Characterization of lung burden E.M.P.S.

The physical characterisation of retained EMPS is extremely important in providing information regarding the aetiology of the disease they may produce. It is now accepted that the biological effects fibres may produce in lung tissue once deposited are closely related to their concentration but more critically to their variation in length and diameter. To assess the disease risk of exposure to EMPs it is necessary to accurately describe their lengths and diameter distribution.

Barriers and motivators towards a national final year assessment in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland for veterinary undergraduates.

In the final year of the course schools assess students to ensure a minimum level of knowledge and skills is achieved before graduation as a veterinary surgeon. Across the universities, different styles and combinations of assessments are used. A national assessment could provide a solution to maintain quality and potential employability of veterinary surgeons.

Usual interstitial pneumonia in asbestos-exposed cohorts - concurrent idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis or atypical asbestosis?

Aims: To determine whether usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) pattern fibrosis is seen in asbestosis.

Methods And Results: The occurrence of UIP pattern fibrosis was studied in four asbestos cohorts systematically referred following postmortem to the UK Pneumoconiosis Unit, Cardiff. The combined exposed workforce comprised >25 000 persons.

Long-Term Outcomes of Trabeculectomy Augmented with Mitomycin C Undertaken within the First 2 Years of Life.

Purpose: To evaluate the long-term effectiveness and safety of mitomycin C (MMC)-augmented trabeculectomy undertaken within the first 2 years of life for the surgical management of glaucoma.

Design: Retrospective, consecutive, noncomparative case series.

Participants: All children who underwent MMC-augmented trabeculectomy within 2 years of birth between May 2002 and November 2012.

Applying definitions of "asbestos" to environmental and "low-dose" exposure levels and health effects, particularly malignant mesothelioma.

Although asbestos research has been ongoing for decades, this increased knowledge has not led to consensus in many areas of the field. Two such areas of controversy include the specific definitions of asbestos, and limitations in understanding exposure-response relationships for various asbestos types and exposure levels and disease. This document reviews the current regulatory and mineralogical definitions and how variability in these definitions has led to difficulties in the discussion and comparison of both experimental laboratory and human epidemiological studies for asbestos.

Lung fiber burden in the Nottingham gas mask cohort.

A cohort of 1,154 employees, mainly women, who had worked 1940-1945 on the manufacture of military gas masks using filter pads containing 20% crocidolite, was traced through 2003, by which time 65 were known to have died from mesothelioma. The last known death with mesothelioma was in 1994, whereas a further 5 cases would have been expected in those with known duration of exposure. Lung tissue samples, from 50 deaths from mesothelioma and 20 other causes, had been analyzed for mineral fiber content.

Lung fibre burden in lung cancer cases employed in the rock and slag wool industry.

Objectives: To evaluate the relationship between estimated exposure to man-made vitreous fibres (MMVF) and to asbestos fibres and their concentration in the lung tissue of lung cancer cases amongst MMVF production workers.

Methods: Retrospective retrieval of available lung tissue specimens was conducted following a case-control study that assessed estimated occupational exposures of MMVF workers. Fibre recovery and analysis by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were conducted to determine fibre type, fibre dimension and numbers per gram of dry lung tissue.

[X-linked hyper-IGM syndrome associated to sclerosing cholangitis and gallbladder neoplasm: clinical case].

We report a 11 years old male diagnosed as a X-linked hyper-IgM syndrome that presented with recurrent infections and sclerosing cholangitis and later developed a gallbladder cancer. Immunological evaluation showed decreased levels of serum IgG and IgA with elevated levels of IgM. Study of CD40 ligand expression on mitogen activated peripheral blood mononuclear cells revealed total absence of this marker on T lymphocytes.

99mTc-SnF2 colloid "LLK": particle size, morphology and leucocyte labelling behaviour.

99mTc-SnF2 colloid (Radpharm LLK) leucocyte labelling agent is used in whole blood, exploiting phagocytosis. The objectives of this work were to optimize leucocyte labelling in leucocyte-enriched plasma, and to investigate: (i) the effect of temperature and other factors on labelling efficiency; (ii) the selectivity for different leucocyte types; (iii) the viability of the labelled cells and efflux of the radiolabel; and (iv) the physical characteristics of the colloid. Density gradient centrifugation was used to investigate the labelling efficiency, cell selectivity and efflux, Trypan blue to study the viability, and laser scattering, electron microscopy and membrane filtration to investigate particle size and morphology.

Pulmonary epithelial response in the rat lung to instilled Montserrat respirable dusts and their major mineral components.

Background: The Soufriere Hills, a stratovolcano on Montserrat, started erupting in July 1995, producing volcanic ash, both from dome collapse pyroclastic flows and phreatic explosions. The eruptions/ash resuspension result in high concentrations of suspended particulate matter in the atmosphere, which includes cristobalite, a mineral implicated in respiratory disorders.

Aims: To conduct toxicological studies on characterised samples of ash, together with major components of the dust mixture (anorthite, cristobalite), and a bioreactive mineral control (DQ12 quartz).

Case-referent survey of young adults with mesothelioma: II. Occupational analyses.

Objectives: Our study aimed to identify occupations at increased risk of developing mesothelioma in persons aged 50 yr or less, and to relate these occupations to lung tissue concentration of asbestos fibres by type. In this age group it was thought that most, but not all, work-related exposures would have been since 1970, when the importation of crocidolite, but not amosite, was virtually eliminated.

Methods: Eligible cases were sought from recent reports by chest physicians to the SWORD occupational disease surveillance scheme.

Case-referent survey of young adults with mesothelioma: I. Lung fibre analyses.

