Archive for the 'Epidemiological' Category
Studies of the causes, distribution, and control of mesothelioma and asbestos diseases in populations.
December 18th, 2008. Asbestos-related occupational lung diseases in NSW, Australia and potential exposure of the general population
Although the hazards of asbestos are well known in developed countries, awareness of its adverse health effects is less in other parts of the world, particularly when exposure occurs in non-occupational settings. Experience of asbestos use and its adverse heath effects in developed countries such as Australia have resulted in development of expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of asbestos-related diseases as well as in screening and this can be used to help developing countries facing the issue of asbestos exposure.
December 17th, 2008. Mesothelioma in the Republic of Kazakhstan: a review
For this period, mesotheliomas were diagnosed in 5 of 14 areas of the country. The basic clinical, demographic, medical, and statistical data are concordant with those published elsewhere on this pathology.
December 17th, 2008. Recent mortality from pleural mesothelioma, historical patterns of asbestos use, and adoption of bans: a global assessment
Conclusions: The observed disparities in global mesothelioma trends likely relate to country-to-country disparities in asbestos use trends.
November 26th, 2008. Etiology, epidemiology, biology. Occupational respiratory cancers
In contrast, the search for an occupational exposure that should be routine in all cases of lung cancer, is generally more difficult because of the number of occupational aetiological factors and the absence of criteria that allow distinction of an occupational cancer from a tobacco related one. Therefore attention should be paid to the identification of occupational exposure in order to set up primary prevention programmes to prevent exposure still present in the working environment and, on the other hand, to identify the subjects entitled to the acknowledgement of occupational disease and/or to obtain the compensation available to asbestos victims.
November 8th, 2008. The CREST biorepository: a tool for molecular epidemiology and translational studies on malignant mesothelioma, lung cancer, and other respiratory tract diseases
Conclusions: The CREST biorepository is a valuable tool for molecular epidemiology and translational studies. This structure relies on a network of contacts with local health districts that allows for an active search for patients. This is a particularly efficient approach, especially when the object of the study is a rare cancer type. The CREST experience suggests that the presence of limited resources can be overcome by the biorepository specialization, the high quality of the epidemiologic information, and the variety of samples.
October 23rd, 2008. The mortality of women exposed environmentally and domestically to blue asbestos at Wittenoom, Western Australia
Conclusion: Women who were former residents of Wittenoom, exposed to asbestos in their environment or in their home, have excess cancer mortality, including mesothelioma, compared with the Western Australian female population.
October 23rd, 2008. US mesothelioma patterns 1973-2002: indicators of change and insights into background rates
The background rate for persons below age 50 is approximately one per million, independent of sex. Future data are needed to estimate this rate for older age groups.
October 23rd, 2008. Malignant abdominal mesothelioma: defining the role of surgery
Conclusion: Surgical extirpation of MAM may be associated with significantly improved survival. All patients with MAM should be evaluated for potential surgical resection.
October 18th, 2008. Lung fiber burden in the Nottingham gas mask cohort
The decline in concentrations with time confirms the hypothesis that crocidolite and, by inference, other amphibole fibers are slowly removed from the lung, but since the longer more carcinogenic fibers were cleared more slowly it is unclear to what extent this clearance explains the slowing down of the increase in mesothelioma mortality from about 40 years from the most recent exposure. The exact biostatistical models which most closely conform with the data remain open to question.
October 16th, 2008. A useful antibody panel for differential diagnosis between peritoneal mesothelioma and ovarian serous carcinoma in Japanese cases
The results identified calretinin and thrombomodulin as positive markers and Ber-EP4, MOC-31, CA19-9, and estrogen receptor as negative markers with relatively high sensitivity and specificity for the differential diagnosis of PM and SC. The combination of these positive and negative markers may contribute to accurate diagnosis and adequate therapy for PM and ovarian SC.
October 10th, 2008. Mortality from Occupational Exposure to Relatively Pure Chrysotile: A 39-Year Study
Conclusions: Occupational exposure to relatively pure chrysotile within permissible levels was not associated with a significant increase in lung cancer or with mesothelioma. Decreased overall mortality of workers indicates a healthy worker effect, which - together with the relatively small cohort size - could have prevented small risks to be detected.
October 8th, 2008. Pooled analysis of NAT2 genotypes as risk factors for asbestos-related malignant mesothelioma
04). These results suggest that NAT2 polymorphisms do not exert a strong effect on individual susceptibility to MM.
October 2nd, 2008. Asbestos disease in Australia: looking forward and looking back
The campaign to "Make James Hardie Pay" as well as the efforts of workers and advocates are profiled in this article as well as in this issue's Documents and Voices sections. Discussion of recent developments in asbestos-related disease research and mesothelioma surveillance is followed by articulation of the comprehensive public and social health response that is needed to fully engage and address the asbestos disease legacy and to apply lessons learned to help revive the currently waning societal commitment to occupational health and safety in Australia and elsewhere.
September 24th, 2008. The relationship between malignant mesothelioma and an asbestos cement plant environmental risk: a spatial case–control study in the city of Bari (Italy)
Conclusion: Evidence of an association between mesothelioma risk and EAE is highlighted. The role played by the RMR in increasing the public health local authorities awareness is stressed. Keywords Asbestos-cement plant - Environmental-neighborhood exposure - Mesothelioma register - Spatial case–control study - Public health - Italy
September 23rd, 2008. Predicted mortality from malignant mesothelioma among women exposed to blue asbestos at Wittenoom, Western Australia
Conclusion: The high toll from mesothelioma in this cohort of women and girls will continue well into the future.
September 16th, 2008. Survival of pleural malignant mesothelioma in Italy: a population-based study
Age and morphology were the main prognostic factors. Results regarding the effect of treatment were disappointing but may be useful to assess the future impact, at the population level, of recently introduced therapies.
September 16th, 2008. Survival of peritoneal malignant mesothelioma in Italy: a population-based study
Treatment was not associated with a statistically significant improvement in survival, but our study included cases first diagnosed before the introduction of the most recent therapeutic approaches. This provides a large historical comparison for future studies on survival trends at the population level.
September 5th, 2008. Asbestos Surveillance Program Aachen (ASPA): initial results from baseline screening for lung cancer in asbestos-exposed high-risk individuals using low-dose multidetector-row CT
28% (8/187) at baseline screening with an additional large number of indeterminate pulmonary nodules. Low-dose MDCT proved to be feasible in this highly selected population.
September 2nd, 2008. The role of polio-vaccine in pleural mesothelioma–an epidemiological observation
This is the opposite to what would be expected if potential SV40 contamination of polio vaccine used had a causative role in the development of the tumour. On the other hand, shorter latency period reflected by very high percentage of 45-year-old or younger mesothelioma patients in vaccinated group (15 out of 58), with all of them having a history of occupational asbestos exposure, raises a question for a possible enhancing effect of the vaccine used to asbestos exposure, if it was contaminated with SV40.
August 30th, 2008. Occupational exposure to asbestos and mortality among asbestos removal workers: a Poisson regression analysis
This study is a first step in assessing long-term mortality of asbestos removal workers in relation to working practices and asbestos exposure. Further follow-up will allow the impact of recent regulations to be assessed.
|
|  |
