SAN DIEGO, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Two California studies linking obesity with an increased risk of prostate cancer might explain the racial difference in the occurrence of the disease.

The studies found that for men diagnosed with prostate cancer, those who were obese were more likely to have an increased risk that the cancer was aggressive and likely to recur after surgery, the New York Times reported.

In the United States the disease tends to occur more in black men than in whites and is more aggressive and twice as likely to be fatal.

The two studies, conducted by the Naval Medical Center in San Diego, indicated blacks had higher rates of obesity than whites, and the researchers said that might explain the increased severity of prostate disease for blacks.

The two studies, published online and scheduled for the Feb. 1 issue of The Journal of Clinical Oncology, are the first to examine obesity's relation to the recurrence of prostate cancer after surgery.

"The message is probably more important in men who haven't yet developed prostate cancer," said Dr. Christopher L. Amling, author of both studies and an assistant professor in the urology department at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego.

Mars probe to reveal human sleep cycle

PASADENA, Calif., Dec. 23 (UPI) -- NASA's four-rover Mars probe, set to land next month, will include a test of humans' ability to work and sleep on a 25-hour Martian day, albeit in California.

About 40 members of the 200-member rover team, working from the Pasadena, Calif., facilities of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will switch to a schedule based on a day that is 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds long, JPL officials said Tuesday.

Team members will wear custom watches that appear normal but run on Mars time and they will live in a quiet neighborhood in rented apartments equipped with light-tight blackout shades.

The first two rovers are scheduled to touch down on Mars' Gusev Crater on Jan. 3 at 11:35 p.m. EST, the second two on Mars' Meridiani Planum on Jan. 25 at 12:05 a.m.

Broadband connections increase 18 percent

WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- The number of high-speed Internet connections in the United States increased 18 percent in the first half of 2003 to 23.5 million, the Federal Communications Commission said.

Such broadband services are viewed as integral to deployment of next generation web applications and increased use of services that deliver high-bandwidth audio and video.

The agency defines high-speed connections as those that provide Internet access at speeds exceeding 200 kilobits per second (kbps) for either uploading or downloading. Advanced services lines provide services at speeds exceeding 200 kbps in both directions.

Of the 23.5 million high-speed lines, 16.3 million provide high-rates for both uploading and downloading, an increase of 32 percent in the first half of the year and 56 percent over the previous year.

Increases between 16 and 22 percent were seen in the deployment of both dominant broadband technologies, telephony-based asymmetric digital subscriber lines and coaxial cable-based cable modem services.

Cable connections remain the top technology in the marketplace and were deployed at a higher percentage rate than the competing ADSL technology, the FCC said in a reportr released Monday.

Cold killing thousands of Britons

LONDON, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Cold weather in the last week has probably killed more than 2,500 people in England and Wales, health forecasters say.

The BBC said research published Tuesday by the Faculty of Public Health and the Meteorological Office shows they will have died from treatable ailments.

The study says a higher proportion of the U.K.'s population dies as a result of the cold than in either Finland or Russia.

Most are caused by heart or breathing problems brought on by the cold and damp.

Sian Griffiths, president of the Faculty of Public Health, said as many as 50,000 people could die "unnecessarily" in Britain this winter.

"The U.K. remains one of the worst countries in the world at coping with unseasonal low temperatures," she said.

"Although the government has shown commitment to tackling the problem, it has not given sufficient priority to such an important public health issue and its approach remains far too uncoordinated."