Articles

NKG2A inhibits TH2 cell effector function in vitro

We previously reported that NKG2A, a key inhibitory ligand for HLA-E, is expressed on activated TH2 but not TH1 cells. Here we measured cytokine expression in human ex vivo TH2 cells upon activation with anti-CD3...

Authors: Robert J Freishtat, Bahar Mojgani, Maryam Nazemzadeh, Kanneboyina Nagaraju and Eric P Hoffman

Circulating surfactant protein D as a potential lung-specific biomarker of health outcomes in COPD: a pilot study

There is a paucity of surrogate lung-specific biological markers that can be used to track disease progression and predict clinical outcomes in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The principal aim o...

Authors: Don D Sin, Rochelle Leung, Wen Q Gan and SF Paul Man

A case-control study on risk factors for early-onset respiratory tract infection in patients admitted in ICU

Respiratory tract infections are common in intensive care units (ICU), with incidences reported from 10 to 65%, and case fatality rates over 20% in pneumonia. This study was designed to identify risk factors f...

Authors: Teresa C Cardoso, Luís M Lopes and António H Carneiro

A new paradigm in respiratory hygiene: modulating respiratory secretions to contain cough bioaerosol without affecting mucus clearance

Several strategies and devices have been designed to protect health care providers from acquiring transmissible respiratory diseases while providing care. In modulating the physical characteristics of the resp...

Authors: Gustavo Zayas, Juan C Valle, Mauricio Alonso, Henry Alfaro, Daniel Vega, Gloria Bonilla, Miguel Reyes and Malcolm King

Design of the Endobronchial Valve for Emphysema Palliation Trial (VENT): a non-surgical method of lung volume reduction

Lung volume reduction surgery is effective at improving lung function, quality of life, and mortality in carefully selected individuals with advanced emphysema. Recently, less invasive bronchoscopic approaches...

Authors: Charlie Strange, Felix JF Herth, Kevin L Kovitz, Geoffrey McLennan, Armin Ernst, Jonathan Goldin, Marc Noppen, Gerard J Criner and Frank C Sciurba

Prescribing cycle training intensity from the six-minute walk test for patients with COPD

Cycle training intensity for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is normally based on an incremental cycle test. Such tests are expensive and not readily available to clinicians. The six...

Authors: Muhammad R Zainuldin, Danielle Knoke, Martin G Mackey, Nia Luxton and Jennifer A Alison

Can asthma control be improved by understanding the patient's perspective?

Clinical trials show that asthma can be controlled in the majority of patients, but poorly controlled asthma still imposes a considerable burden. The level of asthma control achieved reflects the behaviour of ...

Authors: Rob Horne, David Price, Jen Cleland, Rui Costa, Donna Covey, Kevin Gruffydd-Jones, John Haughney, Svein Hoegh Henrichsen, Alan Kaplan, Arnulf Langhammer, Anders Østrem, Mike Thomas, Thys van der Molen, J Christian Virchow and Siân Williams

Do supervised weekly exercise programs maintain functional exercise capacity and quality of life, twelve months after pulmonary rehabilitation in COPD?

Pulmonary rehabilitation programs have been shown to increase functional exercise capacity and quality of life in COPD patients. However, following the completion of pulmonary rehabilitation the benefits begin...

Authors: Lissa M Spencer, Jennifer A Alison and Zoe J McKeough

Surfactant protein Bpolymorphisms are associated with severe respiratory syncytial virus infection, but not with asthma

Surfactant proteins (SP) are important for the innate host defence and essential for a physiological lung function. Several linkage and association studies have investigated the genes coding for different surf...

Authors: Beena Puthothu, Johannes Forster, Jessica Heinze, Andrea Heinzmann and Marcus Krueger

ET_Breceptor polymorphism is associated with airway obstruction

Endothelin-1 (EDN1) has been involved in the development of airway obstruction and inflammation in asthma. Several polymorphisms have been identified among the genes encoding for preproET1, an inactive precurs...

Authors: Camille Taillé, Armelle Guénégou, Abdelhamid Almolki, Marie Piperaud, Bénédicte Leynaert, Sandrine Vuillaumier, Françoise Neukirch, Jorge Boczkowski, Michel Aubier, Joëlle Benessiano and Bruno Crestani

AKL1, a botanical mixture for the treatment of asthma: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over study

Despite effective treatments, asthma outcomes remain suboptimal. Interest exists in complementary therapies, particularly in herbal remedies for asthma treatment, currently with inconclusive evidence of effica...

Authors: Michael Thomas, Jane Sheran, Natalie Smith, Sofia Fonseca and Amanda J Lee

Is there a uniform approach to the management of diffuse parenchymal lung disease (DPLD) in the UK? A national benchmarking exercise

Benchmarking is the comparison of a process to the work or results of others. We conducted a national benchmarking exercise to determine how UK pulmonologists manage common clinical scenarios in diffuse parenc...

