September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, and all men in The Bahamas are being urged to talk to their healthcare providers about prostate cancer and get prompt treatment, if needed. The prostate gland is a walnut-sized organ located underneath the bladder and its primary role is related to male fertility and aiding the sperm to fertilize the ovum.

According to the World Cancer Research Fund, The Bahamas is ranked as having the 14th highest incidence of prostate cancer in the world with hundreds of Bahamian men diagnosed every year with advanced stage, incurable prostate cancer, or dying from the disease. The disease is prevalent amongst Bahamian men due to African ancestry, obesity, relatively high alcohol intake, high dairy product intake and the BRCA 2 gene mutation found in the some of the populace.

“As a Bahamian male, it’s important to understand your family’s entire cancer background, including that of both your male and female relatives when assessing your risk,” advises Dr Fernando Cabrera, an Urologist at Cleveland Clinic Weston Hospital in Florida. “So you need to ask questions, talk with your relatives to find out what types of cancers family members were diagnosed with in the past and at what ages?” said Dr. Cabrera.

Factors to be considered in assessing your risk of prostate cancer: 1. Family history: Familial risk of prostate cancer is greatest if you have a first-degree relative (father or brother) or multiple first degree relatives who had the disease, especially if they were diagnosed at a relatively young age. Having multiple second-degree relatives (such as a grandfather, uncle, or half-brother) and third-degree relatives (like a great-grandfather or cousin) also adds to the risk.

Also, inherited genetic mutations and syndromes from male and female relatives cause between 5 and 10 percent of prostate cancers, according to the American Cancer Society. For instance, in some families, breast or ovarian cancers result from hereditary ovarian and breast cancer syndrome (HBOC), characterized by mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. BRCA mutations also increase the risk of male breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, and melanoma.

2. Age: your likelihood to develop the disease increases as you get older.

3. Race: Men of African descent are at heightened risk of prostate cancer and death from the disease.

Considering these risk factors, most experts recommend that discussions about screening with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and other tests begin at ages 50 or 55 for those at average risk. For higher-risk groups, like men of African descent, experts recommend yearly screening beginning at age 40 or 10 years before the youngest age at which prostate cancer was diagnosed in the family.

The good news, however, is that if diagnosed with prostate cancer, treatment options have improved significantly to include minimally invasive surgical procedures, using robotics.

Urology surgeries today – like removing the prostate, have now become standard. Because surgeons can do everything through tiny holes in your abdomen, the surgery usually causes less pain, less scarring and less bleeding than traditional surgery. And you recover faster.

But not all minimally invasive surgery is the same. Robotic surgery, as performed by Cleveland Clinic urologists, is the most precise form. Cleveland Clinic was one of the first in the U.S. to perform robotic prostate removal. Now Cleveland Clinic surgeons use robotic surgery to treat all types of urologic cancers.

How is robotic surgery different? According to Dr. Carrington Mason, a doctor of osteopathic medicine at a Cleveland Clinic’s Indian River Hospital located in Vero Beach, Florida, “Standard minimally invasive surgery – sometimes called laparoscopic surgery – involves tiny cuts in your abdomen. Through these “ports,” surgeons insert slender instruments and manipulate these instruments using their hands.”

Robotic surgery uses the same ports. However, surgeons sit at a console, carefully controlling robotic instruments. A camera displays a close-up, 3D view of the patient. “It’s like having super-powered vision and miniature hands that can turn and bend in any direction,” says Dr. Mason. “Also, the robot’s movements are much more precise than a human hand,” which makes robotic surgery the best surgical option for treatment.

Remember, prostate cancer is very curable and early diagnosis can lead to 98 percent prostate cancer specific survival. Talk to your urologist today.

