Leukotrienes constitute a class of inflammatory mediators synthesised from arachidonic acid, a product of cell membrane metabolism. Synthesis occurs in the 5-lipoxygenase enzyme pathway, which produces several species of leukotrienes, each with characteristic biological activities. With regard to asthma, the leukotrienes are particularly important because of their ability to directly ...

Although schistosomes were thought to be one of the few parasitic helminths that do not produce succinate via fumarate reduction, it was recently demonstrated that sporocysts of Schistosoma mansoni produce, under certain conditions, succinate in addition to lactate. This succinate production was only observed when the respiratory chain activity of ...

The effects of cholecystokinin tetrapeptide (CCK-4) on respiratory resistance were studied in 14 healthy volunteers by the registration of slow vital capacity and flow volume loop during forced respiration test. The administration of CCK-4 (50 micrograms) was performed in a double-blind and placebo-controlled design. Injections of CCK-4 induced prominent and ...

The current study examined the role of thought suppression in spider phobia. Spider phobic (n = 41) and non-phobic (n = 40) subjects were asked to monitor their thoughts for three 5 min periods. During the first period, all subjects were instructed to "think about anything". During the second period, ...

Ten female patients with asthma-like symptoms but negative asthma tests (study group) were compared with 10 female asthmatics in an exercise test with and without pretreatment with beta 2-stimulants. The aim was to determine whether the asthma-like symptoms in the patients of the study group could be explained by bronchoconstriction, ...

We report a case of occupational asthma and rhinitis caused by inhalation of 1,2-benzisothiazolin-3-one, an additive used as a microbicidal in detergent production, in a 26-year-old man employed in a chemical factory producing detergents. The subject's task consisted of pouring raw materials into the recipient of a machine which mixed ...

OBJECTIVE: To determine if vitamin C (ascorbic acid) has a protective effect on the hyperreactive airways of patients with exercise-induced asthma (EIA). DESIGN: All the patients underwent pulmonary function tests at rest, before and 1 hour after receiving 2 g of oral ascorbic acid. They were then randomly assigned in ...

Two Japanese patients presented with histories of exercise-induced urticaria and facial angioedema, respectively. Each patient exercised by climbing steep stairs for 5 to 10 min at 22 degrees C. A 19-year-old female student with atopic dermatitis initially developed lesions of cholinergic urticaria, which became confluent on her face, trunk and ...

Exercise-induced asthma (EIA) can be easily overlooked and underdiagnosed, especially in school children or recreational athletes. It affects individuals of all levels of activity, from recreational sports to competition. This article summarizes the results of the Olympic Exercise Asthma Summit Conference, organized by the Sports Medicine Division of the US ...

Quick phases (QPs) induced by horizontal and vertical sinusoidal vestibular stimulations were studied in rabbits, cats, and humans. In all the animals, large and frequent horizontal QPs were observed following yaw stimulation in prone position. By contrast, QPs were almost absent during roll stimulation in rabbits, and they were small ...

The Free Running Asthma Screening Test (FRAST) was performed on 830 randomly selected volunteers (age 14-17) chosen from British Columbia school students. An educational workshop on asthma was presented before testing. A self-reported questionnaire was distributed to evaluate predisposing factors. Air quality parameters were obtained on days of testing. FRAST ...

As part of a multicenter study envisioned by the American College of Allergy Sports Committee to screen for exercise-induced asthma, 303 high school students, freshman and sophomore gym classes, completed a questionnaire concerning exercise-related asthma, chronic asthma, and atopy. The study group included 124 females (41%) and 179 males (59%) ...

This study documented the prevalence of exercise-induced asthma (bronchospasm) in rural elementary schools and described the use of a free-running asthma screening test (exercise-challenge) and peak expiratory flow rate measurements for screening in a school setting. Of 437 children screened, 25 (5.72%) had a > or = 15% decrease in ...

BACKGROUND: Inhaled furosemide has been shown, in patients with asthma, to have prophylactic properties similar to those of disodium cromoglycate. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the protective effect of these drugs in the treatment of exercise-induced asthma. METHODS: Fifteen children with exercise-induced asthma (mean age, 10.8 ...

We present the findings on a 27-year-old male with eosinophilic gastro-enterocolitis accompanied with acute pancreatitis. Acute pancreatitis may be induced by pancreatic duct obstruction caused by marked swelling of the papillary region of the duodenum due to eosinophil infiltration. After prednisolone treatment, clinical manifestations rapidly improved; the serum amylase decreased ...

Environmental factors and physical activity present special problems for the asthmatic patient. Bronchoconstriction due to workplace exposure is one of the most common forms of occupational lung disease and has similar pathogenic mechanisms to nonoccupational asthma. Diagnosing occupational asthma may be difficult because the association between symptoms during or after ...

Factor analysis was performed on OPCRIT checklist psychotic symptoms rated on 102 patients with DSM-III-R schizophrenia. An initial three-factor solution produced positive, negative, and disorganisation factors. However, application of the scree test suggested five substantive factors, with the positive factor dividing into three factors characterised, respectively, by paranoid symptoms, first ...

