Current research has given researchers and experts fresh hope that a cure could someday be found for the deadly and currently incurable cancer, mesothelioma. This is a cancer that can affect the lining of the lungs, abdomen or heart, and results from exposure to asbestos. Currently, there is no long term treatment or cure, although short term breakthroughs have been made over recent years.The current research is being carried out on mice, and the Sydney Morning Herald recently reported on the results of the tests. One of the test mice was injected with mesothelioma cells, and was then administered a treatment called Coramsine, a chemotherapy drug. Coramsine is a drug that is still under development. In addition to this drug, the mouse was given immune system boosting drugs. Richard Lake, University of Western Australian researcher, reported that the injected mouse actually went on to recover from mesothelioma after being given the treatment. In addition to recovering from the cancer, the mouse also rejected attempts of a tumor re-growth. Although the testing is still in an animal research capacity at this stage, Dr Lake has stated that the combination of immune system boosting drugs and Coramsine has shown extremely promising results so far, and that this can hopefully be applied to human treatment in the future.

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Each year 2,500 to 4,000 patients in the U.S. are diagnosed with mesothelioma and asbestos-related diseases. 

Mesothelioma has a long latency (inactive) period of anywhere between 15 – 50 years. 

Experts predict that mesothelioma diagnoses will continue to increase in the United States for at least another 10 to 20 years. 

While many countries have banned certain forms of asbestos, an estimated 5,000 asbestos-containing products exist today. 

As many as 8 million people in the U.S. have already been exposed to asbestos and it continues to pose a serious threat to workers in certain occupations.

One study of asbestos insulation workers reported a mesothelioma death rate up to 344 times higher than the general population. 

Most mesothelioma victims die within 18 months of diagnosis. Mortality is swift not because the cancer is fast-growing but because it usually is far advanced by the time it is detected.  

Poor prognostic variables include: nonepithelial histology, older age (greater than 75 years), pleural primary, chest pain at presentation, poor performance status, and elevated platelet count (greater than 400,000/mcL). 

By the year 2030 there are estimates that asbestos will have caused 60,000 instances of mesothelioma and around 250,000 other cancers that result in death.

Over half a million asbestos and mesothelioma injury claims have been filed to date. Over 50,000 were filed in 1998 alone.

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In a deal between two of the internet’s most prominent properties, Google will be selling advertising on web auction leader eBay and help buyers quickly ring an online merchant to do business.The arrangement promises to introduce “click to call” website technology to a broader audience and potentially speed its adoption as a means to quickly connect online consumers with advertisers.

Last year, eBay bought the internet phone service, Skype. Google has its own messaging and voice telephone service, Google Talk. Both services will be used in the partnership, though the details were not disclosed.

Under the partnership, Google would become the exclusive provider of text advertising on eBay outside the US. The second component of the alliance calls for the two Silicon valley companies to work together on developing a service that lets surfers place telephone calls through their computers or handheld devices when they click on a link in an internet ad.

eBay’s chief executive, Meg Whitman said that eBay has decided ti give Google’s advertisers access to its international auction sites after choosing yahoo for its domestic advertising because of the competing internet search engines’ respective strengths and how they mesh with eBay’s assets.

San Jose-based eBay also owns PayPal, the online payment service, and when the company joined advertising forces with Yahoo, PayPal became preferred payment provider for purchases made on Yahoo. Similarly, eBay palns to rely on Google’s international presence to build a worldwide market for Skype.

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Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer and it is an outcome of the asbestos exposure. A whopping 2,000 to 3,000 new cases of mesothelioma are registered in United States of America every year. The most dreaded fact about it is that it is a fatal disease and the survival time of the victim is almost one year from the time of diagnosis depending on the treatment and other contributing factors.Prognosis for mesothelioma is solely dependent on the merit of diagnosis and the treatment. If the disease is not promptly diagnosed and the treatment provided is not timely then the survival chance of the victim grows slimmer. The survivability of a Mesothelioma patient also depends heavily on factors like kind of treatment, type of mesothelioma as well as patient’s health and morale. The stage of the disease during diagnosis is the most crucial factor that decides the prognosis and the minimum survival expectancy of the victim. But disappointingly, mesothelioma unlike other cancers is somewhat difficult to stage. This is because the symptoms of mesothelioma are non-specific due to which the cells have already matured at the time of diagnosis.

