Household mold exposure interacts with inflammation-related genetic variants on childhood asthma: a case-control study.

Background: A number of studies have examined the association between mold exposure and childhood asthma. However, the conclusions were inconsistent, which might be partly attributable to the lack of consideration of gene function, especially the key genes affecting the pathogenesis of childhood asthma. Research on the interactions between genes and mold exposure on childhood asthma is still very limited.

Effectiveness of informational and emotional consultation on the psychological impact on women with breast cancer who underwent modified radical mastectomy.

Background: Female breast cancer has been ranked as the leading cause of cancer death in Taiwan. Women who undergo a mastectomy are at risk of suffering emotional disturbance because of deteriorating body image. A nursing intervention designed to restore body image perceptions and to reduce anxiety and emotional distress in this vulnerable group should be developed and administered.

[Interleukin-17 expression and significance in normal lung function smokers and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients].

Objective: To study the effect of interleukin 17 (IL-17) with mechanism of pulmonary inflammatory in smokers with normal lung function and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients.

Methods: The peripheral lung cancer patients in need of a surgical therapy were divided into normal lung function and non-smoking group (NS group, n = 10), normal lung function and smoking group (S group, n = 13) and smoking with stable COPD group (COPD group, n = 10). The fresh normal lung tissue was harvested from the surgical specimens with a margin of 5 cm away from resection foci.