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Query: UMLS:C0032273 (pneumoconiosis)
 1,578 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Spirometry, chest radiography, environmental measurements, and a questionnaire on respiratory symptoms were used to evaluate the effects of exposure to polyvinyl chloride (PVC) dust on 171 Chinese and Malay PVC compounding workers in comparison with an unexposed reference group. Workers with high cumulative PVC dust exposure had a lower forced expiratory volume in 1 s and forced vital capacity, and a higher prevalence of radiological profusion of small opacities. Wheezing or chest tightness was also significantly more frequent in this group. Unlike previous studies, the PVC compounding workers in this study were exposed to only negligible amounts, if any, of vinyl chloride monomer or thermal degradation products of PVC such as hydrogen chloride, phosgene, or chlorine. The conclusion was drawn that a low grade of pneumoconiosis and a small degree of lung function impairment is associated with PVC dust exposure. Reversible airways obstruction is also likely and warrants further investigation.
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PMID:Pulmonary effects of polyvinyl chloride dust exposure on compounding workers. 204 7

Thirteen cases of silicate pneumoconiosis in 3- to 4-year-old hens are described. Ten of the birds were raised in the suburbs of a city near several chalk quarries and two cement-works; the remaining three hens (aged 3 years) had lived in an environment with high particulate pollution from a nearby brick-works in which large amounts of clay were used daily. Silicotic granulomas composed of dust-laden macrophages were scattered over the lungs. They were located mainly in the infundibula and atria of tertiary bronchi and around vessels; more rarely they occurred in the lamina propria mucosae of primary and secondary bronchi. Energy dispersive x-ray microanalysis coupled with both transmission and scanning electron microscopy revealed that the dust was composed mainly of silicon, aluminium, calcium, iron and potassium. Titanium, sulphur, magnesium, zinc, copper and chlorine were also found. It is concluded that animals raised in polluted environmental conditions may serve as an important indicator of risks to human health and pathogenetic mechanisms. Thirteen cases of silicate pneumoconiosis in 3- to 4-year-old hens are described. Ten of the birds were raised in the suburbs of a city near several chalk quarries and two cement-works; the remaining three hens (aged 3 years) had lived in an environment with high particulate pollution from a nearby brick-works in which large amounts of clay were used daily. Silicotic granulomas composed of dust-laden macrophages were scattered over the lungs. They were located mainly in the infundibula and atria of tertiary bronchi and around vessels; more rarely they occurred in the lamina propria mucosae of primary and secondary bronchi. Energy dispersive x-ray microanalysis coupled with both transmission and scanning electron microscopy revealed that the dust was composed mainly of silicon, aluminium, calcium, iron and potassium. Titanium, sulphur, magnesium, zinc, copper and chlorine were also found. It is concluded that animals raised in polluted environmental conditions may serve as an important indicator of risks to human health and pathogenetic mechanisms.
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PMID:Silicate pneumoconiosis in hens. 1080 78

Occupational and environmental lung disease is a vast topic. Therefore, this review focuses on areas that represent new clinical insights that have not been addressed recently in Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine. The topics are considered important for the future and emphasize diseases that strike large numbers of people or exposures that affect large segments of the population. This review highlights literature published between the years 2000 to 2001 related to air pollution, occupational asthma, lung diseases in agricultural workers, nylon flock workers lung disease, pneumoconiosis, and environmental exposure to biomass smoke, including environmental tobacco smoke. These publications highlight the changing world of occupational and environmental lung diseases. Traditionally, this field dealt with chronic diseases caused by very high levels of exposure to materials that affected virtually all workers to a similar degree. Disease could be recognized readily by characteristic symptoms, signs, and radiographic abnormalities. Dose-effect relationships were usually clear, and the solution to disease was generally to limit exposure for all workers. This approach served well for conditions such as coal workers pneumoconiosis or toxic responses to chlorine gas. The new world of occupational and environmental lung diseases often involves low levels of exposure to complex mixtures of materials that produce nonspecific or intermittent symptoms in a subgroup of exposed individuals. Interactions between genetic susceptibility, concomitant tobacco smoke exposure, and co-morbid diseases hugely complicate both diagnosis and prevention. New tools, and possibly new thought paradigms, are needed to detect, treat, and prevent occupational and environmental lung diseases in a changing world.
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PMID:Review: occupational and environmental lung disease. 1184 7