Archives

Medical Screening for Former Hanford Employees

According to the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, DOE construction workers have an increased risk of certain cancers. In fact, the most significant finding at Hanford was a very high rate of mesothelioma, a cancer of the protective lining that covers most of the body’s internal organs.

Carbon nanotubes could harm the lungs

Researchers from the North Carolina State University, The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences used a mouse model to examine the effect of inhalation of multi-walled carbon nanotubes on the lungs.

Short Neoadjuvant Hemithoracic IMRT for MPM

Purpose: Malignant pleural mesotheliomas (MPMs) are tumours associated with asbestos exposure involving the tissue lining surrounding the lung. Radiation therapy (RT) dramatically reduces the risk of tumour recurrence within the irradiated area (>90%). But patients continue to succumb to MPMs due to the tumour spreading outside the chest cavity. This may be due to tumour cells inadvertently contaminating areas outside the chest cavity during surgery. The study will look at whether giving a short intense course of chest radiation just prior to surgery will sterilized these tumour cells and thus, avoid or reduce contamination of the areas outside the chest cavity. The investigators hypothesize that short neoadjuvant (pre-operative) hemithoracic RT, followed by immediate planned extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) (+/- adjuvant chemotherapy) will reduce the risk of intra-operative seeding and reduce the incidence of distant metastatic disease.

Hoosiers dying of asbestos exposure say law change is needed

Before she dies, Dorothy Kuykendall wants her day in court. The 76-year-old from Terre Haute was exposed to asbestos, a toxin that can lead to a deadly cancer called mesothelioma, more than three decades ago when she handled the material regularly as a worker at the city’s Glas-Col Apparatus Co.

Canada continues to mine lethal asbestos fibers

World Health Organization continues to condemn the use of toxic chrysotile asbestos and the mining of the lethal substance while Quebec actively mines the cancer causing product.

Canadian provinces continue to allow LAB Chrysotile to mine asbestos materials known to cause fatal cancers, such as mesothelioma.

Ship Worker’s Family Can Pursue Asbestos Suit

The family of a man who died of asbestos exposure from his work on a Navy ship won reinstatement of their claims against the makers of the vessel’s steam valves and pumps, in a California appeals court.

New strategy in tumor treatment

A new strategy proposed by researchers at Dartmouth Medical School and Amtek, Hanover, NH may treat tumors that do not respond to conventional treatment. The study, which was published on May 29th in the open access, peer reviewed journal PLoS ONE, uses a combination of two agents to selectively kill tumors while protecting healthy cells.

CBP501 Enters Phase II Trials for the Treatment of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

CanBas Co., Ltd. (Numazu, Shizuoka, “CanBas”) and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (Osaka, “Takeda”) together with Takeda’s wholly-owned subsidiary Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company (Cambridge, MA, “Millennium”) today announced the advancement of CBP501 into Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Current pre-clinical data suggest that CBP501 has the potential to induce cancer cell death through a mechanism of action that blocks the ability of cancer cells to transition through the cell cycle.

U of M experts want mine workers to volunteer for cancer tests

University medical experts are randomly selecting 1,200 taconite workers and 800 of their spouses for one of three health studies now under way to find out why so many Iron Rangers are dying from mesothelioma.