Canadian researchers studying breast cancer have found that the risk of developing the disease doubles after a woman works night shifts for at least 30 years. Their work expands research confined to the effect of shift work on healthcare workers.

Several earlier studies suggested a correlation between , according to ScienceDaily. However, some experts questioned the relationship due to the potential failure of the research to properly assess exposure and to include sufficient diversity in patterns of shift work.

The National Cancer Institute estimates thatin 2013. Nearly 40,000 will succumb to it the same year.

The Canadian scientists selected 1,134 women with breast cancer and 1,179 without the disorder for their study. The women were all the same age and lived in either Vancouver, British Columbia, or Kingston, Ontario. They provided detailed information about shift work over their entire history of employment.

Hospital records provided information on the type of tumor each breast cancer subject had. The researchers considered this information important because sensitivity to hormones can alter risk factors for the disease. In particular, alteration in the amount of melatonin has been associated with raising estrogen production and elevating breast cancer risk among individuals who work night shifts.

Melatonin, often called a , occurs naturally in the human body, according to MedlinePlus. Some individuals also take melatonin supplements to regulate their internal body clocks. Common uses include treating jet lag and adjusting sleep-wake cycles in individuals with changes in their work schedules.

Women who had worked night shifts made up about a third of all subjects. Among those with this schedule for up to 14 years and for those who had worked the night shift for 15 to 29 years, the researchers noted no elevated risk. However, women who had worked the night shift for at least 30 years were twice as likely to have developed breast cancer.

Results were similar for women who were healthcare workers and those who had not worked in that field. Women whose tumors were estrogen- and progesterone-sensitive also faced higher risk factors.

The researchers, who published their findings in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, indicate that while melatonin is cited as the cause of a link between breast cancer and shift work, other factors could play a role. Among them are out-of-sync body rhythms, sleep disturbances, vitamin D levels, and lifestyle differences. An important conclusion of the study is that if decades of night shifts double breast cancer risk for some women, there is a need to develop healthy workplace policy.

Vonda J. Sines has published thousands of print and online health and medical articles. She specializes in diseases and other conditions that affect the quality of life.

But those shortcomings aside, President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare reform law will still feature prominently in forthcoming issues of the Cosmopolitan - the sexy, gossipy, glamour magazine that boasts a monthly U.S. readership of more than 18 million young women.

Editor-in-Chief Joanna Coles told Reuters on Wednesday that Cosmo plans to make Obamacare an integral part of its regular health coverage this fall and in 2014 to explain reform benefits ranging from free contraceptives and cancer screenings to subsidized private health insurance.

The magazine will also use Facebook and Twitter to remind readers about enrollment opportunities in new online health insurance exchanges, which are being set up under Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to extend coverage to millions of uninsured people.

"This stuff is really important. It's life-changing for a lot of people," Coles said in an interview.

"The Affordable Care Act probably disproportionately benefits our readers, because they're women between 17 and 38, who may be thinking of having children or who want contraception and regular checkups with their doctors."

Administration officials hope the publicity will help persuade its target audience of young uninsured women and their male partners to sign up for health insurance during a six-month enrollment period slated to run from October 1 to March 31, 2014.

The White House says it has no formal publicity agreement with Cosmopolitan. But Coles met with senior Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett last week at the White House, which is in discussions with potential Obamacare promoters including the National Football League, as it prepares for a full-scale public education campaign this fall.

(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz)

The topic of the case of Town of Greece v. Galloway came up at a recent Supreme Court Review at the National Constitution Center, which was also hosted by the Anti-Defamation League. (.)

Our three panelists, Erwin Chemerinsky, Frederick Lawrence and Lyle Denniston, pegged Town of Greece as a decision to watch that could alter the landscape of the concept of the separation of church and state at public facilities.

Town of Greece v. Galloway involves the legality of saying a prayer before the start of public township board meeting.

In 2008, two Greece, New York, residents sued over the towns practice of having a prayer delivered before board meetings, in a community heavily dominated by Christian churches.

At the heart of the case is the Establishment Clause in the , which deals with issues about the separation of church and state. The residents who sued say the boards policy about the prayers was tantamount to the endorsement of a religion.

