Thirty-four children with clinically and radiologically confirmed adenoid hypertrophy underwent otoscopy, impedance tests, active anterior rhinomanometry and nasal mucociliary clearance evaluation before and 6 months after adenoidectomy. Mucociliary clearance velocity increased significantly while binasal resistances decreased after surgery. The authors conclude that mucociliary evaluation and ...

Investigators conducting a decade-long study into how Florida's " red tide " algal blooms affect human health have discovered several compounds that counteract the toxins produced by the red tide dinoflagellate, Karenia brevis. In an intriguing twist, they are now developing one of these compounds, breve-nal, as a potential treatment for cystic fibrosis (CF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary di...

Nasal mucociliary clearance is a primary physiological defense mechanism of upper as well as lower respiratory tract, and thus maintains the state of health of the respiratory tract. Any disturbance in number or movement of cilia and change in character or amount of mucus production leads to an altered nasal mucociliary clearance. The present study was undertaken to study the effect of aging on...

Visualizing the respiratory mucosa in pulmonary airways at the sub-cellular level could yield new insights into pathogenesis of many important diseases. However, current imaging modalities to study the respiratory mucosa lack the required resolution to visualize critical subcellular detail such as nuclei and respiratory epithelial cilia. Full-field optical coherence microscopy (FFOCM) is an eme...

To cite: Shoemark A, Hogg C. Thorax 2013;68:190–191. ABSTRACT Cilia are organelles present on almost every cell within the body. In the respiratory tract, motile cilia line the epithelial surface and beat in a coordinated fashion to clear mucus from the airways. Mucociliary dysfunction is implicated in a number of lung diseases including cystic fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, b...

Nