Association of monoaminergic gene polymorphisms in chronic inflammatory pulmonary disease patients with successful smoking cessation.

Background: Albeit smoking cessation has unequivocal health benefits, attempts to quit are not unanimous, even in patient populations at high risk for smoking-related diseases cessation. Allelic variations of enzymes involved in dopamine metabolism are being considered as candidates for nicotine addiction. We set out to assess whether rs4680 G/A and rs2235186 G/A polymorphisms of COMT and MAO-A, respectively are associated with the ability to quit smoking in chronic inflammatory pulmonary disease patients.

Large-Scale Plasma Proteome Epitome Profiling is an Efficient Tool for the Discovery of Cancer Biomarkers.

Current proteomic technologies focus on the quantification of protein levels, while little effort is dedicated to the development of system approaches to simultaneously monitor proteome variability and abundance. Protein variants may display different immunogenic epitopes detectable by monoclonal antibodies. Epitope variability results from alternative splicing, posttranslational modifications, processing, degradation, and complex formation and possesses dynamically changing availability of interacting surface structures that frequently serve as reachable epitopes and often carry different functions.

[The impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the course of the most common respiratory diseases].

Introduction: SARS-CoV-2 has defined our everyday lives over the past three years and by constituting a serious risk factor for patients with pre-existing respiratory illnesses, it placed an unexpected burden on the health care systems worldwide.

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the association between COVID-19 and pre-existing respiratory comorbidities such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma.

Method: In our current study, we retrospectively processed the data of nearly 29 000 Hungarian patients.

Pulmonary Toxicity of Hodgkin Lymphoma Treatment: A Prospective Single-Center Study.

Background: Standard bleomycin-containing first-line therapy and/or irradiation may cause pulmonary toxicity in Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) patients. Our aim was to prospectively assess effects of chest irradiation, bleomycin administration, and other factors on lung function in the treatment of patients with HL.

Methods: Pulmonary function of newly diagnosed HL patients was assessed via a St.

Veliparib in Combination With Platinum-Based Chemotherapy for First-Line Treatment of Advanced Squamous Cell Lung Cancer: A Randomized, Multicenter Phase III Study.

Purpose: Squamous non-small-cell lung cancer (sqNSCLC) is genetically complex with evidence of DNA damage. This phase III study investigated the efficacy and safety of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor veliparib in combination with conventional chemotherapy for advanced sqNSCLC (NCT02106546).

Patients And Methods: Patients age ≥ 18 years with untreated, advanced sqNSCLC were randomly assigned 1:1 to carboplatin and paclitaxel with veliparib 120 mg twice daily (twice a day) or placebo twice a day for up to six cycles.

CheckMate 171: A phase 2 trial of nivolumab in patients with previously treated advanced squamous non-small cell lung cancer, including ECOG PS 2 and elderly populations.

Background: CheckMate 171 (NCT02409368) is an open-label, multicentre, phase 2 trial of nivolumab in previously treated advanced squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), conducted as part of a post-approval commitment to the European Medicines Agency (EMA). We report outcomes from this trial.

Methods: Patients with Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS) 0-2 and disease progression during/after ≥1 systemic treatment (≥1 being platinum-based chemotherapy) for advanced or metastatic disease were treated with nivolumab 3 mg/kg every 2 weeks until progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Effectiveness and Patient Satisfaction with Budesonide/Formoterol Easyhaler Among Patients with Asthma or COPD Switching from Previous Treatment: a Real-World Study of Patient-Reported Outcomes.

Introduction: Persistent symptoms, poor disease control, and reduced quality of life (QoL) are common in patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Current therapies are only partially effective and inhaler misuse contributes to insufficient disease control and poor outcomes. This real-world study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of budesonide/formoterol fumarate (B/F) Easyhaler in everyday clinical practice in Hungary.

First comparative results about the direct effect of traditional cigarette and e-cigarette smoking on lung alveolocapillary membrane using dynamic ventilation scintigraphy.