NEWS ITEMS ON HURRICANE SAM ISSUED BY THE BAHAMAS DEPARTMENT OF METEOROLOGY FORECAST OFFICE SECTION, AT 6:00 AM WEDNESDAY 29TH, SEPTEMBER 2021

…AIR FORCE HURRICANE HUNTER FINDS SAM FLUCTUATING IN STRENGTH …

AT 5:00 AM AST, THE CENTER OF HURRICANE SAMWAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 18.9° NORTHAND LONGITUDE 56.2° WEST OR ABOUT 455 MILES EAST OF THE NORTHERN LEEWARD ISLANDS.

SAM IS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHWEST AT 9 MILES PER HOUR.   ON THE FORECAST TRACK, SAM WILL PASS WELL TO THE EAST AND NORTHEAST OF THE LEEWARD ISLANDS THROUGH TONIGHT.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 130 MILES PER HOUR WITH HIGHER GUSTS.  SOME FLUCTUATIONS IN INTENSITY ARE EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS.

Even as his tenuous grip on political leadership weakens further and the Free National Movement (FNM) prepares for a changing of the guard, former Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis appears increasingly delusional.

Instead of humbly acknowledging abuse of the public’s trust, Minnis continues to talk with the confidence of the competent authority, touting a record that failed to secure the FNM another term in office.

The party intends to hold a convention in November and elect a new leader.

Presumably, that new leader will also be leader of the official opposition, if the new leader is one of the elected FNM members.

If the leader is outside the House of Assembly, then Minnis could conceivably still serve as leader of the official opposition beyond November but we suspect he would eventually face a revolt, as he did in 2016, when a majority of his party’s parliamentary caucus wrote to the governor general and had him stripped of the title and the accompanying duties.

Minnis seems not to “get” that the September 16 vote was a referendum on him, as the election was on Perry Christie four and a half years ago.

While many FNMs continue their spin — pointing out that voter turnout was below 70 percent — this does not diminish the fact that voters strongly rejected Minnis and the FNM at the polls.

While the FNM secured 91,413 votes in 2017; it got just 46,030 in 2021.

Bank of The Bahamas (BOB) ended its financial year with a five percent decrease in operating income, due primarily to a loss in net interest income resulting from deferred loan fees associated with COVID-related consumer loan campaigns.

Kenrick Brathwaite, the bank’s managing director, said despite the pandemic, BOB registered overall net income of $6.4 million for the year ended June 30, 2021.

“Comparing the current year ended June 30, 2021 to the prior year ended June 30, 2020, the bank’s total operating income decreased by $2.1 million (14.93 percent) for the quarter and $2.4 million (5.12 percent) for the year, due to lower net interest income and net non-interest income,” he said in the bank’s financial performance report for the quarter.

“Despite higher interest income owing to the bank’s efforts in consumer loan campaigns and a decrease in interest expense due to a decline in certain deposit balances and interest rates, the overall decrease in net interest income of $2 million and $1.3 million for the quarter and year, respectively, were attributable to the deferred loan fees of $3.3 million recognized in the prior year. The decline in non-interest income of $1.1 million year to date was largely due to the adverse impact of the pandemic on the bank’s auxiliary revenue streams, which was immediate, substantial and continues, to date.”

Brathwaite said a Central Bank-imposed levy resulted in a higher bank license fee of $800,000, pushing operating expenses up by $2.9 million for the year.

“Increases were also noted in staff costs, depreciation and information technology-related expenses, as the bank invested in the human resources, system innovation and upgrades to support its planned growth and strategic initiatives. Net credit loss expenses of $7.5 million were recorded year to date, compared to $15.3 million during the same period of the prior fiscal year, a 51.4 percent positive variance,” he said.

“Reversals of provisions for impairment of $5.3 million were also recorded during the current year, compared to impairment losses of $6.3 million in the prior year, as the ECL (expected credit loss) estimates and assumptions used on its sovereign and corporate exposures in the prior year did not materialize. Management continues to use its judgement in the assessment of any significant changes in the underlying assumptions on its financial assets due to the pandemic.”

BOB’s total assets amounted to $902.8 million and loans and advances were net of $391.3 million as at June 30.