A 1-Year Weight Management Program for Difficult-to-Treat Asthma With Obesity: A Randomized Controlled Study.

Background: Obesity-associated asthma results in increased morbidity and mortality. We report 1-year asthma outcomes with a weight management regimen, the Counterweight-Plus Programme (CWP), compared with usual care (UC) in a single-center, randomized controlled trial in patients with difficult-to-treat asthma and obesity.

Research Question: Can use of the CWP result in improved asthma control and quality of life compared with UC at 1 year in patients with difficult-to-treat asthma and obesity?

Study Design And Methods: Adults with difficult-to-treat asthma and BMI ≥ 30 kg/m were randomized (1:1 CWP:UC) to treatment.

Lessons learned from a UAV survey and methane emissions calculation at a UK landfill.

Accurate quantification of methane emissions from landfills is crucial for improving greenhouse gas inventories and mitigating climate change impacts. Existing methodologies, such as theoretical gas production models and labour-intensive measurement approaches, present limitations including large uncertainties and high operational costs. This study adds to a growing body of research and applications which aim to bridge this gap.

Accelerometer-derived sleep metrics in mild and difficult-to-treat asthma.

Introduction: Poor sleep health is associated with increased asthma morbidity and mortality. Accelerometers have been validated to assess sleep parameters though studies using this method in patients with asthma are sparse and none have compared mild to difficult-to-treat asthma populations.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis from two recent in-house trials comparing sleep metrics between patients with mild and difficult-to-treat asthma.

A Total Diet Replacement Weight Management Program for Difficult-to-Treat Asthma Associated With Obesity: A Randomized Controlled Feasibility Trial.

Background: Obesity is often associated with uncontrolled, difficult-to-treat asthma and increased morbidity and mortality. Previous studies suggest that weight loss may improve asthma outcomes, but with heterogenous asthma populations studied and unclear consensus on the optimal method of weight management. The Counterweight-Plus Programme (CWP) for weight management is an evidence-based, dietitian-led total diet replacement (TDR) program.

A pragmatic randomised controlled trial of tailored pulmonary rehabilitation in participants with difficult-to-control asthma and elevated body mass index.

Background: Difficult-to-control asthma associated with elevated body mass index (BMI) is challenging with limited treatment options. The effects of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) in this population are uncertain.

Methods: This is a randomised controlled trial of an eight-week asthma-tailored PR programme versus usual care (UC) in participants with difficult-to-control asthma and BMI ≥ 25 kg/m.

Physical activity levels in asthma: relationship with disease severity, body mass index and novel accelerometer-derived metrics.

Objectives: Patients with asthma may feel limited in physical activity (PA). Reduced PA has been demonstrated in asthmatics versus healthy controls, and increasing PA associated with improved asthma outcomes. Obesity is commonly found with difficult-to-control asthma and worsens outcomes.

Obesity affects type 2 biomarker levels in asthma.

Objective: Type 2 (T2) inflammation offers a therapeutic target for biologics. Previous trials suggest obesity influences T2-biomarker levels in asthma, though have not accounted for key variables, e.g.

Methane flux from flowback operations at a shale gas site.

We report measurements of methane (CH) mixing ratios and emission fluxes derived from sampling at a monitoring station at an exploratory shale gas extraction facility in Lancashire, England. Elevated ambient CH mixing ratios were recorded in January 2019 during a period of cold-venting associated with a nitrogen lift process at the facility. These processes are used to clear the well to stimulate flow of natural gas from the target shale.

Asthma, obesity and targeted interventions: an update.

Purpose Of Review: Obese asthma is now widely recognized as a phenotype of difficult asthma that is common and less responsive to traditional asthma treatments, so identifying specific treatments is increasingly important.

Recent Findings: Obesity can lead to asthma through a complex relationship of causes including mechanical, inflammatory, metabolic and genetic factors. Exercise programmes including pulmonary rehabilitation, weight loss via dietary restriction, exercise and bariatric surgery, or combinations of all of these can improve quality of life, symptoms, and exercise capacity, with reductions in medication use and exacerbations, and represent tailored treatment for this phenotype of severe difficult to treat asthmatic patients.

Aggregatibacter aphrophilus endocarditis: a case report.

We present a case of endocarditis with embolic stroke and digital infarction due to the recently renamed Aggregatibacter aphrophilus. The isolation and identification of this organism can be problematic but was achieved in this case using both older phenotypic and newer genotypic methods. A benign tongue lesion is suggested as the likely portal of entry for this oropharyngeal organism.

Hierarchical responses of soil invertebrates (earthworms) to toxic metal stress.

The concept of a hierarchical cascade of biological responses to stress occurring across different levels of biological organization is an underlying principle of both theoretical and regulatory ecology/ecotoxicology. This study investigates the reality of this cascade for earthworms exposed to toxic metal stress. Gene expression was the most sensitive endpoint (EC50 = 616 microg Zn g(-1)) followed by the integrity of coelomocyte lysosomal membrane (EC50 = 645 microg Zn g(-1)).

Measurement of annetocin gene expression: a new reproductive biomarker in earthworm ecotoxicology.

The emergence of new technologies from the genomics revolution will transform the potential application of biomarkers to assess how pollutants impact people, animals, and ecosystems. Genetic databases provide a huge resource from which candidate molecular biomarkers can be identified and, subsequently, exploited to address these issues. However, a major challenge is to link these novel molecular indices to ecologically relevant whole-organism life-cycle traits (such as reproduction and growth).

The determinants of fat intake in a multi-ethnic New Zealand population. Fletcher Challenge--University of Auckland Heart and Health Study Management Committee.

Background: The New Zealand diet is high in total and saturated fat and this is likely to be contributing to the increasing prevalence of obesity and relatively high rates of coronary heart disease in New Zealand. The identification of subgroups with a high-fat intake will enable nutrition-related public health strategies to be better targeted.

Methods: Subjects from two surveys were included in the study: 7574 employees from a large multinational workforce survey and 2447 people aged 35-84 years selected from a stratified random sample of the electoral roll in central Auckland.

Working women's sexual risk taking in Jamaica.

Although the rates of HIV are increasing among female populations in developing countries, there is little information available about factors influencing sexual risk taking among working class women. This paper describes some of the issues discussed by two groups of 58 women working in Jamaica: Informal Commercial Importers and women working in the Freezone. These women discuss their economic vulnerability, expectations about the role of men as providers, multiple partners, perceptions of children as resources and concern about physical abuse as factors that could influence decisions about condom use.

Characteristics of Jamaicans who smoke marijuana before sex and their risk status for sexually transmitted diseases.

Because of the high prevalence of marijuana smoking in Jamaica, it is important to know if this practice is associated with increased risk for STD infections. A national sample of 2 580 randomly selected Jamaicans, aged 15 to 49 years were administered a questionnaire to measure a number of health and behavioural variables. The results indicated that more persons who smoked marijuana before sex had a history of STD infections than non-marijuana smokers, the difference was significant among men (46% vs 26%, p < 0.

Noninvasive mapping of lower limb arterial lesions.

Thirty patients with peripheral arterial disease were evaluated using an ultrasonic duplex scanner. A total of 338 arterial segments from the level of the iliac to the popliteal artery were studied and compared with the results of arteriography read independently by two radiologists who were unaware of the results with the scanner. The results demonstrate that this method is not only suitable for clinical use but is as good as arteriography in defining both the location and extent of the arterial involvement.