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Pradaxa Side Effects Process

By admin | Published April 30, 2012

Pradaxa Side Effects: We all talk about it. We check labels for it. We get our blood checked for it. But many of us are not quite sure what cholesterol is—or its connection to disease. Basically, cholesterol is a waxy material that the body manu”factures, and, believe it or not, it’s natural and necessary for many of our functions. But today, there can be too much of a good thing. Not only does the body manufacture cholesterol, but cholesterol also is found in many of the foods we eat, such as steak and eggs. And saturated fats found in such foods as meat, cheese, milk fat, shortening, and even margarine contribute even more to higher blood cholesterol levels than does dietary intake of cholesterol.

Cholesterol is carried in the bloodstream by lipoproteins, a “shopping cart” substance of fat and protein produced by the liver. The lipoprotein that does most of the work is low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. All well and good, but once the body has taken what it needs, the LDL is still floating around, all dressed up with nowhere to go. Eventually, this floating LDL cholesterol settles on the artery walls, clogging passageways or causing clots that could break off and travel to the brain. This is why LDL is called “bad cholesterol.” But LDL does not travel alone.

The risk of high cholesterol comes from the amount of LDL in the bloodstream. Cholesterol has received most of its press from its relationship with heart attacks. Indeed, until recently, cholesterol has not been considered a risk for stroke. But new re”search has shown that lowering cholesterol is important in stroke prevention. A recent study of the new “statin” drugs showed that by lowering LDL cholesterol by 23 percent to 42 percent, the risk of stroke was decreased by 29 percent. In short, cholesterol levels, especially LDL cholesterol, must be watched. The current recommendation is keep your choles”terol below 200MG/DL, and if your LDL is more than 100MG/ DL you should be on a statin medication. High-risk patients with multiple risk factors should try to get their LDL down to 70MG/ DL. And if your levels are high, help decrease the numbers by eating a low-fat diet, taking cholesterol-lowering medication, and exercising regularly. You are never too young to know your cho”lesterol level and to start working on a healthy lifestyle.

Pradaxa Side Effects

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Actos Injury Petitions

By admin | Published April 24, 2012

Actos Injury:A CT scan is a painless, noninvasive test during which low- intensity X-rays are repeatedly passed through the body’s soft tissue at different angles. A computer then processes the X-rays to show a detailed cross section of the tissues and organs—in your case, of the bladder, liver, spleen, abdomi­nal lymph nodes, and surrounding tissues. Sometimes the scanner will be focused on the chest and lungs to see whether cancer has spread there. From the CT scan, your doctor usually can confirm the presence of a tumor in the bladder, and can measure its size and location and determine whether it has spread to other, nearby tissue.

The CT scanner is a large rectangular machine with an opening for an X-ray “tube” that will move around your body, snapping images that the computer will assemble into a set of cross-section scans that can be viewed by the physi­cian. These scans show remarkably clear images of the vari­ous organs. The scanner usually makes a whirring sound as it moves and a click similar to a camera as it snaps images.

Like the IVP, a contrast medium is used to help the radiologist see your bladder and urinary tract. Sometimes the medium is injected into the veins, as in IVP, or it may be swallowed or sometimes administered as an enema to distinguish bowel tissue from the bladder structure. Usu­ally when diagnosing bladder cancer, doctors will want all three—intravenous, oral, and rectal scans—-to determine how deeply tumors may have invaded the bladder tissue and whether there is any spread to the abdominal lymph nodes or liver.

Some people find the taste of the contrast medium unpleasant, and if an enema is required, you are likely to feel a brief, uncomfortable fullness while the scans are being taken. However, because of the speed of the process, the feeling that you need to expel the contrast medium doesn’t last long. You might also feel a brief flush or hot sensation when the contrast medium is injected. An MRI can take anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes. Some MRI machines are closed cylinders; others have wider tunnels and open sides to reduce the claustrophobic feelings that some people experience. If you suffer from claustrophobia—the fear of close or enclosed spaces—you should warn your doc­tor that you might not be comfortable having an MRI scan.

