Background: Use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may increase the risk of adult-onset asthma in women. Various in vitro studies have reported that estradiol stimulates human mast cell lines causing release of allergic mediators which was not observed in estrogen receptor-alpha (ER-alpha) knockout mice. Thus, estrogen might be a key element in occurrence of asthma. In the present study, we p...

Background: Asthma is a multifactorial disease and its severity varies with the inflammatory grade. There are conflicting reports about the roles of trace elements in asthma. This study examined the effects of zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and selenium (Se) concentrations in sera of patients with allergic asthma attending Ghaem Hospital, Mashhad, Iran. Methods: Forty-nine patients, aged 10 to 50 y...

Up to 80% of asthmatic children may experience upper airway symptoms which are often perceived as coming from the lower airways. Currently, there are no validated questionnaires to assess upper airway contribution to pediatric asthma symptoms. The Sino-Nasal 5 (SN-5) questionnaire was previously validated for identifying radiographic confirmed sinus disease in children. In this study, we hypoth...

BACKGROUND Asthma and allergic rhinitis are highly prevalent conditions that cause major illness worldwide. This study aimed to assess the association between allergic rhinitis and asthma control in Peruvian school children. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted among 256 children with asthma recruited in 5 schools from Lima and Callao cities. The outcome was asthma control assessed b...

BACKGROUND Lung function is a major criterion used to assess asthma control. Fluctuation analyses can account for lung function history over time, and may provide an additional dimension to characterise control. The relationships between mean and fluctuations in lung function with asthma control, exacerbation and quality of life were studied in two independent data sets. METHODS Data from 132...

In this issue of the European Respiratory Journal, DUMAS et al. [1] describe associations between occupational disinfectant exposure and asthma control in US nurses. Asthma control was defined by using the Asthma Control Test (ACT) and based on responses to five questions on activity limitations, frequency of symptoms and frequency of use of quick-relief medication in the past 4 weeks (β-agonis...

BACKGROUND Severe asthma is often poorly controlled and its prevalence in Spanish children is unknown. The aim was to determine the prevalence of difficult-to-control severe asthma in children, the agreement of asthma control between physicians and Spanish Guidelines for Asthma Management (GEMA), and the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) for children and parents. METHODS Observational, c...

asthma control and quality of life are expected to be correlated. we aimed to evaluate the association of asthma control test (act) with asthma quality of life questionnaire (aqlq) and guideline based control assessment. we also aimed to investigate the impact of therapy adjustment according to act score on aqlq a total of 101 asthmatic patients were included. act, aqlq and global initiative fo...

increased arginase activity in the airways decreases l-arginine and causes deficiency of bronchodilating and anti-inflammatory nitric oxide (no) in asthma. as, it is suggested that l-arginine may have therapeutic potential in asthma treatment, we aimed to investigate the effects of inhaled l-arginine on oxygen saturation (sao₂) and airway histology in a murine model of acute asthma. twenty eigh...

Background : Allergic asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of airway that often determined with degrees of inflammation, hypersensitivity, bronchial constriction and airway changes. Th1, Th2 and Th17 cells are the main cells involved in the pathophysiology of asthma. . Therefore, this study evaluated Th1, Th2, and Th17 cells functions by assessment the expression of INF-g, IL-4, and IL-17 g...