A 57 year old man, receiving compensation for talc pneumoconiosis since 1977, was admitted to hospital for the first time in 1987, with symptoms of weight loss, fever, dyspnoea and productive cough. A chest roentgenogram showed bilateral cavitation. Two years later, Mycobacterium xenopi was found in sputum cultures. Despite specific oral antibiotherapy, the patient's health deteriorated and he ...

Talc deposits include asbestos minerals such as chrysotile and amphiboles that may be carried over into consumer products. Optical microscopy and x-ray diffraction analyses may not reveal their presence. Examples are given of electron microscopy procedures that permit detection and measurement.

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Sodic amphiboles in high pressure and ultrahigh pressure (UHP) metamorphic rocks are complex solid solutions in the system Na2O±MgO±Al2O3±SiO2± H2O (NMASH) whose compositions vary with pressure and temperature. We conducted piston-cylinder experiments at 20±30 kbar and 700±800 °C to investigate the stability and compositional variations of sodic amphiboles, based on the reaction glaucophane ˆ 2...

BACKGROUND Malignant pleural effusions (MPEs) remain a common problem, with 40,000 new cases in the United Kingdom each year and up to 250,000 in the United States. Traditional management of MPE usually involves an inpatient stay with placement of a chest drain, followed by the instillation of a pleural sclerosing agent such as talc, which aims to minimise further fluid build-up. Despite a good...