title: Electron microscopic analyses of dust from the lungs and the lymph nodes of talc-mine employees.
abstract: The primary purpose of the present study was to obtain microscopic analyses of the lung and lymph-node dust samples from 12 deceased Austrian workers who had been exposed occupationally to dust of talc and other mineral impurities in a talc deposit for many years. The results of the analyses of both fibers and particles are presented. A second goal of the study was to search for a relationship between different grades of pneumoconiotic effects and the concentration, size distribution and the chemical composition of the retained particles. Automatic analysis of approximately regularly shaped particles with a computer-controlled scanning electron microscope (CCSEM) was used for this purpose, while the fiber content was determined manually on the SEM-screen. The SEM examination of real and irregularly shaped fibers at a magnification of 6000x resulted in an average concentration that was increased slightly in comparison to that found in so-called normal lungs. Fibers were rather short with a mean length of 3 microns; 95% of the fibers had a length less than 10 microns. There was reasonable agreement between medical findings and mineralogical analyses concerning the grade of pneumoconiosis in most of the cases.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008297:Male; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008875:Middle Aged; D008906:Mining; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D010316:Particle Size; D013627:Talc
chemical_list: D004391:Dust; D013627:Talc