Researchers will discuss polycythemia vera progress
http://standardspeaker.com/news/researchers-will-discuss-polycythemia-vera-progress-1.1161276
Published: June 14, 2011
Researchers on Wednesday will discuss progress on studies begun after they detected a blood-cancer cluster in the region.
The meeting at 6 p.m. in the Tamaqua Community Center, 223 Center St., will bring together researchers from two universities, two state agencies and the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry who are studying polycythemia vera.
Polycythemia vera or PV is an excess of red blood cells that can lead to heart attacks, strokes, headaches and other symptoms and is treated by withdrawing blood periodically.
In 2005, the state Department of Health found a higher incidence of PV cases in Schuylkill and Luzerne counties than in the rest of the state. Next, state officials asked the federal agency to help investigate whether the people actually had PV and to look for other cases in those counties and in Carbon County.
In August 2008, the federal agency made a public report saying 33 cases of PV had been confirmed by detecting a gene mutation in the patients. Some areas studied had higher incidences of PV than the rest of the three-county region, and one of the clusters was statistically significant, the federal agency said.
In May 2010, doctors Kenneth Orloff and Bruce Tierney of the federal agency reported that 1,170 other residents of the three counties had been tested.
Of those, 19 had the gene mutation. Five of them had been diagnosed with PV previously, but the 14 new cases represented an incidence of 1.2 percent out of the total group tested.
Although PV patients frequently have the gene mutation, known as JAK 2, the disease is not hereditary, nor is its cause known.
At Geisinger Health System, researchers are studying how often people with the mutation get the disease and how prevalent the JAK 2 mutation is in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Researchers at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York City are examining genetic differences between PV patients in Northeastern Pennsylvania and elsewhere. They also are studying the relationship of cells to certain chemicals while looking for links between chemicals and PV.
Employees of Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection are sampling drinking water, dust and soil at the homes of study participants. Also, the department’s workers are testing water and sediment from the McAdoo Superfund Site and cogeneration plants in the area.
Drexel University’s team is looking for risk factors for PV and related diseases in the region.
At the University of Pittsburgh, researchers are studying the number of PV cases in a four-county area and reviewing reports of PV and related diseases.
National cancer prevention study looking for local volunteers
http://citizensvoice.com/news/national-cancer-prevention-study-looking-for-local-volunteers-1.1140396#axzz1LCf5p0Sg
By Erin L. Nissley, Staff Writer
Published: May 2, 2011
Next month, Northeastern Pennsylvanians will have an opportunity to participate in a groundbreaking national study that will examine how lifestyle, genetics and the environment can cause or prevent cancer.
The American Cancer Society’s Cancer Prevention Study-3 is seeking to enroll up to 500,000 people from across the U.S. and Puerto Rico over the next few years. Enrollments locally will be taken during the Relay for Life event in Hazleton on from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 4, said local cancer study chairwoman Amy Herbener.
Men and women between the ages of 30 and 65 who have never been diagnosed with cancer can enroll in the study. At the Relay for Life event, potential enrollees must complete a brief written survey, provide some physical measurements and give a small blood sample. A more comprehensive survey must be completed at home.
And over the next two or three decades, participants will be asked to fill out follow-up surveys every few years, Herbener said.
“This has the potential to change so much,” from advances in cancer screenings to finding a cure, she said. “It’s about 15 hours of time over the course of someone’s lifetime (to fill out the surveys).”
It is the third such study undertaken by the American Cancer Society. The first began in the 1950s and played a major role in understanding cancer prevention and risk, especially the link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer and the impact of air pollution on heart and lung conditions, according to American Cancer Society officials.
A second study, which began in 1982, is still ongoing.
Samuel Lesko, M.D., a research and medical director at the Northeast Regional Cancer Institute, said comprehensive studies like this can be a powerful tool for understanding the causes of cancer and the differences in how tumors develop. He said the study will likely examine participants’ DNA to see how subtle differences in genetics can impact the risk or acceleration of cancer.
