But when they did get breast cancer, men were caught with more advanced disease, on average, and were more likely to die from it.”It’s not surprising that men with breast cancer present with later stages,” said Dr. Susan Dent, from the Ottawa Hospital Cancer Center in Canada, who was not involved in the new study.”That’s just because the awareness of the fact that breast cancer can occur in men is not as acute,” she told Reuters Health. “Men aren’t as likely to think of it, and health care providers aren’t as likely to think of men having breast cancer.”Men are most commonly in their 60s or 70s when diagnosed with breast cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute. Radiation exposure and diseases that increase estrogen levels - such as liver cirrhosis or Klinefelter syndrome, a genetic disorder - are among factors that raise a man’s risk.Dent added that men should be particularly aware of breast cancer — and possibly consider getting screened for the disease — if they have a family history of it, including a predisposition to cancer caused by mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which are well-known to raise women’s risk of breast and ovarian cancers.But men with no family history should not be screened, experts agreed.Researchers combined cancer registries from Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Singapore and Geneva, Switzerland, with cases dating back to 1970. That included about 460,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer and about 2,700 men.Men were more likely to have disease that had spread beyond the breast by the time they were diagnosed. In treatment, they also had less surgery and radiation compared to women, but similar rates of chemotherapy and hormone therapy.Over the entire time period, men had a 72 percent chance of surviving breast cancer in the five years after a diagnosis — compared to 78 percent in women.But researchers led by Dr. Mikael Hartman of the National University of Singapore found that when their cancer was spotted at the same stage and they got recommended treatment, men had a better chance than women of surviving a breast cancer diagnosis.Hartman’s team also noted in the Journal of Clinical Oncology that previous studies have shown it typically takes a few months from when men start getting symptoms until they are diagnosed with breast cancer.”Men who develop a breast lump delay seeing their doctor longer than a comparable woman would with similar symptoms,” Hartman wrote in an email to Reuters Health.”Male breast cancer is rare but men can develop the disease and should be aware that they should seek care if a breast lump develops,” Hartman added.Because of recommendations for regular mammograms in women starting in the 40s or at age 50, depending on the country, many cancers are caught in women before they have any symptoms.The United States Preventive Services Task Force, a federally-supported panel that sets guidelines for cancer screening, does not recommend regular breast cancer screening in men without symptoms.”In total, male breast cancer is still a rare event,” said Dent. “Never would I recommend that all men routinely go out and get screened.”
International Business Machines Corp said full-year diluted earnings would be at least $13.35 per share, up from its prior forecast of at least $13.25 in July.But the Armonk, New York-based company’s stock fell 2.46 percent to $182 in extended trade after closing down 2.07 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.Signings in the quarter were $12.3 billion, in line with some analysts’ expectations of $12 billion to $13 billion.Revenue rose 8 percent from a year earlier to $26.2 billion, in line with the average forecast of $26.26 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.IBM reported third-quarter profit, excluding items, of $3.28 per share, up 15 percent year over year.
* Decline in profit due to increased costsJEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Oct 17 (Reuters) - State-controlled
Saudi Electricity Co (SEC) said on Monday it posted a
6 percent fall in net profit in the third quarter due to higher
costs of purchased energy.SEC made a net profit of 2.2 billion riyals ($587 million)
for the third quarter, compared with 2.3 billion riyals in the
same period a year earlier.Analysts surveyed by Reuters expected the firm to post on
average 2.65 billion riyals.”The reason for the decline in the third quarter net profit
compared to the same period a year earlier is mainly the rise in
costs of the consumption and purchase of energy,” the statement
said.Operational profit for the third quarter declined by 3
percent to 2.125 billion riyals from 2.195 billion in the third
quarter a year ago.Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s biggest oil exporter, is struggling to
keep up with rising power demand, which is rising 7 to 8 percent
annually amid a growing population of over 27 million.On Sunday, SEC signed a 5.4 billion riyal contract with an
unnamed Saudi company to build 1,200 megawatts of power
generation capacity at a plant in Riyadh.The company, which has an installed capacity of 50,000
megawatts, plans to boost its capacity to at least 80,000
megawatts by 2020.
