Risk factors for growth and decline of lung function in asthmatic individuals up to age 42 years. A 30-year follow-up study.

Little is known about factors determining the outcome of childhood asthma. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to assess the factors in childhood that determine the level of FEV(1) in early adulthood in asthmatic individuals, and to examine factors associated with decline in FEV(1) during adulthood. Between 1966 and 1969, 119 allergic asthmatic subjects aged 5 to 14 yr were studied (Visit 1).

Smoking and airway hyperresponsiveness especially in the presence of blood eosinophilia increase the risk to develop respiratory symptoms: a 25-year follow-up study in the general adult population.

Airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) constitutes a risk for development of respiratory symptoms. We assessed whether blood eosinophilia (>/= 275 eosinophils/microliters), skin test positivity (sum score >/= 3) and cigarette smoking (never, ex-smoker, 1-14 cig/d, 15-24 cig/d, >/= 25 cig/d) at the first of two successive surveys are related to the development of respiratory symptoms (chronic cough or phlegm, bronchitis, persistent wheeze, dyspnea, and asthma) at the second survey, and whether these relations are the same in subjects with (PC10 View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Risk factors from childhood to adulthood for bronchial responsiveness at age 32-42 yr.

Unlabelled: Bronchial responsiveness (BR) is an important risk factor for the development and outcome of asthma. This study assessed childhood risk factors for both the severity of BR in adulthood and either improvement or worsening of BR over time. Finally, we studied cross-sectional risk factors of BR in adulthood.

Effects of ambient air pollution on upper and lower respiratory symptoms and peak expiratory flow in children.

Background: Previous epidemiological studies have shown acute effects of increased amounts of ambient air pollution on the prevalence of respiratory symptoms in children with respiratory disorders. We investigated whether children with bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) and relatively high serum concentrations of total IgE (>60 kU/L, the median value) are susceptible to air pollution.

Methods: We collected data from children during three winters (1992-95) in rural and urban areas of the Netherlands.

Prevalence of Asherman's syndrome after secondary removal of placental remnants or a repeat curettage for incomplete abortion.

This prospective study assesses the prevalence of intrauterine adhesions among women undergoing secondary removal of placental remnants after delivery, or a repeat curettage for incomplete abortions, and evaluates risk factors associated with the presence of intrauterine adhesions. In 50 women, undergoing either a secondary removal of placental remnants more than 24 h after delivery, or a repeat curettage for incomplete abortions, ambulatory hysteroscopy was performed 3 months after the intervention. Intrauterine adhesions were found in 20 of the women (40%): five patients had Asherman's syndrome grade I, six had grade II, six had grade III and three had grade IV.

Peak expiratory flow variability, bronchial responsiveness, and susceptibility to ambient air pollution in adults.

Bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) and peak expiratory flow (PEF) variability are associated expressions of airway lability, yet probably reflect different underlying pathophysiologic mechanisms. We investigated whether both measures can be used interchangeably to identify subjects who are susceptible to ambient air pollution. Data on BHR (>= 20% fall in FEV1), PEF variability (ampl%mean PEF > 5% on any day during an 8-d period with low air pollution levels) and diary data on upper and lower respiratory symptoms, cough, and phlegm were collected in 189 subjects (48-73 yr).

The importance of serum IgE for level and longitudinal change in airways hyperresponsiveness in COPD.

Background: Airways hyperresponsiveness (AHR) is an important feature of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Little is known about factors that modulate AHR in COPD.

Objective: To study these factors, we performed a long-term, double-blind, parallel intervention study in 58 male, non-allergic patients with COPD.

Short-term effects of air pollution on hospital admissions of respiratory diseases in Europe: a quantitative summary of APHEA study results. Air Pollution and Health: a European Approach.

The Air Pollution and Health: a European Approach (APHEA) project is a coordinated study of the short-term effects of air pollution on mortality and hospital admissions. Five West European cities (i.e.

Intrauterine position, parenting, and nest-site attachment in male Mongolian gerbils.

We housed male Mongolian gerbils, their mates, and foster litters of standardized size and sex ratio in enclosures that provided cover in two locations. Males had been gestated in known intrauterine positions: either between two females (2F males) or between two males (2M males). From Days 1 to 20 postpartum, we examined the frequency with which both males and females were in contact with the pups they were rearing.

Urban air pollution and emergency admissions for asthma in four European cities: the APHEA Project.

Background: A study was undertaken to assess the combined association between urban air pollution and emergency admissions for asthma during the years 1986-92 in Barcelona, Helsinki, Paris and London.

Methods: Daily counts were made of asthma admissions and visits to the emergency room in adults (age range 15-64 years) and children (< 15 years). Covariates were short term fluctuations in temperature and humidity, viral epidemics, day of the week effects, and seasonal and secular trends.

Parenting and potency: alternative routes to reproductive success in male Mongolian gerbils.

Adult male Mongolian gerbils, Meriones unguiculatusgestated in intrauterine positions between two female fetuses (2F males) are less likely than are adult males gestated between two male fetuses (2M males) to impregnate strange female gerbils with whom they are paired. The reduced copulatory success of 2F males is correlated with both lower circulating levels of and reduced sensitivity to testosterone. We asked whether 2F male gerbils compensated for their reduced copulatory success by increasing their parental effort.

