Most studies of respiratory disease from dust exposure in the agricultural workplace have focused on allergic diseases caused by inorganic dusts, specifically occupational asthma and hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Exposures to inorganic (mineral) dusts among farmers and farm workers may be substantial. Such exposures are most frequent in dry-climate farming regions. In such locations farming act...

Dusts generated in the laboratory from soils and sediments are used to evaluate the emission intensities, composition, and environmental and health impacts of mineral aerosols. Laboratory dust generation is also utilized in other disciplines including process control and occupational hygiene in manufacturing, inhalation toxicology, environmental health and epidemiology, and pharmaceutics. Many ...

Giant particles transported over long distances are generally of limited concern in atmospheric studies due to their low number concentrations in mineral dust and possible local origin. However, they can play an important role in regional circulation of earth materials due to their enormous volume concentration. Asian dust laden with giant particles was observed in Korea on 31 March 2012, after...

[1] Atmospheric aerosols produce both a direct radiative forcing by scattering and absorbing solar and infrared radiation, and an indirect radiative forcing by altering cloud processes. Therefore, it is essential to understand the physical processes that contribute to the global aerosol budget. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that mineral dust contributes to 1/3 of all ...

The Dust REgional Atmospheric Model (DREAM) predicts concentrations of mineral dust aerosols in time and space, but validation is challenging with current in-situ particulate matter (PM) concentration measurements. Measured levels of ambient PM often contain anthropogenic components as well as windblown mineral dust. In this study, two approaches at model validation were performed with data fro...

Clear-sky downward and upward radiative flux measurements both in the shortand in the longwave spectral range have been used to estimate and analyze the radiation changes at the surface due to the mineral dust advection at a Central Mediterranean site. Then, shortand long-wave radiative fluxes retrieved from the CERES (Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System) radiometer sensors operating o...

[1] Nitrous acid is an important precursor for OH radicals in the polluted troposphere. The heterogeneous conversion of NO2 to HONO, however, is currently not well understood. Measurements of HONO and NO2 in Phoenix in summer 2001 using long path DOAS show ratios of chemically formed secondary [HONO] to [NO2] that rarely exceeded 3%. During two nocturnal dust storm events, however, a significan...

Methods: A total of 30 Wistar male rats were randomly divided into three groups including one non-exposure group and two groups of combined cigarette smoke and coal dust. Dose of cigarette smoking was one cigarette per day. Dose of coal dust exposure was 12.5 mg/m one hour/day as PM10. Cigarette smoke was exposed prior to coal dust exposure (14 and 28 days). Exposure was done by equipment avail...

The drywall construction trade has in the past been associated with exposure to airborne asbestos fibres. This paper reports a drywall construction worker with 32 years of dust exposure who developed dyspnoea and diminished diffusing capacity, and showed diffuse irregular opacities on chest radiography. He did not respond to treatment with corticosteroids. Open lung biopsy examination showed de...