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Cymbalta Side Effects News – 2/21/2012: If you were prescribed Cymbalta and have suffered negative side effects, please contact us today so that we can put you in touch with an attorney to advise you of your legal rights.

Cymbalta Side Effects: Currently, some birth defects cannot be repaired. Incurable birth defects include muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome, some forms of spina bifida, and sickle-cell anemia. For individuals with these birth defects, ongoing treatments help control the effects of the disorder. For example, with every meal, individuals with cystic fibrosis must take a pill that allows them to digest food. This medicine replaces natural digestive enzymes. Without this med­icine people with cystic fibrosis can become malnourished and die. Therefore, this enzyme must be taken throughout these indi­viduals’ lives.

Individuals with sickle-cell anemia also take long-term med­ication. This disease weakens the body, making it especially vul­nerable to infection. This is particularly a problem for young children whose immune systems are not as developed as those of adults. A common cold can quickly turn into a life-threatening case of pneumonia in a young sickle-cell patient. To help prevent what can become a life-threatening infection, children under the age of six with sickle-cell anemia are administered a daily dose of an antibiotic. Many people with the disease also take frequent doses of pain medication. These include over-the-counter med­ications such as aspirin, or stronger prescription medications such as codeine and morphine.

Unfortunately, all medications can cause side effects and health risks. Taking medication on a long-term basis can increase nega­tive effects. Long-term use of antibiotics, for example, can cause damage to helpful bacteria that live in the body and are needed for digestion. Pain medications can cause stomach ulcers and damage the liver and kidneys. Prescription pain medicine can be addictive. However, since ongoing treatments with these and other medications can save life as well as improve its quality, many people with birth defects feel the benefits of these medica­tions outweigh the risks. It is clear that there are many ways to diagnose and treat birth defects. While some birth defects can be diagnosed and treated before a baby is bom, some children with birth defects must wait months or even years before their problem is identified. How­ever, with proper treatment, many of these conditions are cur­able. Even when a cure is impossible, ongoing treatments can make life better for people with birth defects.

Birth defects such as cerebral palsy spina bifida, muscular dys­trophy or missing limbs can affect an individual’s ability to walk. This means that affected individuals may have to depend on others to help them get around, limiting their freedom and in­dependence. In fact, without the assistance of others these indi­viduals may be confined to their beds. Using special equipment such as braces, crutches, and wheelchairs helps these people to overcome their impairment and be more independent.

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Cymbalta Side Effects: Some individuals’ mobility is so limited that the)’- cannot walk even with the help of braces or crutches. Other individuals turn to a wheelchair so their hands are free to do things like house­work, shopping, or cooking. Still others use a wheelchair in pub­lic places such as college campuses, museums, airports, sports arenas, and shopping malls. Because of their size, these places can be difficult for people with limited mobility to get around in without the help of a wheelchair. Assistance dogs are specially trained dogs that help peo­ple with a variety of birth defects face the challenges of daily living. An article on the Special Child Web site ex­plains what these dogs do: “An ‘assistance dog’ is any dog who helps a person with a physical, cognitive, or seizure related disability or illness, including, but not limited to blindness, deafness, cerebral palsy, or epilepsy.”

Service dogs are trained to help people with physical disabilities. These dogs pull wheelchairs, help people up when they have fallen, carry items in their mouths, re­trieve items, press elevator buttons, open and close doors, turn light switches on and off, help people get dressed, and bark for help when it is needed. Some service dogs also are trained to alert a partner who is about to have a seizure. According to the Special Child Web site, “These dogs can actually predict when the person is going to have a seizure by smelling changes in the body chemistry.”

Participating in a physical therapy program is another way indi­viduals improve their mobility and reach the maximum level of their physical potential. Depending on the person and his or her disability, this may range from gaming the skills to get in and out of a wheelchair to developing the ability to walk, climb stairs, or even run without special equipment. Specially trained health care professionals, known as physical therapists, help disabled individuals achieve their goals. They do this through the use of individually customized exercises that concentrate on stretching and strengthening leg muscles. As a re­sult, the person’s balance, flexibility, muscle control, and endurance all improve.

