Retrospective analysis of stored dried blood spots from children with cystic fibrosis and matched controls to assess the performance of a proposed newborn screening protocol in Switzerland.

Background: Newborn screening (NBS) for Cystic Fibrosis (CF) has been introduced in many countries, but there is no ideal protocol suitable for all countries. This retrospective study was conducted to evaluate whether the planned two step CF NBS with immunoreactive trypsinogen (IRT) and 7 CFTR mutations would have detected all clinically diagnosed children with CF in Switzerland.

Methods: IRT was measured using AutoDELFIA Neonatal IRT-Kit in stored NBS cards.

Sweat test in patients with glucose-6-phosphate-1-dehydrogenase deficiency.

Background: A false-positive sweat test in patients with deficiency of glucose-6-phosphate-1-dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.

Comparison of serum markers for allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis in cystic fibrosis.

The diagnosis of allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) in cystic fibrosis (CF) is a challenge. Thymus- and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC) has recently been reported to play a role in ABPA. The aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic value of TARC with that of known serological markers for diagnosis of ABPA in CF patients.

Nanoduct sweat testing for rapid diagnosis in newborns, infants and children with cystic fibrosis.

Determination of chloride concentration in sweat is the current diagnostic gold standard for Cystic Fibrosis (CF). Nanoduct is a new analyzing system measuring conductivity which requires only 3 microliters of sweat and gives results within 30 minutes. The aim of the study was to evaluate the applicability of this system in a clinical setting of three children's hospitals and borderline results were compared with sweat chloride concentration.

Antibody responses induced by long-term vaccination with an octovalent conjugate Pseudomonas aeruginosa vaccine in children with cystic fibrosis.

We assessed the serological responses over 10 years to repeated immunization of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients with an O-polysaccharide (OPS)-toxin A conjugate vaccine against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. A retrospective analysis was performed with sera from 25 vaccinated and 25 unvaccinated children treated at the same CF centre and matched for clinical management, age and gender. Yearly immunization led to sustained elevations of serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody levels to all vaccine components.

Risk factors for allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis and sensitisation to Aspergillus fumigatus in patients with cystic fibrosis.

Unlabelled: An increasing incidence of allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) as a complication in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) is reported. The objective of this retrospective case-control study was to assess potential risk factors for ABPA and for Aspergillus fumigatus sensitisation (AFS). In a group of 160 CF patients, 11 (7%) fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for ABPA and 20 (13%) had evidence of AFS.

Time course of antibody response to recombinant Aspergillus fumigatus antigens in cystic fibrosis with and without ABPA.

We determined follow-up levels of specific serum IgE to the recombinant Aspergillus fumigatus (A. fumigatus) allergens rAsp f 1, 3, 4 and 6 in patients suffering from cystic fibrosis (CF) with and without allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA). Over a 32-month period follow-up data of 74 patients were collected.

Conductivity determined by a new sweat analyzer compared with chloride concentrations for the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine if a new conductivity measuring sweat test system (Nanoduct) could reliably identify patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and differentiate them from healthy subjects.

Study Design: On the same day and in the same patient, the new system was tested in comparison with the Macroduct sweat collection system measuring chloride concentration and osmolality.

Results: Subjects (n = 111) 3 weeks to 60 years of age were investigated.

Autoantibodies directed against bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein in patients with cystic fibrosis: association with microbial respiratory tract colonization.

Background: Cystic fibrosis (CF) is associated with the appearance of serum autoantibodies directed against bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein (BPI).

Objectives: To determine the age-specific seroprevalence rates of anti-BPI-IgG and IgA in a population of patients with CF and to correlate anti-BPI antibody concentrations with microbial respiratory tract colonization and pulmonary function variables at the time of serum sampling and 6 years thereafter.

Methods: Determination of BPI antibodies of the IgG and IgA isotypes using a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in sera of a CF serum bank of 1992; correlation of anti-BPI antibody concentrations with age, clinical score, pulmonary function variables in 1992 and 1998, total serum immunoglobulin isotype concentrations and respiratory tract colonization with Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Aspergillus spp.

SAPALDIA: methods and participation in the cross-sectional part of the Swiss Study on Air Pollution and Lung Diseases in Adults.

SAPALDIA--the Swiss Study on Air Pollution and Lung Diseases in Adults--focuses on the long term health effects of low to moderate levels of air pollutants as typically seen in different parts of Switzerland. The aim of the SAPALDIA cross-sectional study carried out in 1991 was to determine the prevalence of bronchial asthma, chronic bronchitis and allergic conditions in the adult population of Switzerland and to identify and to determine the respective importance of potentially influencing factors. These could be both personal (smoking habits, allergy status, family history, occupation) and environmental (outdoor and indoor pollution, aeroallergens, climate).