Vitamin D and testosterone co-ordinately modulate intracellular zinc levels and energy metabolism in prostate cancer cells.

Vitamin D and its receptor are responsible for controlling energy expenditure in adipocytes and have direct roles in the transcriptional regulation of energy metabolic pathways. This phenomenon also has a significant impact on the etiology of prostate cancer (PCa). Using several in vitro models, the roles of vitamin D on energy metabolism and its implication in primary, early, and late invasive PCa were investigated.

Current and emerging trends in prostate cancer immunotherapy.

There have been a number of recent developments in the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer which seek to exploit the hormonal axis. Still, the castration-resistant prostate cancer remains a major challenge since this is the lethal and incurable phenotype which results in tens of thousands of deaths every year. There has been emerging interest in utilizing anticancer immunotherapy in prostate cancer, especially since the development of sipuleucel-T.

Placebo Medication and Sham Surgery Responses in Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Treatments: Implications for Clinical Trials.

Placebo medications and sham surgeries have long been thought to be inert treatments. These groups served as a threshold to which an active treatment should be compared in a randomized trial to determine the true efficacy of the active treatment. However, surprising changes in subjective symptom scores and objective measures of voiding have been demonstrated in numerous placebo medication or sham surgery arms of trials.

Assessing resident surgical competency in urology using a global rating scale.

Objective: Training programs must ensure residents are competent to practice independently. For surgical fields, this is generally done by the faculty who graduate the residents, but there has been no accepted methodology for this process.

Design: As part of a generalized survey, attending physicians performing an operation were asked to assess resident competency to perform the operation independently in an average patient, using a single global question.