Asbestos-related lung cancer: Clinical characteristics and survival outcomes in an Australian cohort seeking workers compensation.

Background And Objectives: Due to difficulties in identifying sufficient-sized cohorts there remains uncertainty about prognostic and clinical differences that may be unique to asbestos-related lung cancer (ARLC). In this study, we use the Helsinki Criteria to define a group of ex-workers with lung cancer attributable to asbestos exposure and investigate differences that may exist.

Methods: A total of 529 patients seeking workers' compensation for their lung cancer were assigned to either ARLC or the non-ARLC based on parameters defined in the Helsinki Criteria.

Effect of Trimetazidine Dihydrochloride Therapy on Exercise Capacity in Patients With Nonobstructive Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy causes limiting symptoms in patients, mediated partly through inefficient myocardial energy use. There is conflicting evidence for therapy with inhibitors of myocardial fatty acid metabolism in patients with nonobstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Objective: To determine the effect of oral therapy with trimetazidine, a direct inhibitor of fatty acid β-oxidation, on exercise capacity in patients with symptomatic nonobstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Prediction modelling using routine clinical parameters to stratify survival in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma patients undergoing cytoreductive surgery.

Introduction: Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an uncommon cancer with a poor prognosis and heterogeneous survival. Surgery for MPM is offered in some specialist centers to highly selected patients. A previously described classification and regression tree (CART) model stratified survival in unselected MPM patients using routinely collected clinical data.

Fibulin-3 levels in malignant pleural mesothelioma are associated with prognosis but not diagnosis.

Background: Fibulin-3 (FBLN3) was recently presented as a promising novel biomarker for malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), warranting independent validation studies.

Methods: ELISA was used to measure cellular and secreted FBLN3 in cell lines, in plasma of xenograft tumour-bearing mice, in plasma from two independent series of MPM and non-MPM patients and in pleural fluid from a third series. Diagnostic and prognostic potential of FBLN3 was assessed by receiver operating characteristics curve analysis and Kaplan-Meier method, respectively.

Asbestos exposure during home renovation in New South Wales.

Objective: Asbestos exposure is causally associated with the development of malignant mesothelioma (MM), which is increasingly being reported after exposure to asbestos fibro sheeting in Australia. In this study, we investigate self-reported non-occupational asbestos exposure during home renovation in New South Wales.

Design And Setting: Cross-sectional mailed questionnaire examining renovation activity, tasks undertaken during renovation and self-reported exposure to asbestos among respondents and their family members in NSW between January and June 2008.

Occupational exposure to asbestos in New South Wales, Australia (1970-1989): development of an asbestos task exposure matrix.

Objectives: To design and construct a standardised tool to provide exposure information associated with commonly used asbestos products and their related tasks in New South Wales (NSW), Australia.

Methods: Asbestos dust exposure measurements taken during workplace inspections in the 1970s and 1980s were collected and stored in an exposure database. Measurements were assigned to specific asbestos product and task groups and divided into two sampling periods 1970-1979 and 1980-1989.

Asbestos-related occupational lung diseases in NSW, Australia and potential exposure of the general population.

Asbestos is a fibrous silicate which is recognized as causing a variety of lung disorders including malignant mesothelioma of the pleura, lung cancer and asbestosis. Asbestos use has been banned in most developed countries but exposure still occurs under strict regulation in occupational settings and also occasionally in domestic settings. Although the hazards of asbestos are well known in developed countries, awareness of its adverse health effects is less in other parts of the world, particularly when exposure occurs in non-occupational settings.

Incidence trends and gender differences in malignant mesothelioma in New South Wales, Australia.

Objectives: Features of malignant mesothelioma reportedly differ between men and women, including occupational asbestos exposure, histological subtype, and median survival. In this study, incidence trends and clinical features for malignant mesothelioma were compared between genders in New South Wales (NSW), where notification of malignant mesothelioma to the Central Cancer Registry is a statutory requirement.

Methods: Notifications to the Central Cancer Registry were compared with those to the registry of the NSW Workers' Compensation (Dust Diseases) Board.