Cisneros et al report associations between scores on the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ) and three indices of bronchial reactivity (doseeresponse slope (DRS), continuous index of responsiveness (CIR) and bronchial reactivity index (BRI)), which they suggest are qualitatively different from sensitivity, measured by PD20FEV1. This conclusion is questionable. First, there are no meanin...

BACKGROUND The effect of adrenergic agonists in asthma depends on their net effect on microvascular leakage, mucosal oedema, vascular clearance of spasmogens, inhibition of cholinergic neurotransmission, and airway smooth muscle contractility. It has been postulated that adrenaline, by virtue of its alpha effects on the vasculature and cholinergic neurotransmission, may have additional useful p...

Immature rabbits have greater maximal airway narrowing and greater maximal fold increases in airway resistance during bronchoconstriction than mature animals. We have previously demonstrated that excised immature rabbit lungs have more distensible airways, a lower shear modulus, and structural differences in the relative composition and thickness of anatomically similar airways. In the present ...

BACKGROUND Allergen-specific immunotherapy (SIT) can significantly improve symptoms and reduce the need for symptomatic medication. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate changes in skin reactivity to house dust mites (HDMs) as an immunologic response and associated factors after 1 year of immunotherapy. METHODS A total of 80 patients with allergic airway diseases who received s...

BACKGROUND The use of electronic (e)-cigarettes is increasing rapidly, but their lung health effects are not established. Clinical studies examining the potential long-term impact of e-cigarette use on lung health will take decades. To address this gap in knowledge, this study investigated the effects of exposure to aerosolised nicotine-free and nicotine-containing e-cigarette fluid on mouse lu...

Bronchial reactivity is a physiological property of healthy airways to develop a moderate airway obstruction in response to various non-specific stimuli, which is altered in several pulmonary diseases. The active effector of airway reactivity is airway smooth muscle (ASM). The contractile status of airway smooth muscle is under the control of many extracellular messengers acting on specific mem...

We revisit the airway wall model of Lambert et. al. (Lambert RK, Wiggs BR, Kuwano K, Hogg JC, and Pare PD. J Appl Physiol 74: 2771-2781, 1993). We examine in detail the notion of a general airway bistability such that the airway lumen can suddenly decrease from a relatively open to a relatively closed condition without needing additional increase in active airway smooth muscle (ASM) tension dur...

CD38 is a cell-surface protein involved in calcium signaling and contractility of airway smooth muscle. It has a role in normal airway responsiveness and in airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) developed following airway exposure to IL-13 and TNF-α but appears not to be critical to airway inflammation in response to the cytokines. CD38 is also involved in T cell-mediated immune response to protein ...