People who want more information or to pre-register should call the American Cancer Society in Hazleton at 570-459-1212 or visit www.relayforlife.org/pagreaterhazleton.
enissley@timesshamrock.com
Rare cancer cases are ‘under-reported’
http://republicanherald.com/news/rare-cancer-cases-are-under-reported-1.1140188
BY STEPHEN J. PYTAK (STAFF WRITER spytak@republicanherald.com)
Published: May 1, 2011
NEW PHILADELPHIA – A blood disease which has haunted people in the county living near coal waste sites may be on the rise, Dr. Paul I. Roda of Geisinger Hazleton Cancer Center said Saturday.
Or cases of polycythemia vera may have always been higher than area physicians have realized, Roda said, “because they’re under-reported. I believe they’ve been high all along, just never fully appreciated.”
Roda, who works with PV cases through the Geisinger Health Network, gave some insights on the disease to more than 30 area health care providers at the start of the ninth annual Simon Kramer Institute Oncologic Symposium.
Polycythemia vera is a rare but treatable form of blood cancer found at elevated levels in Schuylkill, Luzerne and Carbon counties. Many studies are still being done on PV to determine how it occurs. It’s widely believed its victims are people who have grown up near coal waste and superfund sites, Roda said.
According to the website for the state Department of Health, www.health.state.pa.us, there were 412 cases of polycythemia vera in the state between 2001-02, including 14 in Schuylkill County.
No other statistics regarding PV could be located on the department’s website Saturday night.
“Between 2004 and 2009, we identified approximately 130 cases in the entire Geisinger Health Network. I do not have numbers for specific counties,” Roda said.
He believes over the years, cases have been under-reported.
“One reason is, to start with, the state registry was set on a hospitalized basis. If you put Mr. Smith in the hospital because he had lung cancer, that gets reported. But if you’re only being seen in the office, that doesn’t get reported. It’s a matter of where they’re seen and where these cases get reported,” Roda said.
Studies are still being done to determine who is at risk for the disease.
“We still don’t have something in black and white which will tell people ‘yes you’re at risk’ or ‘no you’re not at risk.’ My experience says that the incidence is high. Until we know for certain, it certainly behooves everyone to check their blood counts once a year,” Roda said.
It’s typically found in people age 55 and up, he said.
“Since this is a disease of patients who are 55 years of age or older, you don’t have to worry about this in 20-year-olds,” Roda said.
People who believe they are infected should first go to their doctor for a general blood test and a complete blood count, Roda said.
“A $10 CBC is more than adequate. Quite simply, if the patient’s CBC is normal, if they have a normal hemoglobin, white count and platelet count, you don’t have to worry,” he said.
However, if the patient has an abnormal blood count, an increased red cell mass or thrombosis, that person might want to take a test to determine if they have what’s called a “JAK2 mutation.” It’s a genetic change found in about 9 out of 10 people with PV, Roda said.
“That (test) could cost up to $2,000,” Roda said.
To get a JAK2 blood test, visit a healthcare provider, Roda said.
Blood Cancer Research Foundation Changes Name
In response to blood cancer re-classifications by the World Health Organization, the MPD Foundation announces it is changing its name to Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPN) Research Foundation.
The MPD Foundation, a patient-led foundation dedicated to the discovery of treatments and a cure for three rare blood cancers (myelofibrosis, polycythemia vera, and essential thrombocythemia) announces today a new name for the organization, which will now be known as the MPN Research Foundation.
This change of name is in response to a 2008 World Health Organization reclassification of the Myeloproliferative Disorders (MPDs), and reflects the consensus that these diseases are blood cancers, or ‘neoplasms’. The three classic MPDs are therefore now referred to as ‘MPNs’, or ‘myeloproliferative neoplasms’. The word “neoplasm” defines these diseases far more precisely than the word “disorder”. Neoplasia (Greek for “new growth”) means the abnormal proliferation of cells – in the case of the MPNs, one or more lines of blood cells.
The reclassification also added a handful of new blood diseases to the MPN category, such as chronic neutrophilic leukemia, chronic eosinophilic leukemia, hypereosinophilic syndrome and a general category labeled “MPNs, unclassifiable.”
