Multiarray screening identifies plasma proteins associated with Th17 cell differentiation and viral defense in coincident asthma and obesity.

Background: The immunological mechanisms behind the clinical association between asthma and obesity in adolescence are not fully understood. This study aimed to find new plasma protein biomarkers associated specifically with coincident asthma and obesity in adolescents.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study in children and adolescents 10-19 years old (N = 390).

Device comparison study to measure nasal nitric oxide in relation to primary ciliary dyskinesia.

Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a genetic respiratory disease characterized by chronic cough, recurrent respiratory infections, and rhinosinusitis. The measurement of nasal nitric oxide (nNO) against resistance has been suggested as a sensitive screening method. However, current recommendations argue for the use of expensive, chemiluminescence devices to measure nNO.

Allergic sensitisation and type-2 inflammation is associated with new-onset and persistent allergic disease.

Background: Allergic disease is common. The aim of this study was to look at the change in asthma and rhinitis over time and to characterise factors contributing to remission and persistence of disease.

Methods: This cohort study included 255 individuals with or without asthma and or rhinitis that participated in a population survey and a follow-up 10 years later.

Clinical Remission of Asthma and Allergic Rhinitis - in a Longitudinal Population Study.

Background: Although asthma and allergic rhinitis are chronic diseases, some patients experience periods of remission. Information on prognostic factors associated with the remission of asthma and allergic rhinitis is valuable in resource prioritization. This study investigated factors associated with the clinical remission of asthma and allergic rhinitis.

Impaired Antibody Response Is Associated with Histone-Release, Organ Dysfunction and Mortality in Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients.

Purpose: the pathophysiologic mechanisms explaining differences in clinical outcomes following COVID-19 are not completely described. This study aims to investigate antibody responses in critically ill patients with COVID-19 in relation to inflammation, organ failure and 30-day survival.

Methods: All patients with PCR-verified COVID-19 and gave consent, and who were admitted to a tertiary Intensive care unit (ICU) in Sweden during March-September 2020 were included.

Risk Factors for the Absence of Diagnosis of Asthma Despite Disease Symptoms: Results from the Swedish GA2LEN Study.

Background: Asthma is a common chronic disease presenting with airway symptoms such as wheezing, chest tightness and attacks of breathlessness. Underdiagnosis of asthma is common and correlates to negative outcomes such as a lower quality of life and reduced work capacity.

Purpose: This study aims to identify factors for not being diagnosed with asthma if presenting with asthma symptoms.

Self-reported exercise-induced dyspnea and airways obstruction assessed by oscillometry and spirometry in adolescents.

Background: Self-reported exercise-induced dyspnea (EID) is common among adolescents. Possible underlying pathologies are exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) and laryngeal obstruction (EILO). The forced oscillation technique (FOT) may evaluate exercise-induced changes in airway caliber.

Relationship between longitudinal changes in type-2 inflammation, immunoglobulin E sensitization, and clinical outcomes in young asthmatics.

Background: Asthma is a heterogeneous condition where biomarkers may be of considerable advantage in diagnosis and therapy monitoring. However, the changes in asthma biomarkers and immunoglobulin E (IgE) over the course of life has not been extensively investigated.

Objective: To study longitudinal changes in type-2 inflammatory biomarkers, IgE, and clinical outcomes, and the association between these changes, in young asthmatics.

Cross-sectional study on exhaled nitric oxide in relation to upper airway inflammatory disorders with regard to asthma and perennial sensitization.

Background: Fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) is a well-known marker of type-2 inflammation. FeNO is elevated in asthma and allergic rhinitis, with IgE sensitization as a major determinant.

Objective: We aimed to see whether there was an independent association between upper airway inflammatory disorders (UAID) and FeNO, after adjustment for asthma and sensitization, in a multi-centre population-based study.

The influence of individual characteristics and non-respiratory diseases on blood eosinophil count.

Background: Blood eosinophil (B-Eos) count is an emerging biomarker in the management of respiratory disease but determinants of B-Eos count besides respiratory disease are poorly described. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the influence of non-respiratory diseases on B-Eos count, in comparison to the effect on two other biomarkers: fraction of exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) and C-reactive protein (CRP), and to identify individual characteristics associated with B-Eos count in healthy controls.

Methods: Children/adolescents (<18 years) and adults with complete B-Eos data from the US National Health and Nutritional Examination Surveys 2005-2016 were included, and they were divided into having respiratory diseases ( = 3333 and  = 7,894, respectively) or not having respiratory disease ( = 8944 and  = 15,010, respectively).

Economic Evaluation of the Use of FeNO for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma Patients in Primary Care in Sweden.

Objective: To determine the economic impact of the fraction of exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) in asthma diagnosis and management in primary care in Sweden.

Methods: An economic model has been developed to determine the economic impact of the fraction of exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) in asthma diagnosis and management in primary care in Sweden. The model includes the use and cost of commonly used tests, the associated outcomes and diagnostic accuracy.

