Tag: Disease awareness

From bench to bedside and back again in mesothelioma

On Mesothelioma Awareness Day, Dr Anca Nastase provides an insight into mesothelioma and how research advances offer new hope for improved treatment.

Mesothelioma Awareness Day represents a great opportunity to gain more information about the disease biology, risk factors or symptoms from everyone in the mesothelioma community. Raising awareness is essential as it has the potential to improve prevention and early diagnosis and can translate into better outcomes and better survival for the patients.

My aim as a scientist within the National Centre for Mesothelioma Research (NCMR) is to deepen the molecular research in mesothelioma and to advance our understanding of the mechanisms responsible for the onset and progression of this disease.

Although progress has been made in the field, further understanding of the pathophysiology is still desperately needed.

Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that arises and develops in the thin layer that covers the human internal organs, called mesothelium.

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The Asbestos Story: a tale of public health and politics

The Asbestos Story: a tale of public health and politicsAn eye-opening account by Professor Sir Tony Newman Taylor on how asbestos has gone from ‘magic mineral’ to deadly dust that can cause mesothelioma.

Public awareness of the hazards of asbestos can be dated to the period immediately following the death of Nellie Kershaw aged 33 in 1924.  She had worked during the previous seven years in a textile factory spinning asbestos fibre into yarn. She died of severe fibrosis of the lungs. The pathologist, William Cooke, who found retained asbestos fibres in the lungs, called the cause of death asbestosis.  Nellie Kershaw was not the first case to be reported of lung fibrosis caused by asbestos. Montague Murray in 1899 had reported the case of a 33-year-old man who had worked for 14 years in an asbestos textile factory. He had died of fibrosis of the lungs which Montague Murray, also finding asbestos in the lungs, had attributed to inhaled asbestos fibres.  The patient had told Murray he was the only survivor from ten others who had worked in his workshop. (more…)

Think peach: the true symbol of breast cancer awareness

Breast cancer awareness

Breast cancer researcher, Dr Luca Magnani, looks beyond the pink ribbon campaign to find the true symbol of breast cancer awareness.

It’s that time of year once again: Instagram and Twitter will adopt a light shade of pink, companies will adorn their products with the ubiquitous pink ribbon, all to remind us of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. To a breast cancer scientist such as myself, October always brings out ambiguous emotions. On one side, it serves as a reminder of all the great research and results that we have achieved. Statistics show that things are getting better for many women, as mortality rates have halved in the last 20 years. October also prompts many of us to remember that there is nothing better than prevention when talking about breast cancer. Early screening measures have revolutionised outcomes for women; it’s very likely that almost 50% of the lives that were saved depended on catching the cancer earlier. (more…)