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Women With Gestational Diabetes During Pregnancy Have A Substantial And Persistently Elevated Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes Post-Birth
Women who develop gestational diabetes (GD) during pregnancy have a seven-and-a-half times increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes post-birth, which lasts throughout their lifetime. However, there is no agreed policy on the long-term follow up of these women and many do not return for the currently recommended 6-week post-birth diabetes check. An Article in this week"s diabetes special issue of The Lancet says that the strength of the association suggests that both disorders have an overlapping cause-and this should act as an incentive for women to attend the recommended post-birth check. This attendance could be an opportunity to provide advice on diet and exercise, and treatments to delay or prevent onset of diabetes-as well as alerting these women to symptoms of future diabetes, and to alert general practitioners responsible for their long-term care.
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Government Of Canada Protects Children And Youth From Tobacco Marketing
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Florida State University Scientists Unveil New Seasonal Hurricane Forecasting Model
Scientists at The Florida State University"s Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS) have developed a new computer model that they hope will predict with unprecedented accuracy how many hurricanes will occur in a given season.
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Breast Cancer Risk Signalled By Wet Ear Wax And Unpleasant Body Odors

If having malodorous armpits (called osmidrosis) and goopy earwax isn"t bad enough, a discovery by Japanese scientists may add a more serious problem for women facing these cosmetic calamities. That"s because they"ve found that a gene responsible for breast cancer causes these physical symptoms. The report describing this finding is featured on the cover of The FASEB Journal"s June 2009 print issue, and should arm physicians with another clue for detecting breast cancer risk. "We do strongly hope that our study will provide a new tool for better predication of breast cancer risk by genotyping," said Toshihisa Ishikawa, Ph.D., a professor from the Department of Biomolecular Engineering at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and the senior researcher involved in the work. "Using a rapid and cost-effective typing method presented in this study would provide a practical tool for pharmacogenomics-based personalized medicine." To draw their conclusions, Ishikawa and colleagues monitored the activities of a protein created by a gene associated with breast cancer, called "ABCC11." By studying this gene and its complex cellular and molecular interactions in the body, the researchers discovered a distinct link between the gene and excessively smelly armpits and wet, sticky earwax. Specifically, the researchers expressed the ABCC11 gene and variant proteins in cultured human embryonic kidney cells and showed exactly how the ABCC11 gene produces the wet-type earwax and excessive armpit odor. This discovery could lead to practical tools for clinicians - especially those in developing nations - to rapidly identify who may have a higher risk for breast cancer. "Wet, sticky earwax might not be easily noticed, but most people can"t miss unpleasant body odors," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal, "As it turns out, the type of ear wax one has is linked to a gene that leads to bad odors from one"s armpit. These may become lifesaving clues to the early detection and treatment of breast cancer." Details: Yu Toyoda, Aki Sakurai, Yasumasa Mitani, Masahiro Nakashima, Koh-ichiro Yoshiura, Hiroshi Nakagawa, Yasuo Sakai, Ikuko Ota, Alexander Lezhava, Yoshihide Hayashizaki, Norio Niikawa, and Toshihisa Ishikawa. Earwax, osmidrosis, and breast cancer: why does one SNP (538G>A) in the human ABC transporter ABCC11 gene determine earwax type? FASEB J. 2009 23: 2001-2013. http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/abstract/23/6/2001 Cody Mooneyhan Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology


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