They believed the practice violated the First Amendment because of the types of prayers offered. A U.S. district court said the prayers didnt violate the First Amendment. But the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in May 2012 overturned the lower court decision.

Greece is mostly Christian, and most of the prayers offered at its board meeting were Christian or came from Christian clergy within that community.

After initial complaints in 2007, the board in Greeceto give prayers. But most prayers were delivered by Christians.

Constitution Daily contributor Lyle Denniston explained how the Town of Greece decision could mark a significant change of course for the Court.

This case really illustrates what the doctrine of separation lost when Justice Sandra Day OConnor retired, because Justice OConnor was really the architect of the theory of endorsement, said Denniston.

For her, the wall of separation required the government to stay really neutral. And if the government took action, that gave to the reasonable observer the impression that the government was endorsing a particular faith practice, or a particular faith belief, that violated the First Amendment, he said.

The argument now that is being made and is being made very strenuously in the brief for the Town Of Greece by their lawyers is that Court needs now to go fully towards embracing Justice Kennedys argument, which is that it does not violate the First Amendments Establishment Clause unless the government coerces someone into a belief thats alien to their own religious or non-religious point of views.

The Town of Greece case, I think, will really be a major test of whether or not there is a majority [of Justices] in favor of embracing the coercion test. And I will tell you this, as any litigating lawyer in this field will tell you, its going to be a lot harder to prove coercion than endorsement.

Chemerinsky, from the University of California, Irvine School of Law, said for decades the Court took the view that the Establishment Clause recognized a wall between church and state, but todays more conservative Court may decide that the government only violates the Establishment clause to literally establish a church or to coerce religious participation.

I think there are now likely five votes on the Supreme Court to take this so-called accommodationist position, five votes to overrule decades of jurisprudence, he said.

I think Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas and Alito all reject the notion of a wall separating church and state, and all take the view that the government violates the Establishment Clause only when it establishes a church or coerces religious participation.

We likely could see this in the coming term in Town of Greece v. Galloway, he said. What we are going to see in this case is conservatives will get five votes on the Court to finally and formally adopt the position that the government only violates the Establishment Clause only to literally establish a church or coerce religious participation. If that happens, little will be left of the Establishment Clause. The wall that separates church and state really will be obliterated.

Lawrence, the president of Brandeis University, said the failure to recognize the separation of church and state could be bad for religious groups as well when it comes to policy decisions.

Theres a reason for not having the 10 Commandments at a court house, Lawrence said. It is bad precedent for religious groups to be having their message engaged as part of the state message. Exactly which version of the 10 Commandments would you want in a court house? It turns out theres more than one and theres more than two. So maybe the better part of valor for all of us is, not ironically in spite of being people of faith, but particularly because we are people of faith, that this is a bad role for religion and not just for the state.

Denniston said what the other panelists expressed about the importance of the Town of Greece case.

Thats a case to really watch. It will probably be argued, I would bet, in the December sitting, he said, based on the Courts current case load.

Scott Bomboy is the editor-in-chief of the National Constitution Center.

Recent Constitution Daily Stories

President Barack Obama recently said the U.S. is willing to send weapons to the opposition. Even so, Washington has been reluctant to arm the rebels battling President Bashar Assad's troops because radical Islamic groups, including some with al-Qaida links, have emerged as their most effective fighting force. Western countries have also been concerned over the lack of unified command among rebel groups.

The Western-backed Syrian National Coalition urged Congress to back arms deliveries to the rebels.

"The Syrian Coalition is deeply concerned by reports indicating that elements in the U.S. Congress are delaying the administration's efforts to increase its support to the Free Syrian Army" it said in a statement late Thursday.

The coalition will ensure "that arms will not reach extremist elements," it added.

Syria's main rebel units, known as the Free Syrian Army or FSA, regrouped in December under a unified rebel command called the Supreme Military Council, following promises of more military assistance once a central council was in place. The Western-backed council is headed by Gen. Salim Idriss, who defected from the Syrian army, and a 30-member group of senior officers. Idriss spent 35 years in the Syrian military and is seen as a secular-minded moderate.

Some FSA units still operate autonomously, however, often fighting alongside more effective groups on the battlefield, including the al-Qaida-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, which has led most successful battles for army bases, villages and towns in the north along the border with Turkey.

