Prostate Cancer

OMAHA, Neb. - Warren Buffett has been diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer, he told his company's shareholders in an open letter Tuesday. The 81-year-old billionaire investor and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said his condition is "not remotely life-threatening" or debilitating. He said he and his doctors have decided on a two-month treatment plan that is to begin in mid-July. "I feel great - as if I were in my normal excellent health," Buffett said in the letter.

The more red meat you eat, the greater your disease risk Eating red meat is associated with a sharply increased risk of death from cancer and heart disease, according to a new study, and the more of it you eat, the greater the risk. The analysis, published online in Archives of Internal Medicine, used data from two studies that involved 121,342 men and women who filled out questionnaires about health and diet from 1980 through 2006. People who ate more red meat were less physically active and more likely to smoke and had a higher body mass index, researchers found.

In the Region J&J pill improves cancer rates Johnson & Johnson said Thursday its prostate cancer pill Zytiga improved survival and delayed the progression of cancer in patients who had not been treated with chemotherapy. The company said patients treated with Zytiga and a steroid had a longer time to death or disease progression than patients treated with a placebo and the steroid. Zytiga met secondary goals in the late-stage study, and the independent monitoring committee recommended that the results from the study be released and that patients taking the placebo be offered Zytiga.

SAN FRANCISCO - Rock guitarist Ronnie Montrose, 64, who formed the band that bore his name and performed with some of rock's heavy hitters, has died. His booking agent, Jim Douglas, said Mr. Montrose passed away at his home in Millbrae on Saturday. Douglas said Mr. Montrose had been in declining health for some time, battling prostate cancer and what Douglas termed "personal demons. " Besides forming his own band in 1973, Mr. Montrose performed with a number of musicians, including Sammy Hagar, Herbie Hancock, Van Morrison, Boz Scaggs, and the Edgar Winter Group.

The New Jersey Nets honored the late Whitney Houston by playing her rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" from the 1991 Super Bowl before their game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night. The Newark-born singer died in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Saturday at the age of 48. Her funeral will be Saturday in Newark at the New Hope Baptist Church, where she sang as a child. She will be buried in Fair View Cemetery in Westfield, where her father, John Russell Houston Jr., was buried in 2003.

ASSOCIATED PRESS A warning to men considering a pricey new treatment for prostate cancer called proton therapy: Research suggests it might have more side effects than traditional radiation does. A study of Medicare records found that men treated with proton beams later had one-third more bowel problems, such as bleeding and blockages, than men given conventional radiation. This is an observational study, so it is not definitive, but it is one of the largest to compare those treatments.

John Marshall, 91, of Devon, a retired communications director and a senior member and facilitator of a prostate-cancer support group, died of sepsis on Thursday, Dec. 15, at Paoli Memorial Hospital. His wife of 58 years had died two months ago, and although the official cause of Mr. Marshall's death was complications from an infection, he died of a broken heart, their son William said. Mr. Marshall graduated in 1938 from West Philadelphia High School. He was student body president, starred in several Shakespeare productions, and was voted "peppiest" member of his class, his son said.

McLEAN, VA. - William Aramony, who built the United Way of America into a philanthropic powerhouse before leaving in disgrace and serving six years in prison for fraud, has died after a long battle with cancer. He was 84. Aramony was the United Way's chief executive officer from 1970 to 1992. He resigned after using the organization's money to fund a lavish lifestyle, including gifts for a girlfriend who was 17 when they first met. Aramony's son, Robert, said his father died Friday in Alexandria at the son's home.

It has long been said that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. But a new directive under consideration on prostate-cancer screenings puts that adage in question. For years, doctors have urged men to get regular blood tests for prostate cancer, beginning at age 50. Experts believed the test would help men detect tumors at an earlier stage. But a draft of new guidelines released last week by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has raised questions about the benefits of the prostate-specific antigen blood test.

Common sense on jobs bill Politics didn't kill the so-called jobs bill of 2011; common sense did ("Politics killed the jobs bill," Thursday). We were fed the same line about how the so-called stimulus package of 2009 would create jobs and improve the economy. We can all see how well that worked out. So now all we need to do is spend about another half-trillion dollars we don't have and expect it to work this time? I don't think so. Stupidity (or is it insanity?) is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.