Influence of Loudness, Pitch, Vowel, and Voice Condition on Supraglottic Tissue Displacement in Female Participants.

Purpose: The present study aims at exploring the effect of pitch, loudness, vowel, and voice condition on supraglottic activity among female participants with voice disorders and among female participants with normal voices.

Methods: Forty-four volunteers were recruited. Inclusion criteria for the dysphonic group were: 1) age between 20 and 50 years, 2) reporting at least 1 year-long history of voice problems, 3) moderate or severe dysphonia.

A Novel AGR2 Variant Causing Aberrant Monomer-Dimer Equilibrium Leading to Severe Respiratory and Digestive Symptoms.

Anterior gradient 2 (AGR2) is a protein disulfide isomerase that is important for protein processing in the endoplasmic reticulum and is essential for mucin production in the digestive and respiratory tracts. Bi-allelic AGR2 variants were recently found to cause recurrent respiratory infections and failure to thrive with or without diarrhea (RIFTD; MIM # 620233), although the mechanisms behind this condition remain unclear. To date, at least 15 patients with homozygous AGR2 variants have been reported.

The impact of circulating nucleosomes on inflammation in acute lung injury.

Extracellular histones are released in two major forms: free histones and nucleosomes (DNA-bound histones). However, little distinction has been made between these two forms of circulating extracellular histones. Our study detected increased circulating nucleosomes in acute lung injury patients.

PDGFRα-positive cell-derived TIMP-1 modulates adaptive immune responses to influenza A viral infection.

Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1) is a physiologic inhibitor of the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), but little is known about the role of TIMP-1 in regulating the pathogenesis of influenza A virus (IAV) infection. Here, we performed both in vivo and in vitro experiments to investigate the regulation and function of TIMP-1 during IAV infection. Specifically, plasma levels of TIMP-1 are significantly increased in human subjects and wild-type (WT) mice infected with 2009 H1N1 IAV compared with levels in uninfected controls.