Differences in percentage predicted spirometric values obtained with thirteen reference equations applied to healthy children.

Background: There is limited information on the discrepancy between the spirometric values calculated with diverse spirometric prediction equations in normal children.

Objective: To determine the differences in percentage predicted (PP) values calculated through thirteen prediction equations (PEs) in healthy Chilean children.

Methods: We compared the PP values for FVC, FEV1, FEF25-75% and FEV1/FVC obtained by applying thirteen PEs, using GLI-2012 as a gold standard reference equation and including race neutral GLI-2022 in the analysis; PP values are from a group of 208 healthy Chilean children aged 7 to 17 years.

Allergic sensitization in low-income urban children: relationship with current symptoms of asthma and rhinitis.

Background: Recent information on the prevalence of allergic sensitization (AS) in children from low-income urban areas is limited.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, randomized, population-based study to determine the prevalence of AS, and its relationship with asthma and rhinitis in low-income schoolchildren in Santiago, Chile. The parents answered a standardized questionnaire on respiratory symptoms, and a skin prick test (SPT) for common aeroallergens was performed on all children.

Hospital admission for symptoms exacerbation in 2,075 infants suffering from recurrent asthma-like symptoms: (EISL-3 South America).

Background: Contrary to what happens in children and adults, the prevalence and the factors related to hospitalisation for asthma/wheezing in infants with recurrent asthma-like symptoms are poorly known.

Methods: This study is part of the International Study of Wheezing in infants Phase 3; 2,079 infants (aged 12-18 months) with recurrent asthma-like symptoms, from 11 South American centres, were studied to determine the prevalence and the associated factors for wheezing exacerbation admission. Descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression were employed for analysis.

Prevalence and Determinants of Tobacco Smoking Among Low-Income Urban Adolescents.

Tobacco-smoking in children is one of the most crucial public health concerns, which could be highly prevalent in underprivileged populations. A cross sectional, random sampling survey was conducted to determine the prevalence of current tobacco-smoking and related risk factors among adolescents living in a low-income area of Santiago de Chile. Of the 2,747 adolescents participating in the study, 24.

Associated factors with recurrent wheezing in infants: is there difference between the sexes?

Objective: Identify associated factors for recurrent wheezing (RW) in male and female infants.

Methods: Cross-sectional multicentric study using the standardized questionnaire from the Estudio Internacional sobre Sibilancias en Lactantes (EISL). The questionnaire was applied to parents of 9345 infants aged 12-15 months at the time of immunization/routine visits.

Value of bronchial reversibility to salbutamol, exhaled nitric oxide and responsiveness to methacholine to corroborate the diagnosis of asthma in children.

Introduction And Objectives: Functional and inflammatory measures have been recommended to corroborate asthma diagnosis in schoolchildren, but the evidence in this regard is conflicting. We aimed to determine, in real-life clinical situation, the value of spirometry, spirometric bronchial reversibility to salbutamol (BDR), bronchial responsiveness to methacholine (MCT) and fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FENO), to corroborate the diagnosis of asthma in children on regular inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) referred from primary care.

Methods: One hundred and seventy-seven schoolchildren with mild-moderate persistent asthma, on treatment with regular ICS, participated in the study.

Risk factors for wheezing in primary health care settings in the tropics.

Background: The International Study of Wheezing in Infants (EISL) is a cross-sectional, population-based study, based on ISAAC (http://www.isaac.auckland.

TEMPORAL COMPARISON OF WHEEZING PREVALENCE IN THE FIRST YEAR OF LIFE IN SÃO PAULO: INTERNATIONAL STUDY OF WHEEZING IN INFANTS.

Objective: To assess the prevalence and severity of wheezing in the first year of life of infants, using the standardized protocol of the Estudio Internacional de Sibilancias en Lactantes- phase 3, and compare the values obtained with those found in phase 1, conducted at the same center.

Methods: Between 2009 and 2010, parents and guardians of infants answered the written questionnaire of the Estudio Internacional de Sibilancias en Lactantes - phase 3, and its results were compared to those of phase 1, performed between 2005 and 2006. We divided the infants into wheezing and non-wheezing.

Changes in the prevalence of asthma and related risk factors in adolescents: Three surveys between 1994 and 2015.

Methods: This study assesses the temporal trend of current asthma symptoms prevalence and associated factors in Chilean adolescents from South-Santiago, considering surveys performed in 1994, 2002 and 2015.

Results: The prevalence of current asthma symptoms showed a trend to increase from 11.1% in 1994 to 13.

Reinterpreting anomalous competitive binding experiments within G protein-coupled receptor homodimers using a dimer receptor model.

An increasing number of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) have been reported to be expressed in the plasma membrane as dimers. Since most ligand binding data are currently fitted by classical equations developed only for monomeric receptors, the interpretation of data could be misleading in the presence of GPCR dimers. On the other hand, the equations developed from dimer receptor models assuming the existence of two orthosteric binding sites within the dimeric molecule offer the possibility to directly calculate macroscopic equilibrium dissociation constants for the two sites, an index of cooperativity (D) that reflects the molecular communication within the dimer and, importantly, a constant of radioligand-competitor allosteric interaction (K) in competitive assays.

Differential effect of amphetamine over the corticotropin-releasing factor CRF receptor, the orexin OX receptor and the CRF-OX heteroreceptor complex.

Stress is one of the factors underlying drug seeking behavior that often goes in parallel with loss of appetite. We here demonstrate that orexin 1 receptors (OXR) may form complexes with the corticotropin releasing factor CRF receptor. Two specific features of the heteromer were a cross-antagonism and a blockade by CRF of OXR signaling.