The early detection of the disease is imperative for pursuing any kind of treatment. The location and size of the cancer, response of the cancer to the treatment, the extent to which the cancer has spread, what impression does the cells give under the microscope and the patients age are some of the contributing factors that determine prognosis. It should be pointed out here that diagnosis of this disease is not an easy job. Further more it becomes all the very more difficult because of the deceptive nature of the subtle symptoms of mesothelioma. Like for example, if you are coughing and you might never know that you have contracted the disease unless and until your doctor clarifies it all by providing a mesothelioma diagnosis.

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Prolonged exposure to asbestos fibers is the basic cause of Mesothelioma cancer. Although Mesothelioma can be caused by very small fibers and dust particles at low exposure levels, on an average its latency period is quite high, which may range from 10 to 40 years.Most of the victims of Mesothelioma are those people who had come into contact with asbestos fibers at their jobs or in other words, they are the victims of occupational exposure. In these cases the family members of these workers are also at risk of being exposed to asbestos fibers unknowingly. This kind of exposure is called Para-occupational exposure. Similarly, the people who are living near the sites where the work related to asbestos is being carried out are also at risk of getting afflicted with Mesothelioma. Some of the trades and occupations that are hazardous and invite Mesothelioma are:

Trades:

Asbestos product manufacturing (insulation, roofing, building, materials)

Automotive repair (brakes & clutches)

Construction/contractors

Maritime

Miners

Offshore rust removals

Oil refineries

Power plants

Railroads

Sand or abrasive manufacturers

Shipyards / ships / ship builders

Steel mills

Tile cutters

Occupations:

Auto Mechanics

Boiler makers

Bricklayers

Building Inspectors

Carpenters

Electricians

Floor Coverings

Furnace Workers

Glazers

Grinders

Insulators

Iron workers

Laborers

Longshoremen

Maintenance workers

Merchant marines

Millwrights

Operating Engineers

Painters

Plasterers

Plumbers

Roofers

Sand blasters

Sheet metal workers

Steam fitters

Tile setters

Welders

The risk of getting Mesothelioma is not distributed evenly among the above mentioned occupations and trades. For instance, asbestos insulation workers have 92% higher risk of contracting Mesothelioma than smelting workers who have only 3% to 8% of the risk.

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Mesothelioma is a form of cancer that affects the abdominal cavity, chest cavity, and the area around the heart and is caused due to prolonged exposure to asbestos. Pleural Mesothelioma or malignant pleural mesothelioma is cancer in the layer of the lungs that can spread to the lungs.The earlier symptoms of malignant pleural mesothelioma are very similar to those experienced with other lung conditions, such as pneumonia or lung cancer. These symptoms occur so gradually that it is very difficult to diagnose them as Pleural Mesothelioma. Breathlessness is one of the early and more common symptoms of pleural mesothelioma. This may present as a recent onset of shortness of breath, or a recent increase in shortness of breath. Breathlessness may be caused by a buildup of fluid (pleural effusion) in the space surrounding the lungs. Malignant Mesothelioma tend to spread fairly rapidly to other parts of the body, and this spread can result in additional symptoms. When pleural mesothelioma spreads to the chest wall and other tissues in the chest, it can result in severe pain. Even before the cancer spreads, chest pain, particularly in the lower chest and side, may be experienced. Chest pain tends to become progressively worse as the cancer spreads. Severe pain may be treated with strong pain-relieving drugs or with radiotherapy. When pleural mesothelioma spreads to the lungs, symptoms that are typically seen in lung cancer are hoarseness and coughing up of blood. Some other symptoms of Pleural Mesothelioma are difficulty in sleeping, pain in abdominal regions, blood vomits, weakness, weight loss, loss of appetite, lower back pains, sensory loss and difficulty in swallowing.

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 Mesothelioma is a very rare form of cancer which is caused due to prolonged exposure to asbestos. Like many other cancers, the treatment of Mesothelioma is quite difficult and expensive. Although research in this field is going on and some new treatments have also come up, nothing can assure you of a prompt and permanent cure of this disease. In this situation ‘hope’ is the only thing that can give strength to a victim of Mesothelioma to fight this disease. As long as they will not loose hope of getting cured from this deadly disease one day, they will be able to fight with it effectively.

The new discoveries in the field of Mesothelioma treatment have raised the hopes of the patients suffering from this deadly disease. . Some of the new treatments for the Mesothelioma are Photodynamic Therapy (PDT), Immunotherapy, Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) and Gene therapy. Although they are not infallible, they still offer hope to those patients who don’t respond well to the conventional methods of treatment. The cost of these new treatments is another thing which can perturb the Mesothelioma patients. They are so costly that it is difficult for an ordinary factory worker to cough up such a huge amount. However, the laws provide hope to them in this field. With the help of laws they can surely seek compensation from their respective employers and get themselves treated. Even if the patient dies from this disease, his family can also seek compensation from the patient’s employer.