Physical therapy sessions are usually held at least twice a week for thirty minutes per session. They take place in physical ther­apy centers that resemble a gym with weight-training machines, pulleys, exercise bicycles, and massage tables. There individuals go through their personal exercises under the supervision of physical therapists. When clients cannot move their muscles on their own, the physical therapists move and manipulate the mus­cles for them. Physical therapists also provide their clients with exercise rou­tines to do at home. The combination of physical therapy sessions and home exercises can take up a large part of a person’s life.

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Cymbalta Side Effects: In addition to improving mobility, physical therapy helps indi­viduals with cystic fibrosis and other lung impairments improve their ability to breathe. This makes it easier for them to perform daily activities and be active. In a process known as chest physical therapy or chest percus­sion, an individual lies in various positions on his or her back and chest The physical therapist gently thumps the person’s back or chest with cupped hands. This loosens and dislodges mucus in the airways, which is coughed up, allowing the indi­vidual to breathe more easily. Chest physical therapy is done anywhere from one to four times a day depending on the patient’s needs. Because of its frequency, physical therapists often visit clients at home at a convenient time that does not disrupt their patients’ school or work schedule. Sometimes a family member is trained to perform the procedure.

People with cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, or Down syn­drome can have difficulty using their hands and fingers. Among other things, dressing, grooming, eating, writing, turning the pages of a book, and cooking can present challenges for these in­dividuals and for people with missing limbs. Participating in oc­cupational therapy helps them meet these challenges. Occupational therapy is similar to physical therapy, but it con­centrates on developing small muscles in the hands, as well as improving eye-hand coordination. Through a variety of activities that simulate real-life tasks, an occupational therapist helps peo­ple to develop and control weak muscles and to use strong mus­cles in place of or to assist weaker ones.

Some birth defects affect the ability to communicate. Individuals with hearing loss face challenges in learning language and com­municating with others. Because it is difficult for them to express their wants and needs and to interact with others, they often be­come isolated. Learning is also hard for these individuals. For example, hearing children learn how to speak by listening to oth­ers. But with deaf children this is not possible. One way some people with hearing loss cope is by using a hearing aid, which can help some, but not all, deaf people.

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Cymbalta Side Effects: Sign language gives people who have difficulty speaking another way to communicate. Commonly used by the deaf, it is also an im­portant tool for people with cerebral palsy and Down syndrome who may not be able to speak well. Sign language is a visible lan­guage in which speakers make specific signs with their fingers and hands to communicate words and sentences. Deaf children whose parents are also deaf learn sign language in the same way hearing children learn oral language—by imitating their parents. Other children are often taught sign language by a speech therapist.

Sign language allows individuals who cannot express them­selves clearly to be understood and provides a means for hear­ing people to communicate with nonhearing individuals. This reduces feelings of isolation and frustration caused by the in­ability to communicate with others. According to members of DEAF.com, a group that represents deaf people, “Deaf people in the United States and Canada have found that ASL [American Sign Language] affords them an immediate means of communi­cation and a source of enrichment and freedom. A means of lib­eration, if you will.”

New technology also helps people communicate without speak­ing. Computers with special software can change typed words to spoken words with the use of a synthesizer. Some have a head pointer that lets people with severe motor impairments type on the computer keyboard without the using their hands. Most head pointers look like helmets with a long pointer attached. In­dividuals type by moving the pointer along the keyboard with their heads.

For many people with birth defects, exercising in water is an important part of their lives. Exercising in water is ther­apeutic. It improves an individual’s breathing, circulation, balance, muscle strength, and flexibility. And since the buoyancy of water supports a person and minimizes the effects of gravity, it provides people who ordinarily cannot move easily on land with a sense of freedom. As a result, many people with muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, and spina bifida frequently attend special swimming and water exercise classes for people with disabilities.

