These data show an inverse association between fish consumption and death from coronary heart disease, especially nonsudden death from myocardial infarction.

Forest loss and fragmentation is expected to shape the genetic structure of amphibian populations and reduce genetic variation. Another factor widely understood to have impacted these same parameters in North America is the range expansion that occurred following glacial retreat at the end of the Pleistocene. The Eastern RedBacked Salamander (Plethodon cinereus) has been subjected to both processes. In this context, we investigated the historical events that are likely to have shaped genetic variation in this species using a panel of six microsatellite markers screened on individuals sampled across ten localities in northeastern Indiana, USA. We found low genetic diversity across forest patches and minimal differentiation. We expected population structure associated with forest fragmentation to result from genetic drift in isolation but instead found that a balance between gene flow and drift was *50 times more likely. Ratios of allele number and range (M), and coalescent modeling of population demography suggested the occurrence of marked historic decline in effective population size across the region. Taken together, the data point to a loss of genetic variation which preceded deforestation over the past 200 years. This result indicates an important role for ancient demographic processes in shaping current genetic variation that may make it difficult to detect the effect of recent habitat fragmentation.

In a series of 6,500 patients with diabetes mellitus there were 37 cases of primary carcinoma of the pancreas which significantly exceeded the expected number for the patient years at risk in both males and females (p less than 0.01). There was no evidence that pancreatic cancer was more common in patients with long-standing diabetes. The increased incidence of pancreatic cancer in diabetic patients is probably the result of patients presenting with the symptoms of diabetes as long as four years before the cancer becomes manifest. An underlying pancreatic tumour should be suspected when an elderly diabetic proves difficult to control and loses weight despite adequate treatment.

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