TUESDAY, April 15 (HealthDay News) -- Loop diuretics, drugs commonly prescribed to treat heart failure and hypertension, increase the risk of hip bone loss in older men, says a U.S. study.

Researchers evaluated 3,269 men, aged 65 and older, who underwent an initial examination between 2000 and 2002, with a follow-up visit an average of 4.6 years later. They collected information about all the medications being taken by the men and checked bone mineral density in the men's hips.

Among the men in the study, 84 continuously used loop diuretics between the initial and follow-up examinations, 181 used the drugs intermittently, and 3,004 never used them. After adjusting for other factors, the researchers found that the average annual rate of decline in total hip bone mineral density was -0.78 among continuous users, -0.58 among intermittent users, and -0.33 among non-users.

"Compared with rates of hip bone loss among non-users of diuretics, adjusted rates of loss were about twofold greater among intermittent loop diuretic users and about 2.5-fold greater among continuous loop diuretic users," wrote Dr. Lionel S. Lim, of Griffin Hospital in Derby, Conn., and his colleagues.

"We conclude that loop diuretic use in older men is associated with increased rates of hip bone loss," wrote the authors, who said future research should examine the underlying mechanisms of this bone loss.

"Our findings suggest that health care providers should take into account loop diuretic use when evaluating older men for risk factors for bone loss and fracture risk," they said.

The study was published in the April 14 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The researchers noted that loop diuretics are one of the most commonly prescribed medications among older adults. These drugs increase the amount of calcium excreted in urine, and long-term use may harm bones. Previous observational studies have found an association between the use of loop diuretics and increased risk of fractures.

But the researchers said there's been "uncertainty as to whether this increased fracture risk is attributable to negative effects on bone mineral density, fall-related mechanisms (e.g., dizziness and orthostatis [low blood pressure when standing up]), or associated comorbidities (co-occurring illnesses)."

More information

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has more about diuretics and other drugs used to treat hypertension.

MONDAY, April 14 (HealthDay News) -- Two widely used drugs -- one lowers cholesterol and one is an anti-inflammatory -- may be useful in controlling prostate cancer.

New research being presented at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting in San Diego finds that the painkiller Celebrex and the statin Lipitor, when used together or alone, can stop early prostate cancer before it becomes deadly.

The study was conducted in mice so the idea isn't yet ready for clinical use, but experts said these preliminary results did look promising.

"They need to come up with the molecular mechanics and then take it back to clinical trials," said Dr. K. Scott Coffield, a professor of surgery at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and a urologist-oncologist at Scott & White. "It's early but it's interesting and that's wonderful."

"It's very intriguing and it gives some clinical data, but it's not enough to start recommending these medications for people who don't need them for other reasons," added Dr. Ronald D. Ennis, director of radiation oncology at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital, Continuum Cancer Centers, in New York City.

Prostate cancer is the second-leading cancer killer in men in the United States. In the early stages, prostate tumors depend on androgen (male) hormones such as testosterone to grow. As such, early treatment typically involves interfering with these hormones but these therapies eventually lose their effectiveness. Tumors that are dependent on androgen are typically less aggressive than later tumors that don't rely on androgen.

Epidemiological studies have suggested that statins (such as Lipitor) and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (such as Celebrex) may be able to stop the progression from an early cancer to a later, more aggressive malignancy.

This study aimed to delay the progression of androgen-dependent tumors to androgen-independent tumors, thus allowing doctors more time to administer anti-hormone therapy. Anti-androgen therapy is less toxic than many other cancer therapies, as are Lipitor and Celebrex.

"Comparing complications for many anti-cancer treatments, these drugs generally would be very safe," Ennis said. (Celebrex, a cox-2 inhibitor, is the only drug in this class still on the market in the United States; two others, Vioxx and Bextra, were withdrawn because of safety issues).

In the study, the investigators first cultured prostate tumors in mice, then added in either Lipitor or Celebrex, and then the combination of the two drugs.

All three approaches inhibited cancer growth. Interestingly, however, the combination of Lipitor and Celebrex at lower doses than when given individually resulted in a greater effect, the team found.

"It had a pretty substantial effect with this combination," said study senior author Allan Conney, director of the Susan Lehman Komen Laboratory for Cancer Research at the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy of Rutgers University, in New Brunswick, N.J.

"We're hoping that this can be extrapolated to humans," Conney added. "There's a need to do a clinical trial on this combination of Lipitor and Celebrex to see if it can prolong the time that it takes to convert the androgen-dependent tumors to androgen-independent tumors, which are the more severe kind."

As of now, it's unclear why Lipitor and Celebrex are having this effect on prostate tumors.

Ennis doubted it was a cholesterol issue. "Statins as a group must have another effect beyond lowering cholesterol," he said. "They're known to have some anti-inflammatory effects but what they're doing to cancer isn't known yet. Once we figure that out, we may be able to develop better drugs that do the same thing."

"That's very exciting but not yet enough to start prescribing this for prostate cancer," Ennis added.

More information

There's more on prostate cancer at the American Cancer Society  .

MONDAY, April 14 (HealthDay News) -- New research out of Britain finds that financial traders who wake up with high levels of the male hormone testosterone tend to make more money that day, probably because they feel more daring.

On the flip side, traders with higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol tend to be more cautious.

"We think that, during bubbles, traders are experiencing extremely high levels of testosterone, and this is affecting not only their judgment, but the ability of monetary policy to control bubbles," said study author John Coates, a research fellow at Judge Business School and the department of physiology development in neuroscience at the University of Cambridge in Britain. "Alan Greenspan spent most of his career trying to stop a bubble and never succeeded. Why are these things so hard to stop?"

The findings are consistent with previous research, said Dr. Julio Licinio, chairman of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. ""If testosterone is higher, you push yourself more," he said.

In fact, testosterone is linked with sexual and competitive behavior. It rises in athletes before competition, and even more if they win, while falling in those who lose.

Cortisol, on the other hand, responds to stress and to uncertain situations.

But how do these hormones respond to financial risk-taking?

To find out, Coates, who once ran a derivatives desk at Deutsch Bank on Wall Street, recruited 17 London financial traders to participate in the study. The findings were published in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Thirteen traded mainly European fixed income futures while, for the remaining four, the main asset traded was the Dax (German stock index futures) or Eurostox (European Equity Index). Traders ranged in age from 18 to 38, and annual income ranged from about $24,000 to more than more than $10 million. The nominal size of single trades ranged from about $200,000 to $1 billion.

For eight consecutive days, twice a day (at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.), participants deposited a small amount of saliva into a vial which was analyzed for testosterone and cortisol levels. These were then correlated with profit-and-loss figures for the same times of day.

The study was conducted on a real trading floor, so the risks and rewards would be equally real. And, as best they could, the researchers timed it with a period of market volatility (namely one that immediately preceded and included key U.S. economic releases).

High testosterone levels were correlated with greater profitability, while higher cortisol levels (which rose as much as 500 percent during one day) correlated with uncertainty.

"These heightened levels of steroids have implications both for the economy but also for traders as well," Coates said. "Chronically high levels of steroids have a debilitating effect on the body."

As for the financial markets, manipulating traders' hormones so as to manipulate the economy is out of the question. But, Coates said, "I think you would find a very different financial system if there were more women and older men on trading floors."

More information

The National Library of Medicine has more on testosterone.