Pulmonary Staphylococcus aureus (SA) infections are a public health concern and a major complication of hyper-IgE syndrome, caused by mutations in STAT3. In contrast to previous findings of skin infection, we observed that clearance of SA from the lung did not require T, B, or NK cells but did require Stat3 activation. Immunohistochemistry showed robust Stat3 phosphorylation in the lung epithel...

MUC1 (MUC1 in human and Muc1 in nonhumans) is a membrane-tethered mucin that interacts with Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) through flagellin. In this study, we compared PA pulmonary clearance and proinflammatory responses by Muc1(-/-) mice with Muc1(+/+) littermates following intranasal instillation of PA or flagellin. Compared with Muc1(+/+) mice, Muc1(-/-) mice showed increased PA clearance, gre...

Background We previously reported the phenotypic distribution patterns of airway smooth muscles in severe asthmatics; with smooth muscle bundle thickening only in large airways and in whole airways [1] , by different mechanisms, hypertrophy and/or hyperplasia [2], which was reexamined recently to fit in 55 fatal asthmatics by James AL, et al. [3]. We also revealed that pulmonary lymphatics dist...

We directly measured the net pulmonary extraction of circulating norepinephrine, epinephrine and dopamine in control patients and patients with primary or secondary pulmonary hypertension. Mixed pulmonary artery norepinephrine, epinephrine and dopamine were 314 ± 13 pg/ml, 102 ± 9 pg/mI, 51 ± 5 pg/mi, respectively, for the control group; values were similar in patients with pulmonary hypertensi...

Ketamine is a broadly used anaesthetic for analgosedation. Accumulating clinical evidence shows that ketamine causes pulmonary edema with unknown mechanisms. We measured the effects of ketamine on alveolar fluid clearance in human lung lobes ex vivo. Our results showed that intratracheal instillation of ketamine markedly decreased the reabsorption of 5% bovine serum albumin instillate. In the p...

Clearance of inhaled 99mTechnetium-labelled diethylene triamine pentacetate (99mTc-DTPA) from the lung, an index of pulmonary alveolar epithelial permeability (PAEP), was measured in 13 patients with cardiogenic interstitial pulmonary oedema (CIPO) and in 7 patients with adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Thirty-five normal subjects (22 nonsmokers and 13 smokers) were evaluated as cont...

Arterial xenon 133 concentrations have been measured after inhalation of the isotope in anaesthetized and conscious human patients. The anaesthetized patients were ventilated by either a mechanical or a manual method. The arterial concentration of xenon 133 was compared with the pulmonary radioactivity measured by external scintillation counting during clearance of the gas. The rates of arteria...

Inadequate nutrition complicates the clinical course of critically ill patients, and many of these patients develop pulmonary edema. However, little is known about the effect of malnutrition on the mechanisms that resolve alveolar edema. Therefore, we studied the mechanisms responsible for the decrease in alveolar fluid clearance in rats exposed to malnutrition. Rats were allowed access to wate...