Sunday, September 28, 2008

Symptomatic Testosterone Deficiency Relatively Rare In Men

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/81764.php

A new study reveals that relatively few men, only 5.6 percent of the male population, actually suffer from low testosterone accompanied by clinical symptoms. That percentage, however, rises substantially with age.

Low testosterone levels are typically defined as less than 300 ng/dL (nanograms per deciliter) of total testosterone and less than 5 ng/dL of free testosterone. Free testosterone is the amount of the hormone unbound to other proteins and is "free" to work inside the body. "Low levels of testosterone impact many aspects of male physiology," said Andre B. Araujo, Ph.D., a research scientist at the New England Research

Institutes in Watertown, Mass., and lead author of the study. "This is particularly significant because the ongoing aging of the U.S. male population is likely to cause the number of men suffering from androgen deficiency to increase appreciably."

Consistent with a recently issued Clinical Practice Guideline from the Endocrine Society, symptomatic androgen deficiency in the study by Araujo and colleagues is defined as low total and free testosterone plus the presence of low libido, erectile dysfunction, osteoporosis or facture, or two or more of the following symptoms: sleep disturbance, depressed mood, lethargy, or diminished physical performance.

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Monday, September 22, 2008

Common Pain Killers Can Mask Signs of Prostate Cancer

Common Pain Killers Can Mask Signs of Prostate Cancer
http://www.healthnews.com/family-health/mens-health/common-pain-killers-can-mask-signs-prostate-cancer-1743.html

Common painkillers taken on a regular basis, such as ibuprofen and aspirin, appear to lower a man's PSA level, the blood biomarker used by doctors to help gauge whether a man is at a risk of getting prostate cancer.

The authors of this new study, however, caution that men should not take the painkillers in an effort to prevent prostate cancer. An author on this study Eric A Singer M.D., M.A., a urology resident at the University of Rochester Medical Center, said, "We showed that men who regularly took certain medications like aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDS, had a lower serum PSA level.... But there's not enough data to say that men who took the medications were less likely to get prostate cancer. This was a limited study, and we do not know how many of those men actually got prostate cancer."

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Thursday, September 04, 2008

Increased Risk Of Developing Rheumatoid Arthritis When Birth Weight Exceeds 10 Pounds

Increased Risk Of Developing Rheumatoid Arthritis When Birth Weight Exceeds 10 Pounds
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/113483.php

People who have a birthweight over 10 pounds are twice as likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis when they are adults compared to individuals born with an average birthweight, according to a study published by researchers from Hospital for Special Surgery online in advance of print in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. While the mechanism for this association is unclear, the study identifies a potentially modifiable risk factor and highlights a potential way to decrease the incidence of the disease.

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