Scientists need your feet nails

Donating blood, plasma and body organs saves countless lives every year. However, according to a new study from the University of Calgary in Canada, even nail slices may become a rescue member in the future.

The university’s research team is collecting volunteers’ nail (only among Canadian citizens) to study a type of lung cancer that originates in the upper organs, not in the legs. While tobacco use is still a major cause of lung cancer, the invasive disease also occurs in many people who have never smoked. One of these patients is Amy Busio’s lawyer who received a diagnosis of lung cancer at the age of six after a continuous cough.

“I never smoke, not even once,” he said. I always had healthy eating and took care of my fitness. I said to myself, it is impossible for me to have lung cancer. “It was shocking and devastating to me, a moment that cannot be described in any word.”

After leaving the lawyer to focus on treatment, he became acquainted with Dr. Aaron Goodarzi. The biodegradation is a medium -sized group of scientists at the University of Calgary who focuses on the study of environmental factors affecting lung cancer, including exposure to Radon gas. This natural gas is bubbly and colorless, but it has radiation. After smoking, exposure to Radon is the second deadly cause of lung cancer. However, the current laws of lung cancer screening in Canada still cannot view Radon as a risk index, as people can rarely report their contact with the gas over the decades, such as tobacco use.

There is a possible solution in the nails. Dr. Goodarzi is currently seeking to recruit volunteers for a larger study that can fill important data gaps in estimating the risk of people with lung cancer due to prolonged exposure to Radon. To achieve this goal, he needs examples of Canadian citizens’ nails.

“We have found that the nails contain long -term information about the body’s exposure to radiation toxic substances such as Radon gas,” says Goodarzi. Nails act as an archive of the body’s records of exposure to these substances. After the inhalation of Radon, this gas quickly becomes a particular type of radiation lead. “The human body treats this lead like other types of lead and stores it in tissues with a process, such as the skin, hair and nails.”

In a preliminary study published this week at Environment International, Dr. Goodarzi and his colleague, Dr. Michael Wiser, as the main researchers, showed that measuring the amount of lead -like lead in the foot nails can be an effective way to estimate the long -term contact with Radon gas.

“We believe that we have been able to discover a precise and measurable way to measure the long -term positioning of people exposed to Radon,” explained. In this study, we used a combination of personalized radiation epidemiology and mass spectroscopy with isotopic dilution to measure very small amounts of radon collapse products with high accuracy. “We tested the lead isotopes in the nail samples and proved that these samples could be a small tool to determine the amount of lifelong exposure to each person with Radon.”

Participants in this study were selected from among the thousands of individuals who had previously signed up for the National Evict Radon project in Canada. Researchers now hope to attract about 2.5 people from all over the country in the next phase. Candidates should test their homes for Radon and then submit their nail slices for analysis.

“If the results of this study are successful, it can change the future face of cancer prevention in Canada,” says Dr. Goodarzi. “These data may be the basis of evidence that more patients, especially those whose lung cancer is not caused by tobacco, can participate in screening and early rescue programs.”

The study states that two out of every five patients with lung cancer in Canada, two do not have the conditions to enter the current screening programs and half of the patients never smoke; While the other half has either smoked or has long been smoking, so that smoking alone cannot be considered a major factor.

“People need to know that anyone with lungs can have lung cancer,” said Busio. “I sincerely appreciate the study that the Goodarzi Lab is doing.”