The three MPNs that have always been the focus of the Foundation – polycythemia vera (PV), essential thrombocythemia (ET) and myelofibrosis (MF) – are still considered the “classic” Philadelphia chromosome-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms. The Foundation’s focus will remain on funding research to find effective treatments and ultimately a cure for all patients with these diseases.
Information on the MPN Research Foundation’s mission, current grants, and other programs can be found at http://www.mpnresearchfoundation.org.
Chicago, IL (PRWEB) April 4, 2011
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/04/prweb5214514.htm
Tamaqua-area cancer cases to be part of Senate hearing on disease clusters
Disease clusters that have sickened a large number of people in the area and other states will be the topic of a Senate hearing today in Washington.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hear testimony on the proposed U.S. Senate Bill 76, the “Disease Cluster Act,” aimed at confirming disease clusters and finding their causes.
Gina Solomon, senior scientist with the National Resources Defense Council, a nonprofit environmental action group, will present a report that has confirmed 42 disease clusters in 13 states across the country since 1976, including two locally.
The report references a cluster of polycythemia vera cases in Schuylkill, Luzerne and Carbon counties. In 2008, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry confirmed the diagnoses of polycythemia vera in 33 people and found rates in some areas exceeded the overall county rate by four times. Residents have pointed out that their homes are near McAdoo Associates, where toxic material was recycled and dumped until 1979 and the site made the federal Superfund list of the nation’s most toxic places.
Polycythemia vera is a blood disorder in which the bone marrow produces too many red blood cells, which causes the blood to thicken.
The report also references another cluster of 12 employees of Luzerne Intermediate Unit 18 who were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and lupus. According to the report, in 2004, Penn State University found health hazards when trichloroethylene, or TCE, was used to clean two printing presses in the administration building in Kingston, near Wilkes-Barre. The solvent routinely spilled onto the carpet. Researchers found TCE exposures were 10,000 times higher than what the Environmental Protection Agency considers an acceptable cancer risk for someone working in the building for at least 10 years.
“The report is being released at the Senate hearing because of the problems of disease clusters across the country, how they’re being investigated and whether they’re being adequately investigated,” Solomon said. “What I would like to see is better coordination between state and federal agencies and clear guidelines for how to investigate disease clusters and to have more community involvement.”
Others who will testify at the hearing include Trevor Schaefer, a 21-year-old brain cancer survivor from Boise, Idaho, and Erin Brockovich, who became well-known for her fight to document a disease cluster in Hinkley, Calif., which was turned into a movie starring Julia Roberts.
Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, proposed the legislation to fund research to determine whether connections exist between disease clusters and environmental contaminants.
By Denise Allabaugh (Staff Writer dallabaugh@citizensvoice.com)
Published: March 29, 2011
http://republicanherald.com/news/tamaqua-area-cancer-cases-to-be-part-of-senate-hearing-on-disease-clusters-1.1124935
EOH Research Seminar: “Polycythemia Vera”
Research S
eminar Series of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health
“Lessons learned from studying a cluster of Polycythemia Vera in Northeast Pennsylvania”
Paul I. Roda, MD, FACP
Geisinger/Hazleton Cancer Center
Location: New College Building, 8th Floor, Hem/Onc Conference Room, 245 N. 15th Street (Joint presentation with Drexel University College of Medicine)
Date: Tuesday, April 5
Noon — 1 PM
http://publichealth.drexel.edu/Home/Home/693/vobId__3363/
Polycythemia vera takes another life on Ben Titus Rd. Rush Twp, Tamaqua, PA
http://standardspeaker.com/news/obituaries/william-f-hinkle-1.1085019
Published: January 3, 2011
William F. Hinkle
Jan. 1, 2011
William F. Hinkle, 74, of Ben Titus Road, Tamaqua, died Saturday at his residents. He was the husband of letha Titus Hinkle.
Born in Weatherly, he was the son of the late Robert and Theresa Romanchik Hinkle. He was employed as a carpenter/project manager by Joseph Miorelli Co., Hazleton. He had served in the U.S. Army Reserves.
A member of the Drums Seventh Day Adventist Church, he was an elder of the church and served on the school board of the church.
