Inner City Asthma Study: relationships among sensitivity, allergen exposure, and asthma morbidity.

Background: Asthma-associated morbidity is rising, especially in inner city children.

Objective: We evaluated the allergen sensitivities, allergen exposures, and associated morbidity for participants in the Inner City Asthma Study. We also determined geographic variations of indoor allergen levels.

Home and allergic characteristics of children with asthma in seven U.S. urban communities and design of an environmental intervention: the Inner-City Asthma Study.

Most published environmental remediation interventions have been directed at single allergens and have employed demanding strategies; few have been performed in the homes of inner-city children disproportionately burdened by asthma. Our objective was a) to describe the allergen sensitivities, environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure, and home environmental characteristics of a national sample of inner-city children with moderate to severe asthma and b) to develop and implement a multifaceted, home-based comprehensive intervention to reduce home allergens and ETS, tailored to the specific sensitization and exposure profiles of those children. Allergen skin testing and a home evaluation were performed to determine the presence of ETS and factors known to be associated with increased indoor allergen levels.

Endothelial cell--seeded four-millimeter Dacron vascular grafts: effects of blood flow manipulation through the grafts.

The objective of this study was to compare the surface thrombogenicities of endothelial cell-seeded small-diameter vascular grafts with those of nonseeded contralateral grafts under conditions of acute controlled low blood flows through the grafts in a canine carotid artery model. Autologous venous endothelial cells seeded in the preclots onto 6 cm sections of 4 mm (internal diameter) double-velour Dacron grafts covered 15% and 80% of graft luminal surfaces at 3 and 5 weeks postsurgically, respectively. Contralateral nonseeded control graft lumina had pannus ingrowth of endothelium across the anastomoses only.

Controlled flow studies in 4 mm endothelialized dacron grafts.

Endothelial cell seeding of 4 mm ID double velour dacron vascular grafts promoted luminal endothelial cell surfacing and improved small-diameter graft performance as evidenced by the following: Flow rates through endothelial cell seeded grafts were higher than through nonseeded control grafts. With increasing postsurgical time the flow rates through seeded grafts increased as a consequence of greater luminal endothelial cell coverage. During low flow conditions endothelial cell seeded grafts retained thrombus-free surface characteristics whereas thrombus accumulated during low flow in nonseeded grafts.

An analogue echogram range gate tracker for clinical echocardiography.

The fundamental purpose of this paper is to present the results of a feasibility study for an on-line, real-time automatic range gate tracker (ARGT) for clinical echocardiography, specifically for the purpose of determining cardiac output noninvasively and in real time. The basic ARGT design represents an implementation of specific algorithms and a system controller that permit user interaction and interpretation of clinical echocardiograms. In its analytical mode, the ARGT automatically tracks cardiac echoes as visually perceived and selected by the user.

The role of coronary adrenergic receptors in the response to nitroglycerine and the regulation of large and small vessel resistance.

The role of coronary adrenergic receptors in response to nitroglycerine and in the regulation of large and small coronary vascular resistance was evaluated in two separate studies involving fifteen anesthetized mongrel dog preparations, before and after alpha- and beta-adrenergic blockade, respectively. Coronary blood flow (CBF) was measured through the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery by a non-cannulating electromagnetic flow probe. Pressure catheters were inserted into the arch of the aorta and into a distal apical branch of the LAD coronary artery to measure, respectively, aortic pressure (coronary perfusion pressure (PA), peripheral coronary pressure )PC), and coronary artery pressure gradient (PG = PA -PC).

Computer-assisted method for multi-exponential curve fitting for determining cerebral blood flow.

A computer program has been developed for use in determining cerebral blood flow using an inert radioactive gas. The basic algorithm involves the determination of multiple exponential coefficients from the complex concentration-time function. The exponential coefficients are determined by 'peeling' away slower exponentials complex function one at a time.

Large vessel impedance in peripheral atherosclerosis.

Recent studies based on an animal model of arterial stenosis have shown that large vessel impedance (ZL), determined from the high-frequency vascular hydraulic impedance of a stenotic femoral arterial bed, is linearly related to the large vessel stenotic resistance, and somewhat independent of distal (small vessel) arteriolar resistance. To determine the applicability of these findings on human subjects with stenotic atherosclerotic lesions, ZL was determined in the femoral arteries of 17 patients (at the time of reconstructive operations) with no (N), mild (AS), and severe (occlusive) atherosclerotic (ASO) disease, and in a group of patients before and after femoral-to-popliteal bypass procedures (FEM-POP). Data were collected under steady-state conditions (SS) and during peak flow after a 30 mg bolus intra-arterial administration of papaverine hydrochloride (PAPAV).