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Thread: A Fallen Hero - Video Inside

  1. #81
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    Enzyme tied to WTC ills
    May explain cough, study sez

    http://www.nydailynews.com/front/sto...p-391263c.html

    BY PAUL H.B. SHIN
    DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
    10/25/2006

    Doctors unveiled a tantalizing glimpse yesterday into why some firefighters may suffer from the "World Trade Center cough" while others who endured the toxic dust and fumes at Ground Zero are relatively healthy.

    Firefighters whose lung capacity deteriorated faster in the wake of 9/11 were more likely to be deficient in a key natural enzyme that protects against lung damage, according to a study of 90 of the 12,000 Bravest who responded to the attacks at Ground Zero.

    But Dr. David Prezant, the study's lead researcher and the FDNY's co-chief medical officer, cautioned against drawing too broad a conclusion from the report.

    "This is very, very preliminary information that cannot in any shape or form be translated into a diagnosis or treatment initiative," Prezant told the Daily News from Salt Lake City, where he presented his findings at a gathering of the American College of Chest Physicians.

    "It is only one small piece of a puzzle," he said. "We are trying to understand the science behind why some patients come down with World Trade Center respiratory diseases and others do not."

    However, the research could eventually help solve the puzzle years down the road, said Prezant, a lung specialist at Montefiore Medical Center.

    Using a blood test normally used to screen people at risk of early-onset emphysema, Prezant found that 11 of the 90 firefighters had low levels of an enzyme called alpha-1 antitrypsin, or A1AT.

    Of the 11, four had a significant deficiency of A1AT while seven had a moderate deficiency, the blood tests showed.

    But none had the most severe kind of genetic deficiency. All have the WTC cough.

    "What this enzyme does is it protects the lungs from damage," said Dr. Mark Rosen, a pulmonologist at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Medical Center and president of American College of Chest Physicians.

    "It prevents the destruction of lung tissue by a variety of mechanisms," he said.

    About 150,000 Americans have a severe shortage of A1AT, but many are undiagnosed.

    "Many more have a partial deficiency, and most of those people are not diagnosed for their whole lives because most of those people don't get sick" unless they are exposed to toxins such as cigarette smoke, Rosen said.

    Prezant stressed that trying to determine whether a particular disease - whether it's WTC cough or breast cancer - is due to genetic or environmental factors is a science that's still in its infancy.

    "It's not going to be one genetic trait" that is responsible for WTC cough, Prezant said.

    That's why simply testing responders for the enzyme won't be useful, he said.

    But the ongoing research at the FDNY is "on the cutting edge for trying to find future cures."

    A study published in August by one of Prezant's colleagues at Montefiore painted a grim picture of the lung ailments among the 12,000 firefighters who inhaled dust and smoke on 9/11 and in the following months.

    Those firefighters suffered a dramatic loss of lung capacity - 12 times the normal rate that occurs each year as people age, the study found.
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


  2. #82
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    CHEST: World Trade Center Cough Linked to Enzyme Deficiency

    http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingC.../CHEST/tb/4354

    By Michael Smith, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today
    October 24, 2006

    SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 24 -- Researchers are slowly beginning to tease out why some people exposed to the toxic dust from the collapse of the World Trade Center towers developed respiratory disease and others didn't.

    Advise patients who ask that little is known about why some people exposed to the fumes and dust from the collapse of the World Trade Center towers developed respiratory disease and other did not.

    Note that this preliminary study finds a link between disease and deficiencies in the enzyme alpha-1 antitrypsin, which has been linked to an increased vulnerability to chronic lung and liver disorders.

    This report is based on an abstract presented at a meeting. These data and conclusions should be considered preliminary as they have not yet been reviewed and published in a peer-reviewed publication.

    One factor that may have played a role is a deficiency in the enzyme alpha-1 antitrypsin (A1AT), an investigator looking into the so-called World Trade Center cough said at Chest 2006, the meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians.

    Alpha 1-antitrypsin is a serine protease inhibitor. It protects tissue from enzymes released by inflammatory cells, especially elastase.

    In a study he repeatedly characterized as "very preliminary," David Prezant, M.D., of New York's Montefiore Medical Center found that firefighters with an A1AT deficiency had significantly faster declines in lung function than those with normal A1AT levels.

    But, he cautioned, the finding is based on a small sample and needs more research before it will have clinical relevance.