William was a 1954 graduate of Weatherly High School.
Surviving in addition to his wife, are his son, Kent Hinkle and his wife, Sherry, Rush Township; two grandchildren, Amanda and Ty Hinkle; brothers, Robert and John Hinkle and his wife Dorothy, both of Weatherly; sisters, Ruth Postupack and Ellen Burke and her husband, Walter, both of Weatherly; and Evelyn Sheer, Drums.
He was predeceased by a sister, Frances Harahush; and by a brother, Edward Hinkle.
Private funeral services will be held at the convenience of the family, with Pastor Troy Haagenson officiating.
Calling hours will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Zizelmann-Roche Funeral Home, 500 E. Broad St., Tamaqua.
Interment will be in White Church Cemetery, Rush Township.
Arrangements are by Zizelmann-Roche Funeral Home. An online guest registry is available at www .zrgfuneralhomes.com.
Rare blood disorder
http://www.tnonline.com/node/147135
Rare blood disorder
Study will look at air and water quality
Reported on Friday, October 29, 2010
By DONALD R. SERFASS dserfass@tnonline.com
DONALD R. SERFASS/TIMES NEWS Members of the Tri-County Polycythemia Vera Citizens Advistory Committee pose questions late Thursday to experts who will study the local air and water quality. From left: CAC chairman and Tamaqua Mayor Chris Morrison; Mark Ioos, vice president, Skelly and Loy, Harrisburg; Peter Jaran, engineer, Equity Environmental Engineering, Flanders, NJ; and Joe Murphy, CAC member.
A New Jersey firm will oversee a regional air and water quality study to try and find out why there is a higher then normal incidence of a rare blood disease in the local area.
The study, the first of a multifaceted investigation, comes about after cases of polycythemia vera, a rare blood cancer, have surfaced in clusters at an unusually high rate in Carbon, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties.
Peter Jaran of Equity Environmental Engineering, Flanders, N.J., will serve as project manager and will employ the expertise of a project team to include Skelly & Loy, an environmental consulting firm in Harrisburg; and Princeton Somerset Group, a firm headed by Dr. Dennis M. Stainken, providing expertise in the field of toxicology, health issues, chemical exposures, contamination and other issues.
DONALD R. SERFASS/TIMES NEWS “This is very personal to the community. We need to have open lines of communication,” says Peter Jaran, left, on Thursday at Tamaqua Borough Hall. Jaran, an environmental engineer from New Jersey, will serve as project manager in an air and water quality study as part of an investigation into a rare blood disorder that surfaced two years ago in Carbon, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties. Shown right is Joe Murphy, Hometown, of the Citizens Advisory Committee.
The study will be funded through part of the $8M earmarked by Sen. Arlen Specter.
“We were awarded the contract with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) at the end of September,” said Jaran.
On Thursday, members of the Tri-County Polycythemia Vera Community Advisory Committee (CAC) took Jaran and Mark B. Ioos, vice president, Skelly and Loy, on a tour of the local area. The session was followed by a meeting at Tamaqua Borough Hall in which Jaran outlined the course of action and answered questions posed by CAC members. Tamaqua Mayor Chris Morrison serves as chairman of the CAC and moderated the session.
The goal of the assessment is to identify possible contributing factors of the PV cases and related myeloproliferative diseases (MPDs) and their possible link to environmental conditions in the area.
The discussion mentioned factors such as the presence of Superfund sites in the area, along with fly ash trucking and storage, and a wide variety of other industries such as co-gen plants, gas plants and manufacturers, and even the existing fluff pile in Hometown.
“We were originally looking at the drinking water,” revealed Jaran, noting that “the first step is that we have to take a look at the (existing) data. How does each one of the environmental aspects impact the human body.”
Hydrogeology has been identified as task one of the project, followed by air pollution exposure assessment. Air assessment will evaluate present and past exposures of cluster-area residents to specific air pollutants, including factors such as topography and air emission. Task three will focus on community interaction, including a working relationship with the CAC.
“This is very personal to the community,” said Jaran. “We need to have open lines of communication.”
That view was echoed by Morrison, who stressed the importance of timely dissemination of information to the public.
