Tracheal atypical solitary carcinoid in a so-called "difficult asthma": a diagnostic challenge.

This report describes the case of a 46-year-old non-smoker housewife. She presented to our attention with a diagnosis of "difficult asthma" from another center in the previous two years. She had no allergies and had not been exposed to an excessive amount of noxious stimuli.

Differences Between Early- and Late-Onset Asthma: Role of Comorbidities in Symptom Control.

Background: Asthma can present in early childhood or de novo in adulthood. Our understanding of the burden of comorbidities in adult asthmatic patients stratified by age at onset is incomplete.

Objectives: To evaluate how different comorbidities may affect symptom control in two distinct groups of patients with early- and late-onset asthma (EOA and LOA, respectively) and to explore whether reported comorbidities are associated with lung function and inflammatory parameters.

Air Pollution Exposure Impairs Airway Epithelium IFN-β Expression in Pre-School Children.

Introduction: Air pollution is a risk factor for respiratory infections and asthma exacerbations. We previously reported impaired Type-I and Type-III interferons (IFN-β/λ) from airway epithelial cells of preschool children with asthma and/or atopy. In this study we analyzed the association between rhinovirus-induced IFN-β/λ epithelial expression and acute exposure to the principal outdoor air pollutants in the same cohort.

Prone Positioning Is Safe and May Reduce the Rate of Intubation in Selected COVID-19 Patients Receiving High-Flow Nasal Oxygen Therapy.

Background: Patients with COVID-19 may experience hypoxemic Acute Respiratory Failure (hARF) requiring O-therapy by High-Flow Nasal Cannula (HFNO). Although Prone Positioning (PP) may improve oxygenation in COVID-19 non-intubated patients, the results on its clinical efficacy are controversial. The present study aims to prospectively investigate whether PP may reduce the need for endotracheal intubation (ETI) in patients with COVID-19 receiving HFNO.

Multiple pulmonary nodules presenting a difficult diagnostic challenge.

We describe the case of a 56 years-old man with a subacute onset of symptoms mimicking a granulomatosis with polyangiitis. He was admitted to our hospital with acute respiratory failure requiring oxygen therapy, fever and crusted rhinitis. Despite initial improvement in radiological and clinical features with a steroids therapy, his condition worsened rapidly and he was re admitted to our department with ARDS.