1,720,975 research outputs found
Inhaled ultrasonically nebulized distilled water decreases exhaled nitric oxide in asthma.
No full textInhaled ultrasonically nebulized distilled water decreases exhaled nitric oxide in asthma.
No full textExhaled nitric oxide may predict bronchial hyperreactivity in patients with allergic rhinitis.
No full textInhaled ultrasonically nebulized distilled water decreases exhaled nitric oxide in asthma.
No full textExhaled nitric oxide (eNO) is increasingly used as a marker of disease
activity in asthma. Inhaled hypertonic saline has been shown to induce
bronchoconstriction and to decrease eNOin asthmatic subjects, whereas the
effects of hypotonic solutions on eNOin these patients have not been studied.
To evaluate the effect of ultrasonically nebulized distilled water (UNDW), an
indirect hypotonic stimulus, on eNO, 17 asthmatic patients were enrolled and
eNOfrom lower airways was measured by chemiluminescence. UNDW significantly
reduced FEV1 ‡ 20% in 9 subjects (UNDW+), but had no effect in
eight patients (UNDW)). Baseline eNOconcentra tion were found to be
51.3 ± 11.1 ppb in UNDW+ and 32.9 ± 7.5 ppb in UNDW) patients, respectively
(p = 0.199, NS). UNDW inhalation significantly decreased eNO
(from 51.3 ± 11.1 ppb to 31.0 ± 7.1 ppb in UNDW+ (p<0.020, n = 9) and
from 32.9 ± 7.5 ppb to 26.2 ± 7.3 ppb in UNDW) subjects (p<0.024,
n = 8), respectively). eNOpe rcentage reduction in UNDW+ patients was
significantly higher compared with UNDW) subjects ()37 ± 4% vs
)23 ± 3%, p = 0.021). There was no correlation between FEV1 changes and
eNOpercent age decreases in both UNDW+ and UNDW) subjects. In
UNDW+ patients, acute bronchodilation induced by salbutamol caused a
recovery in both FEV1 and eNO, though eNO levels remained lower than
baseline values. We concluded that UNDW inhalation can significantly decrease
eNOin asthmatic patients, either responders or nonresponders to this
indirect osmotic challenge; the reduction in eNOlevel s was only partly dependent
on acute changes in airway caliber
The effect of inhaled furosemide and acetazolamide on bronchoconstriction induced by deep inspiration in asthma.
No full textTNF-alpha, IL-4R-alpha and IL-4 polymorphisms in mild to severe asthma from Italian Caucasians.
No full textAsthma is a chronic airway inflammatory disease associated with airway hyperresponsiveness which affects subjects with genetic predisposition. An association has been reported between some polymorphisms in various cytokine genes and asthma. Most of them are single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). These polymorphisms are detected in the protein coding sequence or in the promoter region thus influencing cytokine production. We investigated the involvement of SNP mapping in 5 cytokine genes in mild to severe asthmatics of Italian Caucasians. The frequency of alleles and genotypes, relatively to 10 allelic specificities of the cytokine genes, was defined in 57 asthmatics and in 124 control subjects by a Polymerase Chain Reaction-Sequence Specific Primer method. TNF-alpha -308A and TNF-alpha -238A allele frequencies were higher in asthmatics than in controls (p less than 0.001). Significant differences in the frequency of IL-4 -590T allele and of IL-4Ralpha +1902A allele were also detected in asthmatics in comparison with controls (pless than 0.001 and p=0.005, respectively). Similarly, IL-1alpha -889C allele was present in 84.1 percent of asthmatics and in 70.2 percent of controls (p=0.013). Furthermore, the IL-4Ralpha +1902A/A and IL-1alpha -889C/C homozygous conditions and the TNF-alpha -308G/A, TNF-alpha -238G/A, IL-4 -590T/C and IL-10 -1082G/A heterozygous conditions were significantly associated with asthma (p less than 0.05). ACA haplotype of IL-10 was observed only in asthmatic patients. This study reports, for the first time, the frequency of 10 different single nucleotide polymorphisms in 5 cytokine genes in the Italian Caucasians. Furthermore, we also indicate that in our population some single nucleotide polymorphisms are associated with mild to severe bronchial asthma
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
- …
