The effect of induced sputum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on neutrophil migration in vitro.

Objective: The aim of study was to investigate a chemotactic effect of induced sputum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid on blood neutrophils in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and healthy individuals.

Material And Methods: Forty-three smokers with COPD, 19 ex-smokers with COPD, 13 healthy smokers, and 17 healthy nonsmokers were recruited to the study. Neutrophils were isolated from peripheral blood of study individuals.

Smoking affects eotaxin levels in asthma patients.

Background: Chronic airway inflammation is most important pathological finding in asthma. Cigarette smoking may modify type of inflammation as well as may influence disease severity and response to the treatment.

Objective: Thus the aim of this study was to investigate whether cigarette smoking may have an influence on the levels of eotaxin-1, eotaxin-2, eotaxin-3 and IL-5 in patients with stable mild/moderate asthma.

Influence of smoking status on cough reflex sensitivity in subjects with COPD.

Cough reflex sensitivity has not been studied extensively in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The aim of the study was to evaluate cough reflex sensitivity to capsaicin in current and former smokers with COPD and examine its association with potentially protussive mediators. Fifteen active smokers and 18 ex-smokers with moderate to severe COPD, 14 healthy active smokers, and 13 healthy never smokers were enrolled.

Patterns of airway inflammation and MMP-12 expression in smokers and ex-smokers with COPD.

Background: Smoking activates and recruits inflammatory cells and proteases to the airways. Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-12 may be a key mediator in smoke induced emphysema. However, the influence of smoking and its cessation on airway inflammation and MMP-12 expression during COPD is still unknown.

Changes in cough reflex sensitivity after cessation and resumption of cigarette smoking.

Previous studies have shown that healthy cigarette smokers have diminished cough reflex sensitivity compared to healthy nonsmokers. We have recently demonstrated that cough reflex sensitivity is enhanced soon after smoking cessation, suggesting that diminished cough sensitivity in smokers results from chronic cigarette smoke-induced desensitization of airway cough receptors. In this study, we evaluated cough reflex sensitivity to capsaicin (C(5)) in 11 chronic smokers who had discontinued smoking for at least 2 weeks, and then resumed smoking.

Dyspnea perception and reversibility of methacholine-induced unlimited airway narrowing in asthmatics.

The hypothesis was that asthmatics might experience impaired perception of dyspnea and salbutamol-induced reversibility during unlimited airway narrowing. A total of 38 asthmatics (18 to 59 years of age) were examined. All patients underwent the methacholine challenge test.

Perception of dyspnea in asthmatics with normal lung function.

Unlabelled: The perception of dyspnea varies widely among asthmatics and it is influenced by many factors. The aims of our study were to investigate the perception of dyspnea during methacholine-induced bronchoconstriction in asthmatics with normal lung function and to evaluate the influence of bronchial responsiveness, age and gender to dyspnea perception in these patients. A total of 192 outpatients (aged 16-77 years) with stable asthma and normal lung function were examined.