Word: lungfuls
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While catastrophic cave-ins are relatively rare in the U.S., about 260,000 former miners suffer from another killer: black lung disease. One reason could be that mine operators routinely circumvent air-safety standards established in 1969 to regulate the amount of coal dust in the mines. Now the government is cracking down. In Virginia last week, 13 coal companies and 15 people pleaded guilty to falsifying air samples to understate levels of coal dust. The companies face fines of as much as $500,000 each. The individuals could be imprisoned for five years and fined $250,000. Prosecutors...
Free radicals are cellular renegades; they wreak havoc by damaging DNA, altering biochemical compounds, corroding cell membranes and killing cells outright. Such molecular mayhem, scientists increasingly believe, plays a major role in the development of ailments like cancer, heart or lung disease and cataracts. Many researchers are convinced that the cumulative effects of free radicals also underlie the gradual deterioration that is the hallmark of aging in all individuals, healthy as well as sick. Antioxidants, studies suggest, might help stem the damage by neutralizing free radicals. In effect they perform as cellular sheriffs, collaring the radicals and hauling them away...
Chugging vitamin E seems to boost the immune system in healthy old people, raising the possibility that supplements could help thwart life-threatening infections. The nutrient may also turn out to be a potent lung saver, warding off the depredations of cigarette smoke, car exhaust and other pollutants. "The effects of air pollution are chronic," says Dr. Daniel Menzel of the University of California at Irvine. "Over a lifetime people develop serious diseases like bronchitis and emphysema. We have fed animals in our labs vitamin E and have found that they have fewer lung lesions and that they live longer...
Beta carotene may prove powerful in combatting cancer as well. In countries such as Japan and Norway, where diets are rich in beta carotene, the populations have a low incidence of lung, colon, prostate, cervical and breast cancer. And a study at the University of Arizona Cancer Center found that three to six months of daily beta carotene pills dramatically reduced precancerous mouth lesions in 70% of patients. Pharmaceutical giant Hoffmann- La Roche is so enamored with beta carotene that it plans to open a Freeport, Texas, plant next year that will churn out 350 tons of the nutrient annually...
...Nintendo game, Dr. David Sugarbaker looks not at the patient lying senseless on the operating table but at the TV positioned by her side. "I think we're right on target," he exults. Displayed on the screen is a larger-than-life section of the woman's right lung, a rosy mass marred by a couple of suspicious lumps. "Fire away," Sugarbaker directs the assisting surgeon. On the screen a tiny pincer appears. Grabbing hold of the lung just above the lesion, the pincer makes a clean slice through the quivering tissue, simultaneously sealing the wound by laying down...