Pediatric size phlebotomy tubes and transfusions in adult critically ill patients: a pilot randomized controlled trial.

Background: Transfusion of red blood cells (RBC) is common, can have adverse effects, and is a costly and limited resource. Interventions that reduce iatrogenic blood losses could reduce transfusions. The objectives of this pilot trial were to assess the feasibility (acceptability of the intervention and suitability of eligibility criteria) and potential effectiveness of pediatric size phlebotomy tubes in adult critically ill patients.

Small molecule targeting of the STAT5/6 Src homology 2 (SH2) domains to inhibit allergic airway disease.

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the lungs and airways and one of the most burdensome of all chronic maladies. Previous studies have established that expression of experimental and human asthma requires the IL-4/IL-13/IL-4 receptor α (IL-4Rα) signaling pathway, which activates the transcription factor STAT6. However, no small molecules targeting this important pathway are currently in clinical development.

Long-Acting Beta Agonists Enhance Allergic Airway Disease.

Asthma is one of the most common of medical illnesses and is treated in part by drugs that activate the beta-2-adrenoceptor (β2-AR) to dilate obstructed airways. Such drugs include long acting beta agonists (LABAs) that are paradoxically linked to excess asthma-related mortality. Here we show that LABAs such as salmeterol and structurally related β2-AR drugs such as formoterol and carvedilol, but not short-acting agonists (SABAs) such as albuterol, promote exaggerated asthma-like allergic airway disease and enhanced airway constriction in mice.

Airway fibrinogenolysis and the initiation of allergic inflammation.

The past 15 years of allergic disease research have produced extraordinary improvements in our understanding of the pathogenesis of airway allergic diseases such as asthma. Whereas it was previously viewed as largely an immunoglobulin E-mediated process, the gradual recognition that T cells, especially Type 2 T helper (Th2) cells and Th17 cells, play a major role in asthma and related afflictions has inspired clinical trials targeting cytokine-based inflammatory pathways that show great promise. What has yet to be clarified about the pathogenesis of allergic inflammatory disorders, however, are the fundamental initiating factors, both exogenous and endogenous, that drive and sustain B- and T-cell responses that underlie the expression of chronic disease.

Airway surface mycosis in chronic TH2-associated airway disease.

Background: Environmental fungi have been linked to TH2 cell-related airway inflammation and the TH2-associated chronic airway diseases asthma, chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) with nasal polyps (CRSwNP), and allergic fungal rhinosinusitis (AFRS), but whether these organisms participate directly or indirectly in disease pathology remains unknown.

Objective: To determine the frequency of fungus isolation and fungus-specific immunity in patients with TH2-associated and non-TH2-associated airway disease.

Methods: Sinus lavage fluid and blood were collected from sinus surgery patients (n = 118) including patients with CRSwNP, patients with CRS without nasal polyps, patients with AFRS, and non-CRS/nonasthmatic control patients.

Cleavage of fibrinogen by proteinases elicits allergic responses through Toll-like receptor 4.

Proteinases and the innate immune receptor Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) are essential for expression of allergic inflammation and diseases such as asthma. A mechanism that links these inflammatory mediators is essential for explaining the fundamental basis of allergic disease but has been elusive. Here, we demonstrate that TLR4 is activated by airway proteinase activity to initiate both allergic airway disease and antifungal immunity.

Tracheobronchial mycosis in a retrospective case-series study of five status asthmaticus patients.

The etiology of status asthmaticus (SA), a complication of severe asthma, is unknown. Fungal exposure, as measured by fungal atopy, is a major risk factor for developing asthma, but the relationship of fungi in SA per se has not previously been reported. In this five patient retrospective case series study, lower respiratory tract cultures were performed on bronchoalveolar lavage or tracheal aspirate fluid, comparing standard clinical laboratory cultures with a specialized technique in which respiratory mucus was removed prior to culture.

New bronchodilators.

Bronchodilators are central in the treatment of airway diseases including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Bronchodilators in COPD aim to improve lung function, reduce symptoms, prevent exacerbation, and enhance quality of life. The majority of programs in development for novel bronchodilators are focused on enhancing existing targets to once daily dosing and improving their safety profiles.

Vitamin D and asthma.

Purpose Of Review: asthma is a disease that continues to carry a significant health burden on humanity. Vitamin D is thought to play a role in many chronic diseases as it may possess immunomodulatory properties. This article will review the role of vitamin D regulation on the immune system and its potential implication in the pathophysiology of asthma.

Oxygen distribution in the rabbit eye and oxygen consumption by the lens.

Purpose: Excessive exposure to oxygen has been proposed to be a risk factor for nuclear cataracts. For a better understanding of the metabolism of oxygen in the eye, oxygen distribution was mapped in the intraocular fluids, and the rate of oxygen consumption by the lens in rabbits breathing different levels of oxygen was calculated.

Methods: Young albino rabbits were anesthetized, intubated, and exposed to normoxic, hypoxic, or hyperoxic conditions.