time and space donated by the media.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality () is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. AHRQ’s mission is to improve the quality, safety, efficiency and effectiveness of health care for all Americans. AHRQ’s research helps people make more informed decisions and improve the quality of health care services.
The Ad Council is a private, non-profit organization that marshals talent from the advertising and communications industries, the facilities of the media, and the resources of the business and non-profit communities to produce, distribute and promote public service campaigns on behalf of non-profit organizations and government agencies in issue areas such as improving the quality of life for children, preventive health, education, community well-being, environmental preservation and strengthening families.
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Men’s Health News
Eating one or more portions of broccoli every week can reduce the risk of prostate cancer, and the risk of localised cancer becoming more aggressive.
For the first time, a research group at the Institute of Food Research led by Professor Richard Mithen has provided an explanation of how eating broccoli might reduce cancer risk based upon studies in men, as opposed to trying to extrapolate from animal models.
Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer for males in western countries. The research has provided an insight into why eating broccoli can help men stay healthy.
For the study to be published in PLoS ONE on 2nd July, men who were at risk of developing prostate cancer ate either 400g of broccoli or 400g of peas per week in addition to their normal diet over 12 months. Tissue samples were taken from their prostate gland before the start of the trial and after 6 and 12 months, and the expression of every gene measured using Affymetrix microarray technology.
It was found that there were more changes in gene expression in men who were on the broccoli-rich diet than on the pea diet, and these changes may be associated with the reduction in the risk of developing cancer, that has been reported in epidemiological studies.
Previous studies have suggested that the fifty percent of the population who have a GSTM1 gene gain more benefit from eating broccoli than those who lack this gene. The study showed that the presence of the GSTM1 gene had a profound effect on the changes in gene expression caused by eating broccoli.
This study fills the gap between observational studies and studies with cell and animal models. While observational studies have shown that diets rich in cruciferous vegetables may reduce the risk of prostate cancer and other chronic disease, they do not provide an explanation of how this occurs. Evidence from animal and cell models has sought to provide an explanation, but these studies are usually based on high doses that would not normally be experienced as part of the diet.
The results of the study suggested that relatively low amounts of cruciferous vegetables in the diet - a few portions per week - can have large effects on gene expression by changing cell signalling pathways. These signalling pathways are the routes by which information is transmitted through a molecular cascade which amplifies the signal to the nucleus of the cell where gene expression occurs.
generishe viagra soft pillen Ohne Rezept The Norwich team are currently planning a larger study with men with localised prostate cancer, and will compare the activity of standard broccoli with the special variety of high glucosinolate broccoli used in the current study.
Designer studies for health promotion
"Other fruits and vegetables have been shown to also reduce the risk of prostate cancer and are likely to act through other mechanisms," says Professor Mithen.
"Once we understand these, we can provide much better dietary advice in which specific combinations of fruit and vegetable are likely to be particularly beneficial. Until then, eating two or three portions of cruciferous vegetable per week, and maybe a few more if you lack the GSTM1 gene, should be encouraged."
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Men’s Health News
Using a special ultrasound technique to spot areas of blood flow in the prostate gland may substantially reduce the number of unnecessary biopsies, according to a new study by urologists and radiologists at the Jefferson Prostate Diagnostic Center and the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson in Philadelphia.
The researchers found that biopsies targeted to areas of increased blood flow in the prostate were twice as likely to be positive for cancer compared with conventional prostate biopsy techniques.
They reported their initial results from a clinical trial this week at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association in Orlando.
According to Prostate Diagnostic Center co-director Edouard Trabulsi, M.D., assistant professor of Urology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, finding the best areas to perform biopsies in the prostate has always been difficult. Standard methods entail simply dividing the prostate into a dozen regions within the gland, almost randomly. Center co-director Ethan Halpern, M.D., who is principal investigator on the four-year, National Cancer Institute-supported trial, has been developing and refining techniques to enhance targeted biopsy of the prostate for more than a decade.
acheter levitra bon marche Dr. Trabulsi, Ethan Halpern, M.D., professor of Radiology and Urology at Jefferson Medical College, and their co-workers randomly divided 63 prostate biopsy patients into two groups. One group was given the drug dutasteride, which can reduce the blood flow in benign prostate tissue, while the other half received a placebo. They then compared the results from biopsies targeted by blood flow changes using contrast-enhanced ultrasound to those that were done the standard way. The study involved 979 biopsies.
"We’ve previously shown that a two-week course of the drug Avodart (dutasteride) before biopsy reduces the benign blood flow, or background noise," Dr. Trabulsi explains, "allowing us to see subtle flow changes to target for biopsy. When we did this, we found that targeted biopsies based on the contrast-enhanced ultrasound are much more likely to detect prostate cancer. That’s the exciting part about this."
Dr. Halpern explains that standard procedures fail to diagnose prostate cancer in approximately 30 percent of men with the disease, even though the biopsy protocol may sample 12 to 18 tissue cores from the prostate. "In the future, our goal is to perform a limited number of targeted biopsies and leave the rest of the prostate alone," he says. "This will provide a safer, more cost-effective approach to diagnosing prostate cancer."
The doctors say that the current study involves a novel ultrasound algorithm called flash replenishment imaging to show fine vascular flow differences. "The novelty is using the dutasteride before biopsy, using contrast-enhanced ultrasound and using the latest ultrasound technology to look for blood flow changes associated with prostate cancer."
"We are beginning to have patients who were operated on come back in," Dr. Trabulsi notes. "If we can show that we reliably hit the areas of cancer based on the ultrasound results and didn’t miss any, it’s a home run."
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Varicoceles are relatively common, affecting approximately 10 percent to 15 percent of the adult male population in the U.S. According to the National Institutes of Health, most cases occur in young men between the ages of 15 and 25. Many varicoceles cause no symptoms and are harmless. But sometimes a varicocele can cause pain, shrinkage or fertility problems.
The traditional treatment for problematic varicoceles has been open surgery, but recently varicocele embolization has emerged as a minimally invasive outpatient alternative. In the procedure, an interventional radiologist inserts a small catheter through a nick in the skin at the groin and uses x-ray guidance to steer it into the varicocele. A tiny platinum coil and a few milliliters of an agent to ensure the occlusion of the gonadic vein are then inserted through the catheter. Recovery time is minimal, and patients typically can return to work the next day.
Generic synthroid pills no prescription Dr. Flacke and colleagues set out to identify predictors of pregnancy after embolization of varicoceles in infertile men. The study included 223 infertile men, ages 18-50, with at least one varicocele. All of the men had healthy partners with whom they were trying to achieve a pregnancy.
In the study, 226 of the patients’ 228 varicoceles were successfully treated with embolization. A semen analysis performed on 173 patients three months after the procedure showed that, on average, sperm motility and sperm count had significantly improved. Six months later, 45 couples, or 26 percent, reported a pregnancy. A high level of sperm motility before the procedure was identified as the only significant pre-treatment factor associated with increasing the odds of successful post-treatment pregnancy.
"Embolization of varicoceles in infertile men may be considered a useful adjunct to in-vitro fertilization," Dr. Flacke said.
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