Effect of prednisone on woodsmoke-induced sputum inflammation in healthy volunteers: A randomized, placebo-controlled pilot study.

Background: Inhalation of biomass smoke is associated with adverse respiratory effects in those with chronic pulmonary conditions. There are few published data regarding the effects of anti-inflammatory interventions on these outcomes.

Objective: Our aim was to assess the effects of postexposure prednisone on woodsmoke (WS)-induced sputum neutrophilia.

Coaching Pediatricians for Wellbeing: A Pilot Feasibility and Acceptability Study.

Objective: Organization-sponsored interventions have the potential to promote, and destigmatize seeking help for, wellbeing. Our study objective was to explore the acceptability and feasibility of a coaching intervention to improve wellbeing among faculty.

Methods: We conducted a pilot, pre/post design, study in a convenience sample of pediatric faculty at an academic medical center.

Child Health and the Pediatric Pulmonology Workforce: 2020-2040.

There is concern as to whether the supply of pediatric pulmonology (PULM) subspecialists will be adequate to meet future demand. As part of an American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) Foundation-sponsored supplement investigating the future of the pediatric subspecialty workforce, this article assesses the current PULM clinical workforce and estimates the clinical workforce supply in the United States through 2040. The current workforce was assessed using ABP certification and Maintenance of Certification data, and a workforce supply model evaluating population growth, clinical effort, and geographic trends was developed after incorporating ABP data.

Implementation of Physical Therapist Services for Men Undergoing Radical Prostatectomy: An Administrative Case Report.

Objective: Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among men in the USA, and radical prostatectomy (RP) is the primary surgical treatment option. With an increasing number of men undergoing RP and surviving prostate cancer, clinical management strategies have broadened to improve the preoperative and postoperative patient experience and minimize treatment-related functional consequences. Urinary incontinence is a predictable functional consequence of RP.

The Effects of Wildfire Smoke on Asthma and Allergy.

Purpose Of Review: To review the recent literature on the effects of wildfire smoke (WFS) exposure on asthma and allergic disease, and on potential mechanisms of disease.

Recent Findings: Spatiotemporal modeling and increased ground-level monitoring data are allowing a more detailed picture of the health effects of WFS exposure to emerge, especially with regard to asthma. There is also epidemiologic and some experimental evidence to suggest that WFS exposure increases allergic predisposition and upper airway or sinonasal disease, though much of the literature in this area is focused more generally on PM and is not specific for WFS.

Obesity Is Associated with an Impaired Baseline Repertoire of Anti-Influenza Virus Antibodies.

Obesity is a risk factor for severe disease and mortality for both influenza and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. While previous studies show that individuals with obesity generate antibody responses following influenza vaccination, infection rates within the obese group were twice as high as those in the healthy-weight group. The repertoire of antibodies raised against influenza viruses following previous vaccinations and/or natural exposures is referred to here as baseline immune history (BIH).

PIR-B Regulates CD4 IL17a T-Cell Survival and Restricts T-Cell-Dependent Intestinal Inflammatory Responses.

Background & Aims: CD4 T cells are regulated by activating and inhibitory cues, and dysregulation of these proper regulatory inputs predisposes these cells to aberrant inflammation and exacerbation of disease. We investigated the role of the inhibitory receptor paired immunoglobulin-like receptor B (PIR-B) in the regulation of the CD4 T-cell inflammatory response and exacerbation of the colitic phenotype.

Methods: We used Il10 spontaneous and CD4CD45RB T-cell transfer models of colitis with PIR-B-deficient (Pirb) mice.

Thermoneutrality Alters Gastrointestinal Antigen Passage Patterning and Predisposes to Oral Antigen Sensitization in Mice.

Food allergy is an emerging epidemic, and the underlying mechanisms are not well defined partly due to the lack of robust adjuvant free experimental models of dietary antigen sensitization. As housing mice at thermoneutrality (Tn) - the temperature of metabolic homeostasis (26-30°C) - has been shown to improve modeling various human diseases involved in inflammation, we tested the impact of Tn housing on an experimental model of food sensitization. Here we demonstrate that WT BALB/c mice housed under standard temperature (18-20°C, Ts) conditions translocated the luminal antigens in the small intestine (SI) across the epithelium goblet cell antigen passages (GAPs).

Obesity is associated with an altered baseline and post-vaccination influenza antibody repertoire.

As highlighted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, vaccination is critical for infectious disease prevention and control. Obesity is associated with increased morbidity and mortality from respiratory virus infections. While obese individuals respond to influenza vaccination, what is considered a seroprotective response may not fully protect the global obese population.

Community health worker case-detection of asthma or reactive airways disease in a resource-poor community in Nicaragua.