Prevalence of recurrent wheezing during the first year of life in Setúbal district, Portugal.

Background: Recurrent wheezing during the first year of life is a major cause of respiratory morbidity worldwide, yet there are no studies on its prevalence in Portugal.

Objective: Determine the prevalence and severity of recurrent wheezing, treatments employed and other related aspects, in infants during their first year of life in Setúbal, Portugal.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of a random sample of infants aged 12-15 months living in Setúbal district.

Molecular Evidence of Adenosine Deaminase Linking Adenosine A Receptor and CD26 Proteins.

Adenosine is an endogenous purine nucleoside that acts in all living systems as a homeostatic network regulator through many pathways, which are adenosine receptor (AR)-dependent and -independent. From a metabolic point of view, adenosine deaminase (ADA) is an essential protein in the regulation of the total intracellular and extracellular adenosine in a tissue. In addition to its cytosolic localization, ADA is also expressed as an ecto-enzyme on the surface of different cells.

Cross-communication between G and G in a G-protein-coupled receptor heterotetramer guided by a receptor C-terminal domain.

Background: G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) heteromeric complexes have distinct properties from homomeric GPCRs, giving rise to new receptor functionalities. Adenosine receptors (AR or AR) can form AR-AR heteromers (A-AHet), and their activation leads to canonical G-protein-dependent (adenylate cyclase mediated) and -independent (β-arrestin mediated) signaling. Adenosine has different affinities for AR and AR, allowing the heteromeric receptor to detect its concentration by integrating the downstream G- and G-dependent signals.

[Recurrent wheezing: prevalence and associated factors in infants from Buenos Aires City, Argentina].

Background: The episodes of bronchial obstruction at early age constitute a frequent problem in Pediatrics. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of recurrent wheezing in infants in Buenos Aires City, as well as to identify any associated factors.

Methods: Cross-sectional study performed from 2011 to 2012 in the Children Hospital Ricardo Gutiérrez, Buenos Aires City, as part of the International Study of Wheezing in Infants.

Changes in the prevalence and severity of recurrent wheezing in infants: The results of two surveys administered 7 years apart.

Objective: To identify changes in the prevalence and severity of recurrent wheezing (RW) in infants using data obtained from two surveys administered seven years apart.

Methods: A cross-sectional, international, population-based study in infants aged 12-15 months was conducted. Data were obtained from two surveys (S1 and S2, in 2005 and 2012, respectively) using the same methodology in three large Latin American cities: Curitiba (Brazil), São Paulo (Brazil), and Santiago (Chile).

Orexin A/Hypocretin Modulates Leptin Receptor-Mediated Signaling by Allosteric Modulations Mediated by the Ghrelin GHS-R1A Receptor in Hypothalamic Neurons.

The hypothalamus is a key integrator of nutrient-seeking signals in the form of hormones and metabolites originated in both the central nervous system and the periphery. The main autocrine and paracrine target of orexinergic-related hormones such as leptin, orexin/hypocretin, and ghrelin are neuropeptide Y neurons located in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression and the molecular and functional relationships between leptin, orexin/hypocretin and ghrelin receptors.

The Global Asthma Network rationale and methods for Phase I global surveillance: prevalence, severity, management and risk factors.

The Global Asthma Network (GAN), established in 2012, followed the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC). ISAAC Phase One involved over 700 000 adolescents and children from 156 centres in 56 countries; it found marked worldwide variation in symptom prevalence of asthma, rhinitis and eczema that was not explained by the current understanding of these diseases; ISAAC Phase Three involved over 1 187 496 adolescents and children (237 centres in 98 countries). It found that asthma symptom prevalence was increasing in many locations especially in low- and middle-income countries where severity was also high, and identified several environmental factors that required further investigation.

Functional μ-Opioid-Galanin Receptor Heteromers in the Ventral Tegmental Area.

Unlabelled: The neuropeptide galanin has been shown to interact with the opioid system. More specifically, galanin counteracts the behavioral effects of the systemic administration of μ-opioid receptor (MOR) agonists. Yet the mechanism responsible for this galanin-opioid interaction has remained elusive.

Prevalence and factors associated with smoking among adolescents.

Objective: Despite anti-smoking prevention programs, many adolescents start smoking at school age. The main objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence and risk factors associated with smoking in adolescents living in Uruguaiana, RS, Brazil.

Methods: A prospective study was conducted in adolescents (12-19 years), enrolled in municipal schools, who answered a self-administered questionnaire on smoking.

Heteroreceptor Complexes Formed by Dopamine D, Histamine H, and N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Glutamate Receptors as Targets to Prevent Neuronal Death in Alzheimer's Disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder causing progressive memory loss and cognitive dysfunction. Anti-AD strategies targeting cell receptors consider them as isolated units. However, many cell surface receptors cooperate and physically contact each other forming complexes having different biochemical properties than individual receptors.

A Significant Role of the Truncated Ghrelin Receptor GHS-R1b in Ghrelin-induced Signaling in Neurons.

The truncated non-signaling ghrelin receptor growth hormone secretagogue R1b (GHS-R1b) has been suggested to simply exert a dominant negative role in the trafficking and signaling of the full and functional ghrelin receptor GHS-R1a. Here we reveal a more complex modulatory role of GHS-R1b. Differential co-expression of GHS-R1a and GHS-R1b, both in HEK-293T cells and in striatal and hippocampal neurons in culture, demonstrates that GHS-R1b acts as a dual modulator of GHS-R1a function: low relative GHS-R1b expression potentiates and high relative GHS-R1b expression inhibits GHS-R1a function by facilitating GHS-R1a trafficking to the plasma membrane and by exerting a negative allosteric effect on GHS-R1a signaling, respectively.