A rare case of refractory asthma managed with azathioprine.

: Azathioprine is an immune-modulating agent used in the management of autoimmune diseases and in preventing graft rejection. Its role in the management of refractory asthma is not very well-established.: A 47-year-old female with an underlying severe refractory asthma, managed with high dose steroids, was seen as an outpatient.

Expression and prognostic significance of livin/BIRC7 in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Livin, a member of the inhibitor of apoptosis proteins has been considered to be a poor prognostic marker in malignancies. However, little is known about the clinical relevance of livin expression in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The aim of the present study was to assess the expression of livin on leukemic blasts of de novo childhood ALL and its relevance to clinical and hematological findings, and treatment outcome.

Association of MDR1 gene polymorphism (G2677T) with imatinib response in Egyptian chronic myeloid leukemia patients.

Background: Despite the excellent efficacy results of imatinib treatment in CML patients, resistance to imatinib has emerged as a significant problem. Genetic variations in genes involved in drug transportation might influence the pharmacokinetic and metabolism of imatinib. The genotype of a patient is increasingly recognized in influencing the response to the treatment.

Heritability of abnormalities in cardiopulmonary coupling in sleep apnea: use of an electrocardiogram-based technique.

Rationale: Studies of the genetics of obstructive sleep apnea may be facilitated by identifying intermediate traits with high heritability that quantify etiological pathways, such as those related to respiratory control. Electrocardiogram (ECG)-based sleep spectrograms, measuring the coupling between respiratory modulation of ECG QRS-wave amplitude and heart rate variability, may provide measures of sleep state and ventilatory dynamics during sleep. We evaluated the familial aggregation of distinctive spectrographic biomarkers of unstable sleep, related to elevated-low frequency cardiopulmonary coupling (e-LFC), to assess their utility in genetic studies.

A measure of ventilatory variability at wake-sleep transition predicts sleep apnea severity.

Rationale: Increased variability in ventilation may contribute to the pathogenesis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) by promoting ventilatory instability, fluctuations of neuromuscular output to the upper airway, and pharyngeal collapsibility. We assessed the association of a measure of ventilatory variability measured at the wake-sleep transition with OSA and associated covariates.

Methods: Four hundred eighty-five participants in the Cleveland Family Study underwent overnight polysomnography with independent derivation of the ventilatory variability index (VVI) and the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI).

A predictive model for survival after in-hospital cardiopulmonary arrest.

Background: In-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) has seen a steady increase in the application of technology and techniques since the introduction of closed cardiac massage in 1960. Despite this progress, there has not been a demonstrated improvement in survival rates after in-hospital cardiac arrest over the last 40 years. Identification of prognostic factors associated with survival after a resuscitation attempt can help physician decisions and patients' end-of-life choices in a pre-arrest situation.