The group, known in English as The Nusra Front, has claimed responsibility for several car bombs and suicide attacks on military installations and government buildings, including in the capital Damascus, the seat of Assad's power.

More than 93,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict that erupted in March 2011 with largely peaceful protests against Assad's rule but escalated into a civil war in response to a brutal government crackdown.

Over the past year, the conflict became increasingly sectarian, with mostly-Sunni rebels assisted by foreign fighters while Assad's forces are bolstered by fighters of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah.

The regime in Damascus is also backed by Russia and Iran, and Moscow has continued to supply Assad with weapons throughout the crisis, saying it is fulfilling existing contracts.

The U.S., its European and Gulf allies have backed the opposition in the conflict, sending funds and non-lethal aid to the rebels.

In recent months, the rebels have gotten more powerful weaponry, including anti-tank missiles and surface-to-air missiles, likely from Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

But rebel commanders say they still need more sophisticated weapons to more effectively battle Assad forces' superior fire power, including heavy artillery and fighter jets.

"The urgency of delivering these arms cannot be overstated as the regime continues to intensify its attacks on opposition forces in Homs, Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria," the coalition said in a statement Thursday, quoting Najib Ghadbian, its envoy to the U.S.

The SNC said at least 4,000 people have been trapped for weeks in Homs, "with no access to medical care, food, or protection."

Homs, Syria's third largest city and the capital of the country's largest province that borders Lebanon and Iraq, has been at the heart of a government offensive to secure a strategic strip running from Damascus to the Mediterranean coast and Syria's seaports. The government controls most of the city, although rebels have managed to hold on to several enclaves in the center of Homs for more than a year.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said fighting raged on Friday there, with clashes concentrated in the two contested areas of Homs, Khaldiyeh and parts of the old city.

The Observatory, which relies on the network of informants inside Syria, also said that Assad's troops have been pounding villages outside Homs with artillery, including in the area that is home to Crac des Chevaliers, one of the world's best-preserved Crusader castles.

There was also fighting in Aleppo, Syria's largest city, the Observatory said, with several airstrikes on rebel positions.

For most of the past year, Aleppo has been carved up between areas under government and opposition control. The opposition forces launched an offensive in the north last summer, capturing whole neighborhoods inside Aleppo.

The Observatory said clashes were also heavy near Nairab military airport outside Aleppo an army facility the rebels have been trying to take for months.

The Iranian media has reported that the UAE has repatriated an unspecified number of Iranians amid tensions between the two countries linked to Syria's civil war. Shiite Iran backs Syrian President Bashar Assad, a member of a Shiite offshoot sect, while the Sunni-majority UAE and Saudi Arabia support the mostly Sunni rebels.

The UAE has not reported any deportations. The UAE has in the past denied renewal of residency visas without giving reasons.

A Friday report by the semi-official Mehr agency said Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi raised the issued in a phone conversation with his Emirati counterpart. It didn't elaborate.

An estimated half-million Iranians live in the Emirates.

In rooms where corporate philanthropists brainstorm solutions for the continents problems, another use of the term is batted around: African orphan crops. Its a phrase that refers to a group of staple foodsfoods that help to feed more than one billion Africansthat the international community deems neglected or orphaned because they are not economically important on the global market.

That definition comes from a recent press release from Mars, Incorporateds , which announced that it plans to release the genome sequencing of 100 such crops to the public. AOCC hopes that the open-source genetic data will lead to higher nutritional content for society over the decades to come, thanks to plant scientists, breeders and farmers working with the genetic information and resulting hybrid and transgene plant varieties.

The globalization of agriculture, particularly as it relates to similar efforts to plant GE crops in developing nations, has led to cries of neocolonialism from some corners. In countries like Mexico, where corn was first domesticated and continues to be fundamental to sustenance farmers,are caught up in anxieties about not only individual livelihoods, but also regional economic struggles and national and ethnic identities tooits fraught stuff.

The AOCC efforts, unlike the situation in Mexico, are not strictly commercial, and Howard-Yana Shapiro, Mars chief agriculture officer, is calling on the notoriously protective biotech industry to share information on the 100 orphan crops. In light of that request,asks the obvious question: Can the kings of agricultural intellectual-property technology get onboard with open source agricultural information for Africa?