Introduction: Asthma is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in children worldwide, but many cases may remain undiagnosed. Community health worker (CHW) programs have improved detection of other diseases such as childhood pneumonia, but none have been validated for detection of asthma in resource-poor settings. We hypothesized that a CHW administered questionnaire would be effective in case-detection of asthma in a poor Nicaraguan community.

Electronic-Cigarette Use Alters Nasal Mucosal Immune Response to Live-attenuated Influenza Virus. A Clinical Trial.

Inhalation of tobacco smoke has been linked to increased risk of viral infection, such as influenza. Inhalation of electronic-cigarette (e-cigarette) aerosol has also recently been linked to immune suppression within the respiratory tract, specifically the nasal mucosa. We propose that changes in the nasal mucosal immune response modify antiviral host-defense responses in e-cigarette users.

The roles of a pediatric pulmonologist during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pediatric pulmonologists have been involved in the care of adult COVID-19 patients in a variety of ways, particularly in areas with a high concentration of cases. This invited commentary is a series of questions to Dr Mikhail Kazachkov, a pediatric pulmonologist at New York University, about his experiences to date in a major COVID-19 "hotspot" and his thoughts about how other pediatric pulmonologists facing this situation can best support their colleagues.

Dysregulation of intestinal epithelial CFTR-dependent Cl ion transport and paracellular barrier function drives gastrointestinal symptoms of food-induced anaphylaxis in mice.

Food-triggered anaphylaxis can encompass a variety of systemic and intestinal symptoms. Murine-based and clinical studies have revealed a role for histamine and H1R and H2R-pathway in the systemic response; however, the molecular processes that regulate the gastrointestinal (GI) response are not as well defined. In the present study, by utilizing an IgE-mast cell (MC)-dependent experimental model of oral antigen-induced anaphylaxis, we define the intestinal epithelial response during a food-induced anaphylactic reaction.

A proposal for the addressing the needs of the pediatric pulmonary work force.

Unprecedented opportunities and daunting difficulties are anticipated in the future of pediatric pulmonary medicine. To address these issues and optimize pediatric pulmonary training, a group of faculty from various institutions met in 2019 and proposed specific, long-term solutions to the emerging problems in the field. Input on these ideas was then solicited more broadly from faculty with relevant expertise and from recent trainees.

Identification of anoctamin 1 (ANO1) as a key driver of esophageal epithelial proliferation in eosinophilic esophagitis.

Background: The pathology of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is characterized by eosinophil-rich inflammation, basal zone hyperplasia (BZH), and dilated intercellular spaces, and the underlying processes that drive the pathologic manifestations of the disease remain largely unexplored.

Objective: We sought to investigate the involvement of the calcium-activated chloride channel anoctamin 1 (ANO1) in esophageal proliferation and the histopathologic features of EoE.

Methods: We examined mRNA and protein expression of ANO1 in esophageal biopsy samples from patients with EoE and in mice with EoE.

Pediatric Pulmonology Year in Review 2018: Rare lung disease, neuromuscular disease, and diagnostic testing.

Pediatric Pulmonology publishes original research, case reports, and review articles on topics related to a wide range of children's respiratory disorders. In this article, we highlight the past year's publications in the topic areas of rare lung diseases, respiratory complications of neuromuscular disorders, and diagnostic testing, as well as selected literature in these areas from other journals.

Pediatric Pulmonology year in review 2018: Asthma, physiology/pulmonary function testing, and respiratory infections.

Pediatric Pulmonology publishes original research, reviews, and case reports related to a wide range of children's respiratory disorders. In our "Year in Review" series, we summarize publications in our major topic areas from 2018, in the context of selected literature in these areas from other journals relevant to our discipline. This review covers selected articles on asthma, physiology/lung function testing, and respiratory infections.

IL-13-induced intestinal secretory epithelial cell antigen passages are required for IgE-mediated food-induced anaphylaxis.

Background: Food-induced anaphylaxis (FIA) is an IgE-dependent immune response that can affect multiple organs and lead to life-threatening complications. The processes by which food allergens cross the mucosal surface and are delivered to the subepithelial immune compartment to promote the clinical manifestations associated with food-triggered anaphylaxis are largely unexplored.

Objective: We sought to define the processes involved in the translocation of food allergens across the mucosal epithelial surface to the subepithelial immune compartment in FIA.

Detection of atrial fibrillation with a smartphone camera: first prospective, international, two-centre, clinical validation study (DETECT AF PRO).

Aims: Early detection of atrial fibrillation (AF) is essential for stroke prevention. Emerging technologies such as smartphone cameras using photoplethysmography (PPG) and mobile, internet-enabled electrocardiography (iECG) are effective for AF screening. This study compared a PPG-based algorithm against a cardiologist's iECG diagnosis to distinguish between AF and sinus rhythm (SR).