Rates Of New Lung Cancer Cases Drops In The United States

Back in January, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued a press release discussing the lung cancer rates in the United States.  The good news is that tobacco control efforts are making a major impact on American's health.  According to a report in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the rate of new lung cancer cases decreased among men and women from 2005 to 2009.

The study found that lung cancer incidence rates went down 2.6 percent per year among men and 1.1 percent per year among women.  The fastest drop was among adults aged 35-44 years, decreasing 6.5 percent per year among men and 5.8 percent per year among women.  Lung cancer incidence rates decreased more rapidly among men than among women in all age groups.

Lung Cancer is the leading cause of cancer death and second most commonly diagnosed cancer among both men and women in the United States.  Most lung cancers are attributable to cigarette smoking & secondhand smoke.

Beschreibung: Konventionelles Röntgenbild des Thorax (der Lunge) mit rundlicher Verdichtung in der linken Lunge Quelle: selbst erstellt --Benutzer:Lange123 17:18, 11. Nov. 2004 (CEST) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Regarding asbestos exposure and lung cancer, 50% of asbestos related deaths are due to lung cancer.  Most cases of lung cancer occur 15 or more years after the initial asbestos exposure.  Tobacco smokers who have been exposed to asbestos have a "far greater-than additive" risk (50-90 times greater risk) for lung cancer than do nonsmokers who have been exposed (5 times greater risk), meaning the risk is greater than the individual risks from asbestos and smoking (10 times greater risk) added together.

 

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Steve Jobs: How to live before you die | Video on TED.com

Image via WikipediaThis video of Steve Jobs' commencement speech is amazing and so true about how to live your life (I see many similarities to my own life). We lost Mr. Jobs today, but his impact on our lives will remain for so many years.
Steve Jobs: How to live before you die | Video on TED.com

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Problems With 9/11 Health Bill

Their has been alot of discussion regarding the 9/11 health bill (known as the Zadroga Bill) that was supposed to provide medical care for first responders exposed to the various hazards at the World Trade Center site.  However, the bill did not cover cancer treatments.  The commission running the fund, has had hearings on this issue and have stated they will look at cancer treatments once the science indicates a link between the 9/11 exposure and cancer.  The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, as they usually do, makes us see the ridiculousness of this position.  We hope with a recent study by Lancet, "Early assessment of cancer outcomes in New York City firefighters after 9/11 attacks: an observational cohort study", indicating a modest excess of cancer cases among NYC firefighters exposed at 9/11, that the commission will consider covering cancer medical care.  This is the least the federal government could do for the first responders, considering the misleading information given to these individuals during their time at the site.

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Mesothelioma Early Detection Test Shows Promise

"About Mesothelioma.net" reported on April 8, 2011 that researchers from New York University Langone Medical Center presented promising research this week on a new diagnostic test designed to identify mesothelioma at an early stage.  Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer of the lining of the lung or abdomen associated with breathing asbestos dust.  Because the diagnosis is difficult, the asbestos-related cancer often goes undetected until it has reached an advanced stage, limiting patients’ treatment options.  The NYU cancer researchers used a a new diagnostic blood assay test to identify proteins secreted by malignant mesothelioma tumors.  Developed by the biotechnology company SomaLogic Inc., the test measures protein biomarkers found in the blood.  Using the simple blood test, the NYU researchers identified 19 biomarkers associated with malignant mesothelioma.  The aim is to detect mesothelioma early enough to allow for effective treatments, and improve survival rates and the quality of life for patients with mesothelioma.

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In a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, the research team, led by NYU cardiothoracic surgeon Harvey Pass, reported comparing 170 blood samples from 90 patients diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma and 80 patients who had been exposed to asbestos, but who had not been diagnosed with cancer.  Using the protein detection assay, the researchers detected 15 of 19 cases of stage 1 or stage 2 malignant pleural mesothelioma.

With approximately 3,000 new cases of mesothelioma diagnosed each year in the U.S., and researchers estimating the disease would not peak for another 20 years.  Discovering a better method for diagnosing the disease would hopefully lead to better treatments and improvements in survival rates.

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Study Indicates Increase in Risk of Childhood Leukemia Based on Living Close to Heavy-Traffic Roads.

Image via Wikipedia A recent study published in Environmental Health Perspectives called "Road Traffic and Childhood Leukemia: The ESCALE Study (SFCE)" indicated an increased risk of childhood leukemia among children that lived close to heavy-traffic roads.  Published in Environmental Health Perspectives on December 8, 2010, the research used the national registry-based case-control study (ESCALE) carried out in France.  Over the study period, 2003-2004, 763 cases and 1681 controls less than 15 years old were included and the controls were frequency matched with the cases on age and gender.  The study showed acute leukemia was significantly associated with estimates of traffic nitrogen dixode (NO2) concentration at the place of residence greater than 27.7µg/m3 compared to NO2 concentration less than 21.9µg/m3 and with the presence of a heavy-traffic road within 500 meters compared to the absence of a heavy-traffic road in the same area.  The basic conclusion of the study was that it supports the hypothesis that living close to heavy-traffic roads may increase the risk of childhood leukemia.
This study obviously has significant implications for children living near heavy-traffic roads (i.e., the Long Island Expressway) and the indoor air quality where they live.  This puts even more emphasis on reducing the emissions from the vehicles that travel these roads.

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Future Environment Designs discussion "The Pollution Within"

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In 2006 we discussed in our blog Future Environment Designs: "The Pollution Within" from Plattsburgh, NY about an article we read in National Geographic about all the different chemicals we have inside our body.  Its interesting that on November 7, 2009 that the New York Times Op-Ed Columnist by Nicolas Kristof (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/opinion/08kristof.html) wrote "Chemicals in our Foods and Bodies".  Specifically discussing the issues with bisphenol A (BPA), its a synthetic estrogen used in plastics.  Some of you might even know that Suffolk County, New York has banned it.  BPA has been linked to a number of illnesses from breast cancer to obesity, from attention deficit disorder to genital abnormalities in boys and girls alike (not conclusively).  So all of this still begs the question when are we going to do complete research on the chemicals we use to determine whether by themselves or multiple chemicals together cause or can cause illnesses or cancers.

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New Information on the Mesothelioma Mechanisms

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Found this information on the different ways asbestos may cause mesothelioma.

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