There are not too many drugs that improve overall survival in prostate cancer.  Right now, the list is pretty short: Taxotere.

So the announcement that researchers have survival improvement with a new drug, cabazitaxel, is pretty exciting for us oncologists.

It's easy to become discouraged, but once in a while we get something to be happy about.  Today is one of those moments.

Would you want to know whether Atkin's (low carb) or Ornish (low fat) diet was more likely to help you lose weight?  That might just be possible, if you can believe study results presented today at a meet

Looks like the first test utilizing microRNA technology is close to clinical availability. Rosetta Genomics presented data last week in San Francisco highlighting a new way to screen for colon cancer using the new technology. The statistics are impressive: 91% sensitivity and 72% specificity. Colonoscopy is the current accepted standard for screening for colon cancer and sensitivity is "above 90%" with specificity at up to 99%.

This is a little off topic and I hope you'll pardon the digression but I have to comment on the disparity of press coverage between two major conferences this week. On the one hand we have the San Francisco 50th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology a well-attended meeting for blood doctors and researchers around the world. On the other hand we have the 31st Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium a smaller but well-regarded meeting of breast cancer clinicians and researchers from around the world. News reports from San Antonio: many.

Eltrombopag is a targeted platelet growth factor recently approved by the FDA for the treatment of patients with low platelets of unknown etiology. It is a thrombopoietin receptor agonist that has been revealed in pre-clinical research and early phase clinical trials to inspire the propagation and differentiation of platelet precursor stem cells in the bone marrow.

Accidental release of urine is known a urinary incontinence (UI). It can happen while coughing laughing sneezing and during jogging. Sometimes you have the feeling to rush towards bathroom but can’t go there in time hence embarrassment. Among older people bladder control is a common problem. No doubt this situation does not causes health problems but is really embarrassing. Urinary tract infection constipation or a medicine are the common cause of cause of UI. This problem also happens by damage in the urinary tract or in the nerves controlling urination.

The Cornell Medical Center's Peter Schlegel and Cigdem Tanrikut have published a new study linking antidepressants with reduced male fertility. The drugs which are prescribed to millions of American men are though to impair fertility by damaging the sperm's DNA. This new study follows on from a 2006 project at the Cornell Medical Center in New York City in which two male patients had developed low healthy sperm counts having been prescribed two different selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). SSRIs are the most common prescribed class of antidepressant drugs.

A new study by Canadian researchers found that only about forty percent of the patients who had atrial fibrillation which is a risk factor for stroke were taking warfarin a well known and effective anti clotting drug. Even those who were taking the drug in 75 percent of those studied were not taking enough of it to actively prevent a stroke.Further 25 percent more patients were taking a drug that was less effective than warfarin. "These are missed opportunities for stroke prevention " said Dr. David J.