Asbestos has been used extensively as an insulating material in building construction for many years. Only until recently were newer materials introduced in the market such as fiberglass in place of asbestos.

Diseases may result when large amounts of fine asbestos fibers become accumulated in the lungs. This fatal disease is more commonly known as asbestosis. The disease is often found in workers engaged in the mining or processing of asbestos. Various trades involved with asbestos include pipefitting, shipbuilding and the construction industry. In addition to its use in insulation, it is also used in fire smothering blankets and safety clothing, in gas masks, as plastic filler material and in cement and floor tiles. Today, demolition workers and home renovators working on older buildings put themselves at high risk from the toxicity of this substance.

One of the most fatal toxicities of asbestos is its effect on breathing and the pathogenesis of lung cancer. The lungs are the primary targets of asbestos toxicity. Breathing may become progressively more difficult and laborious and this may ultimately lead to lung cancer. Initially, the individual may only experience a chronic, dry cough. As the disease progresses, symptoms may vary from shortness of breath and decreased exercise tolerance to chest pains. These symptoms are not exclusive to asbestosis, but a history of exposure will help the physician make the right and acute diagnosis of this disease.

One rare form of lung cancer that appears to be unique among people exposed to asbestos is known as mesothelioma. This cancer affects the lining of the lungs or abdomen. The association of asbestos exposure and malignant mesothleioma has been well documented. Approximately 80% of mesothelioma patients have along history of asbestos exposure. The combined roles of genetic and environment in the pathogenesis of mesothelioma has also been suggested by its familial aggregation. Studies show an association between single nucleotide polymorphisms leading to a defect in DNA repair poses an increased risk of mesothelioma. It is essential to identify genetic risk factors for malignant mesothelioma. The toxic asbestos fibers chronically retained in the lung can be carcinogenic as a result of: mechanical effects, such as interference during chromosome segregation; generation of reactive oxygen species; and local and systemic immunosuppression. Identification of specific risk genotypes will provide better estimation of population disease risk resulting from defined exposure; improve knowledge on lung carcinogenesis; and help target early detection of disease in high-risk individuals. It is a malignant neoplasm that may not appear for as many as 20 to 40 years following the exposure of the substance. This type of malignancy has a high fatality rate. The relation between asbestos exposure and mesothelioma is so close that the occurrence of this malignancy may be grounds for occupational compensation.

Unfortunately, there has yet been no cure for asbestosis. It is imperative that one provides a detailed history of work activities and any other sources of possible exposure to toxic dusts. Keep in mind that ones’ exposure may have been many years ago. The substance may have been inhaled from the clothes of another person who has worked with asbestos. An abnormal finding chest X ray may suggest exposure to asbestos. This does not necessarily mean that you have lung asbestosis. Not everyone who has been exposed will inevitably develop lung disease and cancer. The disease itself is only diagnosed only if you have a history of exposure, indicative chest X ray and physical findings and symptoms of debilitating lung fibrosis, which is characterized by abnormal development of scar tissue in the lungs.

If you are a young or middle-aged worker who works with asbestos, it is important to follow recommended safety precautions. Wear approved facemasks and breathing instruments that filter out the asbestos fibers. Be certain that all areas of your body is covered and take extra care to minimize your contact with the outside of the clothes you wear when working with asbestos.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to asbestos.free-resource-guide.com/ Asbestos

Tags: lung cancer, mesothelioma

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Tags: lung cancer, mesothelioma

A rare form of the Non-Hodgkin disease is the Mantle cell lymphoma. This disease is quite dangerous because its tumor grows very fast and ends up affecting most of the organs.
Generally, people are diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma only when the disease has affected more organs and so, treating them is a little bit difficult because several areas of the body must be treated in the same time. The most indicated treatment in this case is chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy tries to stop cancerous cells from growing or dividing. There can be used oral drugs or drugs injected into the vein or muscle that will reach the cancer cells by entering the bloodstream, and is called systemic chemotherapy. In mantle cell lymphoma doctors use a combination of four drugs administered in a single day and then repeated every 3 weeks for 6 times.

In most of the cases, mantle cell lymphoma therapy is not useful and even if the response to the treatment seemed to be good, the disease comes back very often. In preventing this, doctors have used different drug combinations and the most successful was one treatment used in leukemia too. This treatment is unbearable for many of the patients due to its side effects, and doctors will not recommend this drug combination if they feel that the patient will not tolerate the treatment.

In most cases, after chemotherapy is done, stem cells previously taken from the patient’s blood or bone marrow or from a donor will be thawed and replaced through an infusion, in order to restore the body’s blood cells destroyed by the chemotherapy.

Biological therapy has proved to be useful in treating many forms of lymphoma, and it uses monoclonal antibodies. These antibodies are made from an immune system cell and are designed to seek and destroy all the substances that can help cancer cells to grow and develop. One of the monoclonal antibodies used in treating Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is Rituximab. This antibody could be used in treating mantle cell lymphoma too.

