Meow

These cute kitty photos were sent in by two of my friends. Think they are trying to tell me something? :-)

Weird Word Wednesday

Read slowly when you read this word: it won't be what you first think it is!

lucubrate\LOO-kyoo-breyt\verb:

To work, write or study laboriously, especially into the night.

Most Mispronounced Monday

One of my favourite holiday destinations -- Maldives -- is actually pronounced mawl-deevz. The country is made up of 1,190 coral islands formed around 26 natural ring-like atolls, spread over 90,000 square kilometers.

Experimental Pill Extending Life of Cancer Patients

Developed by Roche and Daiichi Sankyo, a new experimental pill has performed "better than we expected" in clinical trials, according to Dr. Paul Chapman of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

The study included 675 previously untreated patients with inoperable late stage melanoma with B-RAF mutation. Patients taking the drug, vemurafenib, showed

• a 63% reduction in risk of death compared to patients tested with chemotherpy
• a 74% reduction in risk of cancer progression.

And ~50% of patients showed tumour shrinkage, compared to 5% in the chemotherapy treatment regime.

More information.

Lost in Translation?

We are pleased to announce that we now offer limited translation services from German, French and Dutch into English. This may be useful when you are having trouble with phrasing particular paragraphs in your work, or for smaller projects, such as abstracts, resumes, or letters.  Translation Services will be charged in addition to (or separately from) the charges for editing/proofreading as indicated on our prices page.

Fast Fact Friday

Goddessship is the only word in the English language with a triple letter.

Cell Phones Linked to Cancer

It is time to get serious about using your hands-free options for your mobile.

Whilst it has been speculated for some years now, the World Health Organisation has just  announced officially that cell phone use may be carcinogenic to humans (2B classification). These findings show "an increased risk of glioma, a malignant form of brain cancer, associated with wireless phone use".

The International Agency for Research on Cancer panel consisted of 31 of the leading experts in the field, spanning 14 countries. These scientists examined the exposure data, the studies of human cancer, studies in experimental animal models and other relevant data to come to this conclusion.

The Chairman of the working group, Dr. Jonathan Samet (University of Southern California, USA), concluded that "the evidence, while still accumulating, is strong enough to support a conclusion and the 2B classification. The conclusion means that there could be some risk, and therefore we need to keep a close watch for a link between cell phones and cancer risk."

IARC Director, Christopher Wild, states, "It is important that additional research be conducted....it is important to take pragmatic measures to reduce exposure such as hands-free devices or texting."

One study showed that there was a 40% increased risk for gliomas in the highest category of heavy users: and they classify heavy users are 30 minutes per day over a 10-year period. For some of us using our phones for work, this doesn't actually seem like a lot of talktime.

So dust off those ear pieces or start figuring out how to fix that hands-free gadget in your car.

More information can be found on the IARC website.