You’ll wear a gown, and as with the CT scan, the radiol­ogy technicians leave the room during the scanning process, but youll be able to communicate with them through an intercom. Sometimes a friend or relative is permitted to sit in the room with you, particularly if you are claustrophobic. If you are claustrophobic, your doctor may give you a gentle sedative to help you to feel comfortable in the machine. Sometimes a contrast medium is used, usually intrave­nous, in which case you might experience a cool sensation. Youll be asked to remain very still for short periods while the images are being taken, usually anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes at a time. Youll be able to move slightly between takes or images.

Actos Injury

Posted in The Mesothelioma | Tagged , |

Actos Injury Petitions

By admin | Published April 23, 2012

Actos Injury:A CT scan is a painless, noninvasive test during which low- intensity X-rays are repeatedly passed through the body’s soft tissue at different angles. A computer then processes the X-rays to show a detailed cross section of the tissues and organs—in your case, of the bladder, liver, spleen, abdomi­nal lymph nodes, and surrounding tissues. Sometimes the scanner will be focused on the chest and lungs to see whether cancer has spread there. From the CT scan, your doctor usually can confirm the presence of a tumor in the bladder, and can measure its size and location and determine whether it has spread to other, nearby tissue.

The CT scanner is a large rectangular machine with an opening for an X-ray “tube” that will move around your body, snapping images that the computer will assemble into a set of cross-section scans that can be viewed by the physi­cian. These scans show remarkably clear images of the vari­ous organs. The scanner usually makes a whirring sound as it moves and a click similar to a camera as it snaps images.

Like the IVP, a contrast medium is used to help the radiologist see your bladder and urinary tract. Sometimes the medium is injected into the veins, as in IVP, or it may be swallowed or sometimes administered as an enema to distinguish bowel tissue from the bladder structure. Usu­ally when diagnosing bladder cancer, doctors will want all three—intravenous, oral, and rectal scans—-to determine how deeply tumors may have invaded the bladder tissue and whether there is any spread to the abdominal lymph nodes or liver.

Some people find the taste of the contrast medium unpleasant, and if an enema is required, you are likely to feel a brief, uncomfortable fullness while the scans are being taken. However, because of the speed of the process, the feeling that you need to expel the contrast medium doesn’t last long. You might also feel a brief flush or hot sensation when the contrast medium is injected. An MRI can take anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes. Some MRI machines are closed cylinders; others have wider tunnels and open sides to reduce the claustrophobic feelings that some people experience. If you suffer from claustrophobia—the fear of close or enclosed spaces—you should warn your doc­tor that you might not be comfortable having an MRI scan.

You’ll wear a gown, and as with the CT scan, the radiol­ogy technicians leave the room during the scanning process, but youll be able to communicate with them through an intercom. Sometimes a friend or relative is permitted to sit in the room with you, particularly if you are claustrophobic. If you are claustrophobic, your doctor may give you a gentle sedative to help you to feel comfortable in the machine. Sometimes a contrast medium is used, usually intrave­nous, in which case you might experience a cool sensation. Youll be asked to remain very still for short periods while the images are being taken, usually anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes at a time. Youll be able to move slightly between takes or images.

Actos Injury

Posted in The Mesothelioma | Tagged , |

New Science Part Two Mesothelioma Biomarkers

By admin | Published April 20, 2012

Because mesothelioma is typically diagnosed at an advanced stage when treatment options are limited, scientists at Somalogic Inc. set out to find ways to detect it at an earlier stage. The goal of early diagnosis is that patients with mesothelioma might be able to enjoy a better quality of life as the fight the illness.

Dr. Rachel Ostroff, a clinical research director of Somalogic Inc. presented her initial results of this ongoing study at the Fourth AACR International Conference on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development. Her results indicated that with the use of aptamer-based proteomics array technology, biomarkers and protein signatures were identified that are characteristic of cancer at an early stage for both mesothelioma and pancreatic cancers.

Aptamer-based proteomics array technology is fairly new in the world of science, developed and refined over the past ten years or so. Aptamers are nucleic acid molecules that bind to certain proteins and were first discovered about 20 years ago. SomaLogic researchers developed a new breed of aptamers called SOMAmers (Slow Off-rate Modified Aptamers), which can be “programmed” for very specific proteins. What this means is that SOMAmers can identify and count specific proteins, or biomarkers, in complex biological samples, thereby identifying potential or inevitable mesothelioma development in people exposed to asbestos.

Ostroff and her colleagues tested blood from study participants – people diagnosed but not yet treated for cancer — to discover the cancer biomarkers. Once discovered, the same technology could be used to spot these cancers at an early stage, where the potential for effective treatment is much higher than in progressed cases.

The goal was met and the researchers found the biomarkers, which they used to make a “signature” biomarker with extreme accuracy for early detection of each form of cancer. As a byproduct of their intended success, they got a little surprise gift: they found high specificity of correct diagnosis, which means the test will be accurate and not lead to disease-free people undergoing unnecessary treatment.

The study is ongoing and validation testing is underway, according to Dr. Ostroff. The research team hopes to have commercially available diagnostic tests that will ultimately yield clinical benefits for patients.

In the next post of this series, we’ll look at a newly discovered genetic link to mesothelioma and what that means for future treatment options.

Mesothelioma

Posted in The Mesothelioma | Tagged , |

Asbestos Trust Funds Scrutinized by Republicans in Congress

By admin | Published April 19, 2012

Imagine a hammock that more and more people keep piling into without anybody getting out. The weight would quickly become too burdensome to bear and, sagging with a tangle of limbs and torsos, the rope would break. That’s what companies whose livelihoods were once asbestosdependent are like. With billions paid in asbestos settlements each year, the financial strain of numerous personal injury lawsuits from employees exposed to asbestos is too much for any corporation to hold.

What’s best for both the injured employees seeking compensation as well as the companies themselves is for the hammock to hold, or at least have a safety net in place. That’s why more and more of those companies have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcies to reorganize their assets and debts as well as put aside money for injured asbestos workers into what are known as asbestos bankruptcy trusts. More and more of these have been established as more and more companies have filed Chapter 11’s over the past two decades.

The only problem with asbestos bankruptcy trusts is that the asbestos workers who are ill from asbestos exposure — whether with asbestosis,mesothelioma, or some other type of asbestos-related cancer — don’t receive what they need and deserve, which is the full value of their settlements. The system was created to make asbestos claims easier to file, often requiring no more than a diagnosis and a form to fill out. Yet, the amount of money that actually makes it to the injured worker is typically less than one third the amount of the settlement, according to a study by the RAND Corporation.

Now, there are around 50 different asbestos bankruptcy trusts paying out billions in asbestos claims each year. However, there are still many solvent companies liable for asbestos exposure injuries. Mesothelioma lawsuits are being filed against these solvent companies as regularly as the spinning of a well-oiled wheel. The companies have lawyers scrambling for ways to limit their liability and avoid taking responsibility for the widespread tragedy of asbestos-related cancer and other illness. To that end, defense lawyers want access to detailed records from asbestos bankruptcy trusts, allowing them to see who is paid how much for what specific illness.

Lately, Republicans in congress are looking at the issue, deciding whether to make changes to these asbestos bankruptcy trusts. As reported by the National Law Journal, asbestos lawyers andmesothelioma attorneys argue that the corporate defense lawyers want this reform only to expose the spokes of that well-oiled wheel so that they can throw in sticks.

There is no telling how soon or in what way Republicans in Congress will act on this issue. Meanwhile, if you have mesothelioma or another asbestos-caused illness, you may have a claim against an existing or future asbestos bankruptcy trust. If you were exposed to multiple asbestos products that were manufactured by different bankrupt companies, you may actually qualify for compensation under several trusts.

Asbestos

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FDA Sued Over Documents in Birth Defects Lawsuit

By admin | Published April 19, 2012

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been hit with a lawsuit alleging it failed to turn over documents regarding the use and distribution of the morning sickness drug thalidomide despite repeated requests by attorneys who have filed a birth injury lawsuitagainst the companies involved with the drug.

Law360 (subscription required) reports the FDA is being sued for allegedly violating the Freedom of Information Act by failing to fulfill requests for records pertaining to a case against GlaxoSmithKline PLC and other drug companies. The underlying birth injury lawsuit alleges GlaxoSmithKline and other defendants withheld evidence proving that the morning sickness drug caused birth defects. The complaint, filed on behalf of 13 people who were born with severe birth defects, also claims thalidomide was distributed to more than 20,000 people by Smith Kline & French (the predecessor GlaxoSmithKline) despite the fact that the drug never received FDA approval.

