BACKGROUND Agricultural workers are exposed to airborne pollutants, including organic and inorganic (mineral) dusts. OBJECTIVES Lung autopsy specimens from consecutive coroner's cases of Hispanic males in Fresno County, California, (n = 112) were obtained to determine whether mineral dust exposure in agricultural work leads to pneumoconiosis. METHODS The left lung was fixed by inflation. We...

Caplan (1953) suggested for the first time in Great Britain that some cases of rheumatoid arthritis amongst coalminers with pneumoconiosis can be recognized from a characteristic chest x-ray appearance. An epidemiological investigation of this new syndrome showed that this nodular lung fibrosis (Fig. 1, opposite), was associated with rheumatoid arthritis in more than 50 per cent. of cases; it a...

Coal workers' pneumoconiosis, also known as "black lung disease," is an occupational lung disease caused by overexposure to respirable coal mine dust. Inhaled dust leads to inflammation and fibrosis in the lungs, and coal workers' pneumoconiosis can be a debilitating disease. The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 (Coal Act),* amended in 1977, established dust limits for U.S. coal ...

Dust dose and composition do not appear to account wholly for changes in the prevalence of coal workers' pneumoconiosis in Europe. In certain coal pits high progression evidently occurred with relatively low dust exposure or vice versa, whereas progression in relation to dust levels might be variable. Exceptionally high quartz concentrations occur in coal mine dust when pneumoconiosis may progr...

Occupational lung diseases are caused or made worse by exposure to harmful substances in the work-place. "Pneumoconiosis" is the term used for the diseases associated with inhalation of mineral dusts. While many of these broad-spectrum substances may be encountered in the general environment, many occur in the work-place for greater amounts as a result of industrial processes; therefore, a rang...

Although rare, rheumatoid pneumoconiosis, also known as Caplan's syndrome, can occur in workers exposed to silica, as well as in patients with silicosis, coal workers' pneumoconiosis or asbestosis. Prevalence is higher among patients with silicosis, despite the fact that it was originally described in coal workers with pneumoconiosis. The classical finding that defines this syndrome is that of ...