Participating in mild exercise also strengthens the body and fights fatigue. When people exercise, their bodies release endorphins, natural chemicals that give exercisers a sense of relaxation and wellness. Such feelings help combat fatigue. Exercise also strengthens muscles and joints, which makes tackling any activity easier. In addition, exercise helps individu­als with fetal alcohol syndrome, who are often hyperactive, re­lease nervous energy and gain control over their behavior. Swimming, yoga, and horseback riding are some of the most popular forms of exercise that people with disabilities participate in. Chad, a twenty-six-year-old with muscular dystrophy and an avid swimmer, attributes his strength and energy to swimming.

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Cymbalta Side Effects: In addition, many disabled students are assigned a one-on-one educational aide to whom they can dictate their work. The aide also helps the students move from class to class and take notes, among other things. Ian, a young man with motor impairments, says: “I had the same assistant all through high school. She took notes, transcribed whatever I would dictate to her, organized my books. . . . All in all, it’s way better than if I tried to do it on my own. We were like a well oiled machine.”

Sometimes people with birth defects feel isolated and different from nondisabled people who do not fully understand the chal­lenges they face. Becoming acquainted with people who face similar challenges allows individuals with birth defects to share their feelings, experiences, and problems. Joining a support group is one way to do this. There are support groups for every kind of birth defect. In these groups members share information and encouragement with each other. In so doing they feel less isolated and are able to work toward solutions to problems that people without their particular birth defect do not face.

Special summer camps allow children and teens with birth de­fects to gather with other young people who share their disabil­ity. These summer camps give young people with a specific disorder the opportunity to have fun and interact with others like themselves in a safe environment. Supervised by specially trained counselors and health care professionals, campers participate in physical activities, share experiences, and attend educational ses­sions in which they learn more about their disorder. The experi­ences campers have help them to feel more independent and self-confident. This helps them to better cope with the challenges they face in their daily lives. It is clear that people with birth defects face many challenges. By taking steps to meet these challenges, individuals with birth defects are able to reach their goals and lead happy, productive lives. That is exactly what Jimmy, a fifteen-year-old honor stu­dent with spina bifida, is doing. His mother says: “He touches the lives of almost everyone he knows because of his brave determi­nation to meet the challenges of everyday life. … He realized early in life that things may be difficult, but that life is good and worth the fight, that he controls his quality of life. He has set many goals for himself, many of which he has already achieved. I know he will reach them all!”

Undergoing genetic counseling is one step that helps prevent birth defects. Genetic counseling allows a couple to learn whether one or both of them carry the gene for a particular birth defect and, therefore, whether their child will carry the gene or actu­ally have the defect. Genetic counseling is especially important for people at high risk of having a child with a birth defect. This group includes individuals with a family history of an inherited disorder, those from certain ethnic groups, parents with a birth defect, as well as those who already have a child with a birth defect.

Our use of the term or terms Cymbalta Side Effects is for descriptive purposes only. There is no relationship between the owners of this website and the maker of the product discussed in this post. Our use of the words Recall, Class Action Lawsuit and other similar words related to an event do not necessarily mean that this event has occurred. Refer to the website of the United States Food and Drug Administration for information on drug or medical device recalls. If a Class Action Lawsuit is formed in relation to the product discussed in this post we will provide that information at the time the Class Action is formed. A Class Action Lawsuit is not required to exist for you to file a lawsuit if you have been injured by the product discussed in this post.

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Cymbalta Side Effects

Tysabri Attorneys News – 2/22/2012: If you were prescribed Tysabri and have suffered negative side effects, please contact us today so that we can put you in touch with an attorney to advise you of your legal rights.

