Word: developable
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Smokers are much more likely to develop lung cancer than nonsmokers - that has been a scientific truism for decades. But what about the 80% of smokers who don't develop lung cancer? Are they just the lucky ones? A trio of new studies suggests that the explanation for why they escape the disease may lie partly in their genes...
...pushed into rapid, uncontrolled growth, which promotes the growth of new feeder blood vessels, creating, in turn, a particularly hospitable environment for cancer tumors. The new studies, published in Nature and Nature Genetics, found that smokers who possessed one copy of either variant were 28% more likely to develop lung cancer, while those with two copies were at a stunning 81% increased risk for the disease...
...nonsmokers, however; the European study, which included a larger sample, did find a slightly higher risk of lung cancer in nonsmokers with the genetic variants. That could explain some of the genetic risk that leads to lung cancer in the 10% of men and 20% of women who develop the disease every year despite never having...
...authors stress that we already know the best way to prevent it - by not smoking in the first place. Cancer risk aside, smoking also increases the risk of emphysema and heart disease; what's more, smokers without the genetic variants are not at all protected from developing lung cancer or any other smoking-related disease. "Nothing in these papers should give people comfort in terms of continuing smoking," says Edelman, "even after they have their genetic profiles looked at. But if we can use this information to develop better approaches to smoking cessation, then we can reduce the amount...
Everyone I interviewed in Brazil agreed: the market drives behavior, so without incentives to prevent deforestation, the Amazon is doomed. It's unfair to ask developing countries not to develop natural areas without compensation. Anyway, laws aren't enough. Carter tried confronting ranchers who didn't obey deforestation laws and nearly got killed; now his nonprofit is developing certification programs to reward eco-sensitive ranchers. "People see the forest as junk," he says. "If you want to save it, you better open your pocketbook. Plus, you might not get shot...