Mapping atopic dermatitis and anti-IL-22 response signatures to type 2-low severe neutrophilic asthma.

Background: Transcriptomic changes in patients who respond clinically to biological therapies may identify responses in other tissues or diseases.

Objective: We sought to determine whether a disease signature identified in atopic dermatitis (AD) is seen in adults with severe asthma and whether a transcriptomic signature for patients with AD who respond clinically to anti-IL-22 (fezakinumab [FZ]) is enriched in severe asthma.

Methods: An AD disease signature was obtained from analysis of differentially expressed genes between AD lesional and nonlesional skin biopsies.

Inflammatory patterns in fixed airflow obstruction are dependent on the presence of asthma.

Rationale: Fixed airflow obstruction (FAO) can complicate asthma. Inflammation is a proposed underlying mechanism.

Objective: Our aim in this cross-sectional investigation was to evaluate the blood leucocyte pattern and level of exhaled nitric oxide in asthmatics and non-asthmatics with or without FAO.

Nasal nitric oxide in relation to asthma characteristics in a longitudinal asthma cohort study.

Objective: Cross-sectional studies report relations between low nasal nitric oxide (nNO) and poor asthma control and between low nNO and chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). In our cohort study, we studied if changes in nNO related to changes in asthma control, symptoms of CRS, or asthma or rhinitis medication.

Methods: A total of 196 subjects with predominantly mild to moderate asthma, aged 10-35 years, performed nNO measurements at both baseline and follow-up after a median of 43 (range 23-65) months.

Urinary Leukotriene E and Prostaglandin D Metabolites Increase in Adult and Childhood Severe Asthma Characterized by Type 2 Inflammation. A Clinical Observational Study.

New approaches are needed to guide personalized treatment of asthma. To test if urinary eicosanoid metabolites can direct asthma phenotyping. Urinary metabolites of prostaglandins (PGs), cysteinyl leukotrienes (CysLTs), and isoprostanes were quantified in the U-BIOPRED (Unbiased Biomarkers for the Prediction of Respiratory Diseases Outcomes) study including 86 adults with mild-to-moderate asthma (MMA), 411 with severe asthma (SA), and 100 healthy control participants.

Sensitization to storage proteins in peanut and hazelnut is associated with higher levels of inflammatory markers in asthma.

Background: Sensitization to peanuts and hazelnuts is common among young asthmatics and can be primary or a result of cross-reactivity. Sensitization as a result of cross-reactivity to birch pollen is typically associated to tolerance or mild and local symptoms upon intake of peanut or hazelnut.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate relationships between IgE antibody responses against peanut and hazelnut components, airway and systemic inflammation markers, lung function parameters and reported food hypersensitivity in a cohort of asthmatic children and young adults.

Different baseline characteristics are associated with incident wheeze in female and male adolescents.

Aim: To investigate the independent relationships between baseline characteristics and incident wheeze in adolescents, with particular regard to gender.

Methods: Adolescents (N = 959), aged 12-15 years, answered a standardised respiratory questionnaire and underwent height and weight measurements at baseline. Four years later, 96% of the subjects completed a similar questionnaire.

Study of atopic multimorbidity in subjects with rhinitis using multiplex allergen component analysis.

Background: Rhinitis is a common problem within the population. Many subjects with rhinitis also have atopic multimorbidity, such as asthma and eczema. The purpose of this investigation was to compare subjects with only rhinitis to those that have rhinitis, asthma and/or eczema in relation to immunoglobulin E (IgE) sensitization, inflammatory markers, family history, lung function and body mass index (BMI).

Concurrence of elevated FeNO and airway hyperresponsiveness in nonasthmatic adolescents.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate airway responsiveness and eosinophil and neutrophil inflammatory markers in clinically confirmed nonasthmatic adolescents with elevated fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), a marker of type-2 inflammation in the airways.

Methodology: A total of 959 subjects from a general population, aged 12 to 15 years, answered a standardised questionnaire and underwent FeNO measurements at a screening visit at school. Adolescents without asthma, who had elevated FeNO (FeNO  > 15 ppb) (n = 19), and control subjects, with low FeNO (FeNO  < 5 ppb) and without reported symptoms of asthma or allergy (n = 28), participated in a follow-up study where FeNO , airway responsiveness to methacholine (PD ), blood eosinophil counts, and serum neutrophil lipocalin (HNL) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) levels were measured.

The role of low-grade inflammation in ME/CFS (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) - associations with symptoms.

Background: Patients with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) often present with a range of flu-like symptoms resembling sickness behavior as well as widespread pain and concentration deficits. The aim of this study was to explore the association between inflammatory markers previously shown to be related to fatigue severity in ME/CFS and common ME/CFS symptoms post-exertional fatigue, impaired cognitive processing, musculoskeletal pain and recurrent flu-like symptoms, and the moderating effect of sex on these associations.

Methods: 53 adult patients diagnosed with ME/CFS at a specialist clinic were included in the study.