Left-handed women under the age of 50 are more than twice as likely to develop breast cancer than those who are right-hand dominant.

What?

Yep, that's what a new study reveals.

This left-handed conclusion, published in the journal Epidemiology, comes from the study of 12,000 women in the Netherlands whose medical histories were followed for 13 years. Discounting all other factors -- lifestyle, environment, and other disease -- left-handers came up with a risk of breast cancer 1.39 times that of right-handers. For pre-menopausal women, the figure climbed to 2.41.

Cancer patients in Saudi Arabia are now entitled to a 50% discounts on domestic air and land travel in the kingdom, according to this, which is the same discount that seniors and people with disabilities are entitled to. I've never heard of this before ... is this common practice in North America? Regardless of whether it is or not, it got me thinking.

Some discounts on the exorbitant parking rates at the hospital when my dad was ill would have been appreciated. Joking aside, I sympathize with cancer patients and think they deserve any break they can get but on the other hand, cancer isn't by definition a disability--it's a disease and if we're offering discounts on a disease, why stop with cancer? What about people with HIV, Chrohn's or Diabetes?

What do you think?

As evidence mounts, it's becoming more and more clear that chemo brain, a mental fogginess that can result from chemotherapy, is a real concern and not just a convenient excuse cancer patients use to explain away their flighty and forgetful tendencies. It seems the brain really can suffer cognitive damage from the poisonous drugs that fight off deadly cancer cells. And sometimes, this damage is present years after treatment.

Add to chemo brain the normal aging process as well as brain conditions such as mild cognitive impairment and even schizophrenia and the brain might not stand a chance of ever remembering anything. Unless we buy into the new concept of mental training -- somewhat like physical fitness training -- in which case we may be able to bring back a level of sharpness to our lives.

Research suggests this type of training may delay mental decline. And Betty Hall, 85, who is taking a brain fitness class at her senior living complex in Illinois, says brain-enhancing activities are definitely helping her.

Hall is participating in an eight-week program where she spends one hour per day, five days per week using a computer to match words and listen for details in stories. She says it's helping her remember where she places her keys and her grocery lists -- and it's even helping her in her bridge club.

"I've won four times out of the last five at bridge club, and I think the players are going to shoot me because I keep remembering the cards people have," she said. "It's much easier for me to concentrate . . . and I brag about it everywhere I go."

One clinical professor of neurology says brain health programs will explode over the next few years because of the stunning findings on this front. One study shows relatively short training regimens, lasting just five or six weeks, improve functioning for as long as five years. And booster sessions help advance these gains. Study participants says their everyday tasks, like managing finances, are much easier after mental workouts. Another study of the computer software Hall uses shows the program shaves an average 10 years off the mental age of users.

Not all mental training is alike, and different cognitive difficulties may call for different training protocols. But the simple fact that I can work out my brain like I can work out my body gives me hope that I can possibly reverse the effects of chemotherapy on my own foggy brain, that I can one day not worry anymore that I might find my check book in the refrigerator and my cell phone in my sock drawer. Bring on the workouts!

Thanks to Bev, my brainy friend, for this story tip!

A study led by scientists at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center found that women who developed endometrial, or uterine, cancer had a one in fifty chance of having an inherited mutation that could lead to high risk of other cancers.

Those that have the inherited mutation called Lynch syndrome have a higher risk of developing colon, endometrial, ovarian and gastric cancer. The most common cancer for this condition is endometrial cancer.

It is important for women diagnosed with endometrial cancer to be tested for the Lynch syndrome mutation. These women can benefit from knowing that they are at high risk for other cancers by being proactive and making sure they get the correct screening tests on an annual basis.