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 What is pericardial mesothelioma?

Pericardial mesothelioma is a serious heart condition which consists of cancerous cells building up on the lining of the heart.

What causes pericardial mesothelioma and who are most at risk?

The principal cause of pericardial mesothelioma is exposure to asbestos dust and fibers. Therefore those at risk are those who are most likely to have inhaled these deadly fibers such as construction workers and asbestos manufacturers. Those in contact with these people also have a chance of getting pericardial mesothelioma because these people may have asbestos fibers stuck to their clothes or hair.

What are the symptoms of pericardial mesothelioma?

The symptoms of pericardial mesothelioma vary from patient to patient. Usual symptoms include persistent coughing, coughing up blood, shortness of breath, chest pain and palpitations. Other symptoms patients may experience are nausea, weight loss, vomiting and loss of appetite.

What are the treatments available for pericardial mesothelioma?

Chemotherapy, radiation therapy, dual therapy and surgery are the treatment methods available.

How much exposure to asbestos is needed for there to be a possibility of getting pericardial mesothelioma?

This depends on how strong and resistant the person is to disease and on the concentration of asbestos in the environment around him. However, on average it would take a couple of years for enough asbestos fibers to build up to cause cancer.

Is there any promising research into cures for pericardial mesothelioma?

Research into cures of pericardial mesothelioma and all other forms of mesothelioma is being done in numerous research labs all over the USA. Many pharmaceutical companies are also working hard to research new drugs for chemotherapy.

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 Mesothelioma is a deadly disease than is spreading like fire especially in US. Same can be said about the myths associated with Mesothelioma. Because of lack of knowledge about this disease there have grown a number of misconceptions in the minds of the people.

One such universally known myth is that nothing can be done after a person is in the grip of mesothelioma. Though there is no cure for this unsympathetic form of cancer, some medicines can help with lifestyle quality and symptoms. People commonly believe that working in mines and playing in heaps where you are surrounded by asbestos and staying close to a person suffering from mesothelioma are the only factors responsible for its outbreak. But in reality, mesothelioma is not a communicable disease and individuals who have never taken up any such tasks are even inflicted with it. The next important myth hovering on people’s mind related to mesothelioma is smoking. Some believe that smoking invokes this disease. But the truth is that those who smoke and are exposed to asbestos perhaps involve the highest risk of being infected by mesothelioma. But there are innumerable patients of Mesothelioma who have never smoked even a single cigarette throughout their lives. Those who think that an exposure to asbestos will result in an instant exhibition of its symptoms are also wrong. According to medical science, the effects remain latent and unknown for 10-40 years. Another misconception among people is that Chrysotile is a safe form of asbestos. But researches have shown that all forms of asbestos including the largely used Chrysotile are effective in causing Mesothelioma and other ARDs like lung cancer, asbestosis etc.

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 Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer that affects the mesothelium, specifically the Pleura (membrane that surrounds the lungs) and the Peritoneum (membrane surrounding the abdomen). Cancer specialists are continuously studying this rare kind of cancer so as to provide the public clear and exact information with regard to its cause, nature and cure. A very significant fact about Mesothelioma is that, the chances of it getting cured very feeble if it is not diagnosed at a very early stage.

The earliest stage is still curable since only one layer of the pleura is affected. Surgery is the number one option for patients with Stage I Mesothelioma. The doctor removes the part of the lining of the lungs or chest (in case of Pleural Mesothelioma) and the lining of the abdomen (in case of Peritoneal Mesothelioma). In Stage II Mesothelioma, surgery can still be executed although some lymph nodes may have already been infected by the malignant Mesothelioma cancer cells. The diaphragm may also be removed; in severe cases, the Mesothelioma patient has to sacrifice one of his lungs. Usually, surgery comes with systemic treatments, which include radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Although the said treatments for Mesothelioma have been proven effective, chance of recovery and survival still depends on the size or extent of the cancer. Moreover, the chances are higher when Mesothelioma is still in its early stages. Surgery is only advisable only up to the second stage of the Mesothelioma cancer wherein only one part or smaller portions of the membranes are affected. A patient diagnosed with stage IV Mesothelioma (diffuse Mesothelioma) has only about 4-24 months to live. Hence, early diagnosis is the key to the cure for Mesothelioma.

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