Adobe's ubiquitous Reader application has replaced Microsoft Word as the program that's most often targeted in malware campaigns, according to figures compiled by F-Secure.

Files based on Reader were exploited in almost 49 per cent of the targeted attacks of 2009, compared with about 39 per cent that took aim at Microsoft Word. By comparison, in 2008, Acrobat was targeted in almost 29 per cent of attacks and Word was exploited by almost 35 per cent

Why has it changed?" F-Secure asks here. "Primarily because there has been more vulnerabilities in Adobe Acrobat/Reader than in the Microsoft Office applications."

Underscoring the surge of Reader attacks, online thugs recently unleashed a new malware campaign that exploits vulnerabilities patched three weeks ago in the widely-used program. The attacks target financial institutions with a PDF file with a name that refers to the so-called Group of 20 most influential economic powers. F-Secure and Microsoft have additional details here and here.

When victims click on the file with unpatched versions of Reader, the file installs a backdoor that causes their system to connect to a server at tiantian.ninth.biz.

Other applications included in Microsoft Office also experienced sharp declines in exploitation. PowerPoint attacks dropped from almost 17 per cent in 2008 to less than five per cent last year. Excel fell from about 17 per cent to less than eight per cent

PayPal is a fucking liar, a cheat and a thug," says Cryptome operator John Young. The eBay-owned payment service closed the Cryptome account last week, with over $5,000 of donations intended for Young in limbo.

Last night Anuj Nayar, PayPal's global director of communications, told us by email that Cryptome's account had been restored, but evidence provided by Young contradicts this. Screenshots of the Cryptome PayPal account show Young cannot withdraw money, but can only return donations to donors to the whistleblower website

Further Reading

President Nixon declared war on cancer in 1971 and, since then, the National Cancer Institute (part of the NIH) has funded research on prevention, surveillance, and treatments. But, despite the effort, progress has been elusive, leading to press reports in Newsweek, Fortune, and The New York Times suggesting that, at best, cancer is fighting us to a draw. But a new analysis of death rates, performed by staff at the American Cancer Society, indicates that cancer death rates peaked around 1990, and have been declining broadly since. As a result, they're now below where they started in 1970.

The dynamics in many specific populations are quite distinct. Relative to women, men started out with a higher age-standardized death rate, saw a more rapid increase, peaked a year earlier, and then have seen a far more dramatic decline. Various ethnic groups also had different trajectories, but all have shown declines in recent years. The trends have been more dramatic in younger populations as well.

The changes also vary based on cancer types. "The 2006 death rates for Hodgkin lymphoma in men, cervical cancer in women, and stomach cancer in both men and women were less than one-third of the 1970 rates," the authors conclude. In contrast, liver cancer death rates are increasing, as are pancreatic cancers in women, and melanoma and esophageal cancer in women. But, for 15 of the 19 cancers studied, rates have dropped.

The biggest factor in the change, according to the authors, is prevention: people are smoking less, and we should see continued improvements in this regard due to the decreased rates of smoking in adolescents. Mammograms, the Pap smear, and increased colonoscopy rates all account for drops in their relevant cancers, indicating that detection is also playing a role, while new treatments had impacts in lymphomas, leukemias, and testicular cancer.

There are a couple of take-home messages here. For one, we tend to expect success in the war on cancer to come in terms of treatments, but prevention and early detection are having a far more significant effect. But they take much longer; the oldest generations are missing out on the drop in smoking because the time-lags are so long. Finally, there's some indication that the rise in a few cancers may be tied to increased obesity, however, so there's no guarantee of continued success.

PLoS One, 2010. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0009584

Dr. Koochekpour, who is also a member of the LSUHSC Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center, identified an inheritable genetic defect in the receptor for the male hormone, androgen (testosterone), that may contribute to the development of prostate cancer and its progression. Scientific reports linking inheritable androgen receptor mutations to prostate cancer in Caucasians are rare, and this is the first one that focuses on the African-American population. The study is available in the advance online publication of the Nature Publishing Group's Asian Journal of Andrology.

Dr. Koochekpour and his laboratory discovered this genetic change by testing DNA extracted from white blood cells of African-American and Caucasian men from Louisiana who had a proven medical history of prostate cancer in their families.

"We detected this mutation only in African-American men with prostate cancer," notes Dr. Koochekpour. "We found it in the cell's androgen receptor (AR), a protein which interacts and responds to male sex hormones. This protein is profoundly involved in prostate cancer formation and its progression to an advanced metastatic, incurable stage. We believe that this mutation increases the risk of the development and progression of prostate cancer, in part by altering the receptor's DNA-binding ability, and by regulating the activities of other genes and proteins involved in the growth and aggressive behavior of tumors."

African-American men have a higher incidence and death rate from prostate cancer, as well as clinically more aggressive disease than Caucasians. According to the American Cancer Society's most current data for 2009-2010, prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death among American men. Between 2001 and 2005, the prostate cancer incidence rate was 59% higher in African-American men. African-American men also have the highest mortality rate for prostate cancer of any racial or ethnic group in the US. The death rate for prostate cancer is 2.4 times higher in African-American men than white men in the US.

"We are hopeful that this discovery will eventually lead to a simple genetic test for prostate cancer for African-American men who are at high risk for developing prostate cancer, allowing genetic counselling and earlier, potentially life-saving treatment" said Dr. Koochekpour.

Provided by Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center

Lower prices are not always good things, as Walmart has discovered after pricing black Barbies at half the price of white ones, giving a new definition to the term "price discrimination." Guanabee reports a shopper at a Louisiana Walmart discovered the price discrepancy.

Have you noticed this phenomenon at your own Walmart? Guanabee via ABC News

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