The spread between 10-year France and Germany reached plus
94bp on Friday, the highest level since the inception of the
common currency, and out from 80bp yesterday.Belgian debt is also under pressure at 220bp over Bunds at
the end of the week, although it remains below the peak at plus
237bp seen in September, despite the announcement that the
country will increase its funding plans by EUR4bn this year to
pay for the acquisition of Dexia.A EUR90bn 10-year guarantee for Dexia is being backed by
France, Belgium and Luxemburg which will assume contingent
liabilities of 36.5%, 60.5% and 3% of this amount respectively.
Belgium also agreed to pay EUR4bn to buy the Belgian operations
of Dexia. The combination led Moody’s to place Belgium’s Aa1
debt rating on review for downgrade.The Belgian Debt Office announced that it will sell EUR39bn
of medium to longer-dated financing this year, up from EUR36bn
previously planned. EUR3bn of the additional funding will be
issued in the remaining two OLO auctions in October and November
and the remaining EUR1bn will be financed through T-Bill
issuance. Including this revision, Belgium’s long-term financing
needs in OLOs are already 90.7% covered this year.”As far as we can tell the financing requirement for 2012
will remain stable at around EUR37bn-EUR39bn depending on the
size of the budget deficit,” said Anne Leclercq, director of
treasury and capital markets at the Belgian debt agency.Analysts at CA CIB agreed: “Based on an expectation of a
central government deficit of EUR11.8bn and higher redemptions
compared to this year of EUR26.4bn, [Belgium’s] funding needs
will be in the region of EUR38bn.”“The additional funding will add slightly more than 1% to
the debt/GDP ratio which stood at 96.6% last year,” Leclercq
said.That relatively small increase still worried some, however.
“The cost to the Belgian government of supporting Dexia is not
insignificant and highlights one of Belgium’s rating weaknesses,
namely its large banking sector and the contingent liability
this poses to the state,” said Douglas Renwick, a director in
Fitch’s sovereign ratings team.FUNDING STRATEGYHistorically, Belgium has sold two syndicated deals each
year, although this has risen to three per year since 2008 as
its overall funding needs have risen. In addition, the Kingdom
also sold a five-year syndicated OLO FRN this year.The level of domestic demand in the syndicated issues is
typically between 10% and 20%, although on one occasion this
year it was as high as a 30%, which has caused some to question
what effect the likely absence of demand from Dexia will have on
future deals.”In terms of the overall investor composition of the OLO
market, around 45% is held by domestic accounts,” said Leclercq,
who pointed out that since Dexia ceased to be a primary dealer
in early 2010 it had accounted for a relatively small part of
overall EUR275bn total volume of the OLO market.
Since last Tuesday, the protests on the streets of Egyptian cities have dominated headlines and photo galleries. In addition to Reuters photographers covering the events as they unfold, Your View contributors have captured the tear gas, flag waving and injuries.
View this week’s Your View showcase here.
“This isn’t an area that we as the central bank can
regulate, but I am saying to the banks that they are courting a
policy response to cap their rates if they persist in doing
this.”“It seems in many cases the banks are using variable rate
increases as a way to compensate for a lack of profitability on
their tracker books and that doesn’t make sense to me in terms
of fairness, but also from a practical matter that it is making
the arrears problem worse,” Elderfield said.
Bund futures were last up 36 ticks on the day at
133.91, having hit a session high of 133.95 earlier.”The weakness in BTPs ahead of the auction is part of it,
we’re pretty much at the yield highs we’ve seen since the SMP
(Securities Markets Programme),” a trader said.”Bunds have had a good move to the downside and broken
several technical levels, given the severity of the move it’s
not that surprising we’re pausing. I think we’ll head back
towards 134.40, that would give us a decent idea if people are
in sell mode or there’s still buying on dips.”
Bund futures were last up 36 ticks on the day at
133.91, having hit a session high of 133.95 earlier.”The weakness in BTPs ahead of the auction is part of it,
we’re pretty much at the yield highs we’ve seen since the SMP
(Securities Markets Programme),” a trader said.”Bunds have had a good move to the downside and broken
several technical levels, given the severity of the move it’s
not that surprising we’re pausing. I think we’ll head back
towards 134.40, that would give us a decent idea if people are
in sell mode or there’s still buying on dips.”
“Mosaid has received a formal nonbinding indication of
interest for a potential transaction,” company lawyers said.
“The potential bidder is a substantial private equity firm with
an international presence and over $5 billion in capital under
management.”
