An interdisciplinary approach to measurement

Our plain-English summary of An interdisciplinary approach to measurement (Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 1969).

The study

• Journal: Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine
• Published: 1969;62(5):491-2
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

This meeting had as its theme the importance of good communications between workers in different disciplines. Papers and demonstrations were presented on a range of topics as apparently unrelated as the intraocular pressure, the tension of nitrogen in blood, and the experimental production of mesothelial tumours. In his introduction Dr J C Gilson showed how these were some recent end-products of research into pneumoconiosis. The work of the Pneumoconiosis Research Unit was centred round the properties of airborne dust and the acute and long-term effects of its inhalation. Studies ranged from the immunological responses of coal workers to surveys of men in some of the world's major asbestos fields; the latter were selected on account of the exposure to dust differing from that of workers in the UK in being confined to a single type of fibre. One link between the different studies was the features of the chest radiographs. For rounded opacities these were now read using the ILO Classification which was largely developed at the Unit; Dr Gilson demonstrated a recent extension to include the irregular opacities which are associated with exposure to asbestos.

In plain English

This item was not a research study. It was a short report of a meeting of the Section of Measurement in Medicine, held in October at the Pneumoconiosis Research Unit, Llandough Hospital, Penarth. The theme was communication between workers in different disciplines. The report described the Unit's work on airborne dust and the effects of inhaling it. This included surveys of men in some of the world's major asbestos fields, chosen because their dust exposure was confined to a single type of fibre. Dr J C Gilson demonstrated an extension of the ILO Classification of chest radiographs to include the irregular opacities associated with asbestos exposure. Dr V Timbrell discussed how dust deposition in the lung influenced the choice of particle sizes for the International Union Against Cancer's standard reference samples of asbestos. Dr J C Wagner presented some results in experimental asbestosis, analysed by Mr G Berry. The report gave no numbers or details of those results. Other presentations covered glaucoma, symptoms of anemia and lung function.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Report of a scientific meeting summarising papers and demonstrations; not an original study
• Who was studied: A meeting held in October at the MRC Pneumoconiosis Research Unit, Llandough Hospital, Penarth, Glamorgan. The Unit's work described included surveys of men in some of the world's major asbestos fields. No numbers of people are given.
• Exposure: Airborne dust in general. For the asbestos field surveys, exposure was confined to a single type of fibre (the fibre types are not named). Also the International Union Against Cancer's standard reference samples of asbestos, given to laboratory animals in exposure chambers.
• Main results:
  • Dr J C Gilson demonstrated an extension of the ILO Classification of chest radiographs to include irregular opacities associated with exposure to asbestos.
  • Dr V Timbrell discussed the physical mechanisms of dust deposition in the lung and how these influenced the choice of particle size distribution of the International Union Against Cancer's standard reference samples of asbestos.
  • Dr J C Wagner presented some results in experimental asbestosis, analysed by Mr G Berry. The report gives no figures or findings from this work.
  • In glaucoma, Dr P A Graham did not find intraocular pressure a good guide to the need for therapy.
  • Dr P C Elwood used a method for assessing subjective symptoms to show an absence of symptoms associated with a moderate anemia.
• The authors' conclusion: The report's closing view was that the personal exchange of views was of greatest value to participants, along with a new awareness of the contribution to some medical research of close working relationships between people of different disciplines.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Pneumoconiosis, Chest X-Ray, ILO Classification.

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