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The U.S. Senate has passed the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2004.

Urologists are the 10th most recruited physicians, according to a new survey by Merritt, Hawkins & Associates, a national physician search and consulting firm.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed an across-the-board 1.5% increase in payment rates for physicians caring for Medicare beneficiaries.

New Orleans--PSA doubling time (PSADT) appears to be a strong predictor of the probability of distant metastasis and prostate cancer-specific survival in men with biochemical relapse after radical prostatectomy, according to Mario A. Eisenberger, MD.

Q What issues do we currently face in training surgeons of the future?

The use of stem cells to treat otherwise incurable or serious human disease remains a political "hot potato." One must remember, however, that the sources of embryonic and adult stem cells are distinctly different. The use of adult stem cells avoids all of the ethical and political criticism associated with the former's fetal etiology. While not totipotential, adult stem cells still have the advantage of prolonged proliferation, self-renewal, generation of more differentiated cells, maintenance of developmental potential, and proliferation in response to injury.

Corrective mobilization may incur such deficits, researchers say

When congential venous leakage via the crura without evidence of leakage in other areas of the penis can be established, the procedure appears to be curative.

San Francisco--The microsurgical approach is an effective method for varicocele repair in adolescents and offers the advantages of lower rates of persistence, recurrence, and hydrocele formation than alternative methods, according to the findings of two independent studies presented at the AUA annual meeting.

San Francisco--Scientific and technical obstacles notwithstanding, stem cell transplantation has considerable potential for treatment of male infertility.

Chronic prostatitis carries a high price-both on the health care system and society in general. Two separate studies demonstrate those costs may be 1.7 times higher than for men without prostatitis and perhaps 1.5 times higher than for another debilitating chronic pain syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis.

Physician groups decry Supreme Court decision limiting patient lawsuits against HMOs

Arlington Heights, IL-Presutti Laboratories has received FDA approval to market tinidazole (Tindamax) for the treatment of trichomoniasis, as well as giardiases, intestinal amebiases, and amebic liver abscess.

For the most part, educational expenses must maintain or improve a skill required in the taxpayer’s employment or to meet the express requirements of the taxpayer’s employer, laws, or regulations.

Group strives for world-class care and excellent quality of life for its urologists

Only by qualifying for a special modifier would a procedure be 'pulled' from the global

The goal of endoscopic intervention for vesicoureteral reflux should be the same as it is for open surgery-a 95% to 98% cure rate after one treatment with the option of excluding a postoperative voiding cystogram.

New Orleans--Bicalutamide (Casodex), 50 mg, plus castration leads to an estimated 20% reduction in risk of prostate cancer death versus castration alone, according to results of a historical data analysis presented at the annual of the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting here.

San Francisco--Results from a study evaluating the effect of urinary pH alteration in patients with interstitial cystitis suggest little benefit is likely gained from alkalinizing the urine to a neutral pH. Nevertheless, the question of how urine pH affects IC symptoms remains unanswered and requires further study, concluded the authors, from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

San Francisco--The tricyclic antidepressant amitriptyline (Elavil) is a safe and effective treatment for interstitial cystitis with significant benefits for reducing overall symptoms along with pain and urgency, according to the results of a German study.

New Orleans--A combination of common clinical factors can accurately predict which patients who have biochemical failure after radical prostatectomy are likely to develop metastatic progression, said investigators from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York.

A combined treatment of L-carnitine and L-acetyl-carnitine was found to increase sperm motility, especially in patients with lower baseline levels, in a study in Fertility and Sterility (2004; 81:1578-84).

Genes expressed in benign tissue adjacent to prostate cancer tissue are more similar than previously thought to genes expressed in prostate cancer tissue, according to a study from the University of Pittsburgh.

A combination of the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine (Gemzar) and radiation therapy appears to be efficacious and non-toxic in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer, according to a paper from the University of Michigan.

Lilly ICOS has launched a limited-time offer called "The Cialis Challenge," which offers to pay for a competing erectile dysfunction drug if a patient is not satisfied with tadalafil (Cialis).

The FDA has consolidated three existing areas within the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research to form the Office of Oncology Drug Products.

The California Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) has cut defendants' medical liability payments to winning plaintiffs by 30%, according to a study by RAND Corp., a nonprofit research organization.

Two investigational drugs-one for stress incontinence and one for overactive bladder-showed positive results in separate presentations at the International Consultation on Incontinence in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Men whose PSA level increases by more than 2.0 ng/mL during the year prior to a prostate cancer diagnosis may have a relatively high risk of future cancer death even if they undergo radical prostatectomy, according to a recent report in the New England Journal of Medicine (2004; 351:125-35).

The Cleveland Clinic Glickman Urological Institute has established a new Minority Men's Health Center.