Sept 11 responders suffer lung ailments

[Mr.Conley]

Sept 11 responders suffer lung ailments

NEW YORK (Reuters) - About 70 percent of the rescue workers who picked through the toxic debris of the World Trade Center after the September 11 attacks suffered respiratory problems, a study released on Tuesday said.
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The Mount Sinai Medical Center study found police, firefighters and other responders had high rates of lung abnormalities for years after the attacks.

One-third continued to have abnormal lung function, many more than expected, when the study was concluded in 2004, and severe conditions including pneumonia were significantly more common in the six months after September 11 than six months before, said Robin Herbert, a professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

About 70 percent of those who responded suffered new or worsened respiratory problems during or after their work and some 61 percent developed symptoms while working at the World Trade Center site, the study said.

"There is a strong correlation between World Trade Center work and respiratory illnesses," Herbert said.

The study is based on medical examinations conducted between 2002 and 2004 on close to 12,000 of the 40,000 September 11 responders, who breathed air tainted with the dust created when the Twin Towers were pulverized upon their collapse.

Mount Sinai, a private hospital, said its report is the largest multi-agency study to date of September 11 responders. Besides firefighters and police, responders included construction, utility and public sector workers.

Separately on Tuesday, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg called on the federal government provide more funds to confront World Trade Center health issues and to reopen a compensation fund that stopped taking applications from victims in 2003, even though some discovered symptoms after that date.

"We're concerned looking down the road that the liability could be substantial," Bloomberg said. "No one city can possibly afford do it all on its own."

 

[Mr.Conley]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060906/us_nm/sept11_health_dc_3

 

[Annie]

Sept 11 responders suffer lung ailments

NEW YORK (Reuters) - About 70 percent of the rescue workers who picked through the toxic debris of the World Trade Center after the September 11 attacks suffered respiratory problems, a study released on Tuesday said.
ADVERTISEMENT

The Mount Sinai Medical Center study found police, firefighters and other responders had high rates of lung abnormalities for years after the attacks.

One-third continued to have abnormal lung function, many more than expected, when the study was concluded in 2004, and severe conditions including pneumonia were significantly more common in the six months after September 11 than six months before, said Robin Herbert, a professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

About 70 percent of those who responded suffered new or worsened respiratory problems during or after their work and some 61 percent developed symptoms while working at the World Trade Center site, the study said.

"There is a strong correlation between World Trade Center work and respiratory illnesses," Herbert said.

The study is based on medical examinations conducted between 2002 and 2004 on close to 12,000 of the 40,000 September 11 responders, who breathed air tainted with the dust created when the Twin Towers were pulverized upon their collapse.

Mount Sinai, a private hospital, said its report is the largest multi-agency study to date of September 11 responders. Besides firefighters and police, responders included construction, utility and public sector workers.

Separately on Tuesday, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg called on the federal government provide more funds to confront World Trade Center health issues and to reopen a compensation fund that stopped taking applications from victims in 2003, even though some discovered symptoms after that date.

"We're concerned looking down the road that the liability could be substantial," Bloomberg said. "No one city can possibly afford do it all on its own."

This has been reported regularly since at least the end of 2002. I agree though, that the city should NOT bear the cost of this, it was a national attack.

 

[Hobbit]

They talked about this on the news the day of the attack. Breathing in concrete dust, among other things, can't be good. I wouldn't be surprised if the pneumonia was caused by the scars of the lesions left by the concrete.

 

[waltky]

Human Lung Created In Lab...

Human lung made in lab for first time
Fri February 14, 2014 ~ "It's science fiction and we're moving into science fact," says one researcher; The advance won't help patients for many years; It could one day help those awaiting a lung transplant

For the first time, scientists have created human lungs in a lab -- an exciting step forward in regenerative medicine, but an advance that likely won't help patients for many years. "It's so darn cool," said Joan Nichols, a researcher at the University of Texas Medical Branch. "It's been science fiction and we're moving into science fact." If the lungs work -- and that's a big if -- they could help the more than 1,600 people awaiting a lung transplant. Lungs are one of many body parts being manufactured in the lab -- some parts, such as tracheas and livers, are even further along. "Whole-organ engineering is going to work as a solution to the organ donor shortage," said Dr. Stephen Badylak, deputy director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.

Image A is before new cells were reseeded. The finished product is image B.

The researchers in Galveston, Texas, started with lungs from two children who'd died from trauma, most likely a car accident, Nichols said. Their lungs were too damaged to be used for transplantation, but they did have some healthy tissue. They took one of the lungs and stripped away nearly everything, leaving a scaffolding of collagen and elastin. The scientists then took cells from the other lung and put them on the scaffolding. They immersed the structure in a large chamber filled with a liquid "resembling Kool-Aid," Nichols said, which provided nutrients for the cells to grow. After about four weeks, an engineered human lung emerged.

Repeating the process, they created another lung from two other children who'd died. The lab-made lungs look very much like the real thing, Nichols says, just pinker, softer and less dense. Nichols said she thinks it will be another 12 years or so until they'll be ready to try using these lungs for transplants. "My students will be doing the work when I'm old and retired and can't hold a pipette anymore," she said.

Before researchers experiment on humans, they'll try out lab-made lungs on pigs, she said. Doctors have already had success transplanting patients with synthetic tracheas. The first procedure was done in 2011, and since then, six more have been done. Two of the patients have died of causes unrelated to their tracheas, said David Green, CEO of Harvard Apparatus Regenerative Technology, which makes equipment used to make engineered body parts.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/14/health/texas-lungs-grown/index.html?hpt=hp_t2