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Multiple factors contribute to a healthy pregnancy, including the quality of the egg and sperm. Sperm quality is an important factor for timely conception, a healthy pregnancy and healthy babies. Recent research looking at the male partners of women who had experienced recurrent miscarriage found that increases in sperm DNA damage, markers of cell stress in the semen, and abnormal sperm shape elevated the risk of recurrent miscarriage highlighting the importance of investigating sperm quality in cases of recurrent miscarriage without a known cause.

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Losing weight reduces the risk of diabetes, and increases natural testosterone levels but it is not clear how much low testosterone influences the development of diabetes in overweight men. The testosterone for diabetes mellitus (T4DM) study looks at whether treatment with testosterone along with a weight management program prevents Type 2 diabetes in men at high risk, or reverses it in men newly diagnosed.

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Heavy consumption of alchohol is linked to a range of cancers, but it has been unclear whether heavy drinking increases the risk of prostate cancer. A recent study found that heavy drinking itself did not increase the odds but when a prostate cancer diagnosis was received, the grade of the cancer was significantly higher compared with men who drank less during their lifetime.

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Androgenic steroid use is rising and is now a major health concern, particularly for young men. Serious side effects include heart disease, brain and liver injury, infertility and other conditions. A large recent study investigating male gym-users who had used androgens showed a significant increase in the risk of death and other health conditions in these men.

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It's likely that some cases of erectile dysfunction are caused partly by genetics but until recently, no single gene had been found for a genetic link. Now researchers think they may have found a gene that is linked with the risk of erectile function in later life which may help to understand the cause of erectile dysfunction in some men, and lead to new treatments.

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Transgender people may choose to undergo hormone therapy to align their physical appearance with their gender identity. For a trans woman (born male, identifies as female) medical transition includes oestrogen therapy but there have been concerns about this causing an increased risk of cardiovascular events. A recent study confirms this increased risk highlighting a need for vigilance by health professionals caring for trans women.

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Despite new treatments for advanced prostate cancer, it remains incurable. Monash University researchers have established new preclinical models of advanced prostate cancer that can be studied in the laboratory. Patient-derived primary tumours are collected, grown in the laboratory, closely studied and tested with new treatments. A set of drugs was found to reduce tumour growth when used in combination providing a strong rationale for testing these drugs in patients as part of a clinical trial.

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Immunotherapy is a new treatment for aggressive cancers but for prostate cancer the success in clinical trials is mixed.The ability to pre-select which prostate cancer patients are likely to respond to immunotherapy, and which are unlikely to benefit, would be a major advance. Researchers have now found that a particular subgroup of prostate cancers have a distinct genetic identity and tumour immune microenvironment that may respond well to immunotherapy.

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Men suspected of prostate cancer are currently referred for biopsy for definitive diagnosis but this approach can lead to over-treatment of clinically insignificant cancers, and side-effects from treatment and biopsy. Improving screening prior to biopsy reduces unnecessary procedures with a recent study showing that MRI reduced the number of men referred for biopsy, improved sampling of pathological cores, identified more men with clinically significant cancer, and reduced the number diagnosed with a non-life threatening cancer.

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