A Case of Malignant Pericardial Mesothelioma With Constrictive Pericarditis Physiology Misdiagnosed as Pericardial Metastatic Cancer

Malignant pericardial mesothelioma is a rare and progressive cardiac tumor. There is no established standard treatment and the prognosis is poor. Most patients were retrospectively diagnosed from surgery or autopsy due to absence of specific clinical manifestation. Most patients with pericardial mesothelioma have demonstrated constrictive physiology on echocardiography or cardiac catheterization. Therefore, pericardial mesothelioma was often misdiagnosed as other causes of constrictive pericarditis. We report a case of primary pericardial mesothelioma misdiagnosed as pericardial metastasis of unknown origin

Primary pericardial malignant mesothelioma and response to radiation therapy

We report a case of a primary pericardial malignant mesothelioma. A 59-year-old male presented with episodic chest pain and dyspnea on exertion. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging revealed a large mass in the pericardium attached to the right ventricle. Partial resection of the mass was undertaken revealing malignant mesothelioma, byphasic type. The patient was treated with chemotherapy intermittently over a period of 3 years, but his disease continued to progress. The patient was then treated with definitive radiation therapy to 64 Gy to the primary tumor using a six field 3D conformal technique. The patient remains free of progressive disease 86 months from the time of diagnosis and 50 months from the completion of his radiotherapy

Farmer consumer partnerships communicating ethical values: a conceptual framework

The CORE-Organic Farmer Consumer Partnership project develops and tests innovative generic communication strategies as a valuable tool for the strategic positioning of organic companies and farmers' initiatives in the five partner countries: Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the UK. The main objective is to determine how commitment to a broader range of ethical values than those covered by European organic regulations can be reflected in communication with customers. This report represents the outcome of the first two work packages (WPs 1 & 2). In WP 1, a conceptual framework for communicating ethical approaches in organic agriculture was developed. The most important ethical traditions frequently mentioned in the context of ethical consumerism and Corporate Social Responsibility was reviewed. It was established which of the concerns expressed by organic stakeholders go beyond current organic standards, in particular the European Regulations. These concerns and the activities with which they are associated are referred to as ‘organicPlus’ in this report. In WP 2, in a two step empirical study, organicPlus approaches and ‘communication arguments’ of organic companies were identified by analysing written company material and qualitative interviews. The first step involved mapping 101 companies to develop a general understanding of the issues for organic SMEs. In a second step, the background of organicPlus approaches was explored in greater detail in 20 case study companies. Chapter 1 summarises the basic rationale for the project. OrganicPlus activities have the potential to differentiate organic products in a growing and increasingly globalised market, where organic products compete with other ethical choices such as local or regional foods and ‘Fairtrade’ products. \ud In Chapter 2, the relevance of ethical consumerism, fair trade and ethical business management concepts, such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), for the organic sector is explored. Chapter 3 uses stages of a tool-kit for food companies (Corporate Moral Responsibility Manual by Brom et al., 2006) to explore values expressed in literature about the organic sector and compares them with the European Regulation (EEC) 2092/91 and (EC) 834/2007 on organic production. Chapter 4 describes how organic companies in the five partner countries integrate organicPlus approaches in their activities. The final chapter brings together the findings from the two WPs and provides concluding remarks related to the organicPlus approach, the most promising communication arguments for further study and some general conclusions and recommendations