[Evaluation of functional capacity by 6-minute walk test in children with asthma].

Background: Asthma patients show lower exercise tolerance.

Objective: Assessment of functional capacity in children with asthma.

Methods: Girls and boys from 6 to 17 years old were included in two groups: asthmatic patients and healthy subjects.

Do immunoglobulin G and immunoglobulin E anti-l-asparaginase antibodies have distinct implications in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia? A cross-sectional study.

Background: l-Asparaginase is essential in the treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. If immunoglobulin G anti-l-asparaginase antibodies develop, they can lead to faster plasma clearance and reduced efficiency as well as to hypersensitivity reactions, in which immunoglobulin E can also participate. This study investigated the presence of immunoglobulin G and immunoglobulin E anti-l-asparaginase antibodies and their clinical associations.

A High Level of Soluble CD40L Is Associated with P. aeruginosa Infection in Patients with Cystic Fibrosis.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the concentration of sCD40L, a product of platelet activation, correlates with the presence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the airway of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and to determine its possible clinical association.

Methods: Sixty patients with CF, ranging in age from 2 months to 36 years, were studied. The demographics, cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) genotype, spirometry measurements, radiographic and tomographic scans, platelet count in peripheral blood, sCD40L, IL-6, TNF-α and ICAM1 data were collected.

Prevalence of eosinophilic esophagitis in patients with refractory gastroesophageal reflux disease symptoms: A prospective study.

Background: Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is not routinely considered in the differential diagnosis of refractory gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

Aims: To prospectively evaluate the prevalence of EoE and describe the clinical features and predictors of EoE in patients with refractory symptoms of GERD.

Methods: Esophageal biopsies were obtained in patients with symptoms of GERD refractory to 8 weeks of conventional antisecretory therapy.

[Costs due to asthma medical care in a group of children from northeastern Mexico].

Background: In 1998 the economic burden of asthma in the United States was estimated in 12.7 billion dollars. In Mexico the annual direct costs for asthma could be approximately from 32 to 35 million dollars.

[Prevalence of hymenoptera sting allergy in veterinary medicine students from Monterey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico].

Background: The reported prevalence of allergic systemic reactions to hymenoptera venom occur in up to 3.3% and large local reactions occur in 17% in the general population.

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of hymenoptera sting allergy in a group of veterinary medicine students from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

[Prevalence of allergy to drugs in a group of asthmatic children and adolescents of northeast of Mexico].

Background: Drug adverse reactions are a common cause of morbidity and they constitute an important challenge in medical practice. The allergic reactions represent only a small proportion of all the drug adverse reactions and although their real prevalence is unknown, some estimated numbers have been suggested. It seems that atopia is not a risk factor for the development of this kind of reactions.

[Assessment of an educational course on asthma for primary care physicians].

Background: The Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) is a collaborative effort to disseminate updated guidelines about the diagnosis and management of patients that suffer from asthma. Implementation of these guidelines by the primary care practitioners reduces the morbidity of these patients.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of a training course of asthma on the knowledge of the primary care physicians.

[Frequency of exercise-induced asthma in a group of children and adolescents with mild asthma attending a summer camp].

Background: Exercise-induced asthma is a transitory bronchospasm, which occurs after 6 to 8 minutes of continuous exercise. Diagnosis is done by a suggestive clinical history and by 15 to 20% post-challenge fall in FEV1. It happens in about 6 to 13% of general population, 90% of asthmatic individuals and 40% of individuals with allergic rhinitis.

[Bronchial foreign body as a differential diagnosis for asthma. Report of a case and review of the literature].

The aspiration of foreign bodies into the airway is a common problem in childhood, mainly in children younger than 10-years old. Foreign bodies located in the tracheobronchial tree can cause episodic cough, dyspnea and wheezing, and generate a misdiagnosed of asthma if physicians do not consider the possibility of a bronchial foreign body as a differential diagnosis of this disease. In these cases, chest X-ray films are very important because those can show the most of foreign bodies or indirect radiographic signs of a bronchial foreign body.