FACTBOX - Some facts about cancer around the world

      Forty percent of the 12 million people diagnosed with cancer each year could avert the killer disease with protection against infections and lifestyle changes, experts said on Tuesday ahead of World Cancer Day on Feb. 4.

The number of global cancer deaths is projected to increase by 45 percent from 2007 to 2030 (from 7.9 million to 11.5 million deaths), influenced in part by an increasing and ageing global population.

Here are some facts about cancer:

* WHAT IS CANCER?

-- Cancer is a generic term for a large group of diseases that can affect any part of the body. Other terms used are malignant tumours and neoplasms.

-- A defining feature of cancer is the rapid creation of abnormal cells that grow beyond their usual boundaries, and which can then invade adjoining parts of the body and spread to other organs. This process is referred to as metastasis. Metastases are the major cause of death from cancer.

* KEY RISKS:

-- Some key risk factors for cancer that can be avoided include smoking -- responsible for 1.8 million cancer deaths per year (60 percent of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries).

-- Being overweight, obese or physically inactive -- together responsible for 274,000 cancer deaths annually.

-- Excessive alcohol intake -- responsible for 351,000 cancer deaths per year.

-- Sexually transmitted human papilloma virus (HPV) infection -- responsible for 235,000 cancer deaths per year.

* KEY FACTS AND NUMBERS:

-- Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide: it accounted for 7.4 million deaths (around 13 percent of all deaths) in 2004.

-- Lung, stomach, liver, colon and breast cancer cause the most cancer deaths each year.

-- The most frequent types of cancer worldwide (in order of the number of global deaths) are:

Among men -- lung, stomach, liver, colorectal, oesophagus and prostate.

Among women - breast, lung, stomach, colorectal and cervical.

-- Ageing is another fundamental factor for the development of cancer. The incidence of cancer rises dramatically with age, with the overall risk accumulation combined with the tendency for cellular repair mechanisms to be less effective, as a person grows older.

-- The main types of cancer leading to overall cancer mortality each year are:

Lung (1.3 million deaths/year):

Stomach (803 000 deaths)

Colorectal (639 000 deaths)

Liver (610 000 deaths)

Breast (519 000 deaths).

Sources: Reuters/WHO

Thanks : - (Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit; editing by Kate Kelland)

6 common diet anxieties

Eating habits that you suspect may not be right but still carry on with anyway.

1. Can I drink diet soda every day?

   A can or two isn't likely to hurt you. There's no credible evidence that the artificial sweeteners and chemicals in these cause cancer. But diet soda is not a health drink, although it saves you calories. One soda a day-regular or diet-increases your risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Go for fruit juice or skimmed milk. Or sip water through the day, with a squirt of lemon added for variety.

2. Are chicken eggs good or bad for cholesterol?

  If you are healthy, the recommended dietary cholesterol limit is about 300 mg a day (200 mg if you have heart disease, diabetes or high blood cholesterol). One large egg has about 213 mg of cholesterol-all in the yolk. So it's perfectly fine if you eat an egg on a given day and limit other sources of cholesterol for the rest of the day. If you like eggs but don't want the extra cholesterol, use only the whites. They contain no cholesterol.

3. Is coffee good or bad for me?

  Coffee doesn't seem to hurt and actually may help. No, it doesn't raise cancer or heart attack risk if consumed in moderation (no more than two cups a day). Four to seven cups a day, however, can cause restlessness, anxiety, irritability, sleeplessness and headaches. Coffee is believed to protect against Parkinson's disease, type 2 diabetes and liver cancer.

4. Is microwaving food in plastic containers harmful?

  Although stories have circulated for years that microwaving plastic food containers or wraps causes them to release cancer-causing dioxins, this isn't thought to be true. Still, it's important to follow general safety guidelines: use containers or wraps labelled as "microwave-safe"; don't use carryout tubs, or paper or plastic grocery bags.

5. Does drinking water during or after a meal disturb digestion?

  No. Water doesn't dilute the digestive juices or interfere with digestion. In fact, drinking water during or after a meal can actually improve digestion. It helps break down the food in your stomach and keeps your digestive system on track.

6. How long can I safely keep leftovers in the fridge?

  Eat refrigerated leftovers within four days to reduce the risk of food poisoning. For food safety, never allow perishable foods (meat, poultry, fish, dairy products and eggs) to sit more than two hours at room temperature. Your goal should be to minimise the time a food item is in the 'danger zone'(between 4 deg C and 60 deg C) when bacteria can multiply. Before eating leftovers, reheat them thoroughly. Cover foods with a lid or a microwave-safe plastic wrap to hold in moisture and provide safe, even heating.

Researchers crack key HIV riddle after decades

London, Feb 1 (IANS) Researchers have cracked a key riddle that has foxed scientists for decades, potentially opening the way to better treatment of HIV, says a new study.

Imperial College London and Harvard University researchers have grown a crystal that reveals the structure of an enzyme called integrase, which is found in retroviruses like HIV.

When HIV infects someone, it uses integrase to paste a copy of its genetic information into their DNA.

Prior to the new study, funded by the Medical Research Council and the US National Institutes of Health, many researchers had tried and failed to work out the 3-D structure of integrase bound to viral DNA.

New antiretroviral drugs for HIV work by blocking integrase, but scientists did not understand exactly how these drugs were working or how to improve them.

Researchers can only determine the structure of this kind of molecular machinery by obtaining high quality crystals.

For the new study, researchers grew a crystal using a version of integrase borrowed from a little-known retrovirus called Prototype Foamy Virus (PFV). Based on their knowledge of PFV integrase and its function, they were confident that it was very similar to its HIV counterpart.

Over the course of four years, the researchers carried out over 40,000 trials, out of which they were able to grow just seven kinds of crystals. Only one of these was of sufficient quality to allow determination of the 3-D structure.

Peter Cherepanov, who led the study at the Department of Medicine at Imperial College, said: 'It is a truly amazing story. When we started out, we knew that the project was very difficult, and that many tricks had already been tried and given up by others long ago.'

'Therefore, we went back to square one and started by looking for a better model of HIV integrase, which could be more amenable for crystallisation,' said Cherepanov, according to an Imperial College release.

'Despite initially painstakingly slow progress and very many failed attempts, we did not give up and our effort was finally rewarded,' he added.

The study was published in Nature.

Indo Asian News Service