Environmental Asbestotic Pleural Plaques in Northeast Corsica: Correlations with Airborne and Pleural Mineralogic Analysis

We report a prevalence study of environmental pleural plaques in subjects over 50 years old from the northeastern Corsican village of Murato, built on asbestos surface deposits. The percentage of plaques was 41%, versus 7.5% in the control village of Vezzani. Although surface deposits contain both chrysotile and tremolite, airborne pollution and asbestos lung burden of exposed inhabitants consist essentially of tremolite as assessed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). However, TEM analysis of the parietal pleura of three animals bred in exposed areas showed a predominance of short fibers of chrysotile. The respective roles of tremolite and chrysotile in inducing pleural plaques in Corsica should thus be considered.—Environ Health Perspect 102(Suppl 5):251–252 (1994

Maturation of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) and somatostatin (SRIF) neuronal systems in the hypothalamus of growing ewe lambs

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Environmental pleural plaques in an asbestos exposed population of northeast Corsica.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the inhabitants of villages environmentally exposed to asbestos, in northeast Corsica, had a higher incidence of pleural plaques. X-rays were obtained from subjects aged over 50 yrs, with no occupational exposure to asbestos or history of pleural disease, in one village exposed to asbestos, Murato, and a nonexposed, control village, Vezzani. In addition, the mineral content of the air and parietal pleura of animals in the exposed zone was studied, using transmission electron microscopy. The incidence of bilateral pleural plaques in the exposed population was 41%, as compared to 7.5% in the nonexposed population (p < 0.00001). The levels of airborne tremolite were higher in Murato (6-72 ng.m-3) than in Vezzani (< 1 ng.m-3), but chrysotile levels were similar. Significant numbers of chrysotile and tremolite fibres were identified in the parietal pleura of animals from the exposed village. This study confirms the well-known correlation between bilateral pleural plaques and environmental exposure to low levels of asbestos.Journal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe