Here's an interesting story: Women in the Canadian province of Quebec are less likely than women elsewhere to take preventative action after learning that they have a certain gene linked to breast and ovarian cancers. Women who carry the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations have a higher risk of developing cancer, prompting many women to either have their breast or ovaries removed. Two thirds of women in Quebec took no preventative actions after learning of their risk, while only one third failed to take preventative steps in the rest of the country.

So, my thought for the day is: What would prevent someone from taking action against a disease that could kill them? Religious beliefs? Lack of knowledge about the disease? Lack of money? And if you found out you were at a high-than-normal risk for breast cancer, would you act right before it had the chance to get to you, or would you take your chances?

There is nothing unusual about a non-profit organization publishing a calendar. There is something very unique about this one. Life is a Carnival is a bold approach to mastectomy and reconstruction education.

This 2008 calendar features photos from FORCE: Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered members who have undergone bilateral mastectomy -- with or without reconstruction. To retain the anonymity of the models, they are wearing mardi gras masks.

This project is meant to celebrate life after mastectomy, to showcase many types of reconstruction and non reconstruction options in a nonthreatening and positive light. The calendar contains information about the models surgery with references included to the chapters in the Breast Reconstruction Guidebook which explains each procedure. A secondary goal of this calendar is to raise needed funds for FORCE programs.

Is the cancer in your family inherited? Some families experience large amounts of cancer and whether it is environmental, every day living habits, or genetics are all factors that should be looked into. Genetic testing, usually performed with a blood sample, may provide information about you and an increased risk for cancer because of family genetics.

For instance, nearly everyone born with familial adenomatous polyposis (the genetic predisposition to colon cancer) develops the disease by age 40 if preventive surgery isn't done. Knowing this early can aid in prevention and early detection. Talk with your doctor about genetic counseling. A Genetic Counselor provides individuals and families with information on the nature, inheritance, and implications of genetic disorders to help them make informed medical and personal decisions. Genetic counselors often work in clinics with oncologists or gastroenterologists and focus on cancer risk.

My six-year-old Joey told his grandmother -- my mom -- the other day, "Nana, you are generous." It was thoughtful and touching and it brought a smile to her face. Later that night, Joey said the same to me. "Mom, you are generous," he proclaimed. And now I'm not sure if he really meant his sweet sentiments or if he was just practicing one of his new kindergarten vocabulary words. Regardless, it got me thinking about how generous his Nana really is.

My mom not only generously gave me life. She also saved my life -- not in the medical, scientific manner surgeons and oncologists saved my life but by the sheer force of love, support, comfort, and undying devotion that seems to involuntarily pour from the hearts of moms with sick children.

Antiretroviral drugs, used to prevent HIV transmission from mother to child, are now believed to cause genetic damage in infants. This damage, leading to an increased risk of developing cancer, makes it highly plausible these children may be diagnosed with the disease in mid and late adulthood.

Two new studies indicate there are cancer-causing effects of transplacental exposure to AZT, an antiretroviral drug. These effects -- like increased incidence of tumors and tumors with genetic changes -- have been demonstrated in mice and rats and seem to be cause for concern in humans too.

"The cumulative mutagenesis data suggest that infants exposed transplacentally to AZT may be at increased risk for cancer as they age," said one researcher, whose findings are published in Environment and Molecular Mutagenesis.

Not everyone buys into the power of pink when it comes to breast cancer.

Pink ribbons, pink teddy bears, pink hats, shirts, scarves, socks, purses, jewelry, magnets, and even cooking appliances have monopolized the breast cancer market. And some people just plain refuse to associate the disease with anything remotely sweet, soft, and soothing.

Think about this:

Annette`s Angels, founded in 2006 by the children of Annette Roberta, love and applaud the effectiveness of the flood of pink used to raise awareness about a disease that took Roberta after a 15-year battle.

But they refuse to embrace any color but black as they proceed to kick breast cancer in the butt. Black reflects their anger at breast cancer. And their power to fight it.

Annette's Angels are committed to fighting this terrible disease, and they invite us all to shop at their online store, where some items -- there's just no way around it really -- are pink. The angels will donate 50 percent of all profits to FORCE: Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered, the only resource of its kind for those facing genetic breast and ovarian cancers.

There are four pages in the March 2007 Reader's Digest featuring amazing discoveries, devices, tests, and cures. And many of the snippets of information are -- yes -- somehow linked to cancer.

Think about this:

• A new ultrasound technique lets radiologists distinguish between malignant and benign breast lesions. Using elasticity imaging, researchers accurately identified harmless and cancerous lesions in almost all of the 80 cases studied. If results can be reproduced in a large trial, this technique could significantly reduce the number of breast biopsies required.

• Scientists seeking new treatment for diseases can use an online tool developed by researchers at MIT and Harvard. The Connectivity Map matches diseases with compatible drugs, based on the genetic profiles of both. So far, about 160 drugs and compounds are cataloged, and a few new uses for existing drugs have already been suggested. Eventually, all FDA-approved drugs will be included.

• For those who sometimes forget to take their pills, a new device -- that can be preloaded with up to 100 doses of medication -- could one day be implanted in the body and programmed to administer drugs via wireless signals. This device, successful in tests using dogs, was designed to deliver medicines that are less effective when taken orally.

Sometimes it seems cancer's grip is tightening. Other times, in the war against this pesky disease, it seems we are on the verge of something really great.

