BOSTON (Reuters) - Paul Theroux said his literary goodbye to Africa at a train station in Luanda, Angola, five decades after he first visited the continent as a Peace Corps volunteer.

In his new book, "The Last Train to Zona Verde: My Ultimate African Safari," Theroux describes a journey through South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Angola that dead-ended at the depot when he felt no need to go further. The book, he says, represents a final chapter on his travels in Africa.

Theroux's first book on Africa was a novel. He became one of his era's most influential travel writers and chronicled his global journeys in books including "The Great Railway Bazaar," "The Old Patagonian Express," and "Dark Star Safari." His novels include "Saint Jack" and "Mosquito Coast."

Theroux, who lives in Hawaii and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, spoke to Reuters about the role of the travel writer, Africa's uncertain prospects, and how it would be to die doing what he loved.

Q: I wondered as I read your book whether you were done traveling.

A: It's quite a lot of trouble to take buses and trains and trucks and taxis and so forth overland in Africa. When I got to the point in Angola where I thought there really isn't a lot of value in suffering if you're not learning something, I thought well, this is the end of the line.

I'll always be traveling in Africa, but I think I've written all that I can possibly write of a useful kind.

Q: What is it about rail travel that makes you say you've seldom heard a train go by and not wished to be on it?

A: The pleasure of it is indescribable. You can sleep, you can write, you can walk around. It's very comforting, very reassuring, and for a writer, really wonderful.

Q: You wrote about squalid cities, but you also said you are not a pessimist about Africa.

A: I don't know what's going to happen to Africa. The infrastructure is very poor. It's a house of cards. The governments are fragile. In general, they're corrupt.

The cities are big and horrible, but the hinterland, the bush, is emptier than it's ever been. It's still full of possibility.

Q: How has travel evolved over your career?

A: When I first started traveling it was full of problems to solve. (Now) it's really not a lot of trouble to get on a plane.

The other is the Americanization of the world. Everyone dresses the same. People wear a T-shirt and shorts. The whole world wears baseball hats. Fifty years ago when I was traveling you didn't see baseball hats in India. You didn't seem them in Africa.

Q: Are travel writers still relevant?

A: The role of a travel writer is to discover the world, to verify what's out there. It's more necessary than ever, because the Internet makes people think they can just sit at home and know everything. But they don't realize what the world is really like: how poor it is, how wonderful it is in other places, and how much there is to discover.

Q: Do you have a preparation routine?

A: You need to be strong, optimistic and able to meet the demands of being alone.

I read practical things. I buy a lot of detailed maps. I talk to people. I try to be as widely read as possible on the place, not necessarily before I go, but afterwards. I want to make discoveries by myself.

I don't make lists of people to look up. I would rather stay in the simplest hotel. I don't like the social obligation that staying with people imposes on me.

Q: What do you read on the road?

A: Books completely unrelated to the place that I'm in.

Lately, I've been reading a lot of D.H. Lawrence. I make a little study of a writer - reading the books, stories, and then reading a biography, so that I know the author.

Q: Travel can seem courageous, but it's also an everyday occurrence for locals on the same roads.

A: They know where they are going. I'm going to a place that I'll have to figure out.

At my age, I take fewer and fewer risks. But it takes a certain confidence. The buses are old, the food is bad, the weather is horrible. Maybe you'll get to the other end and not find anything new.

Q: Three people you profiled in the book died soon after. What impact did that have?

A: (It was) a great shock. It made me examine my motives and think "Well, what if I died, am I doing what I love? Is what I am doing worth risking my life?"

Died doing what I loved would be having a Mai Tai on the beach in Hawaii and being overwhelmed by a wave. I'd be doing what I love then, with my wife just having a drink. It wouldn't be on a bus in Angola.

(Reporting by Randall Mikkelsen; editing by Patricia Reaney and Jackie Frank)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who use birth control pills are less likely to develop ovarian cancer later in life, a new analysis of past studies suggests.

Researchers pooled data from 24 studies and found Pill users had a 27 percent lower risk of being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. And longer use seemed to be tied to more protection.

