This excerpt post is based on this original article.

A new study shows that about 90% of volunteers who donated a urine sample to the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine had specific metabolic profiles for three distinct conditions: cardiac events, and breast and prostate cancer. All of these urinary patterns appeared before the diseases’ subsequent symptoms and medical diagnoses.

The study titled, “Metabolic Profiling with Magnetic Resonance Mass Spectrometry and a Human Urine Bank: Profiles for Aging, Sex, Heart Disease, Breast Cancer and Prostate Cancer,” was published in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons.

The concept appeared in the late 1960s and continued throughout the ’70s, based largely on the work of Arthur Robinson. Robinson discovered the existence of metabolic profiles for many conditions, including multiple sclerosis and Huntington’s disease. Unfortunately, due to limited resources at the time, progress on the research stalled.

Nowadays, the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine has a urine sample bank to which 5,000 volunteers periodically contribute urine specimens and medical histories. As time goes by, samples from patients who develop a medical event of interest accumulate. These are then quantitatively analyzed by magnetic resonance mass spectrometry (MRMS).

MRMS simultaneously quantifies over 800 molecular urinary components of human metabolic origin. Using this technique, researchers examined profiles for aging, sex, heart disease, breast cancer, and prostate cancer.

The research encouragingly revealed a 99.99% chance that the team identified a profile predictive of a subsequent cardiac event. In the case of breast or prostate cancer, there’s a 94% and 97% probability, respectively, that patterns predictive of disease have been identified.

Quantitive health monitoring and evaluating clinical interventions can be facilitated by an individual patient’s urine samples over time, the researchers noted.

Researchers hope to develop an affordable $5 test that measures common metabolic products. Such profiles could have strong potential for preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic medicine. Currently, MRMS is solely a research technique.

Doctors can’t always give their patients round the clock attention and care. This is why  the talented nurses that work day in and day out with the patients, before, during and after prostate cancer surgery are so important. We can’t praise these men and women enough!  They are on the front lines of patients recovery. That is why it’s so very important that these doctors and nurses keep the patients upbeat and happy. As we all know happy and upbeat patients are more engaged in their recovery.

This year for Prostate Cancer Awareness month, the Nurses of the Prostate Cancer Surgery Department created this great patient contest to promote Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. “BLING YOUR UNDERWEAR!”

Below are just some of the fun entries! Join us in honoring in the Men and Women Nurses who handle the day in and out care of Prostate Cancer Patients. Our Hats are off to you!!! We thank you for everything you do! (Ps. also a belated happy birthday to our founder Dr. Vipul Patel)

Above: Map of all the locations Dr. Patel has either taught or performed surgery.
Below: excerpts from studies and articles found here.

According to a new analysis of data from between 1980 and 2014, the trends and differences in cancer mortality rates among U.S. counties, cancer deaths are surging in some counties, even though overall cancer death rates dropped about 20% during that 34-year period.

Cancer mortality rates have declined in the U.S. in recent decades; however, major differences in cancer mortality still exist. What we learned in the recent analysis is the risk of death from prostate and other cancers may depend on where you live.

• The researchers found that more than 19.5 million Americans died of cancer between 1980 and 2014. Of these, more than 1 million men died due to prostate cancer. Lung cancer killed more people in the U.S. than prostate or any other cancer.
• Although many counties (1,558) had significant declines in prostate cancer death rates, percentage changes in male mortality rates between 1980 and 2014 ranged from a 69.4% decrease in Aleutians East Borough, and Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska, to a 26.1% increase in the mortality rate in Owsley County, Ky.
• Researchers found the highest death rates from prostate cancer were in groups of counties in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia. Counties in southern Florida and states along the U.S. border with Mexico had lower prostate cancer death rates.
• Specifically, the highest death rate from prostate cancer in 2014 was in Madison County, Miss., with 64 deaths per 100,000 residents, followed by Macon County, Ala., with 57 deaths per 100,000 people, Wilcox County, Ala., with 55 deaths per 100,000 people, Phillips County, Ark., and Perry County, Ala., both with 54 deaths per 100,000 people.
• The lowest death rate from prostate cancer was in Summit County, Colo., (10 deaths per 100,000 people), followed by Aleutians East Borough, Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska (11 deaths per 100,000 people) and Pitkin County, Colo., (13 deaths per 100,000 people).

To learn more and understand the research and data read the full article at Prostate Cancer News Today.

It’s never to late to boost your prostate health! This great guide will get you started!!

Recently, researchers at Roswell Park Cancer Institute have found a naturally occurring molecule that limits the invasive capacity of prostate cancer.  This suggests that cancer could be prevented from spreading by treating patients with a man-made version of the factor. Using both animals and humans in their work, they screened for the molecule, miR-141. A microRNA (miRNA) that helps control gene activity.

Excerpt from reference article-
To their surprise, they found only a few miRNAs in lower levels than normal. When they manipulated the cells to produce more of the missing factors, miR-141 was the only one that could prevent cancer growth. Testing the molecule in a number of prostate cancer models, the team showed the factor also prevented metastases.

“This study represents the most comprehensive investigation to date of the role of the miR-141 molecule in regulating prostate cancer stem cells and their role in metastasis,” Dean Tang, PhD, chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at Roswell and senior author of the study, said in a press release.

“These preliminary findings suggest that miR-141 may suppress the metastatic cascade at an early stage and that the overexpression of miR-141 in prostate cancer cells results in less metastasis. Our observations provide a rationale for developing these targeted miRNA molecules into novel antitumor and antimetastasis replacement therapies.”

The study, published in the journal  Nature Communications can be found here, “MicroRNA-141 suppresses prostate cancer stem cells and metastasis by targeting a cohort of pro-metastasis genes,”. 

In 2012, the task force recommended against routinely checking the levels of prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, in the blood, saying that the risks outweighed the rewards. But the latest draft loosens the reins for men 55 to 69 with no symptoms or history of prostate cancer: The former D rating, which discourages screening, has been upgraded to a C, which leaves the decision up to “a man’s values and preferences,” the task force said in a statement.

MEN 55 to 69 years

The decision about whether to be screened for prostate cancer should be an individual one. The USPSTF recommends that clinicians inform men ages 55 to 69 years about the potential benefits and harms of prostate-specific antigen (PSA)–based screening for prostate cancer. Screening offers a small potential benefit of reducing the chance of dying of prostate cancer. However, many men will experience potential harms of screening, including false-positive results that require additional workup, overdiagnosis and overtreatment, and treatment complications such as incontinence and impotence. The USPSTF recommends individualized decisionmaking about screening for prostate cancer after discussion with a clinician, so that each man has an opportunity to understand the potential benefits and harms of screening and to incorporate his values and preferences into his decision.

MEN 70 & older

The USPSTF recommends against PSA-based screening for prostate cancer in men age 70 years and older.