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As many as 40 percent of cancer cases, and half of cancer deaths, come down to things people could easily change, researchers said Thursday. While Americans often worry about whether chemicals, pollution or other factors out of their control cause cancer, the new analysis shows otherwise: People are firmly in charge of much of their own risk of cancer. The team at Harvard Medical School calculated that 20 to 40 percent of cancer cases, and half of cancer deaths, could be prevented if people quit smoking, avoided heavy drinking, kept a healthy weight, and got just a half hour a day of moderate exercise. (Fox, 5/19)

Like many children who grew up on a farm decades ago, Cheryl Quaranda, 47, wasn’t slathered with sunscreen by overly concerned parents before heading outside for the day, and sometimes sunburns were par for the course. “We never did the sunscreen thing, and I remember when I was younger, I got a really, really bad sunburn,” she says. For years, Quaranda lived with a mole right at her bra line, but at some point in 2004, it started to bleed and scab over, again and again. “I thought it was just because of where my bra was rubbing it, but then it got to where I would move my bra and it would still itch,” she says. “Then, it got to where it was hurting down on the inside.” (Deese, 5/19)

We’ve made great progress treating people who are infected with HIV, but if they get cancer they’re less likely to get the care they need, a recent study found. Researchers examined treatment for a variety of cancers, including upper gastrointestinal tract, colorectal, prostate, lung, head and neck, cervix, breast, anal and two blood cancers. With the exception of anal cancer, treatment rates differed significantly between HIV-infected people and those who weren’t infected, according to the study. (Andrews, 5/20)