"It reinforces that there is a positive relationship between the use of oral contraceptives and ovarian cancer prevention in the general public," said Dr. Laura Havrilesky, who led the study at the Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina.

"I think it adds some scientific weight to that relationship."

However, the review paper can't prove that using oral contraception lowers a woman's risk of disease - because there could have been other, unmeasured differences between women who took the Pill and those who didn't, researchers noted.

About one in 72 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer during her lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society.

The disease is often caught at an advanced stage, and the majority of women who are diagnosed will die from ovarian cancer. So researchers are eager to find ways to lower a woman's chance of developing it in the first place.

Eating a healthy diet and maintaining a normal weight may be one way to do that. Some studies have suggested that using birth control pills - which contain the hormones estrogen and progestin or progestin only - may also lower a woman's risk over the long run.

To clear up that picture, Havrilesky and her colleagues combined data from 24 studies that compared thousands of women who took the Pill for various lengths of time, at a range of ages, with those who didn't use oral contraception.

Any use of the Pill was linked to a lower risk of ovarian cancer, they found. Women who were on birth control pills for 10 years or longer were half as likely to develop the disease as those who didn't use them at all, the study team reported Wednesday in Obstetrics & Gynecology.

If the Pill itself was responsible for that reduced risk, the researchers calculated that 185 women would have to use it for five years to prevent one case of ovarian cancer.

But, because none of the studies randomly assigned women to take the Pill or not - each woman made the decision with her own doctor - it's not clear that the contraceptives, themselves, explain the whole cancer difference.

USE CAUTION

The researchers said there hasn't been enough time to study how the specific hormone formulations in contemporary birth control pills affect ovarian cancer risk decades down the line.

Because of that and other limitations, women should use "considerable caution" when figuring the new findings into their own personal decisions about the Pill, they wrote.

What's more, other research suggests women who take the Pill are at a higher risk of developing cervical cancer, said Eduardo Franco, head of cancer epidemiology at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

"It is the sort of thing that requires a frank conversation between a woman and healthcare provider," Franco, who wasn't involved in the new research, told Reuters Health.

He said the findings are not surprising and that many doctors are convinced birth control pills do lower ovarian cancer risk.

"I don't think there's a question of the link," Franco said. What's important, he added, is "understanding the caveats that come with the reduced risk of ovarian cancer."

"What we've got right now may be the best evidence that we ever are able to have. I don't necessarily think that it is enough to tell a physician to have their patients use oral contraceptives solely for the purpose of preventing ovarian cancer," Havrilesky told Reuters Health.

"But I think it's enough to say this is a possible advantage in women who are considering use of oral contraceptives" for birth control or other medical reasons, she said.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/s3TyE Obstetrics & Gynecology, online June 6, 2013.

Castro has been in power since a life-threatening intestinal disease forced his brother Fidel to step aside in 2006. Since then he has embarked on a program of social and economic reforms, while vowing that Cuba will remain socialist.

"Raul has done much of what I hoped he would," said Roberto Roman, a 54-year-old resident of the capital. "I agree with what he said about this being his last term. ... Raul should finish what he started."

Earlier this year Castro announced that his current presidential term, which ends in 2018, will be his last, for the first time since the 1959 revolution naming a date beyond which Cuba will not be led by him or his brother.

In a sign of the inevitable generational leadership change, Castro named as his new vice president and heir-apparent Miguel Diaz-Canel, who at 53 is relatively young compared to the octogenarians who occupy many top positions.

Castro's reforms have been gradually taking effect especially since 2010, including the legalization of many non-government jobs and private businesses, the private cultivation of fallow state land, the relaxation of limitations on overseas travel, and the legitimization of used car and real estate markets.

His critics, however, say change has been slow to come and lament the lack of political reform like multiparty elections.

Castro's birthday was not mentioned in state-run newspapers and no public celebrations were announced, but some people wished him well on social media and on the streets of Havana.

"I wish him success in his work," said Frank Gonzalez, 45.

Raul Castro was born June 3, 1931, in the eastern town of Biran.

The justices differed strikingly on how big a step that was.

"Taking and analyzing a cheek swab of the arrestee DNA is, like fingerprinting and photographing, a legitimate police booking procedure that is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the court's five-justice majority. The ruling backed a Maryland law allowing DNA swabbing of people arrested for serious crimes.

