Ecuador 2011 Fight Against Cancer

This stamp was issued on 19 December 2011 by the postal authority of Ecuador, with an anti-cancer theme. On the top right corner shows St George killing the dragon, the symbol for SOLCA  (Sociedad de Lucha Contra el Cáncer del Ecuador), the Ecuadorian Anti-Cancer Society. The wordings (in Spanish) to the left are probably the society's campaign motto - Cancer occurs when you least expect it / Check for it today / Early detection is the cure. The background illustration shows a histological image of tissue, usually taken from biopsies conducted during screening for cancer; the biopsied tissues may be stained according to the type of cancer to be screened and then examined under a microscope by a pathologist, the stained tissues would also be typically photographed under microscope and stored for further examination.

Mexico 2011 Food Safety & Security

This beautiful souvenir sheet was released by Mexico on 18 October 2011 on the theme of Health and Security in Mexico. From the illustrations, it is obvious that the focus is on food safety and food security. The sheet contains 6 stamps: The first stamp is about Alfonso Luis Herrera Lopez, a pioneer of plant health in Mexico; the second stamp features the meat industry, stating the fact of freedom from foot and mouth disease (FMD) for more than half a century, and showing an inspection and approval seal of SAGARPA (Secretaría de Agricultura, Ganadería, Desarrollo Rural, Pesca y Alimentación), Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food; the third stamp features Dieter Enkerlin and his work in pest control in the cotton industry using sterile insect technique; the fourth stamp emphasizes good practices in food industry; the fifth stamp features control, inspection and verification in food distribution; the last stamp features research and development based on antibodies and genetics, this stamp features the double helical representation of DNA. The sheet selvage features various scenes in the food industry and representation of type of food in Mexico.

Each of the 6 stamps is watermarked with fluorescent ink bearing the symbol of SENASICA (Servicio Nacional de Sanidad Inocuidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria), Natioanl Agroalimentary Health, Safety & Quality Services, as shown below with one of the stamps illuminated with UV light.

France 2011 90th Anniversary of the discovery of insulin

The French Post released this stamp on 18 November 2011 to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the discovery of insulin. The stamp does not display any overt scientific connection to this important protein, instead the designer has chosen to illustrate the importance with 3 lively human silhouettes casting unlikely shadows that spell the word "vie", which means "life" in french. The importance of insulin was supposedly discovered in 1921 in Toronto and the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was awarded in 1923 to Frederick Grant Banting and Charles Best for this discovery. However, the Romanians have claimed that Nicolae Paulescu is the true pioneer of insulin, who had developed the substance in 1916 and experimented it on a dog. Paulescu had to interrupt his work because of World War I, and only published his work entitled "Research on the Role of the Pancreas in Food Assimilation" in the Archives Internationales de Physiologie in August 1921, and filed patent 6254 for his invention on 10 April 1922 with the Romanian Ministry of Industry and Trade. More can be read about the insulin itself at PDB: http://www.pdb.org/pdb/101/motm.do?momID=14.

USA 2004 Sickle Cell Stamp

The USPS issued a stamp to highlight the sickle cell disease on 29 September 2004, encouraging parents at risk to test themselves and their children. The stamp designer decided not to use any scientific illustration for the stamp, opting instead to highlight the human side of the disease, featuring a mother lovingly kissing her child, as the disease is genetic in nature and could be passed from parent to child.

Grenada 2010 Sickle Cell Association of Grenada

On 25 June 2010 The Sickle Cell Association of Grenada (SCAG) gathered at the Sauteurs Grenada Catholic Cemetery to lay a wreath and to unveil a plaque in memory of Dr Walter Clement Noel, who became the first recorded case of sickle cell disorder in history. In 1910, Dr James B Herrick publish an article reporting the case of an anaemic student from Grenada with peculiar sickle-shaped red blood cell. Walter C. Noel was born in Grenada on 21 June 1884, he successfully completed in dentistry studies in Chicago and returned to Grenada to do his practice; he died on 3 May 1916 at the age of 32, nine years after his return. Today sickle cell anaemia is the world's largest genetic disorder. The gene defect causing this disease is a mutation of a single nucleotide (single-nucleotide polymorphism - SNP) (A to T) of the ß-globin gene, which results in glutamic acid being substituted by valine (mutation of a single nucleotide, from a GAG to GTG codon). 2 souvenir sheets were released on 9 December 2010 to acknowledge the Sickle Cell Association of Grenada and to commemorate the centennial of the reporting of the first sickle cell case; the designs of the stamps include ribbons and flowers which were part of the wreath laid at the grave of Dr Walter Clement Noel.

Macau 2011 Issue with MRI

Macau Post released on 28 October 2011 a souvenir sheet and a set of 4 stamps commemorating the 140th Anniversary of the Kiang Wu (Mirror Lake) Hospital Charity Association. The central figure in the souvenir sheet is Dr Sun Yat-sen who joined the hospital in 1892 as a voluntary doctor for western medicine, thus introducing western medicine to the institution. On the right side of the souvenir sheet is an early day microscope which could have been used by Dr Sun. Two photos overlapping the right side of the stamp and the sheet selvage illustrate modern medical technology - the MRI whole-body scanner and video-aided key-hole surgery.
Of the 4 stamps, one features a traditional tool for preparing traditional chinese medicine (TCM), another shows a patient undergoing MRI scanning.

Portugal 2011 World Veterinary Year

One of the four stamps released by Portugal on 7 September 2011, to mark World Veterinary Year, features the horse with graphical representation of DNA; the theme of the stamp is animal production and improvement. Incidentally, the first draft genome sequence of the domestic horse (Equus caballus) was completed in April 2007.