The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) mourned the loss of a staff member who was killed together with at least 45 other people in Tuesday’s terrorist bombing in Algiers. WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran joined UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and others in condemning the attack and conveyed her condolences to the family of Gene Luna, the WFP staff member who died under the rubble. [click link for full article]

A new US study found that interpretation of diagnostic mammograms varied widely in a way that could not be explained by variations in patients but might be explained by differences in radiologist attributes, such as experience. The researchers expressed concern that such a variation could influence clinical decisions affecting large numbers of women. [click link for full article]

The drug anastrozole reduced the risk of breast cancer recurrence among postmenopausal women who took it for three years following treatment with tamoxifen.A previous clinical trial showed that breast cancer patients who were still disease-free after taking tamoxifen for five years had their risk of recurrence further reduced if they received five additional years of treatment with the drug letrozole. [click link for full article]

A mutation in the NBN gene is associated with an increased risk of cancer in carriers of one copy of the mutation.Nijmegen breakage syndrome (NBS) is disease that causes congenital microcephaly (a condition marked by abnormally small growth of the head), immunodeficiency, hypersensitivity to x-rays, and a predisposition to cancer, particularly cancers that affect the lymph nodes. [click link for full article]

Blood transfusion recipients have a slightly increased risk of cancer in the months immediately after the transfusion, but this may be due to the need for blood transfusions in patients with undiagnosed cancer.Some researchers have speculated that blood transfusions could increase the recipient’s risk of cancer through transmission of biologic agents or effects on the immune system. To investigate this, Henrik Hjalgrim, M.D., Ph.D. [click link for full article]

A new study of obesity and the probability of pregnancy has shown that a woman’s chances of a spontaneous pregnancy steadily decrease the fatter she is. [click link for full article]

A cancer cell line that is resistant to one of the newest classes of cancer treatments has been developed by researchers who already are using it to determine what else to give patients when this happens.”The ultimate goal is to be able to understand how cancer cells develop resistance and to have forward-thinking strategies about how to combat that resistance,” says Dr. Warren Fiskus, postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. [click link for full article]

The two-day Breaking the Silence conference in Philadelphia aimed to address an “often hidden and still taboo topic within the African-American community: mental illness and the dangers of not treating it,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. [click link for full article]

It’s been a busy year at Diabetes UK. Highlights of our activities have included our Annual Professional Conference (APC), and exciting new corporate partnerships. We have also run the Measure Up awareness campaign, and undertaken groundbreaking research. And we have been part of an innovative new care project and the World Diabetes Day celebrations. [click link for full article]

US research has found that smoking is linked to a significantly increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The University of Lausanne looked at 25 studies involving 1.2m patients and found smokers had a 44% increased risk of type 2 diabetes compared with non-smokers, with the risk rising with the number of cigarettes smoked. The Journal of the American Medical Association study found the increased risk for those who smoked at least 20 cigarettes a day rose to 61%. [click link for full article]