Observations on heaves. An asthma-like syndrome in the horse. 1964.

Observations in six horses with heaves established a clear relationship between attacks of heaves and the feeding of hay. Severe acute attacks were accompanied by striking changes in the eosinophil count and the sedimentation rate. The variation in the severity of heaves in relation to the feeding and withholding of hay is accounted for by assuming that attacks result from a transient, obstructive lesion in the bronchial tree or lung caused by hypersensitivity to some component of hay.

Parathyroid hormone and 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels in glucocorticoid-treated patients.

Abnormalities in parathyroid hormone (PTH) secretion or vitamin D action or metabolism have been suggested as pathogenetic factors in the bone disease associated with chronic glucocorticoid therapy. We have found normal plasma PTH values in forty-eight adult asthmatic patients on chronic glucocorticoid therapy, twelve asthmatics treated without glucocorticoids and ten adults on short-term, high-dose glucocorticoid therapy for non-asthmatic illnesses. The mean serum 25-OHD level in the glucocorticoid-treated asthmatics was not significantly different from a disease control group of asthmatic patients not on glucocorticoids, but nine such patients had abnormally low 25-OHD levels.

Myths, morbidity, and mortality in asthma.

Persistence of outmoded concepts or "myths" concerning the diagnosis and treatment of asthma probably is responsible for large economic losses, overutilization of hospital beds, and many preventable deaths. There have been many worthwhile studies refuting these myths, leading to the following conclusions: Asthma consists of much more than wheezing and in many cases must be treated long after wheezing stops. There is no convincing evidence relating the chronic pulmonary changes of asthma to the psyche.