Asthma in Hawaii: a tradition of excess mortality.

Hawaii has the highest asthma mortality in the nation and clinically has always had high rates. In contrast, international consensus has it that deaths have been rare over the past two centuries to 1950. The objective of this study was to document Hawaii's asthma mortality over the centuries to 1950.

Mamane: scientific therapy for asthma?

Mortality from asthma in Hawaii continues to increase and chronic problems of medication compliance, side effects, and cost persist. The advisability of adding alternative (traditional) medication for its anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic function was examined. One of the herbs for asthma in the Hawaiian narrative tradition is mamane, or in scientific terminology, Sophora chrysophylla.

Minimizing acarians and house dust in the tropics.

Dust collection and mite isolation by Furumizo's method occurred in 33 homes on days 0 and 14. The first application of Paragerm AK (23 homes) or placebo aerosol (ten homes) was done after vacuuming on day 14. The second (final) spraying occurred on day 28, immediately after vacuuming.

Hawaiian materia medica for asthma.

A literature search and traditional narration determined that at least 58 herbs with scientific names were commonly used by Hawaiians for asthma. Of particular note were Piper methysticum, solanum americanum, and Aleurites molucana with oral tradition singling out Sophora chrysophylla. These four therapeutic agents, especially Sophora, have scientific merit and warrant further investigation because of the recent increase in asthma mortality, their potential for improved patient compliance, minimal of side effects, and the low cost.

House dust mites in university dormitories.

As no published data was available, dust was collected from 102 university student dormitory rooms and 33 were selected on a random basis for analysis. Mean dust per dormitory room was 4.47 g of coarse, 0.