Authors: Patricia Macedo, Robina K Coker and Martyn R Partridge

Aerosolized amikacin for treatment of pulmonary Mycobacterium aviuminfections: an observational case series

Current systemic therapy for nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary infection is limited by poor clinical response rates, drug toxicities and side effects. The addition of aerosolized amikacin to standard oral...

Authors: Kala K Davis, Peter N Kao, Susan S Jacobs and Stephen J Ruoss

Plasma levels of alpha1-antichymotrypsin and secretory leukocyte proteinase inhibitor in healthy and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) subjects with and without severe α1-antitrypsin deficiency

Individuals with severe Z α1-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency have a considerably increased risk of developing chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD). It has been hypothesized that compensatory increases in level...

Authors: Camilla Hollander, Ulla Westin, Anders Wallmark, Eeva Piitulainen, Tomas Sveger and Sabina M Janciauskiene

Clinical presentation and predictors of outcome in patients with severe acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease requiring admission to intensive care unit

Severe acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AE-COPD) is a common reason for emergency room (ER) visit about which little has been documented from India.

Authors: Alladi Mohan, Raya Premanand, Lebaka Narayana Reddy, Mangu H Rao, Surendra K Sharma, Ranjit Kamity and Srinivas Bollineni

Pulmonary sarcoidosis associated with psoriasis vulgaris: coincidental occurrence or causal association? Case report

Sarcoidosis is rarely associated with a distinct disease. One disease infrequently associated with sarcoidosis is psoriasis.

Authors: Melita Nikolopoulou, Stamatis Katsenos, Kostas Psathakis, Efstathios Rallis, Dimitrios Sampaziotis, Panagiotis Panagou, Kostas Tsintiris and Demosthenes Bouros

Improving outcomes for asthma patients with allergic rhinitis: conclusions from the MetaForum conferences

Authors: David Price and Stephen T Holgate

Breaking new ground: challenging existing asthma guidelines

While we have international guidelines and various national guidelines for asthma diagnosis and management, asthma remains poorly controlled in many children and adults. In this paper we review the limitations...

Authors: David Price and Mike Thomas

Allergic rhinitis and asthma: inflammation in a one-airway condition

Allergic rhinitis and asthma are conditions of airway inflammation that often coexist.

Authors: Peter K Jeffery and Tari Haahtela

Allergic rhinitis: evidence for impact on asthma

This paper reviews the current evidence indicating that comorbid allergic rhinitis may have clinically relevant effects on asthma.

Authors: Mike Thomas

Survey on the impact of comorbid allergic rhinitis in patients with asthma

Allergic rhinitis (AR) and asthma are inflammatory conditions of the airways that often occur concomitantly. This global survey was undertaken to understand patient perspectives regarding symptoms, treatments,...

Authors: Erkka Valovirta and Ruby Pawankar

Asthma out of control? A structured review of recent patient surveys

An understanding of the needs and behaviors of asthma patients is important in developing an asthma-related healthcare policy. The primary goal of the present review was to assess patient perspectives on key i...

Authors: Stephen T Holgate, David Price and Erkka Valovirta

Improving outcomes for asthma patients with allergic rhinitis: the MetaForum conferences

Authors: Stephen T Holgate and David Price

Living with primary ciliary dyskinesia: a prospective qualitative study of knowledge sharing, symptom concealment, embarrassment, mistrust, and stigma

Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a chronic respiratory disease for which there is little psycho-social research and no qualitative studies of individuals living with the condition. A questionnaire-based sur...

Authors: Simon Whalley and IC McManus

Risk factors for asthma and allergy associated with urban migration: background and methodology of a cross-sectional study in Afro-Ecuadorian school children in Northeastern Ecuador (Esmeraldas-SCAALA Study)

Asthma and allergic diseases are becoming increasingly frequent in children in urban centres of Latin America although the prevalence of allergic disease is still low in rural areas. Understanding better why t...

Authors: Philip J Cooper, Martha E Chico, Maritza G Vaca, Alejandro Rodriguez, Neuza M Alcântara-Neves, Bernd Genser, Lain Pontes de Carvalho, Renato T Stein, Alvaro A Cruz, Laura C Rodrigues and Mauricio L Barreto

Association between anemia and quality of life in a population sample of individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Several studies investigated the association of anemia with health related quality of life (HRQL) in patients with chronic disease. However, there is little evidence regarding the association of anemia with HR...

Authors: Gokul Krishnan, Brydon J Grant, Paola C Muti, Archana Mishra, Heather M Ochs-Balcom, Jo L Freudenheim, Maurizio Trevisan and Holger J Schünemann

Diagnostic accuracy of an integrated respiratory guideline in identifying patients with respiratory symptoms requiring screening for pulmonary tuberculosis: a cross-sectional study

To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the integrated Practical Approach to Lung Health in South Africa (PALSA) guideline in identifying patients requiring bacteriological screening for tuberculosis (TB), and ...

