Some brief stories relating to cancer
Night-shift workers get cancer payout
The Danish government has begun paying compensation to women who have developed breast cancer after working night shifts for long periods.
It follows a ruling by a United Nations’ International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) that night shifts probably increase the risk of developing cancer.
It is thought that alterations in sleep patterns could suppress the body’s production of melatonin, a hormone which helps to prevent cancer.
Dr Vincent Cogliano of the IARC said it reached its conclusion after looking at a wide number of studies of both humans and animals. One of the reports, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, showed a 36 per cent greater risk of breast cancer for women who had worked night shifts for more than 30 years, compared with women who had never worked nights.
Obesity gene linked to infertility A gene which causes obesity could also lead to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in women, research has suggested.
Experts found that women who carried a variant of the FTO gene, which has been shown to make people up to 70 per cent more likely to develop obesity, are also at higher risk of polycystic ovary syndrome, a leading causing of infertility.
Men’s Cancer Awareness Month
The Marie Keating Foundation has urged men to seek early detection of cancer by visiting one of its mobile units this month, which has been designated Men’s Cancer Awareness Month.
Research commissioned by the foundation has found that 70 per cent of Irish men have never spoken to their GP about prostate cancer.
This form of cancer is expected to increase by some 275 per cent by 2020.
The mobile units will visit Galway, Dublin, Mayo, Waterford, Roscommon, Westmeath, Mullingar, Cork and Offaly in the coming days. See mariekeating.ie.