There have been developed some new drugs but they are still under tests in clinical trials. Bortezomib is one of them and using it seems to lead to the death of cancer cells.

Using radiation therapy proved to be inefficient because it did not lead to a remarkably extinction of the cancer cells and it only weakened the human organism.

Until now there is no cure for this disease and no certain effective treatment. In order to discover a useful therapy, doctors will encourage you to join a clinical trial and help them improve the medical treatment of this terrible disease.

So, if you want to find out more about lymphoma-center.com/cutaneous-t-cell-lymphoma.htm cutaneous t cell lymphoma or even about lymphoma-center.com/cutaneous-t-cell-lymphoma.htm cutaneous t cell lymphoma please visit this link lymphoma-center.com/ lymphoma-center.com/

Tags: chemotherapy, leukemia, lymphoma

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Tags: chemotherapy, leukemia, lymphoma

Your body is made up of cells, which are the main elements in the tissue that your body uses to create and maintain your organs. When some of these cells grow and divide in improper ways, they can turn cancerous and form into a mass called a tumor. As cells grow old and die within your body they’re replaced with new ones. At least, this is what happens when cells behave as they’re meant to.

When this process of cellular regeneration falters for whatever reason, the cells have nowhere to go and that’s part of the reason they form into these growths. The tumors can be classed as either benign or malignant. Benign tumors are not cancerous although they’re just as scary when found in your body. They aren’t life threatening and can usually be removed easily. Benign tumors do not spread or invade the cells around them. Malignant tumors on the other hand, are cancerous and are definitely bad for your health in all cases. Though they can generally be removed, they sometimes grow back or invade other nearby organs or tissue. This spreading of the malignant cancer cells to other parts of the body is called Metastasis.

With breast cancer, the diseased cells are usually located within the lymph nodes near the infected breast. Breast cancer can spread to other areas of the body as well, with the most common areas being the liver, lungs, brain or bones. This is known as metastasic breast cancer and the cells in the other infected areas are still composed of breast cancer cells. Doctors generally term this sort of tumor migration as, distant metastasic cancer.

Breast cancer has no set type of woman that it attacks. Doctors have no explanation for why some women get the disease while others don’t. However, women with certain risk factors are more likely to develop cancer than women without these factors. Some of these factors can include:

1. A woman’s age is directly proportionate to her chances of developing cancer. Older women are at greater risk, while younger women rarely develop the disease before they reach menopause

2. A family history of cancer will raise the risk factor of developing the disease

3. If a woman has already had the disease in one breast, the chances are high that she will develop cancer in the other one

It is important to remember that women with high risk factors do not always get cancer, just as women who develop breast cancer may not fall into any of the high risk groups. This is why it’s hard to predict who will get this terrible disease and who will be spared. Other than those in higher risk groups, there’s no real way to tell. It’s very important to have yourself screened for the disease before any symptoms develop. The earlier that this cancer is caught, the sooner it can be treated and the more likely it is that you’ll survive the disease. If you have any breast pain or any other symptom of the disease, don’t panic. Many similar symptoms are attributed to many other problems and are generally not cancerous.

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Tags: breast cancer

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Tags: breast cancer

This article is part of a series on Natural Health Therapies and Cancer. The material presented is meant to inform you of complementary cancer therapies that are available in the medical community. These therapies are to be used in cooperation with other cancer treatment methods. They are not meant to be done in place of your physician’s care. In the last article, we covered the basics of cancer – what it is, what causes it, what are its various types and stages. This article will focus on the aspect of Dietary Changes and Nutritional Supplements as a form of cancer therapy.

Aside from tobacco and smoking, there is no greater factor for triggering and promoting cancer than diet and nutrition. When used correctly, diet and nutrition are also the factors that have the highest ability to reverse cancer. According to the National Academy of Sciences, 40% of all cancer in men may be directly related to diet. The statistics are even worse for women; 60% of all cancers in women may be linked to nutritional factors.

As I’ve pointed out in other articles, what we eat is important to our health. Equally important is what we don’t eat. Our society has turned from a natural, raw food diet to a highly processed and refined diet. The average American meal consists of high-fat, high-protein, low-fiber foods in oversized portions. Our fast-paced society even calls some of them a ‘Value Meal.’ Where’s the value? The nationwide increase in cancer has been parallel to the decline in our eating habits.

Several areas of our society’s diet are excessive. In clinical studies, these excesses have been found to significantly increase cancer risks. The key sections of the American diet that contribute to cancer are:

· Excessive intake of animal protein (meat, cheese, dairy) – can increase the risk for cancer in the breast, colon, pancreas, kidney, prostate, and endometrium; certain preparation and cooking techniques (such as pickling, smoking, frying) add to the cancer risks; fatty meats contain higher levels of carcinogenic pesticides

· Intake of contaminated fish – mercury, nickel, oil, and PCBs found in many marketplace fish; 1/10 of a teaspoon of PCBs is enough to cause illness or cancer

· Excessive fat intake – can increase risk for cancer of the breast, colon, rectum, uterus, prostate, and kidney; partially hydrogenated vegetable oils are considered major problems along with insufficient intake of healthy Omega-3 fats