Tysabri Attorneys: The synapse is the transistor of the brain, the fundamental switch con­necting neurons into circuits that allows us to think and feel, remember and hope. But is this the only way information flows through our brain? If there were another way for information to flow through our brain, sticking wires into glia the way neuroscientists plug their elec­tronic amplifiers into neurons was not going to reveal it. Glia do not communicate with electrical impulses. A far more refined method had to be invented to detect glial communication. As with the sophisticated advance of a CD read by laser beam surpassing the primitive vinyl re­cord probed with a needle, the secrets of glia were literally illuminated with beams of light.

Rapid technological advances in the 1980s driven by the explosive growth of the video game market were the key to the scientific revolu­tion of calcium imaging. The electronic toy market fueled development and production of new and affordable home computers with improved color graphics for displaying video games. A new class of anatomists tinkered with this new technology, grafting it onto their microscopes to build a new instrument: the video microscope. Attached to computers, their microscopes now harnessed the new power of image processing, which surpassed the antique methods of staining tissue with colored dyes to reveal cellular structure. For the first time, video microscopy permitted scientists to see structure in unstained living cells and even ‘watch the flow of ions engaged in physiological processes moving inside living cells, exposing the other brain to science.

A dazzling variety of sensors on the surface of cells constantly mon­itor their chemical environment. When a specialized receptor detects the specific chemical that it was designed to sense, it signals a cell-wide alert by opening up a pore in the cell membrane to allow calcium ions to flood briefly into the cell. This calcium signal is the equivalent of “The British are coming!” alerting all parts of the cell to the event this molecular sentinel had been watching for and marshaling the appropriate cellular response. By soaking cells in a dye that fluoresces with an eerie green glow in the presence of calcium, Stephen Smith and others enthu­siastically exploited this new method to explore how stimuli of all kinds trigger calcium signals inside living cells.

Our cells use calcium as a signal because all cells in our body live in a virtual sea of calcium, The situation inside cells is quite different; cel­lular membrane pumps, much like those holding back the sea in a levee system, constantly pump calcium out, so that there is 10 million times less calcium inside our cells than outside. This sets up the perfect condi­tion for calcium ions to function as potent messengers inside the cell. Some of the calcium is also pumped into cytoplasmic storage tanks called the endoplasmic reticulum. This pumping activity not only helps clear residual calcium ions from the cytoplasm, it provides a reservoir that can release a powerful flood of calcium to activate processes down­stream that will initiate the cell’s response.

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Tysabri Attorneys: Calcium is the main currency of information inside all cells, coordi­nating cellular responses to the ever-changing conditions in their envi­ronment. Neurons also rely on this intracellular currency of information. Specialized ion channels in the cell membrane of neurons sense the volt­age change produced when an electrical impulse fires down its axon. These protein channels snap open briefly in response to electrical im­pulses, allowing a spurt of calcium ions into the neuron. By monitoring these wakes of calcium rippling through the cytoplasm from electrical events at the surface, cellular operations deep within the cell constantly monitor electrical events outside. Using the new calcium imaging meth­ods, scientists could now literally see neurons fire.

The revolution in live cell calcium imaging had such an impact be­cause it opened a new window for scientists to monitor living cells at work in real time. Dyes that fluoresce when they bind calcium ions ex­posed cellular messages that were previously carried out in secret. No longer were anatomists in search of clues to the cell’s function in life limited to a forensic analysis of dead tissue pickled with preservatives and stained to reveal their dead structure. Now scientists could study the inner workings of living cells at work by watching them through these new video microscopes.