But the four dissenting justices said the court was allowing a major change in police powers, with conservative Justice Antonin Scalia predicting the limitation to "serious" crimes would not last.

"Make no mistake about it: Because of today's decision, your DNA can be taken and entered into a national database if you are ever arrested, rightly or wrongly, and for whatever reason," Scalia said in a sharp dissent which he read aloud in the courtroom. "This will solve some extra crimes, to be sure. But so would taking your DNA when you fly on an airplane surely the TSA must know the 'identity' of the flying public. For that matter, so would taking your children's DNA when they start public school."

Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler agreed that there's nothing stopping his state from expanding DNA collection from those arrested for serious crimes to those arrested for lesser ones like shoplifting.

"I don't advocate expanding the crimes for which you take DNA, but the legal analysis would be the same," Gansler said. "The reason why Maryland chooses to only take DNA of violent criminals is that you're more likely to get a hit on a previous case. Shoplifters don't leave DNA behind, rapists do, and so you're much more likely to get the hit in a rape case."

Twenty-eight states and the federal government now take DNA swabs after arrests. But a Maryland court said it was illegal for that state to take Alonzo King's DNA without approval from a judge, ruling that King had "a sufficiently weighty and reasonable expectation of privacy against warrantless, suspicionless searches" under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.

The high court's decision reverses that ruling and reinstates King's rape conviction, which came after police took his DNA during an unrelated arrest.

Kennedy, who is often considered the court's swing vote, wrote the decision along with conservative-leaning Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. They were joined by liberal-leaning Justice Stephen Breyer, while the dissenters were the conservative-leaning Scalia and liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

Kennedy called collecting DNA useful for police in identifying individuals.

"The use of DNA for identification is no different than matching an arrestee's face to a wanted poster of a previously unidentified suspect, or matching tattoos to known gang symbols to reveal a criminal affiliation, or matching the arrestee's fingerprints to those recovered from a crime scene," Kennedy said. "DNA is another metric of identification used to connect the arrestee with his or her public persona, as reflected in records of his or her actions that are available to police."

But the American Civil Liberties Union said the court's ruling created "a gaping new exception to the Fourth Amendment."

"The Fourth Amendment has long been understood to mean that the police cannot search for evidence of a crime and all nine justices agreed that DNA testing is a search without individualized suspicion," said Steven R. Shapiro, the group's legal director. "Today's decision eliminates that crucial safeguard. At the same time, it's important to recognize that other state laws on DNA testing are even broader than Maryland's and may present issues that were not resolved by today's ruling."

Maryland's DNA collection law only allows police to take DNA from those arrested for serious offenses such as murder, rape, assault, burglary and other crimes of violence. In his ruling, Kennedy did not say whether the court's decision was limited to those crimes, but he did note that other states' DNA collection laws differ from Maryland's.

Scalia saw that as a crucial flaw. "If you believe that a DNA search will identify someone arrested for bank robbery, you must believe that it will identify someone arrested for running a red light," he said.

Scott Berkowitz, president and founder of the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, cheered the decision and called DNA collection "a detective's most valuable tool in solving rape cases."

"We're very pleased that the court recognized the importance of DNA and decided that, like fingerprints, it can be collected from arrestees without violating any privacy rights," he said. "Out of every 100 rapes in this country, only three rapists will spend a day behind bars. To make matters worse, rapists tend to be serial criminals, so every one left on the streets is likely to commit still more attacks. DNA is a tool we could not afford to lose."

Getting DNA swabs from criminals is common. All 50 states and the federal government take cheek swabs from convicted criminals to check against federal and state databanks, with the court's blessing. The fight at the Supreme Court was over whether that DNA collection could come before conviction and without a judge issuing a warrant.

According to court documents, the FBI's Combined DNA Index System or CODIS a coordinated system of federal, state and local databases of DNA profiles already contains more than 10 million criminal profiles and 1.1 million profiles of those arrested. According to the FBI, the DNA samples from people whose charges have been dismissed, who have been acquitted or against whom no charges have been brought are to be expunged from the federal system. But states and other municipalities that collect DNA make their own rules about what happens to their collections.

