Application of a novel socioeconomic measure using individual housing data in asthma research: an exploratory study.

Background: A housing-based socioeconomic index (HOUSES) was previously developed to overcome an absence of socioeconomic status (SES) measures in common databases. HOUSES is associated with child health outcomes in Olmsted County, Minnesota, USA, but generalisability to other geographic areas is unclear.

Aim: To assess whether HOUSES is associated with asthma outcomes outside Olmsted County, Minnesota, USA.

Induction of MCP-1 expression in airway epithelial cells: role of CCR2 receptor in airway epithelial injury.

The repair of an injured bronchial epithelial cell (BEC) monolayer requires proliferation and migration of BECs into the injured area. We hypothesized that BEC monolayer injury results in monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) production, which initiates the repair process. BECs (BEAS-2B from ATCC) were utilized in this study.

Adjunctive brainstem behaviors in the rat.

Unlabelled: Adjunctive behaviors refers to behaviors that are "out of context" and/or excessive in amount. The terminology was first used for unexplained behaviors associated with food pellet ratio contingencies in food deprived rats (Falk, 1971). Clinically, unrelated and complex excessive behaviors were also noted with brainstem and diencephalic discharges (Andy, 1986, 1989 and 1995; Andy and Jurko, 1986).

Dextrorphan effects on cocaine and brainstem perturbation.

Unlabelled: Dextrorphan is a noncompetitive blocker of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. Since NMDA blockers are known to reduce the locomotor stimulatory and toxic effects of cocaine, it was speculated that dextrorphan would attenuate cocaine-induced behavioral excitatory motor activity associated with and without mechanical perturbation of the brainstem.

Technique: Motor activity was recorded following dextrorphan and/or cocaine challenge in 25 SHR rats.