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We once again approach the end of the year with the American Medical Association, many legislators, and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius calling for a permanent fix to the sustainable growth rate formula, with no action by Congress.

The newest urology products and services from Eli Lilly and Co., Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc., BK Medical, Olympus America, Inc., Henry Schein MicroMD, American Medical Systems, and Segasist Technologies.

Astellas Pharma, Inc, has announced the receipt of a letter from the FDA indicating that it accepted for filing the new drug application for mirabegron (YM178) and initiated a substantive review.

Dendreon Corp. has announced that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has updated its coverage policy to now cover the infusion costs associated with the administration of the advanced prostate cancer immunotherapy sipuleucel-T (Provenge).

An international research team has discovered a genetic Achilles' heel in neuroendocrine prostate cancer-a vulnerability that researchers say can be attacked by a targeted drug that is already in clinical trials to treat other types of cancers.

Pacific Urology and Diablo Valley Oncology and Hematology Medical Group, both located in Contra Costa County in California, are merging to form a 13-physician group.

Kidney transplants performed using organs from live donors over the age of 70 years are safe for both donors and recipients, according to a recent study.

Prostate cancer patients who undergo radical prostatectomy achieve better results at teaching hospitals than at non-academic medical institutions, according to the findings of an international study led by researchers at Henry Ford Hospital?s Vattikuti Urology Institute, Detroit.

Aristolochic acid, a plant component used in herbal remedies, appears to lead to kidney failure and urothelial cell carcinomas (UCC) in individuals exposed to the toxin, an international group of researchers reports.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPTF) announced it was no longer recommending the PSA test to screen healthy men for prostate cancer, but experts say the impact this recommendation could have on health insurance coverage and treatment decisions remains unclear. While insurers are likely to take their time issuing formal coverage decisions, the AUA and other urology organizations have been quick to respond to the recommendation.

The Alliance of Specialty Medicine soundly rejected MedPAC?s approval of a recommendation that Congress reform the Medicare reimbursement system by reducing reimbursements to specialists by 5.9% per year for 3 years while freezing the reimbursement rate for primary care physicians.

Efforts in an increasing number of states to not provide Medicaid insurance coverage for male circumcision, as well as an attempted ballot initiative in San Francisco earlier this year to ban male circumcision in newborns and young boys, are unwarranted, say infectious disease experts from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.

Researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington, Seattle have discovered a number of potential key drivers?recurrent genetic mistakes?common to advanced prostate cancer that may contribute to disease progression.

Men over 75 years of age are being undertreated for prostate cancer, while patients with a single comorbid condition such as peripheral vascular disease are being overtreated and doing much more poorly than expected, say researchers from UCLA?s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

This list of National Institutes of Health trials is derived from the NIH's database and includes phase III and IV bladder cancer trials and phase II overactive bladder trials. This list is current as of Sept. 15, 2011.

Near infrared fluorescence imaging of intravenous indocyanine green during robot-assisted laparoscopic partial nephrectomy can accurately identify the renal vasculature and successfully differentiate tumor from surrounding parenchyma.