Bill Aycock on thu 5 feb 98
The latest issue of "Science News" (Jan31,1998,Vol153,no5,pages 65-80) has
an article on page 68, titled "How inhaled dust harms the lungs" . Like
almost all articles in this publication, it is a reporters synopsis of one
or more studies published in the open scientific literature.
This article, as the title implies, concerns dust. The concentration is on
Urban dust, and the mechanism within the lungs and blood that is the
response to the invasion of the dust particles. Stuff about how the
Macrophages gather to combat the invaders, and, if too many get there, they
cause the inflamtion, not the particle.
However, of interest to we clay and glaze people, is this quote:
"Studies by EPA suggest that certain metals- especially Iron, Vanadium,
Nickel and Copper- in smoke from combustion of fossil fuels trigger
particularly aggressive inflammatory responses by lung cells. These metals
play a "preeminate" role in the toxicity of airborne particlulates".
Your local library probably has a copy of this weekly publication; it is
worth reading. I find many items of interest there, and usually read each
issue (they average only about 16-18 pages) from cover-to-cover.
They have a web page:
http://www.sciencenews.org/sn_wekly/sn_ind98.htm
The full text of the article (less than a page) is there.
Bill, looking out at a beautiful snowscape, on Persimmon Hill.
Bill Aycock --- Persimmon Hill
Woodville, Alabama, US 35776
(in the N.E. corner of the State)
W4BSG -- Grid EM64vr
baycock@HiWAAY.net
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