In the case before the court, a 53-year-old woman was raped and robbed but no one was arrested. Almost six years later, Alonzo King was arrested and charged with felony second-degree assault in a separate case. Relying on the Maryland law that allows warrantless DNA tests following some felony arrests, police took a cheek swab of King's DNA, which matched a sample from the 2003 Salisbury rape. King was convicted of rape and sentenced to life in prison.

King eventually pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of misdemeanor assault from his arrest, a crime for which Maryland cannot take warrantless DNA samples. The state court said King's rights therefore had been violated when the state took his DNA based on that arrest alone.

Maryland stopped collecting DNA after that decision, but Roberts allowed police to keep collecting DNA samples pending the high court's review.

The case is Maryland v. King, 12-207.

___

On The Net:

The FBI's frequently asked questions about its DNA databases: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/lab/biometric-analysis/codis/codis-and-ndis-fact-sheet

2012 - Miami Heat def. Oklahoma City Thunder 4-1

2011 - Dallas Mavericks def. Miami Heat 4-2

2010 - Los Angeles Lakers def. Boston Celtics 4-3

2009 - Los Angeles Lakers def. Orlando Magic 4-1

2008 - Boston Celtics def. Los Angeles Lakers 4-2

2007 - San Antonio Spurs def. Cleveland Cavaliers 4-0

2006 - Miami Heat def. Dallas Mavericks 4-2

2005 - San Antonio Spurs def. Detroit Pistons 4-3

2004 - Detroit Pistons def. Los Angeles Lakers 4-1

2003 - San Antonio Spurs def. New Jersey Nets 4-2

2002 - Los Angeles Lakers def. New Jersey Nets 4-0

2001 - Los Angeles Lakers def. Philadelphia 76ers 4-1

2000 - Los Angeles Lakers def. Indiana Pacers 4-2

1999 - San Antonio Spurs def. New York Knicks 4-1

1998 - Chicago Bulls def. Utah Jazz 4-2

1997 - Chicago Bulls def. Utah Jazz 4-2

1996 - Chicago Bulls def. Seattle SuperSonics 4-2

1995 - Houston Rockets def. Orlando Magic 4-0

1994 - Houston Rockets def. New York Knicks 4-3

1993 - Chicago Bulls def. Phoenix Suns 4-2

1992 - Chicago Bulls def. Portland Trail Blazers 4-2

1991 - Chicago Bulls def. Los Angeles Lakers 4-1

1990 - Detroit Pistons def. Portland Trail Blazers 4-1

1989 - Detroit Pistons def. Los Angeles Lakers 4-0

1988 - Los Angeles Lakers def. Detroit Pistons 4-3

1987 - Los Angeles Lakers def. Boston Celtics 4-2

1986 - Boston Celtics def. Houston Rockets 4-2

1985 - Los Angeles Lakers def. Boston Celtics 4-2

1984 - Boston Celtics def. Los Angeles Lakers 4-3

1983 - Philadelphia 76ers def. Los Angeles Lakers 4-0

1982 - Los Angeles Lakers def. Philadelphia 76ers 4-2

1981 - Boston Celtics def. Houston Rockets 4-2

1980 - Los Angeles Lakers def. Philadelphia 76ers 4-2

1979 - Seattle SuperSonics def. Washington Bullets 4-1

1978 - Washington Bullets def. Seattle SuperSonics 4-3

1977 - Portland Trail Blazers def. Philadelphia 76ers 4-2

1976 - Boston Celtics def. Phoenix Suns 4-2

1975 - Golden State Warriors def. Washington Bullets 4-0

1974 - Boston Celtics def. Milwaukee Bucks 4-3

1973 - New York Knicks def. Los Angeles Lakers 4-1

1972 - Los Angeles Lakers def. New York Knicks 4-1

1971 - Milwaukee Bucks def. Baltimore Bullets 4-0

1970 - New York Knicks def. Los Angeles Lakers 4-3

1969 - Boston Celtics def. Los Angeles Lakers 4-3

1968 - Boston Celtics def. Los Angeles Lakers 4-2

1967 - Philadelphia 76ers def. San Francisco Warriors 4-2

1966 - Boston Celtics def. Los Angeles Lakers 4-3

1965 - Boston Celtics def. Los Angeles Lakers 4-1

1964 - Boston Celtics def. San Francisco Warriors 4-1

1963 - Boston Celtics def. Los Angeles Lakers 4-2

1962 - Boston Celtics def. Los Angeles Lakers 4-3

1961 - Boston Celtics def. St. Louis Hawks 4-1

1960 - Boston Celtics def. St. Louis Hawks 4-3

1959 - Boston Celtics def. Minneapolis Lakers 4-0

1958 - St. Louis Hawks def. Boston Celtics 4-2

1957 - Boston Celtics def. St. Louis Hawks 4-3

1956 - Philadelphia Warriors def. Fort Wayne Pistons 4-1

1955 - Syracuse Nationals def. Fort Wayne Pistons 4-3