This new breed of anatomists was distinguished not only by their revolutionary imaging tools, but also by temperament. Traditional anat­omists, working at the slow methodical pace of a museum curator care­fully examining and comparing minute structural differences among collections of specimens, gave way to the quick-thinking reflexes of the electrophysiologist, collecting and analyzing data on the fly from living cells. Using all their wits, these new anatomists/physiologists had to make critical observations rapidly and form quick judgments, before the cell died. These were scientific explorers daring enough to follow an inspiration in an instant and improvise a new experiment based on what they were seeing. Much like electrophysiologists, but more so because their imaging techniques were entirely new, these new anatomists had to quickly distinguish the important and true from the trivial and false responses as they confronted things never before seen, and had to debug and fix technical difficulties and equipment failures rapidly and inge­niously while the cell remained alive, theirs feverishly to explore. This was not a pursuit for those favoring an eight-to-five job, as often the complicated orchestration of instrumentation and preparation of living biological samples did not come together until after everyone else in the building had gone home for the evening. Once this synthesis ignited, these scientists worked in a frenzy, milking every drop of data possible from the last hours of their captive cell’s life.

Initially all the attention of neuroscientists was focused on watching the calcium signals flash inside neurons, but some researchers realized that if astrocytes could in some way sense neural signals, this might be revealed by a rise in calcium in the glial cytoplasm. If there was indeed another brain, this new method, a product of mixing video games with microscopes, might reveal it.

How these glial cells were detecting the neurotransmitter was soon discovered. Researchers found that, remarkably, astrocytes have on their cell membrane the identical receptor proteins to detect neurotransmit­ters that neurons have on their dendrites. In neurons these neurotrans­mitter receptors are designed to detect the neurotransmitter sent across the synapse. Why were the same receptors on astrocytes? When these receptors on the astrocytes sensed the droplet of glutamate that Smith had placed in the dish, they snapped open, allowing a spurt of calcium ions to flood inside. This in turn lighted up the fluorescent calcium tracer for the anatomists to see. It is important to remember, however, that this glial response had been triggered artificially using an admit­tedly crude delivery method. Whether astrocytes could indeed respond to neurotransmitter released when neurons communicate across syn­apses naturally was yet to be determined. Nevertheless, it was now clear that in principle astrocytes could do so. Glia were equipped with the machinery to intercept communications sent between neurons at syn­apses and could in turn spread the information throughout glial circuits.

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Tysabri Attorneys: Information revealed by calcium signals might be passing through the brain in an entirely different manner from the electrical signaling assumed to be the only way our brain operated. What’s more, this infor­mation could flow through cells that were not neurons—namely astro­cytes—cells that lacked all the special features of neurons, such as axons, dendrites, and synapses, upon which our entire concept of brain func­tion rested. For the first time, scientists could see with their own eyes that there was another brain. But how did it work?

The most likely possibility was that astrocytes passed calcium mes­sages between cells through protein channels joining adjacent cells. Such intercellular channels, called gap junctions, are well documented in astrocytes. Like docking points between two spacecraft, gap junctions permit the exchange of potassium ions and small molecules. In a simple but elegant experiment, Stan Kater and colleagues, pioneers in calcium imaging at Colorado State University, reasoned that if the astrocytes were physically separated from one another, a calcium wave sparked in one astrocyte could not propagate to its remote and isolated neighbors.

To test the idea, they simply scratched off a line of astrocytes from the bottom of the culture dish, forming a cellular firebreak that would block a wave of calcium if it was being passed directly from cell to cell. The result could not be more definitive: the calcium wave spread through the cells on one side of the barrier and then jumped across the cell-free “firebreak” without the slightest difficulty. This was proof that in addi­tion to being able to pass messages between astrocytes through protein channels linking adjacent cells, astrocytes communicated with one an­other by broadcasting some unknown signal through the culture me­dium that triggered a calcium wave in distant cells in a chain reaction. Like neurons, which communicate across synapses by sending chemi­cal messages (via neurotransmitters), astrocytes communicated with one another by sending some type of signaling molecule through the space between cells. Neurons and glia were sharing the same communi­cation channels. However, neurons communicate through synaptic con­nections in linear circuits like telephones, but astrocytes communicate by broadcasting signals widely like cell phones. Nowhere in any theo­retical model of brain function had this type of communication been considered.

