Detection of prostate cancer using PSA blood levels (prostate specific antigen) is significantly lower in the United States than in Europe, say researchers.
Prostate cancer screening using the PSA levels is being encouraged to detect early prostate cancer, but who is screened and how often depends on individual physicians or clinics.
The U.S. National Institutes of Health site notes that higher risk men are usually recommended to be screened starting at the age of 40 or 45 years. For men with no risk factors for prostate cancer, such as family history, some doctors are not actively encouraging PSA testing because of reports …read more

If your partner became pregnant with a boy through IVF (in vitro fertilization, using intracytoplasmic sperm injection, ICSI, researchers say that the boy has a high chance of having the same infertility problems that you may have.
According to a Mail Online article, IVF Fathers Could Pass Infertility On To Sons, although the boys are too young to test for fertility,
A [UK] study has found that boys conceived using the popular form of fertility treatment often had shorter fingers  -  a trait associated with infertility.

The study, carried out at the Institute of Child Health in London, compared 211 six-year-olds conceived through …read more

A study of men (99 sets of twins) and exposure to tricholorethylene (TCE), a chemical once widely used to clean metal such as auto parts has found a possible connection between the chemical and an higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.
TCE, no longer widely used, was a mainstay in dry cleaning and in garages and similar settings because of its ability to clean grease from metal parts. Its use was discontinued in many places due to health concern. Now, many years later, it still may be causing problems for the people who used to work with the chemical.
Researchers studied 99 …read more

Tea-drinking men have an advantage over women who drink tea, say researchers. They have found that men who drink two or more cups of tea per day are slimmer around the waist – have less abdominal fat – than their male counterparts who don’t drink tea.
Abdominal fat isn’t considered the same as overall body fat because of the seemingly hidden fat that surrounds the organs in the abdomen, the intra-abdominal or visceral fat. This type of fat has been linked to health issues such as high cholesterol, high insulin, high triglycerides, and high blood pressure, to name just a few.
Because …read more

It’s hard to keep track of what is good for you and what isn’t. Should we be sunbathing? No, because we don’t want to get skin cancer. But, we need vitamin D and one of the easiest sources is sunlight. So, moderate sun should be good for us, right? There are other indications that sun is an important part of our health. Multiple sclerosis, a devastating neurological disease, is found in much higher rates in northern countries than in those that are most often sunny and warm.
And now, another reason to take a bit of sun. Researchers have found that …read more

We all forget things from time to time but when forgetfulness becomes to common, it becomes a scary thing. Oftentimes, when an older person begins forgetting things, they worry about dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. However, a study of 930 men, in Sweden, shows that a decline in memory could indicate not a dementia, but a higher risk of having a stroke.
Because major strokes can be so devastating, leaving a person quite incapacitated, or it can cause death, researchers are working to find ways to identify ahead of time who may be at higher risk of experiencing one
This particular study, published …read more

It’s that time of the year again. Yup, that’s Valentine’s Day hiding around the corner. For the next two weeks, we’ll be bombarded with Valentine’s messages and how men really should not disappoint their sweeties.
Well, while chocolate and roses, and romantic evenings are great, having someone you love living a healthy life is a priceless gift. Seriously. I know I’d much rather know that my husband is happy and healthy, with a heart that has lots of mileage still, then to receive flowers and have him drop dead in a few months because he didn’t take care of his heart. …read more

If your grandpa has weak bones, you’d best watch the health of your bones, say researchers. A new study has shown that if a grandfather breaks a hip, the chances are higher that his grandsons have low bone density and bone size. This study was published this month in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
This study is particularly interesting because usually such studies involve only two generations – parents and children – but this one brings in a third one. Researchers looked at 3,688 grandparents and 1,015 grandsons. They measured the bone mineral density (BMD), cortical bone size, volumetric …read more

If you’re serving in the armed forces and you have to leave the field for medical reasons, there’s a good chance that your medical reasons have more to do with tendinitis or fractures, not obtained in combat, than in combat injuries, say researchers.
We see in the news about soldiers who are injured and are evacuated from combat areas. We also see stories about soldiers who are treated at military hospitals for injuries and some of the difficulties some soldiers have in reintegrating into non-military life. But in reality, 24% of soldiers must leave because of fractures, tendinitis (inflammation of a …read more

Sports – is there anything else that makes some men get so riled up over something that is supposed to be entertainment than sports? Picture this: Yesterday, the Indianapolis Colts versus the New York Jets: some people were screaming in encouragement as “their” team tried to win. Others were screaming in indignation as their team wasn’t doing as they should. If the scenario changes, and their team does better, the screaming goes to joyful and encouraging screaming and the other team’s fans do their frustrated act. Repeat this all a couple of hours later with the New Orleans Saints and …read more