1954 - Minneapolis Lakers def. Syracuse Nationals 4-3

1953 - Minneapolis Lakers def. New York Knicks 4-1

1952 - Minneapolis Lakers def. New York Knicks 4-3

1951 - Rochester Royals def. New York Knicks 4-3

1950 - Minneapolis Lakers def. Syracuse Nationals 4-2 (Compiled by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Gene Cherry)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Thanks to commercials for erectile dysfunction drugs, men know to seek medical attention for "erections lasting more than four hours," but a new study suggests a blood disorder is the cause of many prolonged erections.

While the condition - formally known as priapism - is rare, researchers report in The Journal of Urology that between 14 percent and 30 percent of cases that show up in U.S. emergency rooms are men with sickle-cell disease.

"I would say what the paper is telling us is that sickle-cell disease is still responsible for the bulk of the visits for priapism," said Dr. Gregory Broderick, professor of urology at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, who was not involved in the study.

Sickle-cell disease is an inherited disorder that leads to red blood cells containing an abnormal type of hemoglobin. The defective cells frequently take on a sickle- or crescent-shape and can block small blood vessels, which can lead to tissue damage or even stroke.

Especially dangerous for people with the sickle-cell trait is becoming dehydrated, which thickens the blood and can provoke a potentially fatal "sickle-cell crisis."

Other complications of the condition are anemia, jaundice, gallstones, severe leg and arm pain, and spleen, liver and kidney damage.

Previous studies have linked priapism to sickle-cell disease, as well as to illegal drug abuse and use of erectile dysfunction treatments.

To get a better idea of who is most likely to experience priapism, and why, researchers led by the University of Montreal Health Center's Dr. Florian Roghmann analyzed a database of U.S. ER visits between 2006 and 2009.

They found that 32,462 men came to ERs with priapism during that period, which works out to be less than one emergency visit per 100,000 U.S. men. Of those patients, about 13 percent ended up being admitted to the hospital.

The figures were not significantly different from the past, according to the researchers, which suggests the problem is not becoming more common as the population ages.

About half the men were treated at urban teaching hospitals. And about 14 percent of were reported to have sickle-cell disease, but that number was even higher - about 31 percent - among patients younger than 18 years old. About 4 percent of the patients said they had abused drugs.

The study did not assess how many of the men had used erectile dysfunction drugs. Nor could the researchers tell from the data how many of the ER visits were by the same patients.

But the high proportion of patients identified as having sickle-cell disease, according to Broderick, suggests sickle-cell is the main driver of priapism.

"You're really talking about a demographic slice," said Broderick, who has researched priapism but wasn't involved with the new study.

Sickle-cell disease is most common among people of African, especially West African, descent.

The condition is not thought to cause priapism directly by clogging blood vessels with damaged cells. Rather, it's believed that when the defective red blood cells break, their contents in the bloodstream interfere with signaling from the brain that regulates blood flow and tissue responses, according to Broderick.

The study team also found that priapism is more common during the summer months and in warmer climates. Broderick said that may be due to dehydration among people with sickle-cell disease.

But he cautioned that the new study cannot say for certain what caused priapism in these patients. So the researchers can't rule out other explanations.

Regardless of the cause, Broderick told Reuters Health that the condition can lead to serious long-term complications if it's not treated quickly.