As criticisms of GMOs go, the economic argument is one of the most compellingand it is thoroughly substantiated too. In the United States, the cost of planting a single acre of soybean has risen 325 percnt between 1995 and 2011, according to the . If sustenance farmers are compelled to buy into the seed-licensing model that patented GMO crops necessitate, how will they afford to plant the crops they depend upon to survive? Crops developed specifically with the dietary concerns of the developing world in mind, like , have attempted to sidestep that issue by subsidizing the licensing fees for farmers in Southeast Asia with money paid by growers in developed countries. For some, this more altruistic model, which is a far cry from the , is far more palatable.

But orphan crops? AOCC references marula, Ethiopian mustard, baobab, African eggplant, egusi, amaranth, bananas and moringa as a few of its crops targeted for improvement, which, sure, were largely unfamiliar with. But is it fair to say that theyve been so thoroughly neglected by the global markets that they should be deemed orphans? Certainly not in the case of bananas. If youre of the mind that genetic engineering is the key to solving hunger problems in Africa, plant scientists in Uganda are already working on disease-resistant transgene variety, as thereported in 2008.

A more thorough list of orphan crops fromfeatures far less obscure plants, including peanuts, quinoa and sorghum; the latter is the dietary staple of more than 500 million people around the world. And, thinking in the terms of groups like AOCC, DuPont has already developed and patented a transgene variety with improved nutritional valuesa variety the chemical company donated to the African Biofortified Sorghum initiative.

The poor soil, draught, low yields, vitamin deficiencies and other agriculture and dietary concerns that are common throughout Africa are issues of undeniable importance. Addressing them in a manner that doesnt smack of paternalismwhite, American philanthropists as adoptive parents of African agricultureat best, and neocolonialism at worst would be a far better way to debate the solutions, whether they involve GMOs or not.

The giant star, which scientists billed as a "," is forming inside a vast cloud of interstellar dust that has 500 times the mass of the sun. It was discovered by astronomers using the huge Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter array telescope, or ALMA, in Chile's high Atacama Desert.

"The embryonic star within the cloud is hungrily feeding on material that is racing inwards," officials with European Southern Observatory, a partner in the , explained in an announcement today (July 10). "The cloud is expected to give birth to a very brilliant star with up to 100 times ."

The details of the process ofare murky, and the new observations could help scientists understand how stars like this one come to be. One leading theory suggests large clouds of gas collapse inward, with the material at the center eventually forming one or more stars. Another theory, however, posits that large clouds first break up into smaller clouds that each give rise to smaller cores that form stars.

The new results strongly support the first, global collapse theory, rather than the fragmentation theory, researchers said.

"The ALMA observations reveal the spectacular details of the motions of the filamentary network of dust and gas, and show that a huge amount of gas is flowing into a central compact region," team member Ana Duarte Cabral from the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux in France said in a statement.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- The World Food Prize Foundation on Wednesday took the bold step of awarding this year's prize to three pioneers of plant biotechnology whose work brought the world genetically modified crops.

The private nonprofit foundation, which is in part funded by biotechnology companies, refused to shy away from the controversy surrounding genetically modified crops that organic food advocates say are harmful to people and the environment.

"If we were to be deterred by a controversy, that would diminish our prize," said the foundation's president, Kenneth Quinn, a retired U.S. diplomat.

This year's award goes to Marc Van Montagu, founder and chairman of the Institute of Plant Biotechnology Outreach at Ghent University in Belgium; Mary-Dell Chilton, founder and researcher at Syngenta Biotechnology; and Robert Fraley, chief technology officer at Monsanto.

Van Montagu and Chilton independently developed the technology in the 1980s to stably transfer foreign genes into plants, a discovery that set up a race to develop tools to genetically engineer plants. It allowed other scientists to incorporate genetic traits in plants to better withstand drought, extreme heat and to fight off pests and disease. Fraley was the first to successfully transfer immunity to specific bacteria into a plant.

Fraley genetically engineered the first herbicide-resistant soybean in 1996.