Sputum induced by inhalation of nebulized hypertonic saline is increasingly used to monitor airways inflammation in asthma. The aim of this study was to assess the repeatability of measuring cellular and soluble markers of inflammation in whole sputum samples as obtained by sputum induction in patients both with mild and ...

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of exercise-induced bronchoconstriction among British children by ethnicity has not been studied. METHODS: Peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) was measured before and after an exercise challenge test using a cycle ergometer in 593 nine year olds from Scottish and inner city English schools. Logistic regression analysis was ...

Exercise-induced asthma is defined as an intermittent narrowing of the airways, demonstrated by a decrease in some measure of flow, that the patient experiences as wheezing, chest tightness, coughing, and difficulty breathing that is triggered by exercise. Exercise will trigger asthma in most individuals who have chronic asthma, as well ...

OBJECTIVE: To compare the durability of a minimal composite sealant restoration (MCR) with that of a glass ionomer sealant restoration (GSR). METHODS: Under local anaesthesia, a MCR and a GSR were placed in the mouths of selected patients; allocation of restoration type was made randomly. All restorations were placed by ...

Symptoms of cholestasis, including epigastralgia, fever, and jaundice, with marked increases in peripheral eosinophils and serum IgE in a 20-year-old man are reported here. Endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreatography (ERCP) detected constrictions of the bile ducts, compatible with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). The symptoms and blood parameters of liver dysfunction were associated ...

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the plateau phase of the expiratory capnogram (dco2/dt) can detect bronchospasm in adult asthma patients in the emergency department and to assess the correlation between dco2/dt and the peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) in spontaneously breathing patients with asthma and in normal, healthy volunteers. METHODS: ...

Acrylamide (ACR) is an environmental toxicant and prototypic tool for studying mechanisms of peripheral neuropathies. Reductions in fast anterograde axonal transport (faAXT) are thought to be a critical step leading to axonal degeneration. Kinesin and microtubules (MT) were evaluated as molecular sites of action using an in vitro MT motility ...

We have previously found that CD9, CD11b, and intracellular ECP (EG2) may be used as activity markers for eosinophils in vitro. The main object of the present study was to determine whether these markers can reflect eosinophil activation in vivo in relation to allergen exposure. for this purpose, six patients ...

It is not clear whether asymptomatic bronchial responsiveness is a risk factor for development of asthma. A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence of asthma among schoolchildren from Barcelona (Spain). The association between respiratory symptoms and bronchial responsiveness to exercise was examined. For this study 3,033 schoolchildren aged ...

BACKGROUND: The difference between allergen-induced asthma and exercise-induced asthma with respect to the late asthmatic response and airway responsiveness has not been well elucidated. OBJECTIVE: We compared the incidence of late asthmatic response, the changes in airway responsiveness, the degree of epithelial desquamation, and the activation of eosinophils in the ...

Cyanide poisoning presents in many forms. Industrial intoxications occur due to extensive use of cyanide compounds as reaction products. Smoke inhalation, a polyintoxication, is most often responsible for domestic cyanide poisonings. Suicidal poisonings are rare. Cyanogenic compounds may produce acute or subacute toxicity. Signs of cyanide poisoning include headache, vertigo, ...

Exercise-induced asthma (EIA) is a common symptom among young asthmatics. The hypothesis that asymptomatic day-to-day wide fluctuations in lung function and asymptomatic persistent airflow obstruction are risk factors for the development of EIA was studied. The study population was a cohort of known asthmatic children aged 9-14 years attending a ...

The prevalence of asthma seems to be on the increase and risk factors are not well-established. To investigate the relationship between asymptomatic increased bronchial responsiveness to exercise (BRE) and subsequent development of asthma, we studied a population sample of children and adolescents, aged 7-17 yrs at enrollment, examined twice 6 ...

We incorporated bromoacetylcholine (an inhibitor of choline acetyltransferase), acetylcholinesterase, or both into liposomes made of phosphatidylcholine. Frog sartorius muscles were exposed to these liposomes for 30-60 min. The liposome treatment itself did not decrease the size of the quanta compared to untreated controls. Then the preparations were exposed for 10-20 ...

The predictive value of parental questionnaire responses for exercise-induced bronchoconstriction in childhood asthma has not been fully clarified. The aim of this study was to compare exercise-induced bronchial hyperresponsiveness in 7 year old children with parental responses to core questions in the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood ...

We assessed the occurrence of early bronchial response and late bronchial response after the tread mill and free running exercise tests in 46 mild and moderate extrinsic asthmatics. On the treadmill 24 asthmatic subjects (52.1%) had an early post-exercise fall in PEF greater than ten percent and they were considered ...

Irritant-induced asthma and RADS are related conditions that need further study focusing on the following questions: (1) Are there differences between the pathologic and functional features that follow single or multiple exposures to an irritant material? (2) What is the time course of the changes? (3) What are the physiologic ...

