Ex vivo stimulation of whole blood as a means to determine glucocorticoid sensitivity.

Purpose: Glucocorticoids are commonly prescribed to treat a number of diseases including the majority of inflammatory diseases. Despite considerable interpersonal variability in response to glucocorticoids, an insensitivity rate of about 30%, and the risk of adverse side effects of glucocorticoid therapy, currently no assay is performed to determine sensitivity.

Patients And Methods: Here we propose a whole blood ex vivo stimulation assay to interrogate known glucocorticoid receptor (GR) up- and downregulated genes to indicate glucocorticoid sensitivity.

Nicotine treatment improves Toll-like receptor 2 and Toll-like receptor 9 responsiveness in active pulmonary sarcoidosis.

Background: New evidence links nicotine to the regulation of T cell-mediated inflammation via a 7 nicotinic cholinergic receptor activation, and chronic nicotine exposure (smoking) reduces the incidence of granulomatous diseases. We sought to determine whether nicotine treatment was well tolerated while effectively normalizing immune responses in patients with active pulmonary sarcoidosis.

Methods: Consenting adults with symptomatic sarcoidosis (n 5 13) were randomly assigned to receive 12 weeks of nicotine treatment plus conventional therapy or conventional therapy alone.

Screening for exercise-induced bronchoconstriction in college athletes.

Objective: Previous studies have reported that the prevalence of exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) in athletes is higher than that of the general population. There is increasing evidence that athletes fail to recognize and report symptoms of EIB. As a result, there has been debate whether athletes should be screened for EIB, particularly in high-risk sports.

Sources of happiness and stress for college students: a replication and comparison over 20 years.

The advancement of positive psychology is dependent upon measures of happiness, both globally and in specific contexts. Data are presented on two measures of sources of college students' happiness from two samples. Testing of the two cohorts (Ns=258, 68) was separated by 20 years.

Predicting travel attitudes among university faculty after 9/11.

The authors interviewed a random sample of 306 university faculty as part of an annual university poll. Items focused on air travel concerns following 9/11, positive aspects of travel, and future travel intentions. Demographic factors were not significant predictors for men or women faculty.