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San Francisco--A never-before-seen virus associated with prostate cancer suggests that infection may play a role in the development of the disease in genetically susceptible individuals. The new virus, XMRV, is 25 times more likely to be present in prostate cancer patients with a specific genetic mutation than it is in the general male population, researchers reported at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2006 Prostate Cancer Symposium here.

The Cleveland Clinic Glickman Urological Institute has established a $2 million education and research chair in honor of its chairman, Andrew C. Novick, MD.

Advanced Urology Associates, Inc., and Urology Inc. have merged to form Physicians Urology, which will become the largest fully integrated urology practice in the Akron, OH area with physicians experienced in a range of specialties.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has launched the Medicare Contractor Provider Satisfaction Survey, an initiative to measure how satisfied providers in the fee-for-service program are with the services of the contractors who are responsible for processing their claims, educating them about policy changes, and responding to provider inquiries.

In a step toward understanding prostate disease, Australian researchers have used human embryonic stem cells to develop human prostate tissue, equivalent to that found in a young man.

The White House is expected to nominate the acting commissioner of the FDA, urologist Andrew von Eschenbach, MD, to formally head the agency, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal.

The National Cancer Institute has launched a 3-year initiative to identify genetic alterations that make people susceptible to prostate and breast cancer.

A popular treatment for severe male urinary incontinence reached a major milestone last month: 100,000 implants, according to its manufacturer, American Medical Systems.

Intermittent tamsulosin (Flomax) treatment appears to be well tolerated and provides comparable improvements for abnormal ejaculation, according to a study by Turkish researchers.

Preliminary results of a small study show that high-dose statin therapy may help improve erectile dysfunction in men who had shown minimal reaction to sildenafil citrate (Viagra).

The time between prostate biopsy and radical prostatectomy does not appear to have a large effect on the risk of disease recurrence, according to researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York.

More than 90% of patients with small kidney tumors are opting to undergo total nephrectomy, even though they may be eligible for partial nephrectomy, according to a recently published study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ann Arbor.

Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic and the University of California, San Francisco, have discovered a new virus in prostate tumors.

Dietary or supplemental antioxidants do not appear to be associated with a decreased risk of prostate cancer among men in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial, suggests a study published last month in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (2006; 98:245-54).

Baltimore--Psychological treatment, particularly cognitive behavioral therapy, can help ease chronic pain. That's why these therapies may be able to do the same for chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) patients, argued Judith Turner, PhD, at the NIDDK-sponsored Chronic Pelvic Pain/Chronic Prostatitis Scientific Workshop here.

Fiber is cleared for use with Holmium laser in BPH

Baltimore?What causes chronic pain in chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS)? This could be the wrong question to ask, said Jeffrey S. Mogil, PhD, at the NIDDK-sponsored Chronic Pelvic Pain/Chronic Prostatitis Scientific Workshop. The better question may be: Why do these particular men have chronic pain, whereas others do not?

San Antonio--Recently published prospective evidence strongly supports the growing recognition among physicians that erectile dysfunction may be a sign of future cardiovascular disease in some men.

Researchers are taking a broader view of chronic pain that will allow development of new treatment strategies.

Washington--When 2006 began, there was somewhat of a mess in Washington involving Medicare reimbursement, and that was especially true for urologists. At press time, some of those issues were being resolved, but, even so, there will likely be fallout that will at least inconvenience urologists and their staffs.

In order to ensure that private foundations are truly legitimate charitable entities, they are subject to numerous complex tax rules.

How do I charge for a patient sent from a nursing home for a consult who, upon evaluation, required a cystoscopy?

The Independent Data Monitoring Committee for the phase II trial of Nymox Pharmaceuticals' NX-1207, a novel drug treatment for BPH, has recommended continuation of the multicenter trial on the basis of unblinded re-sults to date.

Prostate cancer is more prevalent than anticipated in patients with a normal DRE and a PSA <4.0 ng/mL.

Los Angeles--A new biosensor technology that can identify the bacterial cause of urinary tract infections with 98% accuracy within 1 hour may help both clinicians and patients by closing the gap between diagnosis and appropriate treatment.

The use of opiates in chronic nonmalignant pain has its share of proponents and opponents among urologists who specialize in chronic pelvic pain.

Rochester, NY--A point-of-care assay that measures the nuclear matrix protein NMP22 in urine significantly improves detection of recurrent bladder cancer when used with cystoscopy, according to a new study.

New York--The FDA has granted approval of oral sunitinib malate (Sutent), a multi-targeted receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma. The approval came after a priority review and was based on results from two phase II clinical trials dem-onstrating impressive drug activity measured by high partial response rates and delay to disease progression. It marks the second FDA approval of a drug for advanced RCC in as many months.

Baltimore--Scientific thinking about pain in general and chronic pain in particular has changed drastically in the last 50 years. Providers who treat chronic pain syndrome, such as chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS), need to discard the old models if they are going to help patients.

Washington--Results from a small study demonstrate that urinary interleukin-8 (IL-8) can be used as an early diagnostic tool for nosocomial urinary tract infections, Mexican infectious disease specialists said during a presentation at the 45th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy here. IL-8 appears to offer a faster alternative to quantitative cultures, according to the researchers.