Circulating biomarkers of airflow limitation across the life span.

Background: Airflow limitation is a hallmark of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which can develop through different lung function trajectories across the life span. There is a need for longitudinal studies aimed at identifying circulating biomarkers of airflow limitation across different stages of life.

Objectives: This study sought to identify a signature of serum proteins associated with airflow limitation and evaluate their relation to lung function longitudinally in adults and children.

The relation of circulating YKL-40 to levels and decline of lung function in adult life.

Background: YKL-40 is a chitinase-like protein that, in cross-sectional clinical studies, has been associated with severe asthma and COPD in smokers.

Aim: To determine the longitudinal relation of circulating YKL-40 to levels and decline of lung function in the general population.

Methods: We used longitudinal data from up to 13 surveys from the population-based TESAOD study which was conducted in Tucson, Arizona between 1972 and 1996.

Evaluating intense rehabilitative therapies with and without acupuncture for children with cerebral palsy: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To compare the outcomes of conventional therapies (physical, occupational, and hydrotherapies) plus acupuncture with those without acupuncture when administered intensely in the management of children with spastic cerebral palsy (CP).

Design: Evaluation-blind, prospective randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Therapies and video-recorded assessments at a children's hospital in Beijing, China, and blind scoring and data analyses at a university in the United States.

Morbidity and mortality associated with the restrictive spirometric pattern: a longitudinal study.

Background: Recent studies have suggested that a restrictive pattern assessed with a single spirometric test is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. This study was undertaken to determine demographic, clinical and mortality profiles of subjects with either a recurrent or an inconsistent restrictive spirometric pattern assessed prospectively.

Methods: Data from 2048 adult participants in the population-based TESAOD study were analysed.

The course of persistent airflow limitation in subjects with and without asthma.

Rationale: Most patients who develop persistent airflow limitation do so either as a manifestation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that is largely related to smoking or as a consequence of persistent asthma. We sought to compare the natural course of lung function associated with persistent airflow limitation in subjects with and without asthma from early to late adult life.

Methods: We studied 2552 participants aged 25 or more who had multiple questionnaire and lung function data from the long-term prospective population-based Tucson Epidemiological Study of Airway Obstructive Disease.

Normative psychomotor vigilance task performance in children ages 6 to 11--the Tucson Children's Assessment of Sleep Apnea (TuCASA).

Although the psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) is commonly used in sleep and other research settings, normative data for PVT performance in children have not been published. This report presents normal PVT performance measures among children without a sleep disorder participating in the Tucson Children's Assessment of Sleep Apnea (TuCASA) study. TuCASA is a community-based, prospective study of sleep-disordered breathing in Caucasian and Hispanic children ages 6 to 11 years.