From an original prospective cohort of 244 current and ex-workers in two asbestos cement plants, longitudinal radiographic data covering ten years were available for 165 and lung function data covering about six years for 150. Estimates of average and cumulative dust exposure were available for each participant, all men. Radiographic progression (onset or worsening) was assessed by comparing earliest and latest films side by side. Annual changes in lung function were computed by fitting regression lines to all the data points. Small opacities (ILO category 1/0 or higher) were found in 16% of initial films, and progression of small opacities occurred in 13% of film pairs. Average and cumulative dust exposure were each significant determinants of the initial presence of small opacities, and were determinants of the progression of both parenchymal and pleural abnormalities. There was greater likelihood of progression if an abnormality was initially present, and a greater likelihood of progression in the plant that had systematic use of some crocidolite. Initial levels of lung function were related to smoking, exposure to dust, and initial radiographic status. Mean annual declines in lung function were modest (FVC-0.017 l/y, FEV1-0.020 l/y) and were related to smoking but not exposure to dust, initial radiographic status, or radiographic progression. Both plants used mainly chrysotile asbestos and exposure levels declined severalfold after 1960. Our findings suggest a waning effect of the larger remote dust exposures on recent annual change in lung function. This accords with human and experimental pathology data showing the relatively low resistance of chrysotile fibres to chemical alteration and clearance.

Change, in the context of computing environments, can assume a number of forms, varying widely in nature and degree. At Tulane University, Tulane Computing Services initiated a significant change in the Office of the President of the University: the existing system of stand-alone MS-DOS microcomputers was replaced by a Macintosh local area network complete with laser printing, mainframe communications, and shared file access. In this instance, the director of the department (the President of the University) directed that the change take place, and the central computing organization and the President's office staff worked together to accomplish the transition to the new computing environment. The change was effected with minimal disruption to the department's operations.This paper describes the successful implementation of change from one computing environment to another. We discuss the planning and preparation involved in facilitating change, the training and education required for those involved in the change, and the attitudes of the individuals affected by the change. An important component of the process was interviews conducted with those involved. These interviews were conducted in order to determine the factors which influence an individual's attitudes toward change, specifically in the context of computing environments.

ABSTRACTThe Tulane Computing Services (TCS) Faculty Computing Resource Library contains computing resources which can be borrowed on a short-term basis by Tulane University faculty. Library holdings include microcomputer software and documentation, mainframe computer documentation, computing books and periodicals, and computing hardware (microcomputers, modems and cables).The Library was established to provide faculty with access to a central repository of computing resources for evaluation and short-term, occasional use. Holdings are listed in a regularly updated catalog. One of the computing services staff consultants serves as Library Coordinator with assistance from student employees and the TCS Consultants Bureau secretary.All faculty are eligible to become members of the Faculty Computing Resource Library. To become a member, the individual must sign a User's Agreement acknowledging copyright and licensing laws and accepting responsibility for lost or damaged software, documentation and equipment.Holdings for the Library are purchased from vendors as permitted by the Computing Services budget. Many items have been donated to the Library, both by vendors and by the dean's offices of the University's schools and colleges. The University Library provides advice on aspects of library management and acquisition of holdings.

Longitudinal measurement is increasingly used to quantify the effects of recent and ongoing influences on lung function, whether treatments of groups of patients, or exposures of working or community populations. The variability in an estimate, eg, mean annual change in FEV1, comes from two sources; variability from true differences in annual change among individuals (called signal), and variability from measurement error (called noise). Signal is useful variability, potentially relatable to explanatory variables, and noise is extraneous. Assuming the variance of true differences remains constant, any increase in noise produces a calculable fall in the proportion of signal in the total observation, which fall we term "signal decay". This is not a function of the number of individuals, which influences rather the statistical power to determine that observed differences are not likely from chance alone. Imprecision in the estimation of individuals' rates of change is a major source of signal decay. Within practical limits, this can be compensated for by increasing the length of the study. Higher rates of subject attrition cause signal decay, in addition to loss of statistical power and susceptibility to survivor bias. Increasing the frequency of testing, within a study of constant length, has little effect on signal and noise, but interval testing protects against secular bias and minimizes data loss from subject attrition.

