Shattered Chromosome Can Lead to Cancer - NYTimes.com (reference to bone/breast...cancers + commentary link)

Note: theories/research regarding how cancer develops eg; 'one-hit' theory vs multi-step process of malignancy.

Cell (journal link):  Featured Article Free  

Massive Genomic Rearrangement Acquired in a Single Catastrophic Event during Cancer Development

The breast cancer “plunge” after initial publication of the WHI results: An alternative explanation

Abstract 

From 2002 to 2003, the breast cancer incidence in the United States, as reported by the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER 9) database, appeared to decrease by 6.7%. This phenomenon has been attributed to a reduction in the use of menopausal hormone therapies after the initial publication of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study results in July of 2002. 

However, attempts to draw a causal association between the use of menopausal hormone therapies and the incidence of breast cancer have not accounted for the facts that prescriptions of estrogen-plus-progestin menopausal therapies, which are associated with increased rates of breast cancer, fell by 53% from 2002 to 2003, while prescriptions of estrogen-only therapies fell by only 27%. To address this issue,...

Neurobiological cause of intergroup conflict: 'Bonding hormone' drives aggression towards competing out-groups (altruism)

"The evolution of altruism in intergroup conflict
The research team at the University of Amsterdam, directed by Dr. Carsten de Dreu, wondered why oxytocin would promote altruistic behavior. Whereas classic economic theory has difficulty accounting for altruism, an evolutionary perspective suggests that altruism functions to strengthen one's own group, from which the individual benefits in the long run. Because aggression towards competing out-groups helps one's own group to become relatively stronger, aggression is an indirect form of altruistic, loyal behavior towards one's own group........Charles Darwin already observed that groups whose members are altruistic towards the own group have a greater likelihood to prosper, to survive, and spread...."

Abstract/full free access: Evolution and cancer: a mathematical biology approach

"This thematic series is concerned with various ways Evolution is intertwined with cancer. A group of cancer researchers and mathematical modelers, with an interest in the subject, was invited to contribute papers on topics ranging from carcinogenesis through progression of cancer through therapy." ....cont'd