'We need to start building up what's called herd immunity': Scientific dissensus and public broadcasting in the Covid-19 pandemic.

This article uses content and thematic analyses to examine how UK public service broadcasting (PSB) reported on the Covid-19 pandemic prior to the first lockdown on March 23, 2020. This was a period when the British government's response to the pandemic was being heavily criticised by the World Health Organisation and other parts of the scientific community. This paper finds that in PSB these criticisms were muted and partially given.

Stability of Phosphatidylethanol in Dry Blood Spot Cards.

Background: The analysis of phosphatidylethanol, a promising direct ethanol metabolite, in dry blood spots (PEth-DBS) is advantageous due to ease of storage, transportation and minimal invasiveness of capillary blood collection. One potential application of PEth-DBS is to confirm prenatal alcohol exposure in newborns suspected of FASD; however, stability of PEth-DBS is largely unknown.

Methods: Phlebotomized samples from 31 adults with a history of alcoholism, admitted to the University of New Mexico Emergency Department, were analyzed for blood alcohol content and pipetted onto DBS cards (13 spots per patient).

A cross-sectional study of patterns of airway dysfunction, symptoms and morbidity in primary care asthma.

Background: Most patients with asthma are managed exclusively in primary care. Little is known about the patterns of airway dysfunction in these patients and how these relate to other aspects of the disease.

Aims: We set out to assess this in a cross-sectional study of 262 patients.

Treatment approaches for dual diagnosis clients in England.

Introduction: Dual diagnosis (DD, co-occurrence of substance use and mental health problems) prevalence data in England are limited to specific regions and reported rates vary widely. Reliable information on actual service provision for dual diagnosis clients has not been collated. Thus a national survey was carried out to estimate dual diagnosis prevalence in treatment populations and describe the service provision available for this client population in drug/alcohol (DAS) and mental health services (MHS).

Increased sputum and bronchial biopsy IL-13 expression in severe asthma.

Background: The importance of IL-13 in the asthma paradigm is supported by increased expression in human subjects, particularly in patients with mild-to-moderate asthma. However, the role of IL-13 in severe asthma needs to be further defined.

Objective: We sought to assess IL-13 expression in sputum and bronchial biopsy specimens from subjects with mild-to-severe asthma.

Targeting TNF-alpha: a novel therapeutic approach for asthma.

Approximately 5% to 10% of patients with asthma have severe disease that is refractory or poorly responsive to inhaled corticosteroid therapy. These patients represent an important unmet clinical need because they experience considerable morbidity and mortality and consume a disproportionately large amount of health care resources. TNF-alpha is a proinflammatory cytokine that has been implicated in many aspects of the airway pathology in asthma.

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha: a promising therapeutic target for asthma?

Asthma is a disease that encompasses a variety of features including airway smooth muscle abnormalities, airway inflammation, and structural changes in the airway. Historically, it has been classified depending on the severity of the disease, the frequency of symptoms, and the level of treatment required to control them. Severe or refractory asthma accounts for approximately 10% of the patient population with asthma and for about 30% of the healthcare costs of this disease.

The use of exhaled nitric oxide to guide asthma management: a randomized controlled trial.

Rationale: Current asthma guidelines recommend adjusting antiinflammatory treatment on the basis of the results of lung function tests and symptom assessment, neither of which are closely associated with airway inflammation.

Objectives: We tested the hypothesis that titrating corticosteroid dose using the concentration of exhaled nitric oxide in exhaled breath (Fe(NO)) results in fewer asthma exacerbations and more efficient use of corticosteroids, when compared with traditional management.

Methods: One hundred eighteen participants with a primary care diagnosis of asthma were randomized to a single-blind trial of corticosteroid therapy based on either Fe(NO) measurements (n = 58) or British Thoracic Society guidelines (n = 60).

TNF-alpha in asthma.

Although only 5-10% of patients with asthma are relatively unresponsive to treatment with inhaled corticosteroids, refractory asthma represents an important condition, as these patients suffer considerable morbidity and mortality and consume a disproportionately large amount of health resource. Treatment options are limited and there is a large unmet clinical need for additional therapies. Tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that has been implicated in many aspects of the airway pathology in asthma, and which has recently been highlighted as potentially important in refractory asthma.

Pathological features and inhaled corticosteroid response of eosinophilic and non-eosinophilic asthma.

Background: Non-eosinophilic asthma is a potentially important clinicopathological phenotype since there is evidence that it responds poorly to inhaled corticosteroid therapy. However, little is known about the underlying airway immunopathology and there are no data from placebo-controlled studies examining the effect of inhaled corticosteroids.

Methods: Airway immunopathology was investigated using induced sputum, bronchial biopsies, bronchial wash and bronchoalveolar lavage in 12 patients with symptomatic eosinophilic asthma, 11 patients with non-eosinophilic asthma and 10 healthy controls.

Chemokine concentrations and mast cell chemotactic activity in BAL fluid in patients with eosinophilic bronchitis and asthma, and in normal control subjects.

Background: Asthma and eosinophilic bronchitis share many immunopathologic features including increased numbers of eosinophils and mast cells in the superficial airway. The mast cell chemotactic activity of airway secretions has not been assessed in patients with eosinophilic bronchitis.

Objectives: To investigate the concentration of chemokines in bronchial wash samples and BAL fluid, and the mast cell chemotactic activity in BAL fluid from subjects with asthma and eosinophilic bronchitis, and from healthy control subjects.

Evidence of a role of tumor necrosis factor alpha in refractory asthma.

Background: The development of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) antagonists has made it feasible to investigate the role of this cytokine in refractory asthma.

Methods: We measured markers of TNF-alpha activity on peripheral-blood monocytes in 10 patients with refractory asthma, 10 patients with mild-to-moderate asthma, and 10 control subjects. We also investigated the effects of treatment with the soluble TNF-alpha receptor etanercept (25 mg twice weekly) in the patients with refractory asthma in a placebo-controlled, double-blind, crossover pilot study.

IL-4-expressing bronchoalveolar T cells from asthmatic and healthy subjects preferentially express CCR 3 and CCR 4.

Background: The concept of the polarization of chemokine receptor expression by T(H)1 and T(H)2 cells provides an attractive mechanism for their differential recruitment to tissue, which could be subject to disease-specific therapeutic intervention. The paradigm that T(H)1 cells preferentially express CXCR 3 and CCR 5 and T(H)2 cells preferentially express CCR 3, CCR 4, and CCR 8 has been well established in the setting of in vitro polarized cell lines; however, the situation in vivo appears less clear-cut.

Objective: We sought to investigate whether this pattern of polarization can be demonstrated in human lung tissue.

Sputum and bronchial submucosal IL-13 expression in asthma and eosinophilic bronchitis.

Background: Nonasthmatic eosinophilic bronchitis is a condition characterized by the presence of eosinophilic airway inflammation in the absence of airflow obstruction or airway hyperresponsiveness. In asthma, the T H 2-type cytokine IL-13 has been implicated in the development of airway inflammation and hyperresponsiveness. Whether the expression of IL-13 is different between these 2 conditions is unknown.

Eosinophilic bronchitis: clinical features, management and pathogenesis.

Eosinophilic bronchitis is a common and treatable cause of chronic cough. The major pathological feature is eosinophilic airway inflammation, similar to that seen in asthma. However, the associated airway dysfunction is quite different, with evidence of heightened cough reflex sensitivity, but no variable airflow obstruction or airway hyperresponsiveness.