Simply being female puts all women at risk for breast cancer. That and age, race, family history, personal history, genetic make-up, when they had children, when they reach menopause, and a whole host of other possible factors.

Now U.S. doctors are officially calling body mass index, breast density, and alcohol consumption predictors of the disease, says Therese Bevers, medical director of the Cancer Prevention Center, at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Bevers helped write updated guidelines for the prevention of breast cancer and presented them at the 12th annual National Comprehensive Cancer Network in Hollywood, Florida on Friday.

The guidelines, featuring the revised list of risk factors, also offer treatment options for women -- including bilateral mastectomy for women who have tested positive for the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 as well as possible medical treatments with drugs such as tamoxifen and raloxifene.

Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC) is hosting a free educational teleconference for women affected by breast cancer, women at high risk for developing breast cancer and caregivers.

Breast Cancer Genetics: The Role of Genetic Tests and Family Risk Assessment will give the facts about genetic counseling and testing. Learn how the results could impact your health choices and your life.

Topics to be discussed:

• When and why to consider genetic testing
• Goals of genetic counseling and how it can help you understand your risk and test results
• Effectiveness of medical and surgical prevention methods
• Strategies for monitoring the health of women at risk for developing a second breast cancer or other cancers
• Ways to lessen anxiety about testing and communicate effectively with family members
• Laws that protect you from insurance and job discrimination

All LBBC teleconferences begin with brief speaker presentations followed by question and answer sessions with participants.

The teleconference will be held on Thursday, March 29, 2007. 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. EDT

One in 18 men and women will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer during their lifetimes -- that translates into more than 150,000 people diagnosed and more than 52,000 colorectal cancer deaths each year, securing the disease as the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States.

Fortunately, mortality rates for this disease have been declining due to earlier screenings, awareness of symptoms, removal of polyps, and improved treatments through advances in research discoveries -- like today's genetic breakthroughs.

In a recent study, researchers identified a cell pathway critical in the development of colon cancer and also lung and stomach cancers.

STAT3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 3) is the newest discovery and is a target regulated by PRPRT (receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase T), already identified to be mutated in these cancers.

"The role of protein tyrosine phosphatase in cancer is still an under-explored area," says Zhenghe John Wang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Genetics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center.

"Our study shows that receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase T regulates an important signaling pathway that is critical in cancer development. This identification will allow new approaches to pharmacological designs and facilitate alternative approaches for cancer treatment."

This study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS Online Edition Feb. 20-23, 2007), provides new hope for the development of drugs that will target this potentially deadly disease.

Some scientists believe that surgery to remove a breast tumor may actually help the cancer spread and have recently reported that this same belief may be the exact reason black women are more likely to die of breast cancer.

There is apparently a widespread belief in parts of Africa and the United States that removing a tumor hastens death.

"I must say that I am sure there is more to this than just a myth," said Michael Retsky of Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, who shares his opinions in the International Journal of Surgery.

Retsky still urges any woman with breast cancer to have her tumor removed. And he says chemotherapy is such standard practice for any cancer threatening to spread. It's a safety net of sorts to catch the cells that get away. So if surgery causes cancer to spread, then in theory, chemotherapy should stop the spread.

Retsky, who is not suggesting any change in clinical practice, thinks the subject needs far more research. American Cancer Society experts, who tend to question this theory, agree.

"Whether or not the theory is correct, I have difficulty with the logic that they employed to get there," said oncologist Dr. Len Lichtenfeld of the American Cancer Society who says women should never delay treatment for breast cancer.

Retsky believes that perhaps surgery, by wounding the body, causes it to produce growth factors that fuel the growth of other, tiny tumors. Or maybe a primary tumor secretes some sort of factor that holds the other tumors in check. When the main tumor is removed, the smaller tumors grow.

But it could be that surgery does not cause a spread at all – and that any belief of this nature has no connection with breast cancer tendencies in black women. It may be that black women just have a genetic predisposition for more aggressive forms of the disease.

1600 years ago, about 400AD, an inherited form of melanoma began from a genetic mutation that occurred in a single ancestor, according to Glasgow University researchers who traced the genetic mutation back 88 generations. Upon further investigation, a number of Scottish families, presently living in Scotland, as well as Australia, Canada and America, were found to carry the specific genetic mutation that puts them at an increased risk for a certain type of melanoma.

According to the researchers, one in ten patients diagnosed with melanoma have a strong family history of the disease and between 20 to 40 percent of those patients carry a high-risk faulty gene known as CDKN2A. The Scottish mutation in this gene is known as M53I. With these genetic discoveries, there is hope that gene therapy can be developed to repair damaged genes in cancer cells.

One or more extra or missing chromosomes can both fuel tumor growth and act to suppress tumor growth, according to University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine researchers.

Heralded as a discovery that solves a 100-year-old genetic puzzle because the hypothesis was first suggested by German biologist Theodor Bover that long ago, researchers sought to determine if the wrong number of chromosomes contributed to tumor growth, or was a consequences of damage in cancerous cells.

While studying aneuploidy -- which is what the occurrence of one or more extra or missing chromosomes is called -- in mouse models, the researchers found that the same genetic mechanism that promotes tumor growth can slow tumor growth.

"This study opens up a whole series of potential therapeutic targets for cancer," said Beth A.A. Weaver, of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and UCSD Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, the study's first author. "By increasing the level of genetic damage, we can kill tumor cells."