The foundation lists Monsanto and Syngenta Foundation among its annual donors, along with other agribusiness corporations such as DuPont Pioneer, Archer Daniels Midland Co. and Cargill.

The award drew immediate condemnation from opponents of corporate farming.

"We could not ask for a better poster child for what's wrong with the prize than the recipients of this year's World Food Prize," said Frank Cordaro, who organized an Occupy World Food Prize protest last year. "It's all part of the very same system of the corporate elite. The problem is not with the recipients, the problem is with the system that gives the 1 percent all the power and corporate agriculture is built on that system."

Genetically enhanced crops are grown on more than 420 million acres in nearly 30 countries by over 17 million farmers worldwide, the foundation said. More than 90 percent are small, resource-poor farmers in developing countries.

Many U.S. farmers credited genetic modifications in corn with saving last year's crop from all but total devastation as half of the nation endured the worst drought in 60 years. Modern corn plants are more stable and can withstand a wider variety of climate conditions because of genetically improved leaves, roots and reproductive capability.

Fraley said biotechnology will enable the farming industry to meet the needs of a growing global population.

"We know we need from a demand perspective to double food production around the world in the next 30 years," he said.

Some organic farmers warn that widespread planting of genetically modified crops could contaminate organic and traditional crops, destroying their value. Others are concerned about the uncharted long-term impact for those who eat products such as milk and beef from animals raised on genetically modified plants.

"GMO crops have led to the loss of food security worldwide and for small farmers, they have led to the development of factory farms and have destroyed biodiversity in food we do produce and consume," said David Goodner, a community organizer for Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, an environmental and human rights activist group that opposes corporate farming. "The World Food Prize by selecting these people to honor shows that it cares more about corporate profits than it cares about truly feeding the world with healthy food."

Van Montagu said the food prize award should raise understanding of the safety of genetically modified crops.

"We just have to explain to society the science fact and that is not the slightest risk has been identified. These crops are as safe, if not safer, than food that comes from traditional agriculture," he said. "If somebody denies that we bluntly can say they are misinformed."

The World Food Prize was created in 1986 by Norman Borlaug, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to fight hunger. Borlaug was honored in 1970 for work that boosted agricultural production in what has become known as the "Green Revolution."

Recipients will receive the prize, which includes $250,000, at a ceremony in October at the Iowa Capitol in Des Moines attended by hundreds of scholars and agribusiness leaders from around the world.

The changes will shift the duties and responsibilities of many top Microsoft executives and are intended to eliminate overlap within the 98,000-employee company, AllThingsD reported on Monday, citing anonymous sources.

A new cloud computing and business-focused products unit would be headed by Satya Nadella, who currently oversees Microsoft's server business, according to a Bloomberg report last week. Julie Larson-Green, the current co-head of Microsoft's Windows operating system business, will lead the company's hardware efforts, including the Xbox video game console and the Surface tablets, Bloomberg said.

Microsoft declined to comment.

Chief Executive Steve Ballmer remains under pressure to ramp up Microsoft's presence on mobile devices as the computer industry steadily declines.

Ballmer announced in his annual letter to shareholders last October that Microsoft now sees itself as a "devices and services" company, rather than a software maker.

The company's last significant reorganization came in July 2008 when Ballmer split Microsoft's Platforms & Services Division into three units - Windows, Online Services and Server and Tools.

Microsoft's shares have gained almost 30 percent this year, helped by a rally that began in late April when the company released strong revenue and earnings in what was one of the worst quarters for PC sales on record.

But consumers are increasingly turning to mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets instead of traditional PCs and the shrink-wrapped software products that are the foundation of Microsoft's $74 billion annual revenue business.

Under the new structure, Qi Lu, the head of Microsoft's money-losing online group, would also oversee Microsoft Office as well as other apps, Bloomberg said. Tony Bates would oversee Microsoft's business development efforts, including mergers and acquisitions and corporate strategy.

"What they have has worked for the past and led to some pretty profitable businesses, but when people are aligned with certain goals they may not be thinking the right way for the future," David Smith, an analyst with industry research firm Gartner said on Monday about the widely expected reorganization.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic and Bill Rigby; Editing by Carol Bishopric)