First report of the Italian register for diffuse infiltrative lung disorders (RIPID).

RIPID was established in 1998 as a joint project of the major Italian scientific societies for Respiratory Medicine, with the aim to create an Italian Register on diffuse infiltrative lung disorders that can provide the basis for epidemiological and clinical studies of adequate sample size. In the period from May 1998 to December 2000, 1,382 cases were submitted from 54 Centers in 15 regions of Italy, 54.2% males (mean age +/- SD 50.

Effects of non-bronchoconstrictive doses of inhaled propranolol on airway responsiveness to methacholine.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of non-bronchoconstrictive doses of propranolol on airway hyperresponsiveness to methacholine.

Methods: Double increasing concentrations (from 0.03 to 64 micrograms/ml) of inhaled propranolol were administered to a study population which included ten patients with mild asthma, ten rhinitics, and ten healthy control subjects.

Effect of inhaled heparin on water-induced bronchoconstriction in allergic asthmatics.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of inhaled heparin on bronchoconstriction induced by ultrasonically nebulised distilled water (UNDW) in allergic asthmatics.

Methods: Eight atopic asthmatics, hyperresponsive to UNDW, were selected for this randomised, placebo-controlled, crossover double-blind study. On two consecutive days, these subjects underwent a UNDW challenge 45 min after inhaling aerosolised heparin (1000 U/kg) or placebo.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis and HIV co-infection in the lung: synergic immune dysregulation leading to disease progression.

There is evidence that Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) impacts on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and that HIV promotes mycobacterial diseases. Epidemiological and clinical studies demonstrate the detrimental effect of tuberculosis (TB) on the progression of HIV infection, that is an increased risk of death among Mtb-HIV co-infected patients. Pulmonary TB may occur very early during HIV infection, whereas extrapulmonary or atypical manifestations are associated with more profound immunodeficiency, showing features like mycobacteraemia and multi-drug resistance, much more severe than in immunocompetent hosts.

Lung cancer metastatic cells detected in blood by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and dot-blot analysis.

Purpose: We analyzed the blood of patients with lung cancer at different stages of presentation for the presence of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) mRNA detected by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) combined with the dot-blot procedure as an indicator of micrometastatic malignant cells.

Patients And Methods: We studied 24 lung cancer patients (10 with distant metastases and 14 with no evidence of distant metastases), eight age- and sex-matched patients affected by nonneoplastic respiratory diseases (four smokers), and eight healthy subjects. We used immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR dot-blot analysis to evaluate CEA expression in the neoplastic tissue, and the RT-PCR dot-blot procedure to analyze CEA mRNA in circulating cells.