· Excessive intake of refined carbohydrates and table sugar – lowers immune system function; elevates insulin levels (which can promote breast cancer); tumors thrive in a high-glucose environment

· Excessive intake of iron – associated with red meat, fortified breads and pastas; cooking in iron pots and skillets can add to your iron exposure

· Excessive intake of alcohol – can increase risk for cancer in the breast, mouth, throat, pancreas, liver, head and neck; alcohol suppresses Natural Killer cells that help repel cancer

· Excessive intake of caffeine – cancer rates are higher for those who drink more than 3 cups of coffee a day; caffeine can cause DNA damage, adding to cancer risk

Although it looks like our diets doom us to destruction, there are steps we can take to reduce the cancer risk. Here are some ways to combat and prevent cancer through some simple changes in your diet –

· Eat more fruits and vegetables

· Drink green tea, fresh juices

· Eat nuts, seeds, legumes

· Avoid all red meats, dairy products, eggs and shellfish

· Avoid refined, sugary foods

· Avoid caffeine and alcohol

· Avoid all vegetable oils especially hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils

· Use olive, pumpkin seed, flaxseed, walnut, and sesame oils

· Avoid margarine, fried foods, creamy sauces and dressings

· Eat salmon, halibut, red snapper, and flounder for healthy Omega-3 fats

· Avoid cooking in iron or aluminum cookware

· Use stainless steel or glass cookware

· Avoid microwave use, particularly with plastic containers

· Eat organically-grown foods when possible

More advanced nutritional therapies include Vegan and Macrobiotic diets. These nutritional regimens consist of raw, natural foods and specific food preparation techniques. These diets are used to help cleanse the digestive system, allowing the elimination of excessive toxins.

Nutritional supplements can play a major role in cancer prevention and cancer therapy. There are many different approaches being practiced successfully. For example, antioxidants, such as Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and Alpha-Lipoic-Acid combat the free radical damage associated with cancer. Sea vegetables such as kombu are linked to a lower breast cancer rate in Japanese women. Garlic appears to boost the Natural Killer cell function and block cancer cells in the bloodstream. Certain types of digestive enzymes can be used to break down the protective coating on certain cancer cells. Minerals such as selenium, magnesium, calcium, and zinc are also used in varying dosages for certain cancer therapies.

As you may know, my PhD research is on the connection between nutrition and health. I’m concentrating on the importance of 8 basic carbohydrates called glyconutrients that help the cells communicate properly. ‘Glyco’ means sugar and these 8 simple sugars are involved in every cell interaction. The relatively new scientific field of glycobiology is making amazing discoveries on the impact of these simple sugars on our health. The studies show that many of these glyconutritional sugars, such as fucose, inhibit growth and/or tumor cell metastasis in certain cancers. The inhibition of cancer growth by glyconutritional sugars, such as mannose, appears to be partially related to immune system activation of Natural Killer cells, the white blood cell that destroys cancer cells. Research also demonstrates that glyconutritional sugars appear to inhibit tumor cell metastasis by preventing the attachment of tumor cells to normal cells. They do this by competing for glyconutritional sugar binding sites on the cell surfaces.

I personally know individuals that have had outstanding results against cancer with the use of these nutrients. Various glyconutrients are traditionally found in mother’s breast milk, pectin from apples and oranges, specific types of mushrooms, and limu. However, most of these glyconutrients are not in our diets. Luckily, our bodies can manufacture many of these nutrients through a lengthy metabolic process. Unfortunately, the effects of stress, medications, and other environmental factors make this process difficult and prone to errors. For that reason as well as the nutrition lost from the over-processing of our foods, the only way to insure that you get all 8 glyconutrients is through nutritional supplements. For additional information on glyconutritional supplements, you may also refer to material posted at glycoscience.com/” target=”_blank www.glycoscience.com or at glycoinformation.com/” target=”_blank www.glycoinformation.com. You can also research these nutrients on PubMed under glycobiology or by name of the sugar such as fucose, mannose, etc.

A couple of good books for Cancer and Nutrition that I recommend are:
Beating Cancer with Nutrition by Patrick Quillin, Ph.D., and Director of the Cancer Treatment Centers of America.

Options: The Alternative Cancer Therapy Book by R. Walters

Alternatives in Cancer Therapy by R. Pelton and L. Overholser

Sugars that Heal by Dr. Emil Mendoa, MD

“Education is the best provision for the journey to old age” – Aristotle

Jerry Ryan, Ph.D. is a Natural Health Coach who teaches individuals and group classes on the scientifically documented benefits of natural health techniques. He is also an internationally published author and has been a guest speaker at such places as NIKE World Headquarters. For more information, his website is JerryRyanPhD.com JerryRyanPhD.com

Tags: breast cancer, cancer prevention, cancer risk, cancer treatment, prevent cancer, selenium

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Tags: breast cancer, cancer prevention, cancer risk, cancer treatment, prevent cancer, selenium