"It's a time-dependant emergency. The more time they've had the ischemic or erect penis, the more likely they're going to have erectile dysfunction," he said.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/ZQU1Kp The Journal of Urology, online April 10, 2013.

Gayle King: Even that night weren't people still saying, 'Hang in there, hang in there, it's not over yet'?" Romney: Yes. King: Who was saying that? Romney: Karl Rove. King: What'd he say? Romney: He's like, 'Don't give up, don't give up. We're gonna win Ohio. And, you know, it's gonna turn around.' And things just didn't follow the way we thought it was going to happen."

After the election, Rove's spokesperson told , "Karl was in touch with the Romney people after he and Joe Trippi became concerned the call might be premature... It was then he found the Ohio Secretary of State website had roughly 7 percent more of the vote in and the two candidates separated first by 1,995 votes and then by 911." Romney's panic-button timeline suggests they were in touch earlier. Either way, it's a remarkably close relationship between a Fox News analysis and a presidential campaign.

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Here's video of said timeline:

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That's not stopping Holden from thinking big in terms of what he can accomplish this summer.

With the US for the first time since October 2010 and in his first camp under head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, Holden refuses to shy away from setting lofty goals for himself as he gets set to partake in both the World Cup qualifying and Gold Cup camps.

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The 27-year-old Holden, who recently recovered from a problematic knee injury initially sustained in March 2011, is not interested in easing his way back into things with the national team, no matter how much is new to him.

Instead, he wants to get back on the field for his country sooner rather than later.

The Gold Cup will be a good chance for me to play a lot of minutes, but Im not coming in here just to be a training player, Holden said on Monday. Im a competitor, Im a believer in myself and whatever role [Klinsmann] sees me in, Im happy to fulfill that, but I want to make his decision difficult.

"If he wants to leave me out, I want to make it the hardest way for him to do that, by training well and showing that I can play a part in this team in qualification.

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That Holden is at the point to make such grand proclamations speaks volumes to how far he has come in a grueling rehabilitation process that spanned the better part of two years. Holden is slowly returning to the player he was before Manchester United defender Jonny Evans ended his stellar 2010-11 Premiership season, and the Bolton Wanderers midfielder credits his recent loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday as a big reason for that.

To be honest, I dont know if Id be in this camp if I didnt go out and get some good games in, said Holden, who made four appearances while with the second-division Owls. It wasnt how the football was, it wasnt the team I was playing for, it was just about me getting some good quality minutes under my belt and to keep ticking over and keep getting in a rhythm. I feel like all of that really helped me push me an extra 10-15 percent up the ladder.

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During Holdens time with Sheffield, Klinsmann reached out to show support and to tell Holden that he would be monitoring him. Holden then showed enough in the following weeks to earn a call-up from Klinsmann for the Americans jam-packed summer, a decision that came as a surprise and even drew some criticism.

While Holden is looking to capitalize on the opportunity he has in front of him, he also knows he has some work to do to fully regain his top form. Mainly, he needs to find a full rhythm and return to being as confident as he was prior to suffering the knee injury.

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Its all been coming back playing in the loan games, said Holden. Every game I felt I got better, I got sharper, but I felt [like] that player that I was again. And just being in this camp already is giving me another boost up and made me feel Im really close to being there. I want to do everything I can in this camp to put myself in the position to contribute in whatever capacity.

Holden is expected to have a shot at making a serious impression in the Gold Cup in July. That should bode well for him, considering that four years ago he used the CONCACAF tournament as a launching pad to break into the US first team before making it onto the 2010 World Cup roster.

The circumstances may be different this time around, but Holden is hoping history repeats itself.

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The Gold Cup in 09 was really kind of a breakout for me and my first chance with the national team and I think I took that well, said Holden. I went from strength to strength and any chance I get in these big games to represent my country, I want to take that to the fullest.

Whether it is now or next month in the Gold Cup, I plan on doing that and then really setting myself up to have a good year and make sure that Im on that plane to Brazil.

Franco Panizo covers the New York Red Bulls for MLSsoccer.com. He can be reached by e-mail at .

