asbestos

  • | | | |

    Report Highlights Mesothelioma Danger in Home Repairs

    ByAlex Strauss

    A new article published in a Danish medical journal highlights the potential mesothelioma danger of certain kinds of do-it-yourself home repairs. Mesothelioma is a highly aggressive and currently incurable cancer of body membranes caused almost exclusively by exposure to asbestos dust. Most mesothelioma patients have a history of working in an occupation, such as construction, manufacturing, or asbestos mining that exposed them to the toxin over an extended period of time. But a growing number of mesothelioma cases worldwide are being reported in people who have no occupational history with asbestos. Instead, these people are being exposed to asbestos while doing repairs or renovations in their own homes. The two newly published cases from Denmark are prime examples. Occupational medicine…

  • | | | |

    Power Plant Mesothelioma Case May Be Just the Start for Mongolia

    ByAlex Strauss

    Mongolia has recorded its first-ever case of mesothelioma, but researchers say it is not likely to be the last. An article in the International ournal of Occupational and Environmental Health details the case of a 47-year old woman who developed mesothelioma after working for 28 years in a coal-burning thermal power plant. As in other parts of the world, asbestos has been widely used in Mongolian thermal power plants as an insulating material. Based on the prevalence of asbestos at these power plants, and the fact that more than 80 percent of mesothelioma cases worldwide have a history of asbestos exposure, the researchers recommend that Mongolia prepare for a significant rise in the disease. “We expect additional cases of mesothelioma,…

  • | | | | |

    Italian Report Details “Global Mesothelioma Epidemic”

    ByAlex Strauss

    Two Italian researchers say mesothelioma has reached epidemic proportions in some parts of the world and does not appear to be slowing down any time soon. In a new report in the Indian Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Claudio and Tommaso Bianchi of the Center for the Study of Environmental Cancer in Monfalcone, Italy analyzed data from cancer registries around the world. They supplemented their raw data with information they got from mesothelioma researchers in other countries. What they found was a disturbing upward trend in mesothelioma incidence in several European countries, as well as in Australia and New Zealand. According to the Bianchis, the UK, The Netherlands, Malta and Belgium reported the highest number of mesothelioma cases in…

  • | | | |

    Construction Workers and Mesothelioma: Is Protection Really Possible?

    ByAlex Strauss

    The study, conducted by researchers in the Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine at Umea University, focused on male Swedish construction workers who had participated in health examinations between 1971 and 1993. Among the 367,568 workers included in the analysis, there were a total of 419 cases of mesothelioma occurring between 1972 and 2009. As expected, the incidence of mesothelioma was high among those who worked with some form of asbestos-containing insulation, including plumbers.  But, although these groups of workers had higher rates of mesothelioma than the general public, they accounted for only 21% of the mesothelioma cases in the study. There were even higher numbers of mesothelioma cases among concrete workers and wood workers. Other occupational group with…

  • | |

    Avoid Mesothelioma Risk When Storing Holiday Decorations

    ByAlex Strauss

    But even people who have long since thrown away their asbestos holiday décor could face a mesothelioma risk in their own attics when they access or store their decorations. That is because millions of American homes still contain Zonolite insulation, a brand of vermiculite insulation known to contain fibers of asbestos. Although asbestos-containing insulation is not believed to pose a mesothelioma risk when it is undisturbed, moving boxes around or stepping on the old insulation in an attic can create small clouds of deadly dust. This dust can then be transported into the living areas on the outside of boxes or even on the clothing of family members who went into the attic. Accidently inhaling or ingesting the dust, especially if…

  • | |

    Mesothelioma Risk from Aging Asbestos Water Pipes

    ByAlex Strauss

    As pipes containing asbestos break down over time and need repair, there is concern that improper handling could release the toxic fibers into the environment, posing a mesothelioma risk for workers and residents. It is even possible for asbestos to wind up in drinking water. Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer of internal membranes caused by either inhaling or ingesting fibers of asbestos. Although some asbestos occurs naturally in the environment, most people who contract mesothelioma are exposed to asbestos in products that were made from it. One of those products is asbestos cement, a strong and corrosion-resistant mixture that was used for decades in the U.S. and around the world to make a wide range of products, including water pipes….

  • | | | |

    Multi-Center Study Reveals “Genomic Basis” of Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    Doctors with the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, the University of Hawaii Cancer Center, and the Departments of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Genome Technology at New York’s Langone Medical Center, have identified four specific genes they believe are directly linked to mesothelioma development. Scientists have long known that asbestos in the tissue can trigger genetic mutations that lead to mesothelioma. But, while past studies have focused on small sets of genes and have provided a limited view of these mutations, this new study is the first to analyze the entire gene for all possible genetic alterations. The new study involved whole exome sequencing – or a complete analysis of the DNA – on 22 malignant pleural mesothelioma patients. “Integrative analysis…

  • | | | | |

    In Search of a Better Mesothelioma Blood Test

    ByAlex Strauss

    A team from the Center of Molecular Medicine in Bochum, Germany tested the blood of 43 male mesothelioma patients along with 52 control subjects that had been exposed to asbestos but hadn’t developed mesothelioma. Blood was analyzed for the presence of mesothelin, a protein that is the most common blood-based mesothelioma biomarker, and miR-103a-3p, a microRNA gene. When the team attempted to identify the mesothelioma patients by mesothelin levels alone, they were able to correctly identify 74% of the sick patients. At the same time, the mesothelin-only blood test correctly ruled out mesothelioma in 85% of the healthy control subjects. The micro RNA gene proved to be a more accurate identifier of mesothelioma. Using the microRNA gene as their only…

  • | | | | | | |

    BAP1 Mutation Unlikely to Trigger Sporadic Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    But researchers at the Clinic of Oncology at the University Hospital of Zurich and University Hospitals in Leuven, Belgium say they have evidence to show that BAP1 mutations account for only a tiny percentage of sporadic mesothelioma cases. Mesothelioma is normally associated with exposure to asbestos dust and previous studies have found that people with the BAP1 mutation are more susceptible to cancer-causing effects of asbestos. Twenty-three percent of mesothelioma tumor specimens have been found to have a mutated BAP1 gene. But some cases of mesothelioma appear to arise “sporadically”, with no history of asbestos exposure.  Researchers around the world have long been trying to pinpoint the reasons these sporadic mesothelioma cases develop in an effort to prevent and/or treat…

  • | | | | |

    Are Women More Vulnerable to Mesothelioma from Environmental Asbestos?

    ByAlex Strauss

    Although the study did find an elevated number of mesothelioma cases among plant workers, the biggest mesothelioma burden was among their spouses and other women who lived in the region. Almost half of the mesothelioma cases linked to the factory could be attributed to environmental, rather than occupational, exposure. Researchers with the Department of Preventive Medicine in Milan and the National Heart & Lung Institute at Imperial College London calculated mesothelioma incidence connected to an asbestos cement factory that operated in Broni, Italy from 1932 to 1993. Their goal was to compare the percentage of cases among the workers themselves with the number of cases among their families and those who simply lived near the plant. Data was collected between…