A new study from researchers at Harvard University and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden has shown that the rates of both suicide and heart attack increase significantly in men during the first week after they are diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Doctors have long known that acute stress can result in dramatic health effects, but this is one of the first studies to show a fairly concrete spike in suicide and heart attack after prostate cancer diagnosis.

No one is quite sure as to what the implications of a study like this should be. Men still need to be told that they have been diagnosed with prostate cancer - it cannot really be avoided. Perhaps close monitoring of the recently diagnosed man by friends and family (as well as his physician) would be prudent.

Even without the dramatic results of suicide or heart attack, a prostate cancer diagnosis often leads to feelings of depression, anxiety, and a whole range of other emotions.

It's also important to remember that this study doesn't show that being diagnosed with prostate cancer causes suicide or heart attack, just that they are more common after diagnosis.

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A new report suggests that the death rate from cancer has fallen yet again in the United States.

The three biggest cancer killers of men showed declines as lung, prostate, and colon cancer all claimed fewer lives.

Experts are attributing the overall decline to several factors including better screening tools, improved treatments, and better lifestyle choices (most prominently fewer people smoking).

Cancer death rates have been decreasing steadily for over 10 years in the United States.

Dendreon, the company that has spent millions of dollars developing a prostate cancer vaccine only to have its product, called Provenge, recently rejected by the FDA, is showing confidence that its re-application to the FDA will be accepted.

The company recently began offering stock in an effort to raise $15 million to build more manufacturing capacity for the vaccine and is already planning its commercial launch.

The FDA is expected to rule on the newest application next year.

A new study by researchers from Johns Hopkins has shown that an exercise program that incorporates resistance and aerobic exercise can help to reverse bone loss that has resulted from hormone therapy.

Thousands of men undergo androgen-deprivation therapy (better known as hormone therapy) for treatment of prostate cancer each year. There are a number of side effects that can result from long-term hormone therapy including bone loss (osteoporosis), muscle loss, and obesity.

Counteracting these side effects has been a point of much research recently. This study compared two groups of men who were receiving hormone therapy. One group was assigned to participate in an exercise program that employed both resistance and aerobic exercise with an instructor twice a week for 12 weeks, while the other group was assigned to usual care - without any specific exercise program.

After just 12 weeks, there was a significant increase in "muscle mass, strength, physical function, and balance" in the men assigned to the exercise group. Yet more evidence that exercise is vitally important to all men, but especially those with prostate cancer.

This study was published in the online edition of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

_{Source: Galvao DA, Taaffe DR, Spry N, et al. Combined resistance and aerobic exercise program reverses muscle loss in men undergoing androgen suppression therapy for prostate cancer without bone metastases: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Clinical Oncology [early online publication]. November 30, 2009.}

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