Breast cancer and night work

Breast cancer is the number one cause of female mortality. It affects 100 out of 100,000 women per year in developed countries. Each year, more than 1.3 million new cases are diagnosed. The risk factors of breast cancer are varied. They include genetic mutations, late first pregnancy, low parity or hormone therapy, but other causes of breast cancer such as way of life, environmental or professional causes have not yet been completely identified.

Prostate cancer and overtreatment: check life expectancy

Prostate Specific Antigen

The generalised use of the PSA test for prostate cancer treatment has led to earlier diagnosis of the condition. This development is an advance in itself, since the early stages are less serious and thus easier to cure. But not all prostate cancers are equally aggressive; like many diagnostic tests, the administration of PSA detects tumours more easily, including those that grow at a slower rate. Consequently, a considerable number of tumours diagnosed from a PSA test develop very slowly, thus exposing patients to the risks of over-diagnosis or over-treatment(over-treatment can be associated with undesirable side effects such as impotence or incontinence).

Intestinal microbiota

Escherichia coli

The intestinal microbiota is made up of 100,000 billion bacteria. It is a genuine organ, since the bacterial species that comprise it carry out functions crucial to our health, such as the elimination of substances that are foreign to the body (and potentially toxic), or keeping the pathogens that contaminate us at bay. They also ensure the degradation of ingested food, for better intestinal absorption and optimal metabolism. These millions of bacteria colonise the intestine from birth, and play a key role in the maturation of the immune defences. However, the bacterial species that make up the intestinal microbiota vary from one individual to another, and the presence or absence of one or another bacterial species seems to influence the occurrence of some diseases, or, conversely, may protect us.
Source: INSERM
2013/11/28