Muscles contract in response to electrical commands sent down motor neuron axons to a synapse on the muscle called the neuromuscu­lar junction. When the axon fires, the neurotransmitter chemical acetyl­choline is released from synaptic vesicles in the nerve ending. The acetylcholine stimulates neurotransmitter receptors on the muscle fiber, causing the muscle to contract. Communication at the neuromuscular junction is identical in every way to communication at any other syn­apse between two neurons in your brain. Just as a postsynaptic neuron fires an impulse upon receiving a synaptic signal, so does a muscle fiber. Til is electrical energy spreads over the entire muscle cell, causing it to contract.

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Tysabri Attorneys: A neurobiologist at the University of Montreal, devised a plan to plant a false message in these terminal Schwann cells, and then he watched to see if this false information altered communi­cation between the neuron and muscle. He used a very slender glass pipette to inject selected chemical agents into the Schwann cells sur­rounding the synapse. These chemical agents were known to be used as messengers by cells in relaying information from cell surface receptors to the inside of the cell. He tried injecting not only puffs of calcium, but also other small messenger molecules used by cells in intracellular communication. Neither the nerve fiber nor the muscle would receive injections of these chemical signals; only the terminal Schwann cells received the message.

To seek answers to these revolutionary questions, scientists needed to learn far more about glia, these nonneuronal cells that constitute the other brain. In increasing numbers, neuroscientists are beginning to expand their investigations beyond neurons to examine more closely what astrocytes, Schwann cells, oligodendrocytes, and microglia do in the nervous system in their usual role as “support cells” Consciousness is beginning to be raised: glial “support” for neurons could in principle extend into neuronal dependence on glia, or even neuronal control by the other brain. Glia were understood to operate during a pathology of the nervous system, but might those same glial functions apply in cer­tain contexts in the normal physiology of brain function? The actions of glia in brain health and disease have enormous practical importance, but beyond that, investigating and understanding glial operations dur­ing disease may yield clues about what glia do in the healthy brain.

Two types of glia, microglia and astrocytes, act together as sentinels watching for bacteria and viruses infecting the brain. When disease- causing agents are detected, these glia form the cellular army that mobi­lizes to fight the invading microbes. They seek out and devour pathogens and release toxic chemicals to rid the brain of disease-causing agents. This vigilant cellular combat is essential for our brains normal func­tion and survival, but more recent studies of microglia are turning up many unexpected roles for these odd brain cells. For example, chronic pain often lingers long after nerve injury has healed, and it is particu­larly difficult to treat. Now it is becoming clear that many drug thera­pies are ineffective in treating chronic pain because scientists failed to appreciate the role of glia in pain and in drug addiction. Neuronal painkillers address only part of the problem: they overlook the other brain.

The exciting potential for stem cells in treating a wide range of neu­rological illnesses, from Parkinsons to paralysis, is widely appreciated, and here too glia are at center stage. Mature neurons cannot divide, and when they become damaged by injury or disease, as a rule they cannot be replaced. By contrast, glia respond to brain injury by dividing and migrating to the site of damage. There they repair the injury, defend against disease, nurse the neurons back to health, and guide the re ­growth of damaged nerve fibers to restore proper communication be­tween neurons and between neurons and muscles. But new research is revealing that immature glial cells can act like stem cells and mature astrocytes can stimulate stem cells dormant in the adult brain to form replacement neurons and glia. The promise of embryonic stem cell research in relieving human suffering from brain disease cannot be un­derestimated, but ethical issues make it controversial.

Our use of the term or terms Tysabri Attorneys is for descriptive purposes only. There is no relationship between the owners of this website and the maker of the product discussed in this post. Our use of the words Recall, Class Action Lawsuit and other similar words related to an event do not necessarily mean that this event has occurred. Refer to the website of the United States Food and Drug Administration for information on drug or medical device recalls. If a Class Action Lawsuit is formed in relation to the product discussed in this post we will provide that information at the time the Class Action is formed. A Class Action Lawsuit is not required to exist for you to file a lawsuit if you have been injured by the product discussed in this post.

