Newborn head size linked to cancer risk.Healthy babies born with larger-than-average heads may face an increased risk of childhood brain cancer, a study suggests. Head circumference reflects brain size, so a large head circumference may indicate abnormal growth in the brain. Norwegian researchers analyzed 1.1 million records of births between 1978 and 1998, excluding babies born with very small or very large heads that would indicate other medical problems. The scientists also ruled out babies born extremely premature, overdue, underweight Underweight An situation where a portfolio does not hold a sufficient amount of securities to satisfy the accepted benchmark of the portfolio's asset allocation strategy. Notes: , or overweight. By matching the head-size data with information from the Norwegian cancer registry A cancer registry is a systematic collection of data about cancer and tumor diseases. The data is collected by Cancer Registrars. Cancer Registrars capture a complete summary of patient history, diagnosis, treatment, and status for every cancer patient in the United States, and , the researchers assessed how many babies born with a given head size went on to develop brain cancer. The overall risk of brain cancer was small, says study coauthor Sven Ove Samuelsen of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (Nasjonalt folkehelseinstitutt, Folkehelseinstituttet) is a national center established in 2002 for expert knowledge of epidemiology, infectious disease control, environmental medicine, forensic toxicology and research on in Oslo. Only 453 children in the study developed the disease. But babies born with a head circumference of 39 centimeters or more were four times as likely to develop brain cancer as were babies born with average-size, 35-cm heads, the researchers report in the January Lancet Ontology ontology: see metaphysics. ontology Theory of being as such. It was originally called “first philosophy” by Aristotle. In the 18th century Christian Wolff contrasted ontology, or general metaphysics, with special metaphysical theories . Babies born with 38-cm heads had a risk of brain cancer nearly double that of the average group. The findings suggest that brain cancer, or conditions conducive to it, originate in Verb 1. originate in - come from stem - grow out of, have roots in, originate in; "The increase in the national debt stems from the last war" the womb, the scientists note. The cancer could arise from immature, cancer-prone cells under the influence of growth-promoting proteins in the brain, the researchers speculate, or from exposure to radiation or infections. In any case, the risk appears to be site-specific: Head size wasn't associated with development of leukemia leukemia (l  kē`mēə), cancerous disorder of the blood-forming tissues (bone marrow, lymphatics, liver, spleen) characterized by excessive production of immature or mature or other cancers.--N.S.
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