Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine

Our medical research library holds 18 studies published in Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine (1931–1977). Each entry links to the study's record on PubMed and, where there is one, to the publisher's page and a free full text. 2 have an abstract, the authors' own summary as PubMed records it: open "Abstract" to read it. For 6 studies PubMed has no abstract for, we give the abstract printed in the article or, where there is none, a summary we wrote from it, each labeled as such.

About the journal

• Publisher: Royal Society Of Medicine
• Published: 1907–1977, England
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0035-9157 (print)
• Continues: Medico-Chirurgical Transactions
• Continued by: Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
• Its record in the NLM Catalog

1970s

• Asbestos content of dust encountered in brake maintenance and repair. W.J. Smither. 1977;70(5):369-70. Letter PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

• Asbestos content of dust encountered in brake maintenance and repair. A.N. Rohl, A.M. Langer, R. Klimentidis, et al. 1977;70(1):32-7. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Summary

  The authors examined whether chrysotile asbestos, which makes up about 50% of automotive brake lining friction material, survives braking, and how much is released into the air during brake maintenance and repair. Ten brake drum dust samples from New York City repair shops were examined by optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. A further 29 samples came from four European countries and Australia. By X-ray diffraction, chrysotile was found in 29 of the 39 samples. Mean content ranged from 1.4% in Australian samples to 4.5% in New York City samples, where the range was 2 to 15%. The breakdown product forsterite was not unambiguously detected. TEM showed chrysotile fibres in all 39 samples, mostly with unaltered form and crystal structure. In New York samples about 80% of chrysotile was in free fibril form shorter than 0.4 µm, too small for optical microscopy. Personal air sampling was carried out in New York City automobile, taxi fleet and municipal truck repair shops. Blowing dust from brake drums with compressed air gave a mean peak of 15.0 fibres/ml (range 6.6-29.4) at 1-1.5 m, with measurable levels up to 22 m away. Grinding used truck linings gave 1.7-7.0 fibres/ml, and bevelling new linings gave a mean of 37.3 fibres/ml (up to 72). The authors concluded that exposure was significant. They called for exposure controls, clinical studies of garage mechanics and mortality studies of exposed workers.

  PubMed has no abstract for this study, and the article doesn't print one. We wrote this summary from the full article with the help of AI. It is not the authors' wording.

• Asbestos content of dust encountered in brake maintenance and repair. M.L. Newhouse. 1977;70(4):291. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

• Carcinogens in the environment. P.N. Magee. 1974;67(8):741-3. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

• Asbestos cancer: past and future hazards. J.C. Gilson. 1973;66(4):395-403. Historical article PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Summary

  In this Michael Williams Lecture, given to the Section of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine of the Royal Society of Medicine on 10 February 1972 and published in abridged form, the author reviewed evidence on cancers linked with asbestos and on their prevention. He outlined the history of asbestos use, the stages of the industry where dust exposure occurs, and factors thought to influence cancer incidence, including dose, fibre type, fibre size and shape, time since first exposure, sex and cigarette smoking. Comparing prospective surveys of asbestos workers followed for 20 or more years, he reported that the excess of lung cancer varied widely. Risk was low among 12 000 Quebec chrysotile miners and millers and high in insulation workers, and it was dose related. He concluded that no single fibre type seemed especially important for lung carcinoma. For mesothelioma, the evidence suggested greater variation by fibre type, with the South African excess almost limited to the crocidolite mining area. Case-control studies in Scotland and Canada supported the link with asbestos. Confirmed mesothelioma deaths in the UK register rose from 6.2 per year in 1955-59 to 73 in 1968. He outlined Dr V Timbrell's hypothesis that fibre diameter and shape govern how far fibres penetrate the lung. He also described UK preventive measures, stressing continuing research and cost/benefit analysis.

  PubMed has no abstract for this study, and the article doesn't print one. We wrote this summary from the full article with the help of AI. It is not the authors' wording.

• Immunology and asbestosis. M. Turner-Warwick. 1973;66(9):927-30. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  The prevalence of antinuclear antibody and rheumatoid factor has been studied in three series of subjects exposed under different conditions to asbestos dust. A greater incidence of ANA and rheumatoid factor was found in the Pneumoconiosis Medical Panel series, where the majority of subjects had abnormal chest radiographs, in contrast to a near normal incidence in the East Ham and Medical Research Unit series, where the majority had no clinical or radiographic evidence of asbestos-induced lung disease.

  The increased prevalence of ANA appears to be related to the development of asbestosis and not to heavy exposure of asbestos dust alone. The absence of ANA and rheumatoid factor in certain other fibrosing lung diseases suggests that the appearance of these autoantibodies is not the nonspecific consequence of any form of pulmonary fibrosis.

  Studies in vitro have shown that in asbestosis patients with circulating antinuclear antibody evidence of lymphocyte sensitization can also frequently be found, though of lesser degree than is seen in patients with nonoccupational cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis who present with a very similar clinical appearance.

  Whether ANA can be used to identify individual susceptibility before the development of disease, or whether it influences the evolution of the pathology, will have to be determined from follow-up studies.

  PubMed has no abstract for this study. This is the authors' abstract, copied from the article.

• Asbestos-related chest disease in joiners. D.E. Fletcher. 1971;64(8):837-8. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Summary

  This report examined pleural plaques and other chest changes in joiners at Barrow-in-Furness. Routine PA chest films held by the Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Works Clinic were reviewed, excluding females and men under 25: 4,223 sets of films. Overall, 5.5% of workmen had evidence of pleural plaques. Prevalence was highest among joiners (33% of 81), nearly double that in laggers (17.5% of 45). Through shop stewards of the Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers, detailed examinations were offered to 185 shipyard joiners and 90 joiners working for building contractors in the town. Of these, 177 men attended and had PA and oblique films. Plaques were found in 62 men (35%): 50 (28.2%) with soft tissue density only and 12 (6.8%) with calcification. Prevalence rose with age, to 64% at 45-54 years, then fell to 56% at 55-64 years. There were occasional cases of diffuse pleural thickening and 5 joiners with probable pulmonary fibrosis. The author considered an asbestos insulation board containing 30% amosite, often hand-sawn in confined spaces, the most likely cause, though unproven. Death certificates for the last ten years showed no deviation from average figures for any cause of death. Of 14 successive deaths of joiners with plaques, 6 were bronchial carcinomas and 1 a mesothelioma; this was not statistically significant. Of 39 men who had never worked in a shipyard, 7 had plaques. Two joiners aged 24 had shadows suggesting early plaques. The author suggested that a latent period of less than 8 years might be enough for plaques to develop.

  PubMed has no abstract for this study, and the article doesn't print one. We wrote this summary from the full article with the help of AI. It is not the authors' wording.

• Asbestos: some nonradiological aspects. P.J. Lawther. 1971;64(8):833-4. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

• Health in power stations. R.C. Browne. 1971;64(10):1075-7. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

• The radiological investigation of the early manifestations of exposure to asbestos dust. F.A. Mackenzie. 1971;64(8):834-7. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Summary

  This paper described the radiological investigation of early signs of asbestos exposure among workers at British Naval Dockyards. Over the previous twenty-five years these dockyards had used large quantities of asbestos lagging in ships' engine rooms and under the flight-decks of aircraft carriers. Registered asbestos workers had been examined with annual large chest films, and the author first found signs of early pulmonary fibrosis in this group in 1959. A Medical Research Unit was set up at HM Dockyard, Devonport, in 1966. A 1 in 10 population sample on 100 mm film showed that over 4% of Devonport men had changes related to asbestos exposure, with similar prevalence at other dockyards. Pleural abnormalities were ten times more common than lung lesions. In May 1970 Devonport had 106 men with disability pensions for asbestosis, 35 cases of mesothelioma and 500 with asbestos pleural abnormalities. The author described the survey methods. Mobile 100 mm film surveys could examine about 400 people a day. Large films used a low kilovoltage technique. A special 45° right anterior oblique view showed the pleura and the posterior diaphragmatic sulcus, where early plaques and fibrosis appear. Pulmonary fibrosis was hard to assess on a single film, and the author advised that the term asbestosis be confined to pulmonary fibrosis. He also described hyaline and calcified plaques, visceral pleural lesions, recurrent silent pleural effusions and diffuse pleural thickening. Some cases of diffuse pleural thickening progressed to mesothelioma.

  PubMed has no abstract for this study, and the article doesn't print one. We wrote this summary from the full article with the help of AI. It is not the authors' wording.

• Protection of dockyard workers against asbestosis. P.G. Harries. 1970;63(10):1015. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

• Water-cooled suit for protection against hot environments. J.W. Hill. 1970;63(10):1014-5. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

1960s

• An interdisciplinary approach to measurement. 1969;62(5):491-2. 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.

• Asbestos and mesothelioma of the pleura [abridged]. M. Newhouse. 1966;59(1):60-1. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

• Asbestos and mesothelioma of the pleura [abridged]. D. O'B Hourihane. 1966;59(1):60. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

• Asbestos, asbestosis and mesothelioma of the pleura. W.J. Smither. 1966;59(1):57-9. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

• Mortality among asbestos workers. I.D. Hill, R. Doll, J.F. Knox. 1966;59(1):59-60. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Summary

  This short report updated a study of mortality among workers at an asbestos factory. An earlier study (Doll 1955) of 113 men who had worked at least twenty years in the factory's 'scheduled areas', the dusty areas covered by the Asbestos Industry Regulations of 1931, had found considerable excess mortality from lung cancer and from other respiratory and cardiovascular diseases over 1922 to 1953. That study was continued alongside a parallel study of all men and women who entered the factory in 1933 or later and completed ten years in scheduled areas, with results to the end of 1961. January 1933 was used as a dividing line because the 1931 regulations were believed to have become largely effective by then. Subjects were divided into six groups by experience before and after that date: 57, 45, 16, 80 and 427 men, and 175 women. Observed deaths were compared with deaths expected from England and Wales rates. The heavy excess mortality in men with over ten years' exposure before 1933 appeared diminished in men with 5-10 years' pre-1933 exposure. Groups with little or no pre-1933 exposure showed little or no excess. Women showed some excess mortality, which the authors said may be no more than a chance effect. One lung cancer case, recorded as endothelioma, was consistent with mesothelioma but had no histological confirmation. The authors said it was too early to claim the industry carried no abnormal risk, but the figures were encouraging compared with the past.

  PubMed has no abstract for this study, and the article doesn't print one. We wrote this summary from the full article with the help of AI. It is not the authors' wording.

1930s

• Recent Views on Pneumonoconioses. E.L. Collis. 1931;24(5):531-42. PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

  Abstract

  Silicosis has been intensively studied since it was isolated from other diseases caused by dust. These studies have shown that silicosis may be fairly advanced without seriously impairing general health; it may, however, itself lead to a fatal result. More often it acts almost specifically in preparing the way for pulmonary infections, of which serious tuberculosis is the chief. The occurrence of such a superadded infection not infrequently precipitates a latent condition of silicosis. The close relation existing clinically between tuberculosis and silicosis has been demonstrated by animal experiment.Other dusts than silica have also been demonstrated to cause generalized pulmonary fibrosis, which is usually finer in character, although more injurious to the functions of the lungs than is silicosis; but such fibrosis has not been found to be specifically associated with superadded tuberculous infection.Each dust calls for special study. Up to the present, investigation of dusts from certain silicates has shown them to be of great importance. Of these, asbestos has been found to be most definitely injurious, and to originate a definite and characteristic condition. Other silicates, such as basalt, appear to set up a condition which only differs in degree from that caused by asbestos.Dust arising from pure coal does not appear to be injurious, or, on the other hand, to be in any way protective against infections. Raw coal, however, often contains sufficient minerals for its dust to originate pulmonary fibrosis. When such fibrosis is present, whether due to silica arising from intervening rocks or from silicates, the coal particles are so retained in the lungs as to block the lymph passages, and impair capacity.Certain other dusts, for example dusts arising from marble or limestone, exert little, if any, influence on the lungs. Such dusts are soluble in the body fluids, and are not left to block the pulmonary tissues.

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