UK Women Under 50 Diagnosed with Breast Cancer in Record ...

Breast cancer researchers in the UK have noticed a troubling trend recently, which is that more women under the age of 50 are being diagnosed with breast cancer. A record number of women under 50, actually ? according to Cancer Research UK, 10,068 women under the age of 50 in the UK were diagnosed with the disease in 2010, 2,356 more than were diagnosed in 1995.

According to the Guardian, the rise in diagnoses ?represents an 11% growth in incidence rates of breast cancer in women aged under 50 over the same period ? from 38 per 100,000 women diagnosed in 1993-1995 to 42 women per 100,000 in 2008-2010.? Cancer Research UK isn?t quite sure what?s behind the unsettling rise in under-50 breast cancer diagnoses, but it has suggested that there?s a correlation between the 11 percent growth in incidence rates and growing alcohol consumption, more widespread use of the contraceptive pill, and a growing number of women choosing to have fewer children later in life.

The silver lining here is that the death rate for breast cancer patients fell from nine per 100,000 women under 50 in 1993-1995, to five per 100,000 in 2008-2010. Routine screenings are offered to women in the UK between the ages of 50 and 70, but changes are now being made to the prevention program so that women in their 40s are also invited to have regular screenings. That?s a start, but according to Chief Executive of Breakthrough Breast Cancer Chris Askew (who doesn?t have the most trustworthy surname, but moving on), the rise in the under-50 breast cancer rate merits attention from the medical community:

Although breast cancer is more common in older women, it's worrying to see an increase in the number of younger women diagnosed with the disease. We must invest in vital research for new treatments and disease prevention.

That probably means going a few steps beyond just having all the English football players wear pink cleats for a month.

[Guardian]

Image via AP, Rich Pedroncelli

Source: http://jezebel.com/uk-women-under-50-diagnosed-with-breast-cancer-in-recor-488290243

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Wind farms to lure back German lobsters decimated by WW2

By Madeline Chambers

BERLIN (Reuters) - New wind farms off Germany's North Sea coast will provide an ideal habitat that could help restore the lobster population near Heligoland after British bombing during and after World War II drove them away.

Biologists at the Alfred-Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research are breeding 3,000 lobsters to be released next year into the Borkum Riffgat offshore wind farm near the island 70 km off the German-Dutch coast.

The 1.5 square km island had a thriving fishing industry before it became a Nazi fortress in the war, pounded by Allied bombs, and then later used for target practice. It is now a tourist resort.

Billions of euros of investment in wind turbines as part of Germany's ambitious transition to renewable energy has given the scheme impetus. Lobsters, whose local population is 90 percent smaller than it was 70 years ago, need a firm seabed to thrive.

"The new wind parks mean lobsters may settle in a new habitat, because the stony foundations offer a favorable environment," project leader Heinz-Dieter Franke said.

The 700,000 euro ($923,500) scheme is funded by compensation paid to the state of Lower Saxony by utility EWE for any potential ecological damage caused by the construction of its wind park. The money will fund breeding, reintroduction and monitoring of the lobsters for roughly two years.

"With Germany's shift to renewables, we could have 5,000 wind farms by 2030, so if it works, this kind of project could have a huge effect on the lobster population," Franke said.

He estimated that wind farms could help increase the lobster population to as many as 300,000 lobsters in the area around Heligoland in the long run from 50,000 to 100,000 now.

EXPLOSIONS

Scandinavian and Mediterranean lobster stocks have collapsed in the past few decades from a combination of environmental factors.

But some scientists cite British explosives as one reason for the decimation of the lobster population around Heligoland.

In one of the biggest bombing runs on Heligoland during the war, the Allied air force destroyed almost every building on the island, raining down 7,000 bombs in a two-hour raid on April 18, 1945.

For five years after the war, Britain used Heligoland for target practice, and in 1947 it set off some 7,000 metric tons worth of explosives to blow up U-boat pens in one of the biggest non-nuclear detonations on record.

Britain released the crater-scarred island for resettlement in 1952, but scientists say that was too late for the lobsters.

The toxins from the bombs may have hurt the crustaceans' sense of smell, which is essential in finding a sexual partner and so damaged their ability to reproduce, Franke said.

Lobster expert Dominic Boothroyd, general manager of Britain's National Lobster Hatchery, said the idea of using the hard foundations of a wind park made sense and that projects to reintroduce young lobsters had taken place in Britain and Norway, though not on wind farms.

"(From these projects), we know the animals survive and that they contribute to fishery and reproduce. We have also got a lot of interesting biological information," Boothroyd said.

($1 = 0.7580 euros)

(Reporting by Madeline Chambers; editing by Gareth Jones and Jane Baird)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wind-farms-lure-back-german-lobsters-decimated-ww2-115151982.html

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