Evaluating the efficiency of an asbestos stabilizer on ceiling tiles and the characteristics of the released asbestos fibers.

The efficiency of asbestos stabilizers and their adaptability were evaluated by investigating the characteristics of asbestos fibers released from ceiling tiles. The impact of such variables as the wind speed or vibration conditions was also studied along with the asbestos stabilizers. The concentrations of the asbestos fibers released from damaged ceiling tiles treated with stabilizers decreased by 69.5-84.4% compared with those of untreated tiles for all variables, with a statistically significant difference (p<0.001). The effects of the environmental factors on the asbestos concentrations were analyzed through a multiple regression analysis. It was determined that the surface status of the ceiling tiles and stabilizers were the main factors affecting the concentration, and the reliability of these factors was estimated as 58.3%. The lengths of the chrysotile fibers released from the damaged ceiling tiles were in the range of 0.991-79.1 µm for the untreated tiles and 3.74-35.6 µm for the tiles treated with inorganic stabilizers. It was confirmed that inorganic stabilizers are more efficient for damaged ceiling tiles. The results of this study also show that the asbestos concentrations are greatly reduced after treating damaged ceiling tiles with a stabilizer.

Potential molecular approaches for the early diagnosis of lung cancer (review).

Lung cancer is the leading cause of mortality from cancer among men and women worldwide. More individuals die each year of lung cancer than of colon, breast and prostate cancer combined. Despite new diagnostic techniques, the overall 5-year survival rate remains at approximately 15% and the majority of patients still present with advanced disease. Therefore, lung cancer is the most lethal cancer at present. Diagnosing and treating cancer at its early stages, ideally during the precancerous stages, could increase the 5-year survival rate by 3-4­fold, with the possibility of cure. To date, no screening method has been shown to decrease the disease-specific mortality rate. This review describes issues related to early lung cancer screening and their rationale, the management of primary cancers detected by screening and the different approaches that have been tested for cancer screening; these include imaging techniques, bronchoscopies and molecular screening, such as analysis of epigenomics using different noninvasive or invasive sources, such as blood, sputum, bronchoscopic samples and exhaled breath.