Health News

How cancer prevention drives aging
For the first time, researchers have found how cellular senescence, the well-known mechanism for preventing cancer, can trigger aging and age-related disease by changing the local tissue environment. ANI

Scientists unveil genes vital to vital to adult heart function
In a study on fruit fly Drosophila, scientists at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have found that genes involved in embryonic heart development are vital to adult heart function in both fruit flies and humans. ANI

Psychiatric disorders common among college-aged
A new study has revealed that psychiatric disorders appear to be common among 18- to 24-year-olds, with overall rates similar among those attending or not attending college. ANI

Low cholesterol leads to lower prostate- specific antigen levels

A new study has found that low cholesterol levels may help reduce a persons prostate- specific antigen (PSA) level.

Washington, May 15 : A new study has found that low cholesterol levels may help reduce a person's prostate- specific antigen (PSA) level.

For the study, the researchers explored the relationship between low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and PSA prior to beginning statin therapy.

Data collected from a study of 1,214 men prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs (statins) between 1990 and 2006 at the Durham Veteran Affairs Medical Center in North Carolina shows that PSA levels were reduced after starting statin medications and that this decline was proportional to the decline in LDL cholesterol.

In 2007, a retrospective study showed that men taking statins to lower their cholesterol also experienced a proportional decline in their PSA levels.

This new study confirms that evidence and highlights the fact that cholesterol may play a role in prostate cancer development and progression.

Data was collected from men who were free of prostate cancer, had not undergone prostate surgery or taken medicine to alter androgen levels, and whose PSA was between 0.1 and 10.0 ng/ml.

The outcome of this study, if confirmed by additional research, could provide further evidence for the role cholesterol plays in prostate biology.

The results of this study indicate that cholesterol and PSA are valuable indicators of overall health for men and should continue to be monitored together.

The study was presented at the 103rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association.

ANI