Back in 1913 when it was formed, cancer was a lesser threat for most Americans. The biggest killers then were flu, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and stomach bugs. At a time when average life expectancy was 47, few lived long enough to get cancer.

But 15 doctors and businessmen in New York City thought cancer deserved serious attention, so they founded the American Society for the Control of Cancer. The modern name would come 31 years later.

The cancer society's rise coincided with the taming of infectious diseases and lengthening life spans. "Cancer is a disease of aging, so as people live longer there will be more cancer," explained Dr. Michael Kastan, executive director of Duke University's Cancer Institute.

Cancer became the nation's No. 2 killer in 1938, a ranking it has held ever since. It also became perhaps the most feared disease the patient's own cells growing out of control, responding only to brutal treatments: surgery, radiation and poisonous chemicals.

The cancer society is credited with being the largest and most visible proponent of research funding, prevention and programs to help house and educate cancer patients.

Last year, the organization had revenues of about $925 million. It employs 6,000 and has 3 million volunteers, calling itself the largest voluntary health organization in the nation.

"The American Cancer Society really is in a league of its own," Kastan said. The rate of new cancer cases has been trending downward ever so slightly.

Some historical highlights:

1913 The American Society for the Control of Cancer is founded in New York City.

1944 The organization is renamed the American Cancer Society. The change is spurred by Mary Lasker, the wife of advertising mogul Albert Lasker.

1946 A research program is launched, built on $1 million raised by Mary Lasker. A year later, Dr. Sidney Farber of Boston announces the first successful chemotherapy treatment.

1948 The cancer society pushes the Pap test, which has been credited with driving a 70 percent decline in uterine and cervical cancer.

1964 Prodded by the cancer society and other groups, U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry issues a report irrefutably linking smoking to cancer.

1971 The cancer society helps lead passage of the National Cancer Act to ramp up research money. President Nixon declares a national "war on cancer," which becomes an extended effort derided by some as a "medical Vietnam."

1976 The cancer society suggests women 40 and older consider a mammogram if their mother or sisters had breast cancer.

1976 The cancer society hosts a California event to encourage smokers to quit for the day. A year later, the annual Great American Smokeout is launched nationally.

1988 Atlanta becomes headquarters for the society.

1997 The cancer society recommends yearly mammograms for women over 40.

2000 Dr. Brian Druker of Oregon reports the first success with "targeted" cancer therapy.

2003 The cancer society stops recommending monthly breast self-exams. But it continues to urge annual mammograms for most women over 40, even after a government task force says most don't need screening until 50.

2012 The cancer society reports the rate of new cancer cases has been inching down by about half a percent each year since 1999.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage edged up to 3.41 percent, from 3.37 last week. Three weeks ago, the rate touched 3.36 percent. That's the lowest level on records dating to 1971.

The average rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage, often used for refinancing, rose to 2.72 percent. That's up from last week's record low of 2.66 percent.

The rate on the 30-year loan has remained below 4 percent all year, helping drive a modest housing recovery. And rates have fallen even further since the Federal Reserve started buying mortgage bonds in September to try to encourage more borrowing and spending.

Home sales have increased from last year, and prices are rising more consistently in most areas. Builders are more confident and starting more homes. Lower rates have also persuaded more people to refinance. That typically leads to lower monthly mortgage payments and more spending.

This week brought more positive news on the housing front. U.S. sales of new homes jumped last month to the highest level in more than two years, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. And slightly more Americans signed contracts last month to buy homes, the National Association of Realtors reported Thursday.

Still, the housing market has a long way to a full recovery. And many people are unable to take advantage of the low rates, either because they can't qualify for stricter lending rules or they lack the money to meet larger down payment requirements.

To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country on Monday through Wednesday of each week.

The average doesn't include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.

The average fee for 30-year loans was 0.7 point, unchanged from last week. The fee for 15-year loans also held steady, at 0.6 point.

The average rate on a one-year adjustable-rate mortgage slipped to 2.59 percent from 2.60 percent. The fee for one-year adjustable rate loans remained at 0.4 point.

The average rate on a five-year adjustable-rate mortgage was unchanged at 2.75 percent. The fee also was unchanged, at 0.6 point.