Autotransfusion in low-resource settings: a scoping review.

Introduction: Globally, haemorrhage is the leading cause of both maternal mortality and preventable trauma death. For patients suffering from haemorrhage, prompt blood transfusion can be life-saving; however, safe and sufficient blood is often lacking in low-resource settings (LRS). Autotransfusion (AT), in which the patient's own blood is collected and transfused back, is an established alternative to donor blood transfusions, although one that is primarily performed with advanced AT systems.

The triad of current asthma, rhinitis and eczema is uncommon among adults: Prevalence, sensitization profiles, and risk factors.

Background: Coexistence of asthma, rhinitis, and eczema has been studied in children, but data are lacking in adults. As new treatments emerge, epidemiological data on the coexistence are needed.

Aims: To study the prevalence of concomitant asthma, rhinitis and eczema in the general adult population and among those sensitized to aeroallergens, and to study associations between background characteristics and risks of phenotypes of asthma, rhinitis, and eczema.

Gender differences in perceived food healthiness and food avoidance in a Swedish population-based survey: a cross sectional study.

Background: The aim of this work was to study potential gender differences in perceived food healthiness and food avoidance in a population-representative sample of the Swedish adult population.

Methods: A questionnaire regarding diet and health was posted to 2000 randomly selected residents in Sweden, aged 20-65 years. Questions were posed regarding which foods or food components the participants avoided due to perceived unhealthiness and how healthy they believed the food items to be.

Screening for substance use disorders in neurodevelopmental disorders: a clinical routine?

Evidence suggests that substance use disorders (SUD) tend to be underdiagnosed in psychiatry. The objective of this study was to investigate whether drug and alcohol screening is a clinical routine in the assessment of two prominent neurodevelopmental disorders, namely ADHD and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We surveyed drug and alcohol screening routines in 34 general child and adolescent (only practice for adolescents, not children, was assessed) and 29 adult psychiatric outpatient departments in Stockholm County, Sweden.

A repeated survey of sexual behavior among female university students in Sweden.

Objective: To investigate sexual behavior and use of contraceptives among female university students in 2009, and compare the results with surveys from 1999 and 2004.

Design: Comparative, repeated cross-sectional surveys.

Setting: A Student Health Center in Sweden.

Sensitivity to environmental irritants and capsaicin cough reaction in patients with a positive methacholine provocation test before and after treatment with inhaled corticosteroids.

Background: Increasing evidence points to a potential role for members of the transient receptor potential family of cation channels on several features of asthmatic disease. The cough sensitivity to inhaled capsaicin is known to reflect the reactivity of these airway sensory nerves.

Objective: The aim was to study, among patients having a positive methacholine provocation and diagnosed with asthma, capsaicin cough sensitivity, sensitivity to methacholine, and levels of exhaled nitric oxide before and after treatment with inhaled steroids, and further, to measure the self-reported impact from environmental irritants.

Comparing the effects of two inhaled glucocorticoids on allergen-induced bronchoconstriction and markers of systemic effects, a randomised cross-over double-blind study.

Background: Inhaled glucocorticoids are efficient in protecting against asthma exacerbations, but methods to compare their efficacy vs systemic effects have only been attempted in larger multi-centre studies. The aim of the current study was therefore to directly compare the effects of two separate inhaled glucocorticoids, mometasone and budesonide, to compare the effects on the early and late asthmatic responses to inhaled allergen in patients with mild allergic asthma, and sputum eosinophils, and to relate the clinical positive effects to any systemic effects observed.

Methods: Twelve patients with documented early and late asthmatic responses (EAR and LAR) to inhaled allergen at a screening visit were randomized in a double-blind fashion to treatment with mometasone (200 μg × 2 or 400 μg × 2), budesonide (400 μg × 2) or placebo in a double-blind crossover fashion for a period of seven days.

After 6 years with Xolair; a 3-year withdrawal follow-up.

Background: This study reports the clinical and immunological state of patients 3 years after a 6-year period of Xolair treatment for severe allergic asthma.

Methods: The patient's cat allergen sensitivity, measured as CD-sens, IgE and IgE- and IgG4 antibodies, was analysed and compared with asthma severity evaluated from FEV(1) and a questionnaire.

Results: Three years after treatment with Xolair was stopped, 12/18 patients reported improved or unchanged asthma compared with ongoing Xolair treatment.

Allergy Diagnosis in Children and Adults: Performance of a New Point-of-Care Device, ImmunoCAP Rapid.

Background: : Allergy is a serious problem affecting approximately 1 of 4 individuals. The symptoms with and without allergy etiology are often difficult to distinguish from each other without using an IgE antibody test. The aim of this study was to investigate the performance of a new point-of-care (POC) test for IgE antibodies to relevant allergens in Europe.

Health-related quality of life in young adults with asthma.

Background: The aim was to study health-related quality of life, five years after an intervention study among young adults with asthma.

Method: The design was a follow-up study of a cohort of young adults with asthma (n=64) and 248 general population controls. Both groups were investigated at follow-up with a respiratory questionnaire and one generic quality-of-life instrument, and the asthma cohort also completed one-asthma-specific questionnaire.

CD-sens and clinical changes during withdrawal of Xolair after 6 years of treatment.

Background: Many clinical trials with omalizumab, Xolair, have been reported but the treatment period has always been short, i.e. <12 months.

Self-reported asthma was biased in relation to disease severity while reported year of asthma onset was accurate.

Background And Objectives: The aims of the study were to assess the accuracy of self-reported asthma and notified year of asthma onset.

Methods: The study was performed on a sample of 365 subjects, 18-60 years old, with clinically diagnosed onset of asthma between 1983 and 1986. All subjects were investigated 10 years later, in 1996, with a respiratory questionnaire about the items of asthma and year of onset.

The effect of formoterol over 24 h in patients with asthma: the role of enantiomers.

The single-dose effect of formoterol racemate and enantiomers on bronchodilatation up to 24 h was determined. Forty-six reversible asthmatic patients were randomised to this double blind, crossover study. Formoterol was inhaled by nebulizer (HaloLite); 4.

Quality of life in non-infectious rhinitis and asthma.

In this study we evaluated how the quality of life in subjects with asthma was affected by a history of non-infectious rhinitis. The study comprised 180 persons with asthma and 156 controls, who answered the Short Form 36 quality of life questionnaire. Both the asthma subjects and the controls were stratified according to a history of non-infectious rhinitis (NIR).

Differential effects of fluticasone and montelukast on allergen-induced asthma.

Early asthmatic responses (EAR) and late asthmatic responses (LAR) to allergen are induced by the local release of a series of bronchoconstrictor mediators, including leukotrienes and histamine. Both anti-leukotrienes and other anti-asthma drugs, such as inhaled glucocorticoids, have been shown to reduce both EAR and LAR. The aim of the present study was to directly compare the effects of regular treatment with an oral anti-leukotriene, montelukast (Mont; 10 mg once daily, for 8 days), and an inhaled glucocorticoid [fluticasone propionate (FP) 250 microg twice daily for 8 days] on the EAR and LAR to an inhaled allergen challenge.

Budesonide/formoterol combination therapy as both maintenance and reliever medication in asthma.

Asthma control is improved by combining inhaled corticosteroids with long-acting beta2-agonists. However, fluctuating asthma control still occurs. We hypothesized that in patients receiving low maintenance dose budesonide/formoterol (bud/form), replacing short-acting beta2-agonist (SABA) reliever with as-needed bud/form would provide rapid symptom relief and simultaneous adjustment in antiinflammatory therapy, thereby reducing exacerbations.

Bronchodilation by an inhaled VPAC(2) receptor agonist in patients with stable asthma.

Background: The synthetic vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) analogue Ro 25-1553 is a selective VIP-PACAP type 2 (VPAC(2)) receptor agonist that causes a bronchodilatory effect in guinea pigs in vivo. The effect of Ro 25-1553 given by inhalation to patients with asthma was studied and compared with that of a long acting beta(2) adrenoceptor agonist.

Methods: Twenty four patients with moderate stable asthma participated in a double blind, randomised, placebo controlled, crossover study.

Increased nasal mucosal swelling in subjects with asthma.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate nasal mucosal swelling with acoustic rhinometry in subjects with asthma and in healthy controls.

Methods: We examined 184 individuals with asthma and compared with 156 randomly selected controls outside the pollen season, where 144 subjects in the asthma group and 80 controls had a previous history of non-infectious rhinitis (NIR). Nasal mucosal swelling was assessed with acoustic rhinometry before and after nasal decongestion with oxymetazoline and was analysed for the crosssectional area (4cm from the nostril) and the volume between 3.

The therapeutic ratio of R-albuterol is comparable with that of RS-albuterol in asthmatic patients.

Background: It has been suggested that R-albuterol produces bronchodilation that is comparable with that of racemic albuterol (RS-albuterol) on a 4:1 dose-for-dose basis but systemic side effects on a 2:1 basis, implying better therapeutic ratio for R-albuterol.

Objective: We sought to carefully compare the bronchodilating and systemic effects of R- and RS-albuterol by using a crossover study design.

Methods: Twenty asthmatic patients (15.

Reduced late asthmatic response by repeated low-dose allergen exposure.

Allergic asthmatic individuals are often exposed to low-doses of allergen in their everyday life. Extended exposure to allergen has lead to down-regulation of the allergic process in cell systems and in animal models. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether any such inhibitory mechanism of allergic responses can be seen in man in vivo.

Protection against cold air and exercise-induced bronchoconstriction while on regular treatment with Oxis.

This study aimed to compare the duration of protection against exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) after inhalation of formoterol (Oxis) Turbuhaler with that of terbutaline Turbuhaler and placebo Turbuhaler in asthmatic patients treated regularly with formoterol Turbuhaler 9 microg b.i.d.

Onset of bronchodilation of budesonide/formoterol vs. salmeterol/fluticasone in single inhalers.

Combinations of inhaled glucocorticoids and long-acting beta2-agonists in the same inhaler device have become available in recent years. In this double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled and crossover study we have evaluated the onset of action of budesonide and formoterol in a single inhaler (Symbicort Turbuhaler) and that of the fixed combination of salmeterol and fluticasone (Seretide Diskus). Thirty patients with a mean FEV1 of 2.