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High-dose vitamin C can boost the cancer-killing effect of chemotherapy in the lab and mice, research suggests.

Given by injection, it could potentially be a safe, effective and low-cost treatment for ovarian and other cancers, say US scientists. Reporting in Science Translational Medicine, they call for large-scale government clinical trials.

Pharmaceutical companies are unlikely to run trials, as vitamins cannot be patented.

The incidence of cancer worldwide is growing at an alarming pace, and there is an urgent need to implement strategies to prevent and curb the disease, according to a report from the World Health Organization.

New cancer cases will skyrocket globally from an estimated 14 million in 2012 to 22 million new cases a year within the next two decades, the report says. During that same period, cancer deaths are predicted to rise from an estimated 8.2 million annually to 13 million a year.

New cases of cancer will rise by half by 2030, reaching 21.6 million per year compared to 14 million in 2012, the UN said on Monday in a global analysis of the scourge.

Cancer deaths, meanwhile, will likely rise from 8.2 million to 13 million per year as the world's population grows and ages and more people adopt risky lifestyle habits, said the report compiled by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

It took aim at Big Tobacco, saying its sales drive was "inextricably linked" to a likely surge in lung cancer.

Researchers have developed smart antibiotics that target specific bacteria and sever their DNA, thereby eliminating multi-drug resistant bacteria.

The new approach, published online in the journal mBio, uses the bacterial immune system, called the CRISPR-Cas system. This immune system protects the bacteria by creating strands of RNA called CRISPR RNAs, which match the DNA of the invader and then unleash proteins to cut the invader's DNA.

Researchers devised a way to make these CRISPR RNAs target the DNA sequences of the bacteria, causing bacterial suicide when the Cas proteins begin to attack the bacteria's DNA.

Many risk factors for Alzheimer's disease are linked to lifestyle or environment and the risk can be decreased at all ages, researchers in Australia say.

Lead researcher Professor Kaarin Anstey of the Australian National University in Canberra said a free 10-minute online test developed by ANU researchers is helping people assess their risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

Eric Lawson, who portrayed the rugged Marlboro man in cigarette ads during the late 1970s, has died. He was 72.

Lawson died on 10 January at his home in San Luis Obispo of respiratory failure due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, his wife, Susan Lawson, said on Sunday.

Lawson was an actor with bit parts on such TV shows as Baretta and The Streets of San Francisco when he was hired to appear in print Marlboro ads from 1978 to 1981. His other credits include Charlie's Angels, Dynasty and Baywatch. His wife said injuries sustained on the set of a western film ended his career in 1997.