Introduction: Dynamic inhalation scintigraphy (DIS) with technetium-99m-diethylenetriamine-pentaacetate aerosol is a useful nuclear medicine procedure for staging and monitoring the damage of alveolocapillary membrane. The e-cigarette is a new popular smoking device producing vapor from the nicotine solution. Many studies have shown that e-cigarettes appear to be safer than smoking, but there are still debates to what extent e-cigarettes are less harmful than smoking.

New insights into the impact of primary lung adenocarcinoma location on metastatic sites and sequence: A multicenter cohort study.

Introduction: The presence of organ metastases is a major factor for unfavorable prognosis in lung adenocarcinoma (LADC). However, the influence of primary tumor location on metastatic sites and sequence has not been extensively analyzed.

Methods: We performed a multicenter cohort study, evaluating clinicopathological data of 1126 Caucasian LADC patients, focusing on the distinct location of primary tumors and metastatic sites during disease progression.

Clinical Effectiveness of Budesonide/Formoterol Fumarate Easyhaler for Patients with Poorly Controlled Obstructive Airway Disease: a Real-World Study of Patient-Reported Outcomes.

Introduction: The effectiveness of inhaled therapies can be influenced by many factors, including the type of inhaler, which may have clinical implications. We report a real-world, multicenter, open-label, non-randomized, non-interventional study conducted by 200 pulmonologists across 200 centers in Hungary. The effectiveness of budesonide/formoterol inhalation therapy in daily clinical practice, delivered via the Bufomix Easyhaler, was evaluated in patients with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma-COPD overlap (ACO).

Positive correlation of airway resistance and serum asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) in bronchial asthma patients lacking evidence for systemic inflammation.

Background: Contribution of nitric-oxide (NO) pathway to the pathogenesis of bronchial asthma (asthma) is ambiguous as NO may confer both protective and detrimental effects depending on the NO synthase (NOS) isoforms, tissue compartments and underlying pathological conditions (e.g. systemic inflammation).

The Alteration of Irisin-Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Axis Parallels Severity of Distress Disorder in Bronchial Asthma Patients.

Distress disorder (a collective term for generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder) is a well-known co-morbidity of bronchial asthma. The irisin-brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) axis is a pathway that influences several neurobehavioral mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of distress disorder. Thus, the aim of the present study was to quantify the serum irisin and BDNF concentrations in order to investigate the possible link between the irisin/BDNF axis and distress disorder in an asthma patient cohort.

Alteration of the irisin-brain-derived neurotrophic factor axis contributes to disturbance of mood in COPD patients.

COPD is accompanied by limited physical activity, worse quality of life, and increased prevalence of depression. A possible link between COPD and depression may be irisin, a myokine, expression of which in the skeletal muscle and brain positively correlates with physical activity. Irisin enhances the synthesis of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a neurotrophin involved in reward-related processes.

Positive correlation of airway resistance and serum asymmetric dimethylarginine level in COPD patients with systemic markers of low-grade inflammation.

The major feature of COPD is a progressive airflow limitation caused by chronic airway inflammation and consequent airway remodeling. Modified arginase and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) pathways are presumed to contribute to the inflammation and fibrosis. Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) may shunt L-arginine from the NOS pathway to the arginase one by uncoupling and competitive inhibition of NOS and by enhancing arginase activity.

'Proactive' use of cue-context congruence for building reinforcement learning's reward function.

Background: Reinforcement learning is a fundamental form of learning that may be formalized using the Bellman equation. Accordingly an agent determines the state value as the sum of immediate reward and of the discounted value of future states. Thus the value of state is determined by agent related attributes (action set, policy, discount factor) and the agent's knowledge of the environment embodied by the reward function and hidden environmental factors given by the transition probability.

Circulating periostin level in asthmatic pregnancy.

Objective: Asthma often complicates pregnancy and represents a risk for complications. Periostin is considered as a biomarker of asthma; however, as it also plays a role in normal gestation, pregnancy may influence circulating periostin levels. This is the first study assessing periostin in asthmatic pregnancy.

Late pulmonary complications of treating Hodgkin lymphoma: bleomycin-induced toxicity.

Introduction: Survival of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) patients has significantly improved in recent decades. The current first-line therapy is doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, dacarbazine (ABVD) ± irradiation and may cause pulmonary toxicity. Strategies to reduce late toxicity as well as increase survival rate are of interest.

