An unfortunate juxtaposition

An Unfortunate Blow

[Asthma and smoking: an unfortunate combination].

Asthma is an inflammatory disease of the airways in which a key role is played by certain cells and mediators (T-helper 2 cells, mast cells, eosinophils, interleukin 4 and 5). In certain disorders such as irritant-induced asthma, reactive airways dysfunction syndrome, and asthma due to toluene diisocyanate, inflammation is mediated predominantly by T-helper 1 cells, macrophages and neutrophils....

Asthma and Smoking: An Unfortunate Combination

Asthma is a chronic disease of the airways characterized by a disproportionate inflammatory response to specific or nonspecific stimuli.1 Some of the agents that provoke this response are known while others are not. After repeated exposure, these agents eventually trigger sustained inflammation that gets progressively worse, producing secondary alterations in the physiology of the bronchial res...

Blood transfusion services in Iraq; an unfortunate field.

Iraq is unfortunately still delayed in the development of blood transfusion services. My tenure for over 18 months as head of the blood transfusion center in one of the major teaching hospitals in Baghdad, Iraq, Al-yarmouk Teaching Hospital, led me to this unpleasant conclusion. There is an absence of almost any type of scientific interest, e.g., no Iraqi blood banking or hematology journal and...

Obesity in menopause – our negligence or an unfortunate inevitability?

Numerous concerns about menopause exist among women, and fear of an increase in body weight is one of the most important of them. This paper presents an overview of current knowledge concerning the etiology of obesity related to menopause and about the mechanisms of its development, with particular regard to the hormonal changes that occur during this period of life. The role of estrogens in th...