A Swedish study links height to cancer
A study out of Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm has found that tall individuals have a higher risk than shorter people of developing several types of cancer. The survey, which followed 5.5 million people born between 1938 and 1991 with heights ranging from 100 centimeters (3 feet 3 inches) to 225 centimeters (7 feet 6 inches), revealed that for women, the risk is 18 percent higher for every additional 10 centimeters (4 inches) of height; for men the risk is 11 percent higher. Dr. Emelie Benyi, who led the study, says one link between height and cancer could simply be that taller people have more cells in their bodies in which to develop cancer. “It may also be that taller individuals have a higher energy intake which has previously been linked to cancer,” she said. The investigation revealed a higher risk of skin cancer, which increased by 30 percent for every 10 centimeters in height and the risk of developing breast cancer increased by 20 percent for tall women. These findings reinforce previous studies that showed breast and prostate cancer can be linked to height, which, health officials stress is not as great a risk for cancer as smoking, obesity and a poor diet.

More countries follow suit after Sweden's success
Following the success of the first transplant of a human womb at Göteborg’s Sahlgrenska University Hospital, nine more women in Sweden have received uterus transplants from living relatives and the UK has been granted approval to carry out 10 womb transplants. The pioneering Swedish mother, 36, who was born without a uterus, received a donated womb from a friend who had gone through menopause, and gave birth to a healthy baby boy in October 2014. Ethical approval has been granted for the new British transplants, part of a clinical trial that will launch in spring 2016. Several other countries, including the U.S., are also considering it. Around one in 5,000 women are born without a uterus, while others lose it to cancer. If this trial is successful, the first UK baby born from a womb transplant could arrive in late 2017 or 2018.