Serum human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) as a tumor marker in men with lung cancer.

Background: Human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) is a reliable tumor marker for ovarian cancer, but only limited data are available on HE4 levels in lung malignancies.

Methods: HE4 levels were measured at diagnosis in 98 men with lung cancer at different stages of the disease, and these results were compared to an age-matched healthy male cohort (n=98). The concentrations of classical tumor markers were also determined, and their efficacy was compared to that of HE4.

Optimization of liposomal encapsulation for ceftazidime for developing a potential eye drop formulation.

Ceftazidime is a broad spectrum third generation cephalosporin antibiotic which is effective mainly against Gram-negative bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter and Enterobacteriaceae, the pathogens which most often cause ophthalmological infections. Unlike other commonly used beta lactam antibiotics, ceftazidime is resistant to several types of beta lactamases (e.g.

Exposure to inhomogeneous static magnetic field beneficially affects allergic inflammation in a murine model.

Previous observations suggest that static magnetic field (SMF)-exposure acts on living organisms partly through reactive oxygen species (ROS) reactions. In this study, we aimed to define the impact of SMF-exposure on ragweed pollen extract (RWPE)-induced allergic inflammation closely associated with oxidative stress. Inhomogeneous SMF was generated with an apparatus validated previously providing a peak-to-peak magnetic induction of the dominant SMF component 389 mT by 39 T m(-1) lateral gradient in the in vivo and in vitro experiments, and 192 mT by 19 T m(-1) in the human study at the 3 mm target distance.

Extrafine beclomethasone/formoterol compared to fluticasone/salmeterol combination therapy in COPD.

Background: The study evaluated the efficacy of beclomethasone dipropionate/formoterol fumarate (BDP/FF) extrafine combination versus fluticasone propionate/salmeterol (FP/S) combination in COPD patients.

Methods: The trial was a 12-week multicentre, randomised, double-blind, double dummy study; 419 patients with moderate/severe COPD were randomised to BDP/FF 200/12 μg or FP/S 500/50 μg twice daily. The primary objective was to demonstrate the equivalence between treatments in terms of Transition Dyspnoea Index (TDI) score and the superiority of BDP/FF in terms of change from pre-dose in the first 30 minutes in forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1).

A potential role of aminoglycoside resistance in endemic occurrence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains in lower airways of mechanically ventilated patients.

Altogether, 98 Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from a 5-bed intensive care unit were fingerprinted with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and tested for aminoglycoside resistance genes aac(6')-Ib, aac(3″)-IIa, ant(2″)-Ia, armA, rmtA, and rmtB and integrons and virulence genes/operons phzI, phzII, phzM, phzS, apr, lasB, plcH, plcN, pilA, algD, toxA, exoS, exoT, exoY, and exoU. Two major clusters were identified (49 and 19 isolates), harbouring aac(6')-Ib, blaPSE-1, and ant(3″)-Ia genes or ant(2″)-Ia gene, respectively, on a class I integron. Most virulence genes except for exoU and pilA were found.

A survey of the burden of allergic rhinitis in Hungary from a specialist's perspective.

Background: The casual and severity distribution of allergic rhinitis (AR) in Hungary is unknown.The aim of this survey was to evaluate symptom perception, disease severity, concomitant asthma frequency and the impact of AR on everyday life activities in a cross-sectional, multicenter study in Hungary under the supervision of Hungarian Respiratory Society.

Methods: Data were recorded by 933 AR patients (65.

The effects of various doses of bacterial lipopolysaccharide on the expression of CD63 and the release of histamine by basophils of atopic and non-atopic patients.

Objective: We tested the effect of various doses of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS, endotoxin) on the expression of CD63 and the in vitro release of histamine by basophils stimulated with ragweed allergen in patients with or without ragweed and mite allergies.

Methods: The peripheral blood of 11 patients with ragweed allergy, 10 patients with mite allergy and 14 control patients was incubated with ragweed allergen extract following pretreatment with varying doses of LPS. The expression of CD63 in basophils was measured by flow cytometry, and the release of histamine was determined by ELISA.