Father's environment before conception and asthma risk in his children: a multi-generation analysis of the Respiratory Health In Northern Europe study.

Background: Whereas it is generally accepted that maternal environment plays a key role in child health, emerging evidence suggests that paternal environment before conception also impacts child health. We aimed to investigate the association between children's asthma risk and parental smoking and welding exposures prior to conception.

Methods: In a longitudinal, multi-country study, parents of 24 168 offspring aged 2-51 years provided information on their life-course smoking habits, occupational exposure to welding and metal fumes, and offspring's asthma before/after age 10 years and hay fever.

Diffusion capacity and CT measures of emphysema and airway wall thickness - relation to arterial oxygen tension in COPD patients.

Background: Decreased diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO) is associated with emphysema. DLCO is also related to decreased arterial oxygen tension (PaO2), but there are limited data on associations between PaO2 and computed tomography (CT) derived measures of emphysema and airway wall thickness.

Objective: To examine whether CT measures of emphysema and airway wall thickness are associated with level of arterial oxygen tension beyond that provided by measurements of diffusion capacity and spirometry.

Longterm follow-up in European respiratory health studies - patterns and implications.

Background: Selection bias is a systematic error in epidemiologic studies that may seriously distort true measures of associations between exposure and disease. Observational studies are highly susceptible to selection bias, and researchers should therefore always examine to what extent selection bias may be present in their material and what characterizes the bias in their material. In the present study we examined long-term participation and consequences of loss to follow-up in the studies Respiratory Health in Northern Europe (RHINE), Italian centers of European Community Respiratory Health Survey (I-ECRHS), and the Italian Study on Asthma in Young Adults (ISAYA).

Acetazolamide improves oxygenation in patients with respiratory failure and metabolic alkalosis.

Introduction: Coexistent respiratory failure and metabolic alkalosis is a common finding. Acidotic diuretics cause a fall in pH that may stimulate respiration.

Objective: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of short-term treatment with acetazolamide for combined respiratory failure and metabolic alkalosis.

Explained variance for blood gases in a population with COPD.

Introduction: Variation of blood gas levels in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients has not been extensively reported and there is limited knowledge about predictors of chronic respiratory failure in COPD patients.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify predictors of hypoxemia, hypercapnia and increased alveolar-arterial oxygen difference in COPD patients. We hypothesized that prediction of arterial blood gases will be improved in multivariate models including measurements of lung function, anthropometry and systemic inflammation.