Authors: René G English, Max O Bachmann, Eric D Bateman, Merrick F Zwarenstein, Lara R Fairall, Angeni Bheekie, Bosielo P Majara, Carl Lombard, Robert Scherpbier and Salah Eddine Ottomani

A novel mechanical lung model of pulmonary diseases to assist with teaching and training

A design concept of low-cost, simple, fully mechanical model of a mechanically ventilated, passively breathing lung is developed. An example model is built to simulate a patient under mechanical ventilation wi...

Authors: J Geoffrey Chase, Toshinori Yuta, Kerry J Mulligan, Geoffrey M Shaw and Beverley Horn

The effect of changing ventilator settings on indices of ventilation inhomogeneity in small ventilated lungs

In ventilated newborns the use of multiple breath washout (MBW) techniques for measuring both lung volume and ventilation inhomogeneity (VI) is hampered by the comparatively high dead space fraction. We studie...

Authors: G Schmalisch, H Proquitté, CC Roehr and RR Wauer

Effect of heat and moisture exchanger (HME) positioning on inspiratory gas humidification

In mechanically ventilated patients, we investigated how positioning the heat and moisture exchanger (HME) at different places on the ventilator circuit affected inspiratory gas humidification.

Authors: Daisuke Inui, Jun Oto and Masaji Nishimura

Ventilator associated pneumonia and transfusion, is there really an association? (the NAVTRA study)

Anemic syndrome is a frequent problem in intensive care units. The most probable etiology is the suppression of the erythropoietin response due to the direct effects of cytokines, as well as frequent blood sam...

Authors: David Yepes, Bladimir Gil, Olga Hernandez, Rodrigo Murillo, Marco Gonzalez and Juan Pablo Velasquez

Dyspnea assessment and adverse events during sputum induction in COPD

The inhalation of normal or hypertonic saline during sputum induction (SI) may act as an indirect bronchoconstrictive stimulus leading to dyspnea and lung function deterioration. Our aim was to assess dyspnea ...

Authors: Demosthenes Makris, Nikolaos Tzanakis, Joanna Moschandreas and Nikolaos M Siafakas

Quantifying serum antibody in bird fanciers' hypersensitivity pneumonitis

Detecting serum antibody against inhaled antigens is an important diagnostic adjunct for hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP). We sought to validate a quantitative fluorimetric assay testing serum from bird fanci...

Authors: Charles McSharry, George M Dye, Tengku Ismail, Kenneth Anderson, Elizabeth M Spiers and Gavin Boyd

Risk factors and immunological pathways for asthma and other allergic diseases in children: background and methodology of a longitudinal study in a large urban center in Northeastern Brazil (Salvador-SCAALA study)

The prevalence of asthma and allergic diseases has increased in industrialised countries, and it is known that rates vary according whether the area is urban or rural and to socio-economic status. Surveys cond...

Authors: Mauricio L Barreto, Sergio S Cunha, Neuza Alcântara-Neves, Lain P Carvalho, Álvaro A Cruz, Renato T Stein, Bernd Genser, Philip J Cooper and Laura C Rodrigues

Effects of equipment and technique on peak flow measurements

Different lung function equipment and different respiratory manoeuvres may produce different Peak Expiratory Flow (PEF) results. Although the PEF is the most common lung function test, there have been few stud...

Authors: Thomas Bongers and B Ronan O'Driscoll

Attitudes and actions of asthma patients on regular maintenance therapy: the INSPIRE study

This study examined the attitudes and actions of 3415 physician-recruited adults aged ≥ 16 years with asthma in eleven countries who were prescribed regular maintenance therapy with inhaled corticosteroids or ...

Authors: Martyn R Partridge, Thys van der Molen, Sven-Erik Myrseth and William W Busse

Directly measured secondhand smoke exposure and COPD health outcomes

Although personal cigarette smoking is the most important cause and modulator of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure could influence the course of the disease. Despite...

Authors: Mark D Eisner, John Balmes, Edward H Yelin, Patricia P Katz, S Katherine Hammond, Neal Benowitz and Paul D Blanc

Patterns of inflammation and the use of reversibility testing in smokers with airway complaints

Although both smoking and respiratory complaints are very common, tools to improve diagnostic accuracy are scarce in primary care. This study aimed to reveal what inflammatory patterns prevail in clinically es...

Authors: Niels H Chavannes, Juanita HJ Vernooy, Tjard RJ Schermer, Jan A Jacobs, Mieke A Dentener, Chris van Weel, Onno CP van Schayck and Emiel FM Wouters

Smoking, respiratory symptoms and likely asthma in young people: evidence from postal questionnaire surveys in the Wythenshawe Community Asthma Project (WYCAP)

Although it is recognised that smoking is a major risk factor for subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and is associated with respiratory symptoms, there is less agreement concerning the relatio...

