[Alveolar microlithiasis. A study of minerals in the lung].

A pulmonary scintigraph of pyrophosphate was performed to assess calcium metabolism in a man of 39 with alveolar microlithiasis, as was histologic study with a mineral analysis of wave-length dispersion and an analysis crossing the microliths enclosed in the resin. Two treatments were tried without success: First with diphosphonates and then alveolar lavage.

Cortical Air Spaces (Aerenchyma) in Roots of Corn Subjected to Oxygen Stress: STRUCTURE AND INFLUENCE ON UPTAKE AND TRANSLOCATION OF RUBIDIUM IONS.

When the seminal root system of 14-day-old corn (Zea mays cv. Dekalb 202) was subjected to O(2) stress, nodal roots with well developed cortical air spaces (aerenchyma) grew into the deoxygenated solution. Microscopic examination showed that there was extensive breakdown of cells in the midcortex of these roots, while the stele, endodermis, and inner layer of cortical cells remained complete, as did the outer layers of the cortex and the epidermis.

[Pneumoconiosis due to amorphous silica smoke. Mineralogical and ultrastructural study of 6 cases (author's transl)].

Pneumoconiosis was diagnosed in 10 patients working in a silicon factory. The exposure time varied between seven and thirty-five years. All patients had only slight or no symptoms, except one presenting an important dyspnea.