CAC members posed a wide variety of questions to Jaran and Ioos. For example, Hometown resident Joe Murphy, longtime advocate for a health and environment, asked Jaran if his firm or any of its clients might be seen as having a conflict of interest regarding aspects of the local study, including its outcome. Jaran said no, explaining that the potential issue already had been explored at Equity Environmental Engineering.
The air and water assessment study and other related studies will extend through 2011 and 2012.
During the business portion of the meeting, CAC members approved a request to the CDC and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry for $25,000 in operational funding for both years.
Other studies are forthcoming. For example, Drexel University investigators will use a case control study to try and determine factors that may contribute to the PV cluster in the Tamaqua-Hazleton area by examining environmental and occupational histories of patients with PV and MPD-related disease and comparing them with those free of the diseases.
A University of Pittsburgh team will conduct a study that will compare PV rates in the Tamaqua-Hazleton area to those in four counties in the western Pennsylvania coal region to look for similarities and differences in the two areas that might provide clues to the causes of the disease.
Polycythemia vera advisory group announces contaminant study
http://www.tnonline.com/node/145322
Reported on Saturday, October 23, 2010
Polycythemia vera advisory group announces contaminant study
Tamaqua Mayor Chris Morrison, Chairman of the Tri-County Polycythemia Community Advisory Committee (CAC), announced Wednesday that Equity Environmental Engineering (EEE) has been chosen by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to conduct a study of possible exposure of area residents to contaminants in air and drinking water.
“We are pleased that ATSDR and CDC have funded this study in response to public concerns about high cancer rates and the many sources of contamination in our area.,” said Morrison.
According to Morrison, EEE investigators will meet with members of the CAC and tour the area on Oct. 28.
“Thanks to the hard work of community members we now have a large number of studies to get to the bottom of the cancer cluster in our area,” Morrison said.
U.S Senator Arlen Specter obtained about $8 million in federal funds for the research programs. On Sept. 22, researchers and government officials were on hand to discuss the major studies now underway; studies include:
Ÿ An epidemiological study by Drexel University designed to determine what factors that PV/MPD patients have in common and what factors separate those with the illnesses and those without.
Ÿ A study by the University of Pittsburgh (School of Public Health) to obtain an accurate and updated account of the number/incidence of PV/MPD cases in the tri-county area.
Ÿ A second study by University of Pittsburg scientists to investigate the incidence of PV/MPD in a four-county area of coal country in southwestern Pennsylvania with similar geography and demographics, coal burning plants and ash disposal sites.
Ÿ Laboratory studies by Dr. Ronald Hoffman (a foremost expert on PV) to determine more on the genetic changes that precipitate the onset of JAK-2 mutations and PV disease. One study will subject blood cells to various contaminants that have been found in the tri-county area.
Ÿ An analysis of thousands of blood samples and data from U.S. residents obtained from the CDC’s NHANES program, one of the largest randomized collections of samples and associated data in existence. The analysis will be used to estimate the frequency of PV, JAK-2 across the country and look for possible correlations with factors such as work history, diet and contaminant levels in blood.
What is Polcythemia vera?
http://www.tnonline.com/node/136550
What is Polcythemia vera?
Reported on Thursday, September 23, 2010
Polycythemia vera (PV) is a blood disease in which the bone marrow makes too many red blood cells, causing a thickening of the blood.
PV usually takes years to develop. Most people are diagnosed with PV later in life, most often around age 60 or older. People with PV might experience headaches, tiredness and shortness of breath. They are also at risk for getting blood clots, which can lead to heart attacks and stroke.
At this time, there is no cure for PV. But treatment can control symptoms and avoid heart problems. Some people with PV do not need treatment but should see their doctor regularly to stay as healthy as possible and to catch problems early, according to information provided by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).
In 2008, the Pa. Department of Health and the ATSDR confirmed more PV cases than expected in parts of Schuylkill, Carbon and Luzerne counties.
The Department of Health and ATSDR are tracking patterns of PV and working with research partners in looking for trends and risk factors. In addition, the Center for Disease Control is working to improve reporting systems for PV.