If you or a loved one have been affected by medical negligence during the birth of a child, you may want to speak to a birth injury attorney about filing a birth injury lawsuit.

Birth Defects

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Rare Birth Defects Connected to Painkillers

By admin | Published April 19, 2012

Women who take certain over-the-counter painkillers during the early stages of pregnancy are more likely to give birth to infants with rare birth defects, a new study suggests.

The study, which has been published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, shows that women who took painkillers such as naproxen (the drug used in Aleve) or aspirin during pregnancy were three times as likely to have children with birth defects such as amniotic band syndrome (a condition that leads to clubfoot) or anaphthalmiaand microphothalmia (conditions where children are born with abnormally small eyeballs, or no eyeballs at all), Reuters reported.

Additionally, the study found that the use of these painkillers early in one’s pregnancy increased the risk of spina bifida by 60 percent, and that the risk of developing a cleft palate increased from 30 to 80 percent.

In the study, interviews were conducted with 15,000 women who had given birth to babies with birth defects and 5,500 women who had given birth to babies without defects. The interviews included questions about any painkillers they ingested during the first stage of their pregnancies.

According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, anophthalmia and microphthalmia occurs in one out of every 5,300 U.S. births. Amniotic band syndrome is even rarer, occurring in approximately one out of every in 10,000 births.

Co-author of the study Martha Werler noted that although the results do not prove that painkillers are the sole cause of these rare birth defects, they are a warning sign. She also recommended that further research be conducted.

If you or someone you know has a child who has been harmed by painkillers, you may be entitled to compensation. Contact Sokolove Law for a free legal consultation.

Birth Defects

Posted in The Mesothelioma | Tagged , |

Actos Injury Petitions

By admin | Published April 17, 2012

Actos Injury:A CT scan is a painless, noninvasive test during which low- intensity X-rays are repeatedly passed through the body’s soft tissue at different angles. A computer then processes the X-rays to show a detailed cross section of the tissues and organs—in your case, of the bladder, liver, spleen, abdomi­nal lymph nodes, and surrounding tissues. Sometimes the scanner will be focused on the chest and lungs to see whether cancer has spread there. From the CT scan, your doctor usually can confirm the presence of a tumor in the bladder, and can measure its size and location and determine whether it has spread to other, nearby tissue.

The CT scanner is a large rectangular machine with an opening for an X-ray “tube” that will move around your body, snapping images that the computer will assemble into a set of cross-section scans that can be viewed by the physi­cian. These scans show remarkably clear images of the vari­ous organs. The scanner usually makes a whirring sound as it moves and a click similar to a camera as it snaps images.

Like the IVP, a contrast medium is used to help the radiologist see your bladder and urinary tract. Sometimes the medium is injected into the veins, as in IVP, or it may be swallowed or sometimes administered as an enema to distinguish bowel tissue from the bladder structure. Usu­ally when diagnosing bladder cancer, doctors will want all three—intravenous, oral, and rectal scans—-to determine how deeply tumors may have invaded the bladder tissue and whether there is any spread to the abdominal lymph nodes or liver.

Some people find the taste of the contrast medium unpleasant, and if an enema is required, you are likely to feel a brief, uncomfortable fullness while the scans are being taken. However, because of the speed of the process, the feeling that you need to expel the contrast medium doesn’t last long. You might also feel a brief flush or hot sensation when the contrast medium is injected. An MRI can take anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes. Some MRI machines are closed cylinders; others have wider tunnels and open sides to reduce the claustrophobic feelings that some people experience. If you suffer from claustrophobia—the fear of close or enclosed spaces—you should warn your doc­tor that you might not be comfortable having an MRI scan.

You’ll wear a gown, and as with the CT scan, the radiol­ogy technicians leave the room during the scanning process, but youll be able to communicate with them through an intercom. Sometimes a friend or relative is permitted to sit in the room with you, particularly if you are claustrophobic. If you are claustrophobic, your doctor may give you a gentle sedative to help you to feel comfortable in the machine. Sometimes a contrast medium is used, usually intrave­nous, in which case you might experience a cool sensation. Youll be asked to remain very still for short periods while the images are being taken, usually anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes at a time. Youll be able to move slightly between takes or images.