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A Zoloft lawsuit has been filed against drug maker Pfizer by a group of parents who claim the antidepressant caused their children to be born with severe birth defects, including heart damage.

According to the Madison Record, six couples filed Zoloft lawsuits on December 2, 2011 and allege that, despite the medical studies published on the dangers of drugs similar to Zoloft in pregnant women, the mothers were all prescribed the antidepressant drug during their pregnancies. thedangerous drug lawsuits claim that Pfizer was aware of the possible risks Zoloft posed, and that the company did not properly design or test their antidepressant.

The Zoloft lawsuits also claims that the drug did not have proper labeling to warn consumers about the possibility of birth defects associated with its use in pregnant women, and that Pfizer violated Consumer Protection Laws.

The drug maker is being charged with breach of implied warranties, fraud, misrepresentation and negligence.

If you or a loved one has been harmed by Zoloft or another dangerous drug, contact Sokolove Law for a free legal consultation and to learn about your options.

Zoloft Lawsuit

In honor of National Mesothelioma Awareness Day, we’re launching a three-part blog series highlighting the newest scientific research regarding mesothelioma. New science has emerged in the last two years that may have significant implications for the future treatment ofmalignant mesothelioma. In this series, we will look at three important scientific breakthroughs that have the largest potential to affect the future of mesothelioma treatment.

In early 2010, results of a study were published in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine that proved the safety of a possible vaccine for mesothelioma.

In late 2010, Dr. Rachel Ostroff, the clinical research director of Somalogic Inc., presented results of an ongoing study at the Fourth AACR International Conference on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development about new biomarkers she discovered for mesothelioma that would impact early diagnosis and provide insight into new therapies for the disease.

Just last month, NIH-funded research discovered a genetic link to mesothelioma.

History of Mesothelioma and Asbestos Exposure

As far back as the early 1900’s, cases of mesothelioma and lung cancerhave been linked to asbestos exposure. It wasn’t until 1970 with the United States Clean Air Act that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was permitted to start regulating asbestos as a hazardous pollutant. With asbestos being more and more regulated in the United States over the past forty years, the rate of new mesothelioma diagnosesin the U.S. each year has risen steadily in men and sporadically in woman.

Currently in the United States, there are an estimated 2000 to 3000 new cases of mesothelioma diagnosed each year. The increase in incidence may be the result of lag time between asbestos exposure and diagnosis, which can be up to 50 years. For this reason, the number of new mesothelioma diagnoses is expected to continue to rise through the year 2020.

New Science – Mesothelioma Vaccine

The continued increase in the rate of mesothelioma diagnosis and the current lack of treatment options is what inspired researchers at the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands to study new therapies. Immunotherapy, which stimulates the immune system to target and destroy cancer cells, had previously shown promise. Based on this previous research, Dr. Joachim G Aerts, a pulmonary physician at Erasmus Medical Center, set out to create a vaccine for mesothelioma. The vaccine, which uses a patient’s own dendritic cells (DC) with antigen from the patient’s tumor, was able to induce a T-cell response against mesothelioma tumors.

In other words, three out of ten patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma of the epithelial subtype showed signs of tumor regression and four others showed evidence of cytotoxicity against their own tumors after vaccination. There is much more work to be done before results can be irrefutably attributed to the vaccine and side effects can be minimized, but the study showed real promise.

Dr. Aerts says of the study: “We hope that by further development of our method it will be possible to increase survival in patients with mesothelioma and eventually vaccinate persons who have been in contact with asbestos to prevent them from getting asbestos related diseases.”

In the next post of this series, we’ll look at mesothelioma biomarkers and the implications they have for possible future treatments

Mesothelioma

The University of Hawai’i Cancer Center has received a generous gift of more than $3 million to continue its important research regarding the causes of mesothelioma as well as potential cure for the disease.

An anonymous donor has given a $3.58 million donation to the Hawaii cancer center to help aid the mesothelioma research work of its director, Dr. Michele Carbone, and her colleagues.

“Mesothelioma is a serious public health problem,” said Dr. Virginia Hinshaw, Chancellor of UH Mānoa. “We’re proud that Dr. Carbone’s team is leading the world in this area of discovery. This gift validates their efforts and will help them remain at the forefront of thoracic oncology research.”

The gift is the second largest one ever given to the UH Cancer Center. Dr. Carbone’s and researchers at the center recently released new findings relating to the presence of erionite – a material that causes mesothelioma – in rock materials that are used to pave roads in North Dakota.

The center has also conducted studies in Capadoccia, Turkey, a region where nearly 50 percent of the residents die of mesothelioma. There are currently plans for Dr. Carbone and collaborators to conduct a clinical trial co-sponsored by the Early Detection Research Network of the U.S. National Cancer Institute and the Turkish Ministry of Health to validate serum biomarkers they discovered for the early detection of mesothelioma.

“Private support is essential to solidify the UH Cancer Center’s role as the world leader in mesothelioma research,” said UH System President MRC Greenwood. “We look forward to furthering our work with donors to help the UH Cancer Center fulfill its vast potential as a transformative research enterprise for our state.”

Mesothelioma and asbestosis are both deadly illnesses that are caused primarily by prolonged exposure to asbestos fibers. If you were exposed to asbestos while working for a company and have since developed one of these illnesses, it may be worth pursuing amesothelioma lawsuit that could potentially result in a substantialasbestos settlement. If you think that a mesothelioma attorney could help prove your illness was caused by a specific entity’s negligence, please contact Sokolove Law for a free legal consultation.

Mesothelioma

A midwife in New Hampshire who has been involved in a birth injury lawsuit agreed to settle and give $730,000 to the family of a child who suffered a birth injury during a birth she was involved in.

According to the Concord Monitor, Jeanne Browne settled a lawsuit and agreed to pay the settlement to Sarah and Jonathan Sadowski, two Concord parents who brought the lawsuit against her following the birth of their daughter Emily in January 2009. Browne earlier surrendered her license to practice as a midwife.

In their lawsuit, the Sadowskis alleged that Browne – the founder of the Concord Birth and Wellness Center – did not properly manage their child’s birth and ignored several warning signs that Sarah experienced. Despite these risks, Browne did not bring in an obstetrician, or send Sarah to a hospital during the birth once she could not find the baby’s heartbeat.

Even after the birth when the child still had no heartbeat, Browne ignored Jonathan’s requests to quickly call an ambulance.

As a result, the Sadowski’s daughter was born with a severe brain injury. When the family brought a lawsuit against Browne, she voluntarily surrendered her license amid an investigation by the state Midwifery Council regarding the Sadowski’s case as well as others in which complaints were levied.

If you or a loved one have a child who suffered a birth injury due to a doctor or midwife’s error and now must pay for mounting medical bills and treatments, there may be legal action worth taking to pursue a birth injury settlement. Speak to a birth injury attorney at Sokolove Law today for a free consultation and to learn more about your legal options regarding a potential lawsuit.

Birth Injury

The family of a deceased Jackson County Courthouse employee recently settled the woman’s Missouri asbestos lawsuit for $10 million, the largest asbestos settlement in the state’s history.

Nancy Lopez filed the asbestos lawsuit against the U.S. Engineering Co. for failing to take proper precautions to protect courthouse worker while handling asbestos, writes the Associated Press. For 27 years, Lopez had worked at the courthouse in Kansas City. Her complaint claimed she developed mesothelioma cancer from her asbestos exposure at the courthouse.

Lopez died from the disease in October 2010. The asbestos lawsuit settlement was awarded to her family late last month.

If you or a loved one were exposed to asbestos and later diagnosed with mesothelioma, call an asbestos attorney at Sokolove Law today for a free consultation.

Asbestos