Mesothelioma - The Asbestos related Disease
By Richard H Ealom | August 28, 2008
INTRODUCTION: Mesothelioma is a kind of cancer that is most always brought on by previous exposure to asbestos. Nearly all people who develop it have worked on jobs where they inhaled asbestos particles or dust, or they have been exposed to asbestos dust and fibre in other ways, such as by washing the garments of a member of the family who worked with asbestos.
It is an extremely serious disease with an average survival time of about 1 to 2 years after diagnosis. Unlike lung cancer, there is no relationship between mesothelioma and smoking. The condition occurs more frequently in men than in women and risk grows with age, however this disease can appear in either men or women at any age. It is also known to happen in those who are genetically pre-disposed to it.
SYMPTOMS: The disease may not appear until 20 - 50 years after exposure to asbestos. Diagnosing it can be hard, because the symptoms are similar to those of a number of other diseases. The signs of mesothelioma include shortness of breath due to pleural effusion (fluid between the lungs and the chest wall) or a painful chest wall , and more general symptoms such as loss of weight.
Signs of mesothelioma may also include abdominal pain, ascites, or an unusual buildup of fluid in the abdomenal mass in the abdomen, bowel function problems. Other signs of peritoneal mesothelioma may include bowel obstruction, blood clotting abnormalities, anemia, and high body temperature.
If the cancer has metastatized beyond the mesothelium to other parts of the body,possible signs may include pain, trouble with swallowing, or swelling of the neck or face.
In severe cases of the disease, the following signs may be present: blood clots in the veins, which may lead to thrombophlebitis, disseminated intravascular coagulation, a situation causing severe bleeding in many body organs, jaundice, or yellowing of the eyes and skin, low blood sugar level, pleural effusion, pulmonary emboli, or blood clots in the arteries of the lungs, severe ascites. These symptoms may be brought about by mesothelioma or by other, less serious diseases.
TREATMENT: There are several kinds of treatment plans available: Radiation, Surgery, and chemotherapy including recently approved drugs. Despite treatment with chemotherapy, radiation therapy or surgery, the disease comes with a poor prognosis. For persons with localized disease, and who can tolerate a radical surgery, radiation is given most often post-operatively as a consolidative treatment.
Although the cancer is usually resistant to curative treatment with radiotherapy alone, palliative treatment regimens are sometimes used to relieve symptoms caused by tumor growth, such as obstruction of a major blood vessel. In February 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved pemetrexed (brand name Alimta) for treating malignant pleural mesothelioma.
CONCLUSION: Mesothelioma is a kind of cancer that is most often caused by previous exposure to asbestos. If it affects the pleura it can cause these signs and symptoms: pain in the chest wall, pleural effusion, or fluid surrounding the lungs, shortness of breath, fatigue or anemia, wheezing, hoarseness or cough, blood in the sputum (fluid) coughed up (hemoptysis).
It is described as localized if the condition is found only on the membrane surface where it started. Screening tests might diagnose mesothelioma earlier than conventional methods thus increasing the survival prospects for patients.
The processes that lead to the rise of peritoneal mesothelioma remain unresolved, although it has been proposed that asbestos fibres from the lung are carried to the abdomen and associated organs via the lymphatic system.
It has been argued that in humans, transport of fibres to the pleura is critical to the pathogenesis of the condition.
Experimental evidence suggests that asbestos acts as a complete carcinogen with the development of mesothelioma occurring in sequential stages of initiation and promotion.
Although reported incidence rates have increased in the past 20 years, the disease is still a relatively rare cancer. Incidence of malignant mesothelioma currently ranges from about 7 to 40 per 1,000,000 in industrialized Western nations, depending on the amount of asbestos exposure of the populations during the past several decades.
Between the years 1973 and 1984, there has been a threefold growth in the diagnosis of pleural mesothelioma in white males. From 1980 to the late 1990s, the death rate from mesothelioma in the United states increased from 2 thousand per year to 3 thousand, with men four times more likely to acquire the disease than women. These rates may not be accurate, since it is possible that many cases are mis-diagnosed as adenocarcinoma of the lung, which is hard to differentiate from mesothelioma.
Working with asbestos is the most important risk factor for mesothelioma. However, the disease has been reported in some people without any known asbestos exposure. Besides mesothelioma, exposure to asbestos increases the risk of lung cancer, asbestosis (a noncancerous, chronic lung ailment), and others, such as cancer of the larynx and kidney.
Smoking modern cigarettes does not appear to increase the risk of developing the disease. The Kent brand of cigarettes used asbestos in its filters for the first few years of production in the 1950s and some cases of mesothelioma have resulted.
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The Truth About Bedwetting
By Sarah Blanch | August 28, 2008
Legend - Children who wet the bed are lazy.
Truth - Bed wetting has nothing to do with being lazy and not wanting to get up. An involuntary problem, This is caused when a child’s bladder control is slow to mature. Often times, chronic bed wetters are very deep sleepers and will not wake up to use the bathroom when their brain receives the message that their bladder is full. Calling your child lazy can lower their self-esteem greatly and lower their motivation to stop.
Legend - The only cause of bed wetting is drinking too many liquids before bedtime.
Truth - Though the consumption of liquids before bedtime, particularly those with too much sugar or caffeine, should be limited, this alone is not the only cause. Limiting liquid consumption is only a preventative measure for those who already have this problem.
Legend - Children who wet their bed have deep emotional or psychological issues.
Truth - It is very rare that these children have psychological problems and they are more often than not normal, healthy children with slow developing bladder control. It is possible, however, to develop low self-esteem and other emotional problems as a result of the embarrassment of chronic bed wetting. There is also a form of bed wetting, known as secondary enuresis, where a child who faces increasing levels of stress may begin wetting the bed as a result.
Legend - Using diapers or disposable underpants with a child who wets the bed will only encourage their habit.
Truth - Diapers and disposable underpants are not known to encourage bed wetting habits but act as a source of comfort. Not only do they prevent a child from waking up cold and wet, but they cut down on the amount of laundry and hassle involved with bed wedding, which can raise a child’s self-esteem.
Other Notable Facts:
Some studies have proven that three out of every four bed wetters came from a family with a history of it, suggesting that it may run in the family. Eventually, most children tend to grow out of this and develop better bladder control and sleep less deeply, allowing them to wake up when their brains signal that it’s time to urinate. Some bed wetters have functionally smaller bladders than other children their age so they are not aware that their bladder is full until after there has been an accident. Some have insufficient amounts of the hormone that signals the kidneys to produce less urine while they sleep. Because of this, their bodies make more urine and they are more likely to wet the bed. There are some medical problems, such as bladder infections, diabetes, constipation and spinal cord abnormalities, that are associated with bed wetting, though it is not common.
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