In a double-blind randomized controlled trial (DBRCT) in 1,000 shift workers [23] the intake of fermented milk drinks containing Lactobacillus casei DN114 001 twice daily reduced the occurrence of CID during the cold season, the time until infections occurred and the duration of fever episodes. During infections the counts of leucocytes, granulocytes and natural killer cells were enhanced. In a...

Cytokines are small, secreted proteins that control immune responses. Within the lung, they can control host responses to injuries or infection, resulting in clearance of the insult, repair of lung tissue, and return to homeostasis. Problems can arise when this response is over exuberant and/or cytokine production becomes dysregulated. In such cases, chronic and repeated inflammatory reactions ...

A survey was carried out on wood workers and on a group of unexposed, healthy controls. One group of wood workers (group A) were asymptomatic and another (group B) had symptoms either of chronic cough and dyspnoea on exertion (B1) or dyspnoea at work and bronchial hyperreactivity (B2). The control group (group C) was randomly selected from among a population of laboratory workers. No significan...