Jones, B. M., Edwards, J. H., and Wagner, J. C. (1972). Brit. J. industr. Med., 29, 287-292. Absorption of serum proteins by inorganic dusts. Four samples of coal dust of different ranks, five types of asbestos, and a sample of silica were each incubated with normal serum and with IgG and the amount of protein absorbed onto the particle surfaces was estimated. The total amount of protein absorb...

Limited information is available on occupational exposures during routine, nonoutage work activities in coal-fueled power plants. This study evaluated occupational exposures to the principal contaminants in the facilities, including respirable dust (coal dust), arsenic, noise, asbestos, and heat stress. The data were collected over a 3-month period, during the summer of 2001, in 5 facilities th...

Coal-workers in the southern part of Wales are particularly prone to pulmonary disease due to the inhalation of coal dust. In some men discrete foci of dust are scattered more or less uniformly throughout both lungs. This is called simple pneumoconiosis. In others there occur also one or more large localized masses of dust and dense fibrous tissue (Fig. 1). This manifestation is referred to as ...

Accurate measurement of workplace respirable dust concentration is an essential step in eliminating lung disease in any occupational setting. In the United States (U.S.) coal mining industry, this measurement process has relied upon a personal sampler that includes a 10 mm Dorr-Oliver (DO) nylon cyclone operated at a flow rate of 2.0 L min-1 to collect a respirable dust sample. Dust concentrati...

Longitudinal loss of lung function in 1677 coal-miners from five British collieries has been calculated from the results of serial cross-sectional epidemiological surveys and compared with measured concurrent individual respirable dust exposures and partially estimated previous cumulative exposures. Loss of forced expired volume in one second (FEV1) over approximately 11 years was found to incr...

In a study of coal-miners suffering from lung cancer two features of special interest are recorded. The difficulties in diagnosis are illustrated by case reports. The two-year survival rate after surgical removal of the tumour is significantly better in coal-miners than in non-miners. After operation 87% of coal-miners were alive two years later, compared with only 36% of other patients operate...