BACKGROUND: Exercise has been proposed as a useful challenge test for the measurement of bronchial responsiveness in community surveys of the prevalence of childhood asthma. This study aimed to develop a standardised exercise challenge in which the sensitivity to detect asthma was increased by inhalation of dry air. METHODS: Sixty ...

Almost all asthmatics involved in moderate to heavy exercise will experience exercise-induced asthma (EIA). Up to 14% of athletes exhibit EIA, symptoms of which include dyspnea, coughing, chest tightness and wheezing. Education, warm-up exercises and pre-treatment with the appropriate medications can enable an athlete to excel and even win a ...

BACKGROUND: Recent information suggests that one of the therapeutic properties of theophylline is an antiinflammatory effect. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated this potential effect of theophylline in eight patients with nocturnal asthma. METHODS: The study design was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover of 2-week treatment periods, separated by a 1-week washout period. ...

Hereditary and acquired C1-inhibitor (C1-INH) deficiencies (hereditary angioedema, HAE and acquired angioedema, AAE) are characterized by episodic increases in vasopermeability due to kinin release. Despite continuously defective C1-INH levels, symptoms only recur occasionally suggesting an episodic generation of pathogenetic factors induced by activation of the protease systems regulated by C1-INH. ...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect and tolerability of formoterol 12 micrograms on exercise-induced asthma in children for 12 h as compared to the effect of salbutamol 400 micrograms and placebo. The drugs were inhaled as dry powder from a flow-dependent metered-dose inhaler (DP-MDI). Sixteen asthmatic ...

A simplified treatment for stuttering, involving awareness and competing response training, was implemented with two adult stutterers. The procedures resulted in a decrease in stuttering during reading and conversation for both subjects, although only one subject achieved the criterion of less than 3% stuttered words. Long-term follow up (1.5 years ...

An acid-induced cholinergic esophagobronchial reflex has been described whereby acid refluxing into the esophagus causes bronchospasm. Reports of exertional gastroesophageal acid reflux prompted us to study the possibility that exercise-induced asthma (EIA) could be related to gastroesophageal reflux (GER). Following an overnight fast, 10 athletes with a history of EIA ...

A case of familial paroxysmal dystonic choreoathetosis (PDC) documented by video/EEG monitoring is described. The father of the proband is affected by exertional cramping but not PDC, lending support to the previous hypothesis that exertional cramping may represent a "forme fruste" or the incomplete expression of PDC. Other family members ...

This open labelled, group comparative, cross over study, was carried out to analyze the efficacy of two dosages of Nedocromil sodium (NS) in the prophylaxis of Exercise Induced Asthma (EIA). 13 athletes (6 males, 7 females), aged: 12-38 years, were studied measuring their EIA by forced spirometries prior and at ...

Recent evidence suggests that leukotrienes may have a causative role in exercise-induced asthma. Twenty-four subjects with exercise-induced asthma received either 600 mg zileuton, a 5-lipoxygenase inhibitor, or a placebo four times daily for 2 d prior to exercise challenge (a total of nine doses). The last dose was administered in ...

Exercise-induced bronchospasm is a common clinical problem that is particularly troubling for patients who engage in strenuous physical activity, such as athletes. When such individuals develop this condition, the associated airway narrowing can materially interfere with performance; however, events other than asthma can also produce these symptoms and their differentiation ...

BACKGROUND: Glycopyrrolate, an anticholinergic agent that does not cross the blood-brain barrier, has several indications, but its mydriatic effect has never been tested. This study was carried out in order to compare the mydriatic effect of glycopyrrolate 0.5% to that of atropine sulfate 1%. METHODS: Glycopyrrolate 0.5% and atropine 1.0% ...

BACKGROUND: Paclitaxel, a member of a new class of antineoplastic agents called the taxanes, has been associated with anaphylactoid reactions. OBJECTIVE: We report a case of successful parental desensitization to paclitaxel. METHODS: Desensitization was performed with serial 10-fold dilutions (up to 1:100,000) of paclitaxel in sufficient volume to administer successive ...

A role for the leukotrienes in asthma has been postulated for many years. These mediators induce potent bronchoconstriction, stimulate mucous secretion and decrease mucus transport, increase vascular permeability (thereby promoting edema formation), and induce migration of eosinophils into the lung. Recent studies with both leukotriene receptor antagonists and leukotriene synthesis ...

The aim of this study was to determine whether ozone enhances bronchial responsiveness to allergens in subjects with allergic asthma, or facilitates a bronchial response in subjects with allergic rhinitis. Twenty-four subjects with mild stable allergic asthma, 12 subjects with allergic rhinitis without asthma, and 10 healthy subjects participated in ...

Exercise-induced asthma (EIA) affects 12% to 15% of the general population. Its symptoms include chest tightness, shortness of breath, coughing, wheezing, fatigue, and prolonged recovery times after exercise. Diagnosis depends on accurate history, physical examination, and lung function testing. Nonpharmacologic management includes modification of both activity and ambient conditions, along ...