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A Swedish study suggests that a single PSA measurement at age 60 can predict the likelihood that a man will die of prostate cancer by age 85, and that at least half of men no longer need to be screened after age 60. But the study has significant limitations, leaving many experts skeptical.

Embryonic stem cell research聽continues to be聽a political and聽legal hot potato聽that stirs up a lot of emotion and聽argument. In the meantime, researchers are making some remarkable progress using聽an alternative stem cell approach called induced pluripotent聽stem cells, or iPSCs (sometimes that gets聽 shortened to iPS). An induced pluripotent stem cell is聽an adult cell, often a skin cell, […]

Only one in six Americans meet recommended targets for physical activity. If you aren’t one of them, identifying your barriers to exercise can help.

The advice to “keep it simple, stupid”鈥攌iss, kiss鈥攕eems to apply to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). But聽with CPR,聽kiss-kiss聽means聽no mouth-to-mouth contact. A study聽published in tomorrow’s聽Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)聽adds to the聽evidence that聽the old way of doing CPR鈥攁lternating聽chest compressions with聽blows into the mouth鈥攊s聽needlessly聽complicated in most cases聽(there are聽exceptions, which聽we will get into below). Instead, this study聽and others聽(The聽New England […]

In time for National Depression Screening Day (October 7, 2010) and Mental Illness Awareness Week (October 3-9, 2010), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published survey data on depressed mood in the United States. The report summarizes responses to a standardized questionnaire administered in 2006 and 2008. The researchers asked 235,067 adults about […]

A study published in the journal Lancet found that the experimental drug MDV3100 is both safe and effective for prostate cancer patients with advanced disease that no longer responds to hormone therapy.

A 2010 study finds that statins, a class of drugs taken to lower cholesterol, may prevent prostate cancer from recurring after surgery.

Doctors-in-training聽should be encouraged to聽do some聽on-the-job napping, according to聽the organization that sets the standards聽for residency programs around the country. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)聽issued new standards yesterday that came out in聽favor of a聽well-timed snooze.聽The guidelines, which are scheduled to go into effect next year, say this: Programs must encourage residents to use alertness […]

The news yesterday that聽FDA is putting聽tighter restrictions on Avandia (rosiglitazone), the diabetes drugs,聽was important but not surprising. In July, an聽advisory panel聽to the agency聽took聽a聽rather聽dim view of the聽drug. 聽Ten聽of the 32 votes were for increased warnings and tighter restrictions, and 12 were for pulling the drug off the market completely (which is what European regulators decided to […]

Rosiglitazone (Avandia) should be used only by people who can’t control their diabetes other ways, the FDA said today. Across the Atlantic, the European Medicines Agency聽ordered rosiglitazone off the market until its maker, GlaxoSmithKline, can supply “convincing data” that there exists a group of people with diabetes for whom the blood-sugar-lowering benefit of taking rosiglitazone […]

One of the joys of working at Harvard Medical School, at least for those of us who are nerds, is the chance to attend free lectures by scientists who are pushing the boundaries of how we understand the world. So while we usually cover practical health-related topics in this blog, I thought I’d take a […]

Parents often wonder how to distinguish normal teenage mood swings and rebellions from actual symptoms of depression. I asked Dr. Nadja N. Reilly, a member of the editorial board of the Harvard Mental Health Letter, for some advice on this topic. Dr. Reilly has a particular interest in finding ways to identify and prevent youth […]

ARCHIVED CONTENT: As a service to our readers, 天博体育 Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date each article was posted or last reviewed. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified […]

After the article on cycling in the August 2010 issue of the Health Letter,聽we heard聽from Gary Reid, a public sector management specialist at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. Reid is impressive. He commutes by bicycle聽14.5 miles one-way (29 miles round-trip) from his home in McLean, Virginia,聽to the Bank headquarters, which is a just couple […]

Patients frequently ask for a list of foods they can eat to help shield them from prostate cancer. Although some foods have been linked with reduced risk of prostate cancer, the proof of their effectiveness is lacking.

Although adults sometimes dismiss it as a childhood rite of passage, bullying in school is now recognized as a form of aggression that may have long-lasting psychological ramifications 鈥� for both victims and perpetrators. Most research on bullying has been done in Australia and Europe, where rates of frequent bullying range from 2% of youths […]

Sipuleucel-T (Provenge), a “vaccine” that uses a patients immune system to fight advanced stage disease, was approved by the FDA in April 2010. The vaccine does not prevent cancer; rather, it helps men with advanced stage, hormone-resistant disease live longer.

A prostate cancer diagnosis may send a man to the operating room or drive him to get radiation therapy鈥攅ven when the cancer is unlikely to spread or cause harm. That’s causing some to wonder when a biopsy should really be done.

Research suggests that these drugs could potentially mask changes in a man’s PSA and interfere with the detection of prostate cancer.

This injectable form of hormone therapy received FDA approval in December 2008.

Researchers find that high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) may be effective in treating localized recurrent prostate cancer while also minimizing the chances of side effects.

Prostate cancer drug treatments that block the activity of hormones have been associated with a higher risk of heart attack and heart disease. But a 2009 study suggests that these drugs may not cause cardiovascular problems after all.

Ever since the FDA approved the first cholesterol-lowering statin in 1987, use of the drugs has steadily increased, with an estimated 13 million Americans taking them to ward off heart and vascular disease. Recently, statins have gained additional attention, thanks to studies showing the drugs might have anticancer properties. But researchers have inconsistent answers to […]

High levels of stress, poor emotional health, and a lack of social support seem to be linked to a history of prostatitis. Stress also seems to heighten pain associated with the condition.