A 45-year-old man with a lung mass and history of charcoal aspiration. (1/6)

A 45-year-old man was seen in consultation for evaluation of a spiculated right-lower-lobe mass that enlarged over 1 year. The patient had suffered accidental instillation of activated charcoal into the right lung via nasogastric tube 2 years prior to this consultation, with resultant respiratory failure, pneumonia, and pneumothorax. Biopsy of the mass showed anthracosis and granulomatous inflammation. A positron emission tomogram was strongly positive at the lesion, and right-lower-lobectomy with partial diaphragmatic resection was performed. On gross examination of the mass, a charcoal concretion was evident. Histologic examination showed intrinsic and surrounding granulomatous inflammation, but without tumor. The patient recovered uneventfully, and after 1 year had not experienced further complications.  (+info)

Changes in health conditions in the Huainan coal mine in the past three decades. (2/6)

Health conditions in the Huainan Coal Mine have improved greatly since 1950. In particular, the work and living environments, the underground dust concentration, the water supply and waste disposal systems, and the nutritional value of miners' food have become much better. Thus the rates of occupational, infectious, and parasitic diseases and nutritional deficiency diseases have decreased considerably among miners. The decreases in the prevalence of anthracosilicosis and hookworm have been especially striking.  (+info)

Occupational safety and health implications of increased coal utilization. (3/6)

An area of major concern in considering increased coal production and utilization is the health and safety of increased numbers of workers who mine, process, or utilize coal. Hazards related to mining activities in the past have been especially serious, resulting in many mine related accidental deaths, disabling injuries, and disability and death from chronic lung disease. Underground coal mines are clearly less safe than surface mines. Over one-third of currently employed underground miners experience chronic lung disease. Other stresses include noise and extremes of heat and cold. Newly emphasized technologies of the use of diesel powered mining equipment and the use of longwall mining techniques may be associated with serious health effects. Workers at coal-fired power plants are also potentially at risk of occupational diseases. Occupational safety and health aspects of coal mining are understood well enough today to justify implementing necessary and technically feasible and available control measures to minimize potential problems associated with increased coal production and use in the future. Increased emphasis on safety and health training for inexperienced coal miners expected to enter the work force is clearly needed. The recently enacted Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 will provide impetus for increased control over hazards in coal mining.  (+info)

Cholelithiasis in Singapore. I. A necropsy study. (4/6)

The present necropsy study shows an oriental pattern of gallstone disease in Singapore, namely, a relatively low overall frequency, an equal involvement of both sexes, a high proportion of pigment stones, and the common occurrence of choledocholithiasis associated with pyogenic cholangitis. There is a close association between opium addiction and cholelithiasis in the adult male Chinese in Singapore, and the long-term abuse of opium may be an important aetiological factor in the pathogenesis of oriental cholelithiasis.  (+info)

Bronchopulmonary infection due to Branhamella catarrhalis: 11 cases assessed by transtracheal puncture. (5/6)

Transtracheal punctures were performed in 193 miners of anthracosilicotic coal who presented with an acute exacerbation of chronic bronchitis. The transtracheal aspirates were bacteriologically positive in 104 patients. Branhamella catarrhalis was isolated in 15 patients; 10 of these responded to chemotherapy, as shown by the resolution of all symptoms and the disappearance of the organism on a repeat transtracheal puncture performed 48 hours after the end of treatment. One ampicillin-treated patient, whose bronchial secretions yielded a beta-lactamase-producing B catarrhalis, showed no improvement. But subsequent treatment with cefuroxime was followed by clinical and bacteriological recovery. B catarrhalis probably acted as an opportunistic respiratory pathogen in these patients, who were probably compromised hosts in view of their clinical history. B catarrhalis normally responds to the penicillins commonly used for respiratory infections, but if treatment fails a transtracheal puncture is essential to identify the strain and determine an appropriate antibiotic.  (+info)

Pulmonary endocrine cells in anthracosilicotic lungs. (6/6)

It has been suggested by some studies of human and animal lungs that the products of pulmonary endocrine cells, particularly gastrin-releasing peptide, might play a role in fibrogenesis, but more recent detailed studies of fibrotic human lungs have failed to confirm this. We have made a detailed quantitative examination of a series of fibrotic human lungs to see if we could determine whether there was any relationship between endocrine cells and fibrosis. Using immunocytochemistry, we investigated the morphology, content, distribution and number of pulmonary endocrine cells in 15 pairs of fibrotic lungs from coal miners, and compared their features with those of equivalent cells in age-matched controls. Proliferation of endocrine cells was seen in the lungs of just two miners, in which it was focal and associated with acute bronchitis and bronchopneumonia. There was no difference between the miners and controls in the appearance (mostly solitary cells), content (predominantly gastrin-releasing peptide and calcitonin), distribution (mainly in small bronchi and bronchioles), or number (4.5 vs 4.1 cells per 10,000 epithelial cells, respectively) of endocrine cells. It seems unlikely that the substances secreted by these cells play any role in stimulating fibrosis in human lungs, but rather that they have a function in the inflammatory response to pulmonary injury.  (+info)