Prostate Cancer Explaination

Prostate cancer treatment options explained.
The Washington Post (1/3) reported, "There's no shortage of" prostate cancer "treatments, including surgery performed with or without robotic assistance, and radiation delivered by an external beam or by radioactive seeds implanted inside the body." It is, however, "hard to compare safety and effectiveness," and "because experts say that most prostate cancers are extremely slow-growing and might not pose a serious threat, many men might be better off deferring treatment." Thus, "to guide your decision, it's important to understand whether you have a low-, medium- or high-risk tumor." The article also went on to explain specific treatment options in greater detail.

Insurance Company Woes

Psychiatrist says he spends majority of his time "wrangling with insurance companies."
In the New York Times (1/4, D6) "Cases" column, psychiatrist Paul Christopher, MD, of Rhode Island's Butler Hospital, writes, "Physicians in emergency rooms everywhere share the challenge of figuring out where their patients will get the best and most timely care -- a medical or a psychiatric floor, the intensive care unit or the surgical suite? But in psychiatry more than in other specialties, it is insurance that is likely to tie a Gordian knot." Dr. Christopher observes that he spends the majority of his "time wrangling with insurance companies" over what he believes is the appropriate treatment for his patients. Because "legislative reforms like the recent Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, while helpful, have yet to be the Alexandrian sword that so many hope for," in the meantime, "too many patients with substance disorders are still unable to get the prompt care they need and deserve."

Testosterone Update

FDA approves Endo Pharmaceuticals' gel for low testosterone.
Bloomberg News (12/30, Peterson) reports, "Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc., the maker of pain medications, won US approval to sell Fortesta, a testosterone replacement therapy for men." The Food and Drug Administration approved "the drug, a transdermal gel that contains two percent testosterone." Low testosterone can cause "erectile dysfunction, infertility, osteoporosis and muscle loss, according to the Mayo Clinic."
The AP (12/30, Perrone) reports, "Drug companies are increasingly targeting low testosterone as a potential new market opportunity." Approximately "14 million American men are believed to have irregularly low testosterone levels, though only 1.3 million are being treated, according to the company." The article notes, "The FDA has placed warnings on all testosterone gels about the risks if the formulas rub off on children. Fortesta's label will include the same warning, which states: 'Signs of puberty that are not expected have happened in young children who were accidentally exposed to testosterone through contact with men using topical testosterone products.'" Dow Jones Newswire (12/30, Solsman, subscription required) also reports the story.

Orange Juice and Heart Health

Orange juice may have beneficial effects on diastolic blood pressure, microvascular reactivity.
MedPage Today (12/29, Walsh) reported that "drinking orange juice -- or a control beverage plus a flavonoid prominent in citrus fruit and thought to be cardioprotective -- had beneficial effects on diastolic blood pressure and microvascular reactivity," according to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Researchers found that "healthy volunteers who drank orange juice or a control drink with hesperidin for four weeks had significantly lower diastolic blood pressure compared with those who drank a control drink plus placebo." The "participants receiving the active treatment also had significant improvements in postprandial microvascular endothelial reactivity."

Feeling Young

Analysis: Feeling young/old may impact health.
The Washington Post (12/29, Stein) "The Checkup" blog reports, "Ellen Langer, a psychologist at Harvard University who studies how the mind influences the body, reviewed the scientific literature with two colleagues for evidence that feeling young can actually make you more youthful." The authors concluded, "Taken together, the research 'supports the general mind/body hypothesis that when a younger mind is primed, a younger body can accompany it.' While the mechanism remains unclear, the researchers speculated that such cues can 'make one unconsciously or consciously aware of old age and set in motion a series of physiological processes that can have real effects on short-term and long-term health.'"

Video Games and Vision

Nintendo's 3DS video game system may harm growth of children's eyes.
The Los Angeles Times (12/29, Olivarez-Giles) "Technology" blog reported, "Nintendo's 3DS video game system might be hazardous to the health of children younger than six, according to a warning posted Wednesday on the Japanese video game company's website." A Google translation of the website read, "Vision of children under the age of 6 [is in] the developmental stage."
Bloomberg News (12/30, Yasu, Eki) quotes Nintendo's website as saying, "Looking at 3-D images for a long time may harm the growth of children's eyes."

Elder Depression

Team-based approach to care may help improve outcomes in older patients with depression, chronic disease.
The Los Angeles Times (12/30, Brown) reports, "Research published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that coordinating care to manage depression and chronic illness -- together, at the same time -- produces better outcomes for patients."
WebMD (12/29, Boyles) reported that "a team-based approach to managing care could improve outcomes and potentially save taxpayers billions" while helping the older people with diabetes, heart disease, and depression. In a study including 214 older "patients with poorly managed diabetes and/or heart disease, randomly assigned to either standard care or the collaborative care intervention, called TEAMcare," researchers found that "patients who worked with the nurse coaches had less depression and better control of their diabetes and heart disease risk factors than patients who got standard care."