Authors: Peter Frank, Julie Morris, Michelle Hazell, Mary Linehan and Timothy Frank

An adult cystic fibrosis patient presenting with persistent dyspnea: case report

Persistent dyspnea is a common finding in the cystic fibrosis patient that typically leads to further work up of an alternative pulmonary etiology. Adult cystic fibrosis patients; however, are growing in numbe...

Authors: Gary M Onady and Catherine L Farinet

Spatial and temporal expression of surfactant proteins in hyperoxia-induced neonatal rat lung injury

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia, a complex chronic lung disease in premature children in which oxidative stress and surfactant deficiency play a crucial role, is characterized by arrested alveolar and vascular deve...

Authors: Simone AJ ter Horst, Margot Fijlstra, Sujata Sengupta, Frans J Walther and Gerry TM Wagenaar

Severe airway stenosis associated with Crohn's disease: Case report

Symptomatic respiratory tract involvement is not common in Crohn's disease. Upper-airway obstruction has been reported before in Crohn's disease and usually responds well to steroid treatment.

Authors: Maria Plataki, Eleni Tzortzaki, Irene Lambiri, Elpida Giannikaki, Armin Ernst and Nikolaos M Siafakas

Smoking particles enhance endothelin A and endothelin B receptor-mediated contractions by enhancing translation in rat bronchi

Smoking is known to cause chronic inflammatory changes in the bronchi and to contribute to airway hyper-reactivity, such as in bronchial asthma. To study the effect of smoking on the endothelin system in rat a...

Authors: Bengt W Granström, Cang-Bao Xu, Elisabeth Nilsson, Petter Vikman and Lars Edvinsson

Airway sizes and proportions in children quantified by a video-bronchoscopic technique

A quantitative understanding of airway sizes and proportions and a reference point for comparisons are important to a pediatric bronchoscopist. The aims of this study were to measure large airway areas, and de...

Authors: Ian B Masters, Robert S Ware, Paul V Zimmerman, Brian Lovell, Richard Wootton, Paul V Francis and Anne B Chang

Clearance of technetium-99m-DTPA and HRCT findings in the evaluation of patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

Clearance of inhaled technetium-labeled diethylenetriamine pentaacetate (^99mTc-DTPA) is a marker of epithelial damage and an index of lung epithelial permeability. The aim of this study was to investigate the rol...

Authors: Katerina M Antoniou, Katerina Malagari, Nikolaos Tzanakis, Kostas Perisinakis, Emmanouil K Symvoulakis, Nikolaos Karkavitsas, Nikolaos M Siafakas and Demosthenes Bouros

Can inhaled fluticasone alone or in combination with salmeterol reduce systemic inflammation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease? – study protocol for a randomized controlled trial [NCT00120978]

Systemic inflammation is associated with various complications in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease including weight loss, cachexia, osteoporosis, cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Inhaled corticosteroid...

Authors: Don D Sin, SF Paul Man, Darcy D Marciniuk, Gordon Ford, Mark FitzGerald, Eric Wong, Ernest York, Rajesh R Mainra, Warren Ramesh, Lyle S Melenka, Eric Wilde, Robert L Cowie, Dave Williams and Roxanne Rousseau

The relationship between stage 1 and 2 non-small cell lung cancer and lung function in men and women

Reduced forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV₁) has been linked to non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, it is unclear whether all or only certain histological subtypes of NSCLC are associated with r...

Authors: Samir Malhotra, Stephen Lam, SF Paul Man, Wen Q Gan and Don D Sin

Hemoptysis, a developing world perspective

Hemoptysis is a significant clinical presentation in respiratory medicine. Often a life threatening emergency, it mandates prompt assessment and intervention. Various investigations and management protocols ar...

Authors: Omer Ashraf

Hepatocyte and keratinocyte growth factors and their receptors in human lung emphysema

Hepatocyte and keratinocyte growth factors are key growth factors in the process of alveolar repair. We hypothesized that excessive alveolar destruction observed in lung emphysema involves impaired expression ...

Authors: Marcel Bonay, Anne Boutten, Véronique Leçon-Malas, Joëlle Marchal, Paul Soler, Michel Fournier, Guy Leseche, Monique Dehoux and Bruno Crestani

The impact of prior outpatient ACE inhibitor use on 30-day mortality for patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia

Recent studies suggest that angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors may have beneficial effects for patients at risk for some types of infections. We examined the effect of prior outpatient use of ACE i...

Authors: Eric M Mortensen, Marcos I Restrepo, Antonio Anzueto and Jacqueline Pugh