Desktop publishing by a university computing services provides a way to (1) rapidly produce professional quality locally-written computer documentation, (2) expose university administrators to cost-effective microcomputer services, and (3) help to defray the cost of microcomputer support.During the summer of 1986, Tulane Computing Services (TCS) faced a lack of locally-written documentation for its new IBM 3081 mainframe computer and the need to defray the cost of microcomputer support and services in the absence of a university charge-back mechanism for these services. Partial solutions to these problems were achieved with the purchase of an Apple Computer Desktop Publishing “bundle,” consisting of a Macintosh Plus and a LaserWriter Plus, and the page layout program PageMaker, and by offering desktop publishing services to the university community on a fee basis. Initially, a single person in the computing services consulting division was responsible for all of TCS's desktop publishing activities. This person prepared all of the computing services' locally-written computer documentation. Additionally, in cooperation with the administrative department responsible for all university publications, desktop publishing assignments from university departments other than computing services were accepted on a fee basis.

The university computing services newsletter is the most effective, efficient and consistent way to reach the largest number of computer users. It can also be more than a way to disseminate technical information and news to computer users. The newsletter is tangible evidence of the activities of computing services staff both for end-users and university administrators. It serves as a record of the progress of the computing services, provides incentive for staff to complete projects in a timely manner and signifies a commitment by the computing services to a stable end-user environment.In 1986, Tulane Computing Services (TCS) went from intermittent production of a newsletter which received little attention from users to a six-times yearly, professional quality publication which has attracted the attention of the University computing community, University administrators and computing services and libraries at other universities. There were eight key factors involved in this transition: (1) management commitment (financial, technical and personnel) to a professional quality newsletter; (2) access to state-of-the-art desktop publishing technology; (3) increased staff commitment to the publication; (4) cooperation with the administrative department responsible for all University publications; (5) development of a consistent newsletter format compatible with that used for all TCS publications; (6) dedication to providing a stable end-user environment; (7) increased access to information from computing services administrators, systems programmers and operations staff; and (8) the hiring of an individual with graphics design and computer expertise who was primarily responsible for all desktop publishing done within the computing services.

Evaluations of asbestos-exposed populations have demonstrated a variety of immunologic abnormalities in peripheral blood. The most consistent have been decreased cell-mediated immunity, as manifested by decreased T-cell numbers and function, and hyperactive humoral immunity, manifested by hypergammaglobulinemia and autoantibodies. 1 deShazo RD Present concepts concerning the pathogenesis of asbestosis and silicosis. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 1982; 70: 41-49 Abstract Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (32) Google Scholar

Predictors of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have been identified in the prospective epidemiologic study of the population of Tecumseh, Michigan. Risk of developing COPD within 10 yr can be estimated from a profile that includes as risk factors age, sex, cigarette smoking habits, and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1). The index of risk placed 63% of male incidence cases and 64% of female incidence cases in the top 10% of the risk distribution and 81% of male and 86% of female COPD cases in the top 20% of the risk distribution for Tecumseh. The validity of the Tecumseh index of risk for other populations was determined in a collaborative investigation of data collected in longitudinal epidemiologic studies in Baltimore, Boston, Framingham, Louisiana, Staveley, and Tucson. The extent to which the risk model fitted these data sets was assessed by comparing predicted (or expected) onsets of COPD in each population with observations made in each study. The predictors of COPD identified in Tecumseh were shown to be the most important risk factors in the other populations as well. The goodness-of-fit of the index was satisfactory overall. In all populations, a high risk score was associated with an increased incidence of COPD, thus confirming the predictive ability of the risk index. The Tecumseh index of risk provides a practical method for developing a risk profile from answers to standard questions and simple tests of lung function. Risks are greatest for heavy cigarette smokers with reduced lung function, lower in smokers who stop smoking or reduce their cigarette consumption, and lowest of all in nonsmokers with above average lung function.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Marine engineers undergoing routine annual chest roentgenography showed an unusual prevalence of pleural abnormalities including plaques suggestive of past asbestos exposure. A pilot survey, and a subsequent comprehensive study of the films of more than 5,000 men, showed an overall prevalence of 12% with pleural abnormality (typical calcification or plaque, or diffuse thickening). Prevalence of films classifiable for pneumoconiotic small opacities was negligible--1.2% in the pilot study. Prevalences of pleural abnormality were significantly higher among men with longer union membership, after controlling for age. Older merchant ships contain substantial amounts of asbestos-containing thermal insulation. Marine engineers often remove and reapply insulation, operations known to produce high airborne fiber concentrations. These roentgenographic survey results indicate significant past asbestos exposures of ships' engineering department personnel.

