Upstate pathology professor Jerrold Abraham, MD, and assistant professor Soma Sanyal, MD, are examining lung tissue from coal miners with black lung disease, as part of a large study into the reasons for a recent increase in the disease, which is also known as coal worker's pneumoconiosis. The increase may have to do with changes in coal mining technology, as well as the enforcement of safety regulations, says Abraham. The study will continue for three years.