Safety and tolerability of cold-adapted influenza virus vaccine in children and adolescents with asthma.

Background: Influenza infections can cause severe respiratory disease in high risk persons such as those with asthma, but immunization rates for high risk groups remain suboptimal. An investigational influenza virus vaccine, trivalent, types A and B, live, cold-adapted (CAIV-T) administered by intranasal spray was shown previously to be effective in healthy adults and healthy children.

Purpose: To assess the safety and tolerability of CAIV-T in subjects 9 years of age and older with moderate to severe asthma.

Fluticasone propionate powder administered through Diskhaler versus triamcinolone acetonide aerosol administered through metered-dose inhaler in patients with persistent asthma.

Background: Attempts to delineate efficacy and safety differences among inhaled corticosteroids have been difficult because of the lack of well-controlled, comparative studies reported in the medical literature.

Methods: A randomized, double-blind, double-dummy study was conducted in 24 outpatient centers. A total of 291 male and female patients at least 12 years of age with asthma (FEV1 between 50% and 80% of predicted value), who had previously received maintenance therapy with beclomethasone dipropionate or triamcinolone acetonide, were switched to treatment with fluticasone propionate powder (250 microg twice daily), triamcinolone acetonide aerosol (200 microg four times daily), or placebo for 24 weeks.

Cytokines and eosinophil-derived cationic proteins upregulate intercellular adhesion molecule-1 on human nasal epithelial cells.

Background: Allergic and nonallergic rhinitis with eosinophilia syndrome are characterized by tissue eosinophilia and nasal mucosal injury. Recently, it has been shown that the adherence of eosinophils and other leukocytes to epithelial cells is mediated by intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and related adherence-promoting glycoproteins.

Methods: In this study we examined the constitutive expression of ICAM-1 on human nasal epithelial cells (HNECs), and the effects of interferon-gamma, tumor necrosis factor-gamma eosinophil major basic protein, and eosinophil cationic protein on the regulation of ICAM-1 expression on these cells.

Once-a-day dosing with theophylline: a comparison of four sustained-release products.

This study compared once-a-day dosing of Slo-bid, Theo-Dur, Theo-24 and Uniphyl, sustained release theophylline preparations, in the treatment of 12 mild to moderate asthmatic patients (FEV1 greater than 60%). Eight hundred milligrams was given once-a-day in the morning for 2 weeks for each drug in this 4-way, crossover, open-label study. At the end of each 2-week period, pharmacokinetics were assessed by measuring theophylline levels every two hours for 24 hours.

Depression and panic attacks related to phenol-formaldehyde composite material exposure in an aerospace manufacturing plant.

In a case series study we evaluated 53 composite-materials workers in an aerospace plant who filed workers' compensation claims for illness allegedly related to phenol-formaldehyde resin exposure. Symptoms ranged from mucosal and skin irritation to depression and cognitive impairment. Certain health practitioners implying they had immunologic dysfunction and organic brain injury, led workers to believe they were chemically poisoned.