Short-term effects of ambient oxidant exposure on mortality: a combined analysis within the APHEA project. Air Pollution and Health: a European Approach.

The Air Pollution and Health: a European Approach (APHEA) project is a coordinated study of the short-term effects of air pollution on mortality and hospital admissions using data from 15 European cities, with a wide range of geographic, sociodemographic, climatic, and air quality patterns. The objective of this paper is to summarize the results of the short-term effects of ambient oxidants on daily deaths from all causes (excluding accidents). Within the APHEA project, six cities spanning Central and Western Europe provided data on daily deaths and NO2 and/or O3 levels.

Adult patients may outgrow their asthma: a 25-year follow-up study.

The present study investigated the outcome of asthma in a population of 181 adult patients 13 to 44 yr of age (median, 24 yr) who were extensively tested between 1962 and 1970 and in whom asthma was diagnosed. When retested 25 yr later, 38 subjects (21%) did not show bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR)(PC20 > 16 mg/ml), 45 subjects (25%) showed a FEV1 > 90% predicted, and 72 subjects (40%) did not report pulmonary symptoms. When absence of asthma was defined as no BHR, FEV1 > 90% predicted, and the absence of pulmonary symptoms reported by the patient, 20 subjects (11%) were no longer considered asthmatic when retested.

Reproductive profiles of adult Mongolian gerbils gestated as the sole fetus in a uterine horn.

We compared reproductive profiles of Mongolian gerbils gestated alone in a uterine horn (Isolate males and Isolate females) with those of gerbils gestated in intrauterine positions between two male fetuses (2M males and 2M females) and two female fetuses (2F males and 2F females). We found that, when adult, the reproductive profiles of gerbils that had been gestated as isolates resembled that of gerbils that had been gestated as 2F fetuses: 1. Isolate females gestated litters containing both the same proportion of males as the litters of 2F females and a significantly smaller proportion of males than litters of 2M females.

Short term effects of air pollution on emergency hospital admissions for respiratory disease: results of the APHEA project in two major cities in The Netherlands, 1977-89.

Study Objective: To assess the short term relationship between air pollution and the daily number of emergency hospital admissions for respiratory disease.

Design: Data were analysed using autoregressive Poisson regression allowing for overdispersion and controlling for possible confounding factors such as seasonal and other chronological variables, meteorological factors, and influenza epidemics.

Setting: The two major cities in The Netherlands-Amsterdam (694,700 inhabitants) and Rotterdam (576,200 inhabitants).

Short term effects of air pollution on health: a European approach using epidemiologic time series data: the APHEA protocol.

Background And Objectives: Results from several studies over the past five years have shown that the current levels of pollutants in Europe and North America have adverse short term effects on health. The APHEA project aims to quantifying these in Europe, using standardised methodology. The project protocol and analytical methodology are presented here.

Intermethod variation in detection of human papillomavirus DNA in cervical smears.

In order to investigate the reliability of detection of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA in cervical smears, we have compared the performance of two HPV PCR systems, the CPI/IIG and MY09/11 primer-mediated PCRs and the Hybrid Capture System HPV DNA detection test (hybrid capture assay), in detecting HPV DNA in cervical smears. We also included in our study the MY09/11B PCR plus SHARP (solution hybridization assay for PCR products) Signal System. This SHARP Signal System was recently developed to detect MY09/11B-generated biotinylated PCR products.

The spring balance: a simple monitoring system for fluid overload during hysteroscopic surgery.

Fluid overload may arise during hysteroscopic surgery, caused by absorption of fluid used to distend the uterus. Continuous monitoring of the fluid balance is required to prevent this serious complication. Commercial equipment does not serve this purpose adequately.

Subcutaneous fat necrosis in a neonate, in association with aberrant plasma lipid and lipoprotein values.

A newborn infant with subcutaneous fat necrosis after perinatal hypoxia was found to have several abnormalities of plasma lipids. Further studies are needed to determine whether such abnormalities contribute to the pathophysiology of the skin lesions.

A combined immunodeficiency with oligoclonal CD8+, V beta 3-expressing, cytotoxic T lymphocytes in the peripheral blood.

The diagnosis severe combined immunodeficiency was made in a male infant at the age of 18 wk. Known causes of severe combined immunodeficiency were excluded. The activity of total 5'-nucleotidase (E.

Dose effects of inhaled ipratropium bromide on the impedance of the respiratory system in normal subjects.

The influence of cholinergic receptor blockade on the impedance of the respiratory system was studied in 10 healthy volunteers in a frequency spectrum between 4 and 52 Hz by means of the forced pseudo random-noise oscillation technique. Ipratropium bromide was used in the inhaled form in two doses (0.040 and 0.

Evaluation of lay skills in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

The theoretical knowledge and practical performance of 166 lay people attending a short cardiopulmonary resuscitation course were evaluated according to the American Heart Association standards. Before tt course no participant was able to perform even a bad attempt at cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Theoretical knowledge was good at the end of the course and at the refresher course six months later.