Actos Injury

Posted in The Mesothelioma | Tagged , |

New Science Part Three Mesothelioma Genetic Link

By admin | Published April 13, 2012

It’s long been suspected that a person’s genetics play a role in determining susceptibility to the development of mesotheliomafollowing exposure to asbestos fibers. The suspicion caused the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund research that would discover this genetic link. As of August, 2011, the specific gene mutation was not only found, but identified to also trigger other types of cancer.

The culprit is the gene, BAP1. Not a very creative name, is it? Why not name genes after Greek gods and goddesses rather than assigning them boring codes made up of capital letters and numbers? The former would better match the mystical powers genes have to determine so much about a person from appearance to temperament to health and beyond. Anyway, the research showed that people with a mutation on the BAP1 gene are more susceptible to developing both mesothelioma cancer as well as melanoma cancer of the eye.

The upshot is that people who are exposed to asbestos are far more likely to develop mesothelioma if they have this mutation to BAP1. The research was funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and led by scientists at the University of Hawaii Cancer Center in Honolulu, and Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. The study results were published in Nature Genetics and reported the outcome of tests within two U.S. families with a high incidence of mesothelioma and other cancers linked with BAP1 mutations.

The study’s co-leader,Dr. Joseph Testa, notes that “it appears likely that other genes, in addition to BAP1, will be found to be associated with elevated risk of mesothelioma.” In the study, every person in the two families who developed mesothelioma or melanoma of the eye did have mutations of the BAP1 gene. The research team went on to look at 26 additional people diagnosed with mesothelioma but with no family history of the disease and found that 25 percent of them also had the BAP1 mutations.

Dr. Michele Carbone, study co-leader and director of the University of Hawaii Cancer Center, says of the results: “Identifying people at greatest risk for developing mesothelioma, especially those exposed to dangerous levels of asbestos worldwide, is a task made easier by virtue of this discovery.”

This concludes our series on the newest science concerning mesothelioma. These findings are exciting and inspiring of hope that future diagnostic and treatment practices will help people with mesothelioma live longer, healthier lives. Hope is the message we choose to focus on this week following National Mesothelioma Awareness Week.

Mesothelioma

Posted in The Mesothelioma | Tagged , |

New Science Part Two Mesothelioma Biomarkers

By admin | Published April 13, 2012

Because mesothelioma is typically diagnosed at an advanced stage when treatment options are limited, scientists at Somalogic Inc. set out to find ways to detect it at an earlier stage. The goal of early diagnosis is that patients with mesothelioma might be able to enjoy a better quality of life as the fight the illness.

Dr. Rachel Ostroff, a clinical research director of Somalogic Inc. presented her initial results of this ongoing study at the Fourth AACR International Conference on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development. Her results indicated that with the use of aptamer-based proteomics array technology, biomarkers and protein signatures were identified that are characteristic of cancer at an early stage for both mesothelioma and pancreatic cancers.

Aptamer-based proteomics array technology is fairly new in the world of science, developed and refined over the past ten years or so. Aptamers are nucleic acid molecules that bind to certain proteins and were first discovered about 20 years ago. SomaLogic researchers developed a new breed of aptamers called SOMAmers (Slow Off-rate Modified Aptamers), which can be “programmed” for very specific proteins. What this means is that SOMAmers can identify and count specific proteins, or biomarkers, in complex biological samples, thereby identifying potential or inevitable mesothelioma development in people exposed to asbestos.

Ostroff and her colleagues tested blood from study participants – people diagnosed but not yet treated for cancer — to discover the cancer biomarkers. Once discovered, the same technology could be used to spot these cancers at an early stage, where the potential for effective treatment is much higher than in progressed cases.

The goal was met and the researchers found the biomarkers, which they used to make a “signature” biomarker with extreme accuracy for early detection of each form of cancer. As a byproduct of their intended success, they got a little surprise gift: they found high specificity of correct diagnosis, which means the test will be accurate and not lead to disease-free people undergoing unnecessary treatment.

The study is ongoing and validation testing is underway, according to Dr. Ostroff. The research team hopes to have commercially available diagnostic tests that will ultimately yield clinical benefits for patients.

In the next post of this series, we’ll look at a newly discovered genetic link to mesothelioma and what that means for future treatment options.

Mesothelioma

Posted in The Mesothelioma | Tagged , |