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Washington-Lawmakers in many states across the nation areconsidering legislation that could directly affect the practices ofurologists and other physicians, urologists who attended aWashington legislative conference in March were told.

New York-Endorectal magnetic resonance imaging can be usedprior to salvage prostatectomy to identify tumor sites and showextracapsular extension and seminal vesicle invasion with"reasonable accuracy," say investigators from MemorialSloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Houston-Socioeconomic status correlates strongly withmortality in older American men with local/regional stage prostatecancer and is a major factor contributing to the disparity insurvival between African-Americans and Caucasians, according to theresults of a study published recently in Cancer (2006;106:1276-85).

San Francisco-A prospective analysis of more than 4,600 menindicates that the insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) gene appearsto play a role in prostate cancer development and carcinogenesis,according to a recently published study (J Natl Cancer Inst 2006;98:123-34).

Iowa City, IA-A neural network that takes into accountmaternal age, sperm retrieval technique, type of sperm used, andtype of male factor has been found to be clinically useful forpredicting the outcome of in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmicsperm injection.

Charlottesville, VA-Using sophisticated technology forbiomarker identification, researchers at the University ofVirginia, in collaboration with industry partners, have developed adiagnostic test that offers high specificity for discriminatingbladder cancer from a variety of non-cancerous urologic conditionsthat are common mimics of bladder cancer.

Bethesda, MD-In the largest randomized clinical trial ofcalcium and vitamin D in postmenopausal women, researchers havefound that women taking calcium with vitamin D supplementation had17% more kidney stones than did women on placebo.

Pfizer, Inc. has entered into an agreement with Schwarz Pharma AGunder which Pfizer will acquire worldwide rights to fesoterodine, anew drug candidate for the treatment of overactive bladder.

TargetScan, a new device that provides a stationary probe to eliminate prostate movement during certain prostate cancer treatments, will now be distributed to physicians nationwide through an exclusive agreement between Envisioneering Medical Technologies, the product?s developer, and BrachySciences.

Quinolones have surpassed sulfas as the most common class of antibiotics prescribed for isolated outpatient UTI in women, and this growth raises concerns about increases in resisitance, suggest the authors of an article published in the Archives of Internal Medicine (2006; 166:635-9).

One-fourth of men who undergo vasectomies forego having their semen tested to determine the procedure?s effectiveness, according to a Cleveland Clinic study.

Shock wave lithotripsy appears to significantly increase the risk for diabetes and hypertension later in life, according to Mayo Clinic researchers.

In women who undergo surgery to correct pelvic organ prolapse, adding a bladder-supporting Burch colposuspension to the operation helps to prevent stress incontinence after the surgery, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (2006; 354:1557-66)

A discovery about how a faulty gene predisposes a cell to cancerouschanges could pave the way for new treatments to block kidneycancer growth, suggests a study by researchers from the UnitedKingdom.

High cholesterol levels appear to be related to prostate cancer, and the association may be somewhat stronger in men diagnosed with hypercholesterolemia before 50 years of age and in those older than 65 years, according to a study by Italian researchers

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This fall, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, selected the Interstitial Cystitis Association as its partner to manage and direct a 5-year campaign to increase awareness of interstitial cystitis among health care providers and patients.

Valera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has completed its acquisition of the new drug application and other assets associated with valrubicin (Valstar), an FDA-approved drug indicated for treatment of carcinoma in situ (CIS) of the bladder.

This fall, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, selected the Interstitial Cystitis Association as its partner to manage and direct a 5-year campaign to increase awareness of interstitial cystitis among health care providers and patients.

A drug typically used to treat osteoporosis has a potential clinical benefit in treating men with prostate cancer, according to researchers at the Louis Warschaw Prostate Cancer Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles.

Bladder cancer patients whose surgery was delayed more than 3 months after diagnosis were more likely to die from their disease than were patients whose surgery was performed sooner, according to a recent study by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ann Arbor.

Turnover is a growing concern at medical groups nationwide, while targeted initiatives to retain physicians are on the rise, according to findings from 2005 physician retention survey recently released by the Cejka Search and American Medical Group Association.

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network has announced that its guidelines on kidney cancer have been updated as a result of new therapeutic options available for advanced kidney cancer.

Men with prostate cancer generally make treatment decisions based on differences in the information they receive rather than their own preferences, according to a study to be published in the May 1 issue of Cancer.

The IIF designation was added to include cystic lesions that are slightly more complex than category II, but that do not fulfill criteria of category III.

San Francisco--An increase in the rate of PSA rise is bad news forpatients, but just how bad remains unclear. A series of trialsunveiled at the 2006 Prostate Cancer Symposium point to PSAvelocity, or PSAV, as a prognostic tool that is useful, but thathas some limitations.

San Francisco--The overall level of prostate cancer care in the United States is good, but multiple areas need significant improvement.

Washington--Congress has received a detailed recommendation from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) that would result in an average payment increase of an estimated 2.8% for next year, rather than continued cuts as projected by Medicare.

Setting and achieving goals is important to staying focused and taking your practice where you want to go.

I have found that one of the most effective ways to enhance the efficiency of my practice has been to hire a scribe. A scribe is a person who shadows a physician and takes notes either in the chart, or, better yet, on the computer, freeing the doctor to have more eyeball-to-eyeball contact with the patient.