Emphysema in coal workers' pneumoconiosis

A correlation survey has been carried out between the pathological, physiological, and radiological findings pertaining to emphysema in 247 deceased coal miners and ex-miners, most of whom had been diagnosed as suffering from coal workers' pneumoconiosis during life. The pathological findings, which included large lung sections and detailed histology in every case, were compared with similar findings in a contrast non-mining population matched for age and sex.The results indicated that emphysema was much more common among the coal miners, both with simple and with complicated pneumoconiosis, than among the contrast group. In addition the extent of the emphysema as measured by a recognized "counting" method carried out on paper-mounted lung sections was remarkably closely related to ventilatory impairment as evidenced by the forced expiratory volume in one second.Extensive emphysema was more commonly found in those pneumoconiosis cases, both simple and complicated, showing the finer punctiform type of radiological change than in cases showing the larger micronodular and nodular opacities.

Identification of mineral particles in pneumoconiotic lungs

An extraction replication technique has been used for the study, by electron microscopy, of lung tissue from a number of different cases of pneumoconiosis. The technique provides a relatively simple means of studying the surface area of replicated tissues, and any foreign particles present which are either replicated or extracted from the tissue can be identified. A set of standard micrographs of different types of mineral particles likely to be encountered should be kept for reference. Most of the particles identified by this technique were beyond the limits of resolution of optical microscopy. Furthermore, the procedure involves the minimum of chemical and physical treatment. The histochemical diagnosis and industrial history was confirmed in the first two cases described, by the electron microscopy investigations. The third case presented an uncertain histological and industrial history, but an electron microscopy study confirmed the presence of the mineral particle considered responsible for the clinical condition. The fourth and fifth cases described illustrate the use of this technique in identifying a particular type of pleomorphic mineral, and illustrating its position in situ in relation to surrounding tissue.

Pulmonary changes and cor pulmonale in mucoviscidosis

The lungs of eight cases of cystic fibrosis in patients ranging from age 19 days to 23 years were examined by the large-section technique of Gough and Wentworth (Gough, 1960). All cases showed in life a susceptibility to staphylococcal and pseudomonal bronchopneumonia. In all cases the bronchial tree was plugged with mucus. The lungs from the older patients showed diffuse and pronounced bronchiectasis with luxuriant peribronchial granulation tissue and dilatation of the pulmonary arterial system. The distal air spaces in all cases showed only minimal distension and only in the eldest was there any evidence of destructive emphysema. Three cases developed cor pulmonale which we thought was the result of hypoxaemia due to a ventilation-perfusion imbalance.

An Electron-Microscope Study of the In Vitro Transformation of Human Leucocytes

Macrophages which develop in cultures of human peripheral blood have the typical ultrastructural features of macrophages occurring in other situations, in vivo and in vitro. The cultured cells usually have irregular nuclei and the cytoplasm possesses numerous digestion vacuoles containing debris; the cell outline is irregular with many filopodia. Other cells were laden with membrane-bounded granular bodies containing periodic-structured material of regular outline. Although it is concluded that no evidence about cell ancestry can be adduced from this morphological study, it seems likely from other work that many of these macrophages arise from lymphocytes.

An Electron-Microscope Study of the in vitro Transformation of Human Leucocytes

Electron-microscope studies of cultured small lymphocytes from human peripheral blood transforming into larger blastoid cells in the presence of phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) show that the transformed cell possesses the preliminary stages of development of a protein-synthesizing system. The transformed blastoid cell has abundant ribosomes, although, in contrast with in vivo protein-secreting cells, many of these occur as single particles with only a small proportion Linked in polysomal clusters. Endoplasmic reticulum membranes occur to a very limited extent and with a marked paucity of attached ribosomal particles; the few attached particles are usually located in groups. Some endoplasmic reticulum membranes revealed degenerative changes in otherwise normal cells. A moderately well-developed Golgi apparatus was a characteristic feature of the cells. Apart from the relatively low proportion of polysomes, in vitro PHA-transformed blastoid cells are identical in fine structure to in vivo blast cells (otherwise known as immunoblasts, haemocytoblasts, etc.) occurring in the immune response. It is suggested that messenger-RNA production in PHA-stimulated transformed cells may be reduced and that this could explain the limited number of polysomes and the restricted development of the endoplasmic reticulum.

Significance of a "starry sky" in lymphosarcomata in Britain

Four cases of lymphosarcomata are described in which the histological pattern was identical to that seen in Burkitt's lymphoma. The anatomical distribution was dissimilar in that the disease predominantly affected the reticulo-endothelial system. The arrangement of the histiocytes and lymphoid cells in these tumour groups is similar to that of macrophages and lymphocytes in rosettes seen in leucocyte cultures under certain conditions, and it is suggested that an immunological factor may be responsible for these appearances.