Objectives: Our study aimed to determine the lung tissue concentration of asbestos and other mineral fibres by type and length in persons with mesothelioma aged 50 yr or less at time of diagnosis, compared to controls of similar age and geographical region. In this age group it was thought that most, but not all, work-related exposures would have been since 1970, when the importation of crocidolite, but not amosite, was virtually eliminated.

Methods: Eligible cases were sought from recent reports by chest physicians to the SWORD occupational disease surveillance scheme.

Asbestos lung fibre concentrations in South African chrysotile mine workers.

Mesothelioma has not been found in South African chrysotile miners and millers despite decades of producing about 100000 tons of the mineral per year. One possible explanation for the scarcity or absence of the cancer may be a relative lack of contaminating fibrous tremolite, an amphibole that variably occurs with chrysotile ores. The fibre content in the lungs of nine former chrysotile mine workers was ascertained by transmission electron microscopy.

Malignant vascular tumours of the pleura in "asbestos" workers and endothelial differentiation in malignant mesothelioma.

Background: Three cases of diffuse malignant vascular tumours of the pleura are described which mimicked malignant mesothelioma clinically and pathologically (so called "pseudomesothelioma"). All had occupational histories of exposure to asbestos. The relationship of these tumours to mesothelioma and asbestos exposure is discussed.

Mineral fibre analysis and routes of exposure to asbestos in the development of mesothelioma in an English region.

Objectives: To compare the concentrations of inorganic fibres in the lungs in cases of mesothelioma and controls: to determine whether concentrations of retained asbestos fibres differ with the different exposures identified from interview; and to investigate the existence of a cut off point in concentrations of asbestos fibres that indicates occupational exposure.

Methods: Case-control study; 147 confirmed cases of mesothelioma and 122 controls identified from deaths occurring in four districts of Yorkshire between 1979 and 1991. Surviving relatives were interviewed to determine lifetime exposure history to asbestos.

A multi-institutional study confirms the presence and expression of simian virus 40 in human malignant mesotheliomas.

Exposure to the carcinogen asbestos is a major factor in the development of malignant mesothelioma. However, not all mesotheliomas are associated with asbestos exposure, and only a small minority of people exposed to asbestos develop mesothelioma. Therefore, the identification of the cofactors that render certain individuals more susceptible to asbestos or that cause mesothelioma in people not exposed to asbestos has been a major priority of the International Mesothelioma Interest Group.

The response of lung epithelium to well characterised fine particles.

Diesel particles form a large component of the fine particle fraction (PM10) in urban air in the UK. During pollution episodes small increases in PM10 have been linked to detrimental health effects. The comparative toxicological effects of diesel exhaust and other well-characterised particles (carbon black, amorphous and crystalline silica) on rat respiratory epithelium were investigated in the present study.

Exposure and mineralogical correlates of pulmonary fibrosis in chrysotile asbestos workers.

Objectives: The relation between lifetime cumulative exposure to asbestos, pathological grade of pulmonary fibrosis, and lung burden of asbestos at death, was explored in a necropsy population of former workers in a chrysotile asbestos textile plant in South Carolina.

Methods: Estimates of cumulative, mean, and peak exposures to asbestos were available for 54 workers. Necropsy records and lung tissue samples were obtained from hospital files.

Mesothelioma in a community in the north of England.

Objectives: To find the numbers of mesotheliomas in Calderdale over the period 1966-94 and determine their relation to asbestos exposure, pathology, and mineral fibre burden within the lungs of affected subjects.

Methods: Cases were entered into the study if the subject has been diagnosed with mesothelioma after postmortem and histopathological examinations. Occupational data were obtained mainly from the case records of the Cape Asbestos medical officer, hospital, and medical practitioner and from death certificates.

Analysis and interpretation of inorganic mineral particles in "lung" tissues.

Mineral analysis of tissue specimens has provided very useful information in pathological conditions associated with occupational exposures to mineral particles, particularly when combined with epidemiological information. Most of the data have been related to exposures to fibrous particles such as asbestos. More investigations of this nature are required in diseases associated with exposure to non-fibrous particles.

Fiber levels and disease in workers from a factory predominantly using amosite.

The Cape Boards Plant at Uxbridge produced insulation board containing amosite asbestos between 1947 and 1973 with only small amounts of chrysotile. After 1973 only amosite was used. In this study we examined lung samples from 48 workers who had been employed at the plant and who had come to autopsy.

Fuller's earth (montmorillonite) pneumoconiosis.

A fuller's earth worker developed signs of pneumoconiosis. Pathological examination of the lung tissues showed interstitial collections of dust laden macrophages associated with mild fibrosis. Mineralogical analysis showed a high content of montmorillonite.

Retention patterns of asbestos fibres in lung tissue among asbestos cement workers.

Retention patterns in lung tissue (determined by transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectrometry) of chrysotile, tremolite, and crocidolite fibres were analysed in 69 dead asbestos cement workers and 96 referents. There was an accumulation of tremolite with time of employment. Among workers who died within three years of the end of exposure, the 13 with high tremolite concentrations had a significantly longer duration of exposure than seven in a low to intermediate category (medians 32 v 20 years; p = 0.

Malignant mesothelioma in women.

Background: Malignant mesothelioma reportedly shows different epidemiology and pathology in females, and a proportion are believed to arise spontaneously.

Methods: One hundred and seventy seven cases of malignant mesothelioma in females were reviewed, examined by histochemistry and immunohistochemistry, assessed for asbestosis and lung fibre burden by transmission electron microscopy with energy dispersive x ray analysis, and compared with 31 female controls.

Results: Two of one hundred and three cases tested for carcinoembryonic antigen were positive and were excluded from further analysis.