Stress hormones caused neutrophils to release proteins that awakened dormant cancer cells in mice. These same proteins were also linked to a higher risk of relapse in some patients with lung cancer.

The results suggest that current non-smoking regulations may not be enough to minimize the thirdhand cigarette smoke that nonsmokers breathe.

Nearly two-thirds of mutations in human cancers are attributable to random errors that occur naturally in healthy, dividing cells during DNA replication, researchers report in the 24 March issue of Science. Though mutations that cause human cancer have traditionally been thought to originate from heredity or environmental sources, these results — grounded in a novel mathematical model based on data from around the world — support a role for so-called "R" or random mutations in driving the disease.

On October 26^th a short symposium was held by Science's office in Cambridge UK, on the theme of disease prevention. The symposium featured some of the speakers who had contributed to Science special feature on this topic on September 21^st. Abstracts of the talks are featured below.

C. Timmerman (University of Manchester)
Disease prevention has never been simple, and it is more complex in contexts of relative affluence, where chronic and non-communicable disorders have become the dominant causes of morbidity and mortality. Taking a historical perspective allows us to explore why some problems appear to be so persistent. The talk will address particularly issues related to the legitimacy, the effectiveness and the 'side effects' of public health interventions in the age of risk factors. This will be illustrated with examples from the history of lung cancer and cardiovascular disease, especially hypertension.