Asbestos threat at Dominion Virginia Power plant

Surry, Virginia, suffered a blackout due to a tornado that swept the region on April 16. A local power plant, owned and operated by Dominion Virginia Power (DOM), was immediately passed to the electricity generator for the rest of the division.

Due to the lack of electricity, a process required the plant's nuclear reactor refueling Sun spokesman Rick Zuercher said can take up to a month, and hundreds of entrepreneurs. The various components of the reactor are in areas or buildings separated from the central government contractors came and went throughout the plant for some time to complete the project.

One of the companies involved reported threat of asbestos, which has attracted the attention of the State Department of Labor and Industry. Asbestos is a toxic chemical known to be used in insulation systems and building elements. Heavily regulated by the S. U. Environmental Protection Agency, asbestos is a cause of serious respiratory diseases such as lung cancer, asbestosis and mesothelioma, a rare cancer.

Mesothelioma is perhaps most commonly associated with exposure to asbestos. In case of inhalation of asbestos fibers can initiate a process of mutation that develops into a system of various cancers fantasy. Pleural mesothelioma is the most common of the two types of mesothelioma, tumors that extend through the protective lining of the lung. peritoneal mesothelioma is less common, specific tumors in the lining of other abdominal cavity, such as the heart or diaphragm.

Mesothelioma has a long latency period, often between twenty and fifty years. Victims of mesothelioma usually do not know you have been exposed to asbestos, which makes early diagnosis difficult. The symptoms resemble those of pneumonia and bronchitis and has not shown that the last step and the tumor more aggressive. The diagnosis is usually followed by a short life expectancy, on average eighteen months.

Nearly three thousand Americans suffer from mesothelioma each year. Most of these cases are due to asbestos in the workplace. The World Health Organization provides a rapid increase in the number of cases of mesothelioma in the world, including asbestos continues to be used throughout the world.

State Department of Labor and Industry spokeswoman Jennifer Wester, Surry Central was part of the investigation. He said, "We're looking into it, yes," but did not comment on investigations or situation.

Zuercher said a team of experts examined the area and considered good questions on the basis of guidelines that exposure in the security structure with the Safety and Health Standards Board.

Kidney cancer treatment may benefit mesothelioma patients

A group of Austrian researchers tested chemotherapy drug temsirolimus, currently used for kidney cancer, malignant mesothelioma. Temsirolimus is an inhibitor of the kinase, but the targets and blocks the functions of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), an essential protein that regulates cell growth. In cases of kidney cancer, temsirolimus has stopped or greatly slowed the growth of a malignant tumor.

Although the results of temsirolimus on cancerous cells are mesothelioma showing similarities with those of kidney cancer cells, there is no turning back. The tests showed the malignant mesothelioma cells resistant to commonly used chemotherapy drugs, cisplatin, to be more resistant to temsirolimus. This led researchers to believe that temsirolimus as second-line treatment for mesothelioma, or a medicament for use in combination with first-line treatment of others.

Mesothelioma treatments are usually administered in combination. Standard procedures include surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. These can be administered in the form of cancer directly, in an attempt to eradicate the malignant cells of the body, or as palliative treatment in order to improve the quality of life for patients and prolong the expectancy life.

Mesothelioma has a short life expectancy after diagnosis, with an average of eighteen months. Mesothelioma is caused by toxic chemicals that asbestos fibers, if inhaled, he began to develop cancer of the lining of the lungs and the lining of the abdominal cavity of others.

Professor Walter Berger, Ph.D., Institute of Cancer Research at the Medical University of Vienna, said that the rare cancer mesothelioma on: "Malignant mesothelioma is a serious malignancy characterized by a very poor prognosis, with an average time of patients survived less than a year This unacceptable situation is mainly caused by delayed diagnosis associated with resistance to all the distinct forms of systemic therapy available to date Mesothelioma is often caused by exposure to asbestos, and unfortunately, -.. on the basis of the long latency period - the peak incidence is found, despite the ban of asbestos still in progress so, new therapeutic options for this disease are urgently needed devastated "..

The results and conclusions of the Austrian study were published in the May issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology. Berger's study: "In our preclinical study, published in the BCT, we were able to demonstrate that inhibition of mTOR is the major active against oncogenic human mesothelioma, especially after the development of resistance to chemotherapy in vitro and in vivo these. results suggest the early clinical trials of mTOR inhibitors as a new strategy against mesothelioma.