Power plant dust is believed to be the main source of the increased presence of the element beryllium in the environment which has been detected in the atmospheric air, surface waters, groundwater, soil, food, and cigarette smoke. In humans, beryllium absorption occurs mainly via the respiratory system. The pharyngeal tonsils are located on the roof of the nasopharynx and are in direct contact ...

Beryllium exposure in the workplace can result in chronic beryllium disease, a granulomatous lung disorder characterized by CD4(+) T cell alveolitis and progressive lung fibrosis. A large number of the CD4(+) T cells recruited to the lung in chronic beryllium disease recognize beryllium in an Ag-specific manner and express Th1-type cytokines following T cell activation. Beryllium-responsive CD4...

The purpose of this study was to determine how two types of sampling data could be used for an exposure assessment in a beryllium shop at the Department of Energy's Rocky Flats Plant. Beryllium exposure was assessed via fixed airhead (FAH) sampling, in which the filter cassette was affixed to the machine, generally within a few feet of the worker's breathing zone. Approximately 500,000 FAH samp...

The synthesis of a linear beryllium bis(diazaborolyl) compound featuring the first non-cluster bond between boron and beryllium has been achieved through the reaction of Yamashita's lithium diazaborolide and BeCl2. In accord with the established chemistry of beryllium, the bonding is polar covalent in character, as determined by structural and spectroscopic analysis, as well as reactivity studies.

In 1933 Weber and Engelhardt reported the first case of acute pneumonitis due to beryllium poisoning. Other instances of the acute reaction to beryllium salts were described by Van Ordstrand, Hughes, DeNardi, and Carmody (1945). Hardy and Tabershaw (1946) gave details of the chronic or delayed form of the disease, and DeNardi, Van Ordstrand, Curtis, and Zielinski (1953) published a review of 46...

Toxic pulmonary disease from beryllium exposure first came to light in the 1930s, soon after the emergence of industrial uses of beryllium alloys. An early manufacturing application for beryllium compounds, as phosphors in fluorescent tubes, was the cause of some of the first known cases of chronic beryllium disease (CBD) (first termed “pulmonary granulomatosis of beryllium workers”). However, ...

RATIONALE Beryllium continues to have a wide range of industrial applications. Exposure to beryllium can lead to sensitization (BeS) and chronic beryllium disease (CBD). OBJECTIVES The purpose of this statement is to increase awareness and knowledge about beryllium exposure, BeS, and CBD. METHODS Evidence was identified by a search of MEDLINE. The committee then summarized the evidence, dre...

BACKGROUND In this study, we evaluated alternative possibility for CFSE beryllium flow cytometric test against beryllium blood lymphocyte proliferation test (BeLPT) as a standard radioactive clinical screening method to identify sensitization to beryllium. METHODS Delta PD (the ratio of divided cell population to the total number of cells with subtracted counts of unstimulated cells) of speci...

The beryllium lymphocyte transformation test was performed on 16 patients with chronic beryllium disease, 10 subjects (seven patients and three young boys) who were under suspicion, and 117 healthy beryllium workers. The tests gave a positive response in all patients with definite disease and a negative response in the suspected group. Two of the healthy workers had a positive response, indicat...

compared with those ofboth the general population and a cohort of viscose-rayon workers. Ratios of observed to expected deaths for lung cancer in the two industrial populations (65 observed) were found to be elevated in both comparisons (1.4 in respect of both the general population (95% confidence interval (CI), 1. 1 1.8) and the viscose-rayon workers (1.0-2.0)) and tended to be concentrated i...