Heart Pills Curb Risk of Prostate Cancer: Study

New report focuses on disparities in funding, incidence, survival

(NEWSER) - The number of women diagnosed with lung cancer is soaring, but federal funding for research lags even though the disease is more common than cancer of the breast, prostate, and colon—combined. A new report drills down on research about women and lung cancer, sorting out findings about incidence, gender disparities, and survival. Perhaps most interesting, "all federal spending for lung cancer research amounts to $1,249 for each lung cancer death," Richard Know writes for NPR . "Spending for breast cancer research is 21 times higher—$27,480 per death." More»

Seven times as many women stay when serious illness strikes

(NEWSER) - Relationships fail seven times more often when illness strikes the female partner than when it strikes the man. Researchers don't know why, but theories abound: “There is an immediate shift in a relationship when an illness is diagnosed,” a counselor tells the Times of London. Gender roles change more radically for men when partners become “patient and carer.” And there is often less sex and intimacy, “something many men struggle to accept.” More»

(NEWSER) - An experimental drug could drastically decrease the risk of bone breakage in osteoporosis sufferers, Time reports. Two trials of the drug denosumab in groups at high risk for the disease—men receiving testosterone-depleting treatment for prostate cancer and post-menopausal women—reduced the risk of fracture by more than 50%, with no side effects. Other drugs carry the risk of cancer. Denosumab is currently under review by the FDA. More»

Experimental therapy cures men's inoperable cancer

(NEWSER) - The total recovery of two patients suffering inoperable prostate cancer under a new treatment has amazed researchers at the Mayo Clinic, the Minnesota Post reports. The men, who suffered from a highly aggressive and deadly form of the disease, were found to be cancer-free after treatment with an experimental drug that affects the immune system, and remain so a year and a half later. More»

(NEWSER) - A molecule present only in men who have the deadly form of prostate cancer may be the key to a simple urine test for the disease, the BBC reports. “It raises the possibility of telling the difference between the type of cancer that does no harm—which we term 'the pussycat'—from the type that does—which we call 'the tiger,’” one expert said. Patients with the "pussycat" form are often treated unnecessarily. More»