We investigated the ability of smoker and nonsmoker pulmonary alveolar macrophages (AM) to facilitate lymphocyte proliferative responses in a novel system allowing separation of lymphocyte and AM effects. Bronchoalveolar lavage cells (BLC) were obtained from 7 nonsmokers and 5 older smokers and cultured with purified peripheral blood lymphocytes (PL) and the mitogen phytohemagglutinin. Increasing amounts of BLC were added such that BLC/PL ratios were 1:100, 1:10, 1:2, 1:1 of either autologous or homologous PL. Lymphocyte proliferation was dose-related, increasing with 1:100 and 1:10 BLC/PL ratios, and decreasing to or below initial responses with 1:2 or 1:1 ratios. Depletion of T-lymphocytes from BLC demonstrated that these effects were mediated by AM. Phytohemagglutinin (PHA) dose-response curves of nonsmokers obtained using autologous or homologous PL were not different. When BLC from smokers were cultured with autologous PL, lymphocyte proliferative responses were less than those of similar cultures from nonsmokers. However, when similar smoker BLC were cultured with homologous PL from nonsmokers, proliferative responses were not different from those of nonsmokers. Peak proliferative responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells were not different from maximal proliferative responses of PL-BLC cultures at any PHA dose. These data show that human AM provide dose-related help and suppression of mitogen-induced lymphocyte proliferation similar to that reported with peripheral blood macrophages. Smoker AM facilitated mitogen-driven proliferation of homologous PL in a normal fashion, demonstrating the utility of this culture system in distinguishing lymphocyte effects present in autologous cultures.

Letters and Corrections1 March 1983Cotton Dust and Lung DiseaseJ.E. DIEM, PH.D., R.N. JONES, M.D.J.E. DIEM, PH.D.Search for more papers by this author, R.N. JONES, M.D.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-98-3-410_1 SectionsAboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail ExcerptTo the editor: The report by Beck and colleagues (1) does not mention a major problem in their study of active and retired cotton textile workers. In the original study (2), the initial target population was 551 card or weave room employees, of whom 377 were assumed to be still alive. Only 152 of the 377 employees were studied. The investigators then added 540 subjects to their study by relaxing their criteria to include other job categories and less stringent dates of employment. Unfortunately, the authors of the original report could no longer define the total population and ". ....References1. BECK G, SCHACHTER E, MAUNDER L, and SCHILLING R. A prospective study of chronic lung disease in cotton textile workers. Ann Intern Med. 1982;97:645-51. LinkGoogle Scholar2. BOUHUYS A, SCHOENBERG J, BECK G, and SCHILLING R. Epidemiology of chronic lung disease in a cotton mill community. Lung. 1977;154:167-86. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. MITCHELL C, SCHILLING R, and BOUHUYS A. Community studies of lung disease in Connecticut: organization and methods. Am J Epidemiol. 1976;103:212-25. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar1. BOUHUYS A, SCHOENBERG J, BECK G, and SCHILLING R. Epidemiology of chronic lung disease in a cotton mill community. Lung. 1977;154:167-86. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar2. BOUHUYS A, BECK G, and SCHOENBERG J. Epidemiology of environmental lung disease. Yale J Bio Med. 1979;52:191-210. MedlineGoogle Scholar3. BECK G, SCHACHTER E, MAUNDER L, and SCHILLING R. A prospective study of chronic lung disease in cotton textile workers. Ann Intern Med. 1982;97:645-51. LinkGoogle Scholar This content is PDF only. To continue reading please click on the PDF icon. Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAuthors: J.E. DIEM, PH.D.; R.N. JONES, M.D.Affiliations: Tulane University School of Medicine New Orleans, LA 70112 PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Metrics 1 March 1983Volume 98, Issue 3Page: 410-410KeywordsDustLungs ePublished: 1 December 2008 Issue Published: 1 March 1983 PDF downloadLoading ...