In conjunction with drafting comprehensive legislation concerning compensation for health effects related to asbestos exposure (the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Act), the Senate Committee on the Judiciary directed the Institute of Medicine to assemble the Committee on Asbestos: Selected Health Effects. This committee was charged with addressing whether asbestos exposure is causally related to adverse health consequences in addition to asbestosis, mesothelioma, and lung cancer. Asbestos: Selected Cancers presents the committee's comprehensive distillation of the peer-reviewed scientific and medical literature regarding association between asbestos and colorectal, laryngeal, esophageal, pharyngeal, and stomach cancers.
The Cervical Cancer Inquiry and its report (known as the Cartwright Report) were momentous events in the recent history of New Zealand. Critical issues were at stake: matters of life and death; the life's work of leaders within the medical profession; professional reputations; public trust in the profession, and its own sense of self-worth. After seven months of considering evidence, Judge Silvia Cartwright, assisted by expert medical and legal teams and drawing on specialist opinion from all over the world, concluded that Associate Professor Herbert Green had been conducting unethical research at National Women's Hospital, and that many women had been affected. This book of essays recounts some of this history. Several of the contributors were participants: Clare Matheson writes as one of the patients; Professor Charlotte Paul was a medical adviser to the Inquiry; Sandra Coney (with Phillida Bunkle) wrote the article leading to the Inquiry; Dr Ron Jones was one of the three authors of the 1984 article, using data from Green's own patients, that demonstrated that carcinoma of the cervix had a significant invasive potential. Other authors are specialists in other fields: Professor Alastair Campbell and Associate Professor Joanna Manning comment from the perspective of medical ethics and medical law respectively; Ron Paterson is the Health and Disability Commissioner; Jan Crosthwaite is a philosopher with expertise in medical ethics. These essays not only review the history but also document how the Cartwright Report changed the whole landscape of medical practice and biomedical research in this country, leading to far better protections for both patients and research participants. Yet despite all the regulatory changes, the most significant change to which the Cartwright Report contributed was attitudinal - a rejection of medical paternalism and a new expectation that patients would be treated as partners in their care. The findings of the Report remain controversial and continue to be debated to this day. This book provides a perspective on the current debates and helps place them in context. As Clare Matheson (one of Green's patients) said: 'We must never forget lest it happen again'. Contributors include: Alastair Campbell, Silvia Cartwright, Sandra Coney, Jan Crosthwaite, Ron Jones, Joanna Manning, Clare Matheson, Ron Paterson, Charlotte Paul.
This comprehensive encyclopedic reference provides rapid access to focused information on topics of cancer research for clinicians, research scientists and advanced students. Given the overwhelming success of the first edition, which appeared in 2001, and fast development in the different fields of cancer research, it has been decided to publish a second fully revised and expanded edition. With an A-Z format of over 7,000 entries, more than 1,000 contributing authors provide a complete reference to cancer. The merging of different basic and clinical scientific disciplines towards the common goal of fighting cancer makes such a comprehensive reference source all the more timely.
This report considers the biological and behavioral mechanisms that may underlie the pathogenicity of tobacco smoke. Many Surgeon General's reports have considered research findings on mechanisms in assessing the biological plausibility of associations observed in epidemiologic studies. Mechanisms of disease are important because they may provide plausibility, which is one of the guideline criteria for assessing evidence on causation. This report specifically reviews the evidence on the potential mechanisms by which smoking causes diseases and considers whether a mechanism is likely to be operative in the production of human disease by tobacco smoke. This evidence is relevant to understanding how smoking causes disease, to identifying those who may be particularly susceptible, and to assessing the potential risks of tobacco products.
Although mechanisms involved in the spread of cancer have been the subject of a major research endeavor over the past decade, metastatic tumors still account for significant clinical morbidity and the failure of cancer treatment. Not only are the vascular pathways the most common route for the dissemination of cancer cells, but interactions between the cells and the circulation act as important rate-regulators for the metastatic process. This authoritative, multi-authored volume addresses the importance of microcirculation in cancer metastasis. The book begins with up-to-date reviews on the biology of endothelial cells and the structure and physiology of the normal and tumor microcirculations, and then emphasizes interactions between components of the microcirculation and cancer cells. Metastasis is discussed through chapters exploring the entry of cancer cells into the circulation, the biophysics and morphology of cancer cell traffic and arrest, interactions with host cells and the basement membranes, and angiogenesis. This fascinating book will interest oncologists, pathologists, and students of metastasis or the microcirculation.
In the late 1980s, the National Cancer Institute initiated an investigation of cancer risks in populations near 52 commercial nuclear power plants and 10 Department of Energy nuclear facilities (including research and nuclear weapons production facilities and one reprocessing plant) in the United States. The results of the NCI investigation were used a primary resource for communicating with the public about the cancer risks near the nuclear facilities. However, this study is now over 20 years old. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission requested that the National Academy of Sciences provide an updated assessment of cancer risks in populations near USNRC-licensed nuclear facilities that utilize or process uranium for the production of electricity. Analysis of Cancer Risks in Populations near Nuclear Facilities: Phase 1 focuses on identifying scientifically sound approaches for carrying out an assessment of cancer risks associated with living near a nuclear facility, judgments about the strengths and weaknesses of various statistical power, ability to assess potential confounding factors, possible biases, and required effort. The results from this Phase 1 study will be used to inform the design of cancer risk assessment, which will be carried out in Phase 2. This report is beneficial for the general public, communities near nuclear facilities, stakeholders, healthcare providers, policy makers, state and local officials, community leaders, and the media.
Updated to reflect changes in the field since publication of the first edition in 1979. Provides a detailed review of the methodology available for assessing the diagnosis and prognosis of cancer patients including data on the application of tumor marker assays and other immunodiagnostic procedures
