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

A simple pneumoconiosis with lamellar birefringent crystals was observed in animals dying in the San Diego Zoo. We studied 100 autopsies from 11 mammalian and eight avian species. In mammals, mild pulmonary lesions comprised crystal-laden macrophages in alveoli and lymphatics. Interstitial fibrosis was present in 20% of cases. There were no nodules. In birds, dust retention produced large granulomas around tertiary bronchi without fibrosis. Mineralogic analysis using scanning and transmission electron microscopy showed most of the crystals to be silicates. Ninety percent were complex silicates, with aluminum-potassium silicates comprising 70% of the analyzed particles. Electron and x-ray diffraction showed the silicates to be muscovite mica and its hydrothermal degradation product, ie, illite clay. This mica was also present on filtration membranes of atmospheric air samples obtained from the San Diego Zoo. The amount of dust retention was related to the animal's age, anatomic or ecologic variances, and length of stay in the San Diego Zoo. Its semidesert atmosphere is rich in silicates, which are inhaled and deposited in the lungs. Similar mica-induced lesions are found in humans living in this region or the Southwest of the USA. This simple pneumoconiosis is likely to be widespread in human populations living in desert or semidesert climates.
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PMID:Comparative pathology of silicate pneumoconiosis. 22 47

Current topics for occupational and environmental medicine and physiology in the U.S.A., especially in the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and the University of California, San Francisco, are reviewed. Reduction of the rate for occupational lung diseases is one of the national objectives for occupational safety and health in the U.S.A., and NIOSH has rated it as the top disease of ten-leading work-related diseases and injuries. Current topics for occupational lung diseases--asbestosis, byssinosis, silicosis, coal worker's pneumoconiosis, lung cancer, and occupational asthma & hyperreactivity, and for pathophysiology of airway hyperreactiveness and pulmonary edema are discussed.
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PMID:[Current topics for occupational and environmental medicine and physiology in the U.S.A.--with special reference to occupational lung diseases]. 352 79