BACKGROUND An increase in asthma prevalence is reported from developed as well as developing nations, with rising costs from acute asthma and great expenditures to health care systems. Venezuela's Ministry of Health ambulatory facilities care for 80 % or more of a mostly urban and impoverished population of 26 million inhabitants, registering close to a million acute asthma visits per year; a n...

BACKGROUND The ability of intravenous lidocaine to prevent intubation-induced bronchospasm is unclear. The authors performed a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to test the ability of intravenous lidocaine and inhaled albuterol to attenuate airway reactivity after tracheal intubation in asthmatic patients undergoing general anesthesia. METHODS Sixty patients were...

BACKGROUND Using a metered-dose inhaler (MDI) beyond the labeled number of actuations may result in inadequate dosing of medication, which can lead to poor clinical outcomes. This study compared respiratory-related emergency department (ED) visit rates in patients with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or both when they used albuterol MDIs with versus without dose counters. METHO...

We studied natural history and morphological features in 10 adult onset Acid Maltase Deficient (AMD) patients who were ambulant (age range 23-69 yrs), and 1 juvenile-onset AMD patient, who was wheelchair-bound and respirator-dependent (disease duration 36 yrs). Morphological features in muscle biopsy showed a vacuolar myopathy, there was Golgi apparatus proliferation within fibers, the autophag...

The beta2-adrenergic receptor (beta2AR) agonists are the most widely used agents in the treatment of asthma, but the genetic determinants of responsiveness to these agents are unknown. Two polymorphic loci within the coding region of the beta2AR have been recently described at amino acids 16 and 27. It has been reported that glycine at codon 16 (Gly-16) is associated with increased agonist-prom...

OBJECTIVE To determine the influence of nebulizer types and nebulization modes on bronchodilator delivery in a mechanically ventilated pediatric lung model. DESIGN In vitro, laboratory study. SETTING Research laboratory of a university hospital. INTERVENTIONS Using albuterol as a marker, three nebulizer types (jet nebulizer, ultrasonic nebulizer, and vibrating-mesh nebulizer) were tested ...

BACKGROUND Patients with cystic fibrosis perform airway clearance techniques and receive nebulized medications on a regular basis. Some positive expiratory pressure (PEP) devices allow concomitant administration of aerosol. I hypothesized that this practice alters the aerosol characteristics and patient dose. I compared the aerosol characteristics and patient dose of nebulized albuterol from 2 ...

BACKGROUND Few studies have investigated the factors affecting aerosol delivery during non-invasive ventilation (NIV). Our aim was to investigate, using a bench-top model, the effect of different ventilator settings and positions of the exhalation port and nebulizer on the amount of albuterol delivered to a lung simulator. METHODS A lung model simulating spontaneous breathing was connected to...

Inhaled albuterol is a first-line treatment of acute asthma exacerbations. Nebulized albuterol doses recommended by expert consensus guidelines for exacerbations in children  12 years of age are “ 0.15-0.3 mg/kg up to 10 mg every 1-4 hours as needed, or 0.5 mg/kg/hour by continuous nebulization.” 1 Although the benefi t of continuous treatment is well established, we can fi nd only one, small ...