    "It is too early to apply this at this time," Dr. Prezant told reporters before presenting his data. Indeed, he said, it's likely that A1AT deficiency is only one of many factors that played a role in determining who got sick after the towers collapsed.

    Dr. Prezant and colleagues have been studying 12,000 of the New York firefighters who were "down there during the days and weeks that followed the collapse of the towers" and for whom lung function tests both before and after are available.

    About 25% of the 2,000 to 3,000 firefighters who were exposed to the toxic fumes and dust on the first day -- Sept. 11, 2001 -- are still suffering from pulmonary symptoms consistent with asthma, he said.

    A small subset of 151 exposed firefighters were enrolled in October 2001, and offered annual spirometric testing until 2005, when the 90 remaining in the group (60%) were given a blood test for A1AT deficiency.

    Eleven were deficient in the enzyme -- four severely and seven to a lesser degree -- although none was homozygous for the genetic variants that would have given them the worst level of deficiency.

    "That's to be expected," Dr. Prezant said. "These were healthy people before 9/11 doing a tremendous amount of aerobic activities."

    But when the researchers statistically correlated A1AT levels and declines in lung function in the year after 9/11, they found that severely deficient subjects had a greater decline in one-second forced expiratory volume (FEV1) than normal participants, by about 125 mL.

    Over the four years after the buildings were destroyed, those with severe deficiency continued to decline more than normal participants, at a rate that was significant at P=0.003. Also, those with moderate deficiency had declines that were intermediate.

    The American College of Chest Physicians estimates that about 150,000 people in North America have an A1AT deficiency, but only about 5% have been diagnosed.

    "A1AT deficiency can greatly affect the health and well being of patients, particularly in those who remain undiagnosed," commented Mark Rosen, M.D., of Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, president of the college. "It is important for pulmonologists and other clinicians to understand screening guidelines for A1AT deficiency and recommend appropriate testing for patients accordingly."
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


  3. #83
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    A Call to the NY Media: Save the Volunteers!

    http://loho10002.blogspot.com/2006/1...olunteers.html

    by Jonathan Bennett
    10/25/2006

    I am writing to ask your assistance in publicizing a change in New York State’s Workers’ Compensation Law which will allow workers and volunteers who participated in the rescue, recovery and clean up efforts after 9/11 to register to preserve the right to file for workers’ compensation benefits.

    As you know, many people traveled from all over the U.S. to New York City after 9/11 to work or volunteer in the rescue, recovery and cleanup effort. Now tens of thousands of 9/11 responders are experiencing or are at risk of disease or post-traumatic disorders resulting from their exposures and experiences. Fortunately, their right to file for workers’ compensation will now be protected, as a result of a New York State law that went into effect on August 14. The law applies to the vast majority of 9/11 responders,, including volunteers, even those who are now healthy, but workers and volunteers must register before next Aug. 14 to establish their permanent eligibility.

    NYCOSH (the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health), in collaboration with World Trade Center Medical Monitoring Program, the Laborers’ Health and Safety Trust Fund, Balcony, the Business and Labor Coalition of New York, the United Church of Christ's National Disaster Ministries and workers’ compensation law firms, is trying to get this word out to workers and volunteers from all over the country.

    It is imperative that everyone who is eligible to register receives information about this program before it’s too late. Anyone who does not register before the August 14, 2007 deadline – and who later develops a 9/11-related disease or disorder – will have missed an opportunity to have all medical expenses for the treatment of that condition covered by workers' compensation.

    You are in a uniquely important position to make post-9/11 workers and volunteers aware of the program by placing an article in your newsletter, magazine or by send the story to your email list.

    Pasted below is a short article that is an introduction to the new compensation program for post-9/11 workers and volunteers. For a formatted version of the article, go to New law provides benefits for 9/11 workers and volunteers: Registration open for a year. Or go to an even shorter version of the same article. The articles are not copyright and can be revised in any way and put to any appropriate use.

    In the last paragraph of the articles there is a Internet link to the NYCOSH website where you can find detailed information (in English and Spanish) about the program. We will soon be posting the same information in Polish. Other translations are in the works.

    If you would like to receive occasional updates about news concerning resources for treating and compensating those with 9/11-related health effects, please let me know by email. My contact information is pasted below the article.

    I hope you can help.

    For more information about 9/11-related disease, which in many cases is not recognized as such, visit Clinical Guidelines for Physicians Treating Adults Exposed to the World Trade Center Disaster on the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's website.

    Jonathan Bennett is Public Affairs Director of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


  4. #84
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    More allegations from EPA whistleblower

    http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Mo...ower_1026.html

    Brian Beutler
    Published: Thursday October 26, 2006

    An Environmental Protection Agency whistleblower who has long argued that her agency failed to issue proper warnings about air quality at the World Trade Center disaster site, has leveled new accusations against the agency, RAW STORY has learned.

    As RAW STORY reported this past August, Cate Jenkins, an EPA biochemist, sent a letter to the New York congressional delegation, alleging that the inconsistent official reports about inhalant alkalinity were part of an intentional cover up by government scientists and officials.

    Jenkins' latest sixty-page document, addressed to the acting Inspector General of the EPA, is in large part a compilation of her previous allegations, but also claims to offer new evidence that criminal fraud is to blame.

    In the latest report, Jenkins contends that by failing to report that some of the particulates in the air constituted a severe health hazard--and by suppressing the results of tests for the presence of other toxic chemicals--the EPA misled the public about the dire health consequences of remaining near ground zero or participating in the clean-up effort in the days following the attack.

    Tens of thousands of cases of lung disease have reportedly resulted from exposure to the smoke and debris that hovered in the vicinity of the disaster site for months after the towers collapsed.

    Earlier this year, federal judge Deborah Batts ruled that then-EPA director Christine Todd Whitman had misled residents and rescuers when she pronounced that the air quality in lower Manhattan met public safety standards and necessitated neither a surgical mask nor a respirator.

    John Manibusan, spokesman for the office of the Inspector General, told RAW STORY that he had not yet received the complaint, but added, “[Jenkins] has issued a number of complaints to our office, about the World Trade Center and other things. We always take a look at them. In some cases we issue a response. How long that takes depends on a lot of factors.”

    Manibusan directed Raw to a 2004 official response to earlier Jenkins allegations of a conflict of interest in the peer review of EPA's assesment of ground-zero health hazards. That investigation found that though the “EPA's Contractor did not inquire whether the three panelists had received funding from industry or had publically expressed viewpoints on the issues to be reviewed,” they “did not find that the panel's input was biased,” or “that any of the panelists should have been excluded” from participating.

    Jenkins' full memorandom may be read here.
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


  5. #85
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    Nun Dies From Illness She Said Stemmed From 9/11 Dust

    http://www.wnbc.com/news/10219330/detail.html

    November 2, 2006

    NEW YORK -- A nun who worked at the World Trade Center site in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks died Wednesday after a battle with lung disease that she said stemmed from inhaling toxic dust at ground zero, according to her lawyer.

    Sister Cindy Mahoney volunteered at ground zero to bless the remains of victims.

    Attorney David Worby said Mahoney, who was suffering from interstitial lung disease, hoped her story would help prove the connection between exposure to dust at the World Trade Center site and fatal illness.

    According to Worby, Mahoney requested that an autopsy be conducted after her death to prove that the toxic dust at ground zero made her sick.

    Worby, whose lawsuit against New York City was given a green light last month by a federal judge, said Mahoney's initial autopsy was conducted in South Carolina Wednesday, but that additional tissue samples would be tested in the coming weeks.
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


  6. #86
    werther Guest
    very sad....this whole thread.

    hopefully the result of the autopsy will get a fire under peoples ass to demand justice.

  7. #87
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    Here's the original story that told us about her.
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


  8. #88
    werther Guest
    yeah I remember that story....I was wondering what happened to her. Then the other day on blogger they had a video with one of the first responders talking about his ailments and those of others one of whom was the nun, who he said was dying.

  9. #89
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    Yup. Craig Bartmer who said, "You're not offending me. You're doing the right thing."
    No One Knows Everything. Only Together May We Find The Truth JG


  10. #90
    werther Guest
    yeah thats the one. I get completely teary eyed watching these guys talk. Just a bunch guys trying to make ends meet, doin' the best they can, having to clean up that horrible disaster, having to see 'god-knows-what in the rubble; only to have the government stick it to them.

    But yet that Kerry slips up on some stupid joke or that some guy being manhandled at an Allen campaign is found by the mass media to be more news worthy. Sickening

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