A pulmonary nodule is a discrete opacity in the lung which may be caused by: 1  Neoplasm: benign or malignant. 2  Granuloma: tuberculosis. 3  Infection: roundish pneumonia. 4  Vascular: infarct, varix, granulomatosis with polyangiitis, rheumatoid arthritis.
1 Helium is also commonly used to pressurize and purge systems of unwanted gases. 2  It is also used in controlled atmospheres when the levels of different gases have to be kept constant. 3  It is used as a protective gas when growing silicon and germanium crystals and when producing titanium and zirconium.
The use of helium reduces the distorting effects of temperature variations in the space between lenses in some telescopes, due to its extremely low index of refraction. This method is especially used in solar telescopes where a vacuum tight telescope tube would be too heavy. Helium is a commonly used carrier gas for gas chromatography. The age of rocks and minerals that contain uranium and thorium can be estimated by measuring the level of helium with a process known as helium dating. Helium at low temperatures is used in cryogenics, and in certain cryogenics applications. As examples of applications, liquid helium is used to cool certain metals to the extremely low temperatures required for superconductivity, such as in superconducting magnets for magnetic resonance imaging.