prostate

Researchers at UC Santa Barbara are introducing a novel technique using a form of laser spectroscopy and biotags that help discriminate between cancerous and healthy cells.

While the tech is likely years away from clinical trials, the team hopes it will eventually lead to a microdevice that can predict when prostate cancer will metastasize--which is key, given it is the metastasis throughout the body, not the primary tumor, that kills prostate cancer patients.

"The delay is not well understood," says Gary Braun, biologist and second author of the paper that appears this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. &… Read more

In 2010 alone, some 217,730 men in the U.S. have been diagnosed with prostate cancer, and some 32,050 have died from it, according to the American Cancer Society. But diagnosis relies largely on painful, nontargeted biopsies that result in many false negative results.

So researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands have been developing a technique that uses ultrasound to more effectively target tumors, and they say they've had great success in the four patients on whom they've tested it.

The technique involves injecting microbubbles of a contrast agent into the patient. Using … Read more

Removing the prostate during prostate cancer surgery can cause long-term sexual dysfunction in men who undergo the procedure. It is far too easy to damage the nerves necessary for erections and urinary continence.

But there are early signs that the carbon dioxide laser technology often used in surgery to treat head and neck cancers may reduce the risk of nerve damage in prostate cancer patients as well, according to research by urologic surgeons at the New York- Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center.

The results of the small, 10-patient pilot study--which used a new, flexible, fiber-based delivery system--appear in the July issue … Read more

Could it have been a commenter?

Xu Lai, a well-known Chinese science journalist and blogger was stabbed while speaking at a book reading in Beijing.

Apparently, he was answering questions when two men dragged him into a restroom and knifed him. Thankfully, his injuries do not appear to be life-threatening.

No one really knows whether he was attacked because of something he wrote- his site is known as Pro-State in Flames- or because someone simply didn't like him. Of course, these things are not mutually exclusive.

He is known for what some describe as a biting and sarcastic style … Read more

Alternate show title: Where Wilson Tang is the worst son ever. As much as we love Wilson's Mom calling in and recording her voice for us, we can't help but give Wilson flak for exploiting his own flesh and blood. Today's show starts off innocently enough with a story about a disgustingly delicious Super Bowl snack, but in typical 404 fashion, it quickly sinks to dirtier waters (pun intended) thanks to yours truly. You know what? I don't even regret it! And special thanks to our surprise visitor, listen in to find out whom!

Filthy filthy … Read more

Wesley Faulkner from AMD joins us on the show to talk about AMD Live, how masturbation prevents cancer, and why nobody buys music any more. All that and more on everyone's favorite irrelevant podcast.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Surgeons are using a four armed robot to perform prostate surgery.

The procedure is called the da Vinci Prostatectomy, "a new, less-invasive approach to prostate removal," according to the Swedish Medical Center.

Actually, it's no joke; an estimated 230,000 men in the US are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year and the da Vinci Surgical System promises to help surgeons perform the surgery with greater precision while speeding patient recovery.

Interested? Call 1-800-SWEDISH and let us know how it goes.