Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute report they have blocked the development of prostate tumors in cancer-prone mice by knocking out a molecular unit they describe as a “powerhouse” that drives runaway cell growth.

They said that drugs are on their way to clinical testing, but is hard to predict when they might become available for clinical testing.

A new implantable medical device, developed in collaboration with Mayo Clinic researchers, shows promise as a reversible and less extreme alternative to existing bariatric surgeries, according to findings published in the current issue of the journal Surgery.

In a six-month open label trial involving three medical centers in Australia, Mexico and Norway, the 31 obese participants who received the vagal nerve blocking device, also called VBLOCTM vagal blocking therapy, lost an average of nearly 15 percent of their excess weight. A quarter of the participants lost more than 25 percent, and three patients lost more than 30 percent.

In the next study, which has already begun, all patients will have the device implanted, but one-third will not have it turned on during the first year of the study, so that after meals, it won’t be blocking the nerve signals; this is called ’sham’ treatment. This new work will lead to a more realistic comparison of the magnitude of weight loss through vagal blockade as compared with bariatric surgery. read more

An International Society for Sexual Medicine panel of world experts presented a new definition of premature ejaculation at a meeting in Florida.

Acording to UroTaday.com, the new definition is: “Premature ejaculation is a male dysfunction characterized by ejaculation which always or nearly always occurs prior to or within about one minute of vaginal penetration; and, inability to delay ejaculation on all or nearly all vaginal penetrations; and, negative personal consequences, such as distress, bother, frustration and or the avoidance of sexual intimacy.”

Premature ejaculation affects 20 percent to 30 percent of men and although it is less commonly reported than erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation may coexist in a one-third of men complaining of erectile dysfunction. Premature ejaculation has both biologic and psychologic factors but despite its prevalence there are no U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs for treatment.

Multiple treatments have been described including behavioral and sexual exercises and medical therapies.

The Medical Research Council questioned 3,500 gay men and found that a third of gay men who know they are HIV positive are still having unprotected sex. They suggest that this situation is a consequence of inadequate education.

According to the survey, those who knew they were HIV positive were statistically more likely to have unprotected sex than those who did not.

The researchers are calling for a more targeted approach to prevention - promoting condom use even among men who are regularly tested, and urging those who report high risk behavior to be tested more than once a year.

A new study expected to be presented in San Francisco this weekend at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society found that physical fitness appeared to be more important than weight in estimating a male diabetic’s longevity.

The researchers found that the higher the man’s level of fitness, the lower his risk of dying during the study period. For example, those in the high fitness level — whether at normal body weight or overweight — reduced their risk of death by 40 percent. The findings were even more dramatic for those classified as obese but in reasonable good shape: a cut in death risk of 52 percent, when compared to peers not physically fit, the study found during its seven-year follow-up period.

Young men whose parents had difficulty conceiving are likely to have relatively poor sperm quality, a new study at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark shows - offering evidence that fertility problems are at least partly inherited in some cases.

A scientific team at Barnsley Hospital and the University of Sheffield in the UK concluded that men with type 2 diabetes or the metabolic syndrome, or both, are prone to have low testosterone levels. If so, testosterone replacement therapy with a gel applied to the skin may improve their response to insulin and their sexual function, according to the results of a new clinical trial.

The study showed a statistically significant improvement in insulin sensitivity in testosterone-treated men at 6 and 12 months. Testosterone therapy also led to a significant improvement in the score on a standard assessment of erectile function after 6 and 12 months.

The study was presented at Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco this week.

According to a study at Lausanne University School of Biology and Medicine in Switzerland, men and women appear to differ in how they metabolize high levels of fructose, a simple sugar commonly used to sweeten drinks and foods.

Short-term high fructose intake among young men resulted in increased blood triglycerides (fats) and decreased insulin resistance, factors associated with an elevated risk for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes

In the men, fructose supplementation caused significant increases in 11 of the 12 factors, including a 5 percent increase in fasting glucose and 71 percent increase in triglyceride levels.
By contrast, women showed a 4 percent increase in glucose and a “markedly blunted,” 16 percent increase in triglycerides after the high fructose diet, the investigators said. Overall, the women showed significant increases in only 4 of the 12 factors tested.
SOURCE: Diabetes Care, June 2008.

When he heard the diagnosis - prostate cancer, surgery needed - Neal Rosenblum was crushed that the treatment would destroy his ability to have more children.

Now a year later, the self-employed Hollywood engineer and inventor lives cancer-free, and he and his wife last week tried for a baby through in-vitro fertilization using his sperm frozen before the surgery left him sterile.

Rosenblum, 41, is one of a growing number of young cancer patients freezing sperm and eggs in case surgery, chemotherapy and radiation end their reproductive futures. For men, it’s a fairly successful process.

But for women, egg freezing is still experimental, with high hopes but uncertain success. What’s more, some fertility doctors are upsetting their colleagues by marketing egg freezing as a mainstream technique for healthy women who want to bank young eggs so they can delay pregnancy.

Low testosterone levels in men might kill them early, regardless of age, according to a new study. Low testosterone men had more than 2.5 times greater risk of dying during the next 10 years compared to men with higher testosterone, the study found.

The study found that men with low testosterone levels were older, more obese, and had a greater prevalence of diabetes and high blood pressure, compared with men who had higher testosterone levels.