Fibrous Ferrierite from Northern Italy: Mineralogical Characterization, Surface Properties, and Assessment of Potential Toxicity

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Abstract

Nowadays, fibrous minerals pose as significant health hazards to humans, and exposure to these fibers can lead to the development of severe pulmonary diseases. This work investigated the morphology, crystal structure, chemistry, and surface activity of fibrous ferrierite recently found in northern Italy through an integrated approach using scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive spectroscopy, electron microprobe, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry, X-ray powder diffraction, and electron paramagnetic resonance. Our results show that a notable amount of ferrierite fibers are breathable (average length ~22 µm, average diameter 0.9 µm, diameter-length ratio >> 1:3) and able to reach the alveolar space (average Dae value 2.5 μm). The prevailing extra-framework cations are in the Mg > (Ca ≈ K) relationship, R is from 0.81 to 0.83, and the Si/Al ratio is high (4.2–4.8). The <T-O> bond distances suggest the occurrence of some degree of Si,Al ordering, with Al showing a site-specific occupation preference T1 > T2 > T3 > T4. Ferrierite fibers show high amounts of adsorbed EPR probes, suggesting a high ability to adsorb and interact with related chemicals. According to these results, fibrous ferrierite can be considered a potential health hazard, and a precautionary approach should be applied when this material is handled. Future in vitro and in vivo tests are necessary to provide further experimental confirmation of the outcome of this work.

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Mesothelioma: Scientific clues for prevention, diagnosis, and therapy

Michele Carbone, Prasad Adusumilli, H Richard Alexander … (2019)

Mesothelioma affects mostly older individuals who have been occupationally exposed to asbestos. The global mesothelioma incidence and mortality rates are unknown, because data are not available from developing countries that continue to use large amounts of asbestos. The incidence rate of mesothelioma has decreased in Australia, the United States, and Western Europe, where the use of asbestos was banned or strictly regulated in the 1970s and 1980s, demonstrating the value of these preventive measures. However, in these same countries, the overall number of deaths from mesothelioma has not decreased as the size of the population and the percentage of old people have increased. Moreover, hotspots of mesothelioma may occur when carcinogenic fibers that are present in the environment are disturbed as rural areas are being developed. Novel immunohistochemical and molecular markers have improved the accuracy of diagnosis; however, about 14% (high-resource countries) to 50% (developing countries) of mesothelioma diagnoses are incorrect, resulting in inadequate treatment and complicating epidemiological studies. The discovery that germline BRCA1-asssociated protein 1 (BAP1) mutations cause mesothelioma and other cancers (BAP1 cancer syndrome) elucidated some of the key pathogenic mechanisms, and treatments targeting these molecular mechanisms and/or modulating the immune response are being tested. The role of surgery in pleural mesothelioma is controversial as it is difficult to predict who will benefit from aggressive management, even when local therapies are added to existing or novel systemic treatments. Treatment outcomes are improving, however, for peritoneal mesothelioma. Multidisciplinary international collaboration will be necessary to improve prevention, early detection, and treatment.

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A fundamental parameters approach to X-ray line-profile fitting

R. W. Cheary, A. Coelho (1992)

A convolution approach to X-ray powder line-profile fitting is developed in which the line shape is synthesized from the Cu Kα emission profile, the dimensions of the diffractometer and the physical variables of the specimen. In addition to the integrated intensities and 2θ positions of the line profiles, the parameters that may be fitted include the receiving-slit width, the receiving-slit length, the X-ray-source size, the angle of divergence of the incident beam, the X-ray attenuation coefficient of the specimen and the crystallite size. This is a self-consistent approach to fitting as the instrumental parameters are usually known by direct measurement. To minimize correlation between refined instrumental parameters, profiles at high and low 2θ values should be fitted simultaneously. The Cu Kα emission profile used in this work is based on recent monolithic double-crystal spectrometer measurements that have identified a doublet structure in both the Kα 1 and Kα 2 components. Fast and accurate convolution procedures have been developed and a mixture of multilinear regression and Gauss–Newton non-linear least squares with numerical differentials is used for fitting the profiles. The method is evaluated by fitting powder diffraction data from well crystallized specimens of MgO and Y3Al5O12 (YAG). Testing has also been carried out by examining the changes in the fitted values after altering various instrumental parameters (e.g. receiving-slit width, detector defocus, receiving-slit length and inclusion of a monochromator).