Compensation for Night Shift Cancer Victims

The BBC reports the the Danish government is to pay compensation to some women who developed breast cancer after long spells of shift work. The move comes after publication of research suggesting a possible link between the two in some cases.

Anyone who's had to do shift work knows that it's difficult and can cause all sorts of sleep problems. Recently the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of of the UN World Health Organisation (WHO), went further and classed night working as a "probable" cause of cancer. The hypothesis is that night working can suppress the production of melatonin and in doing so increases the risk of cancer.

Not all Danish shift workers who developed cancer will get compensation. Some with a family history of cancer have already had their claims rejected.

Melatonin Could Treat Eye Disease

The hormone melatonin is known to help in the regulation of sleep patterns and is used by some people to help overcome insomnia and jet lag. Now it seems that it may also have potential as a cure for a nasty eye disease that can lead to blindness

Uveitis is an opthalmic disorder that involves eye reddening, pain and deteroration of vision. In some cases it can result in blindness.

New research published in the American Journal of Pathology suggests that melatonin could help treat uveitis, reducing the inflammation and subsequent effects.

So far the research is in a very early stage - it was carried out on hamsters - however the team seem optimistic. They concluded:

"These results indicate that melatonin prevents the clinical, biochemical, histological, ultrastructural, and functional consequences of experimental uveitis, likely through a nuclear factor {kappa}B-dependent mechanism, and support the use of melatonin as a new therapeutic strategy for the treatment of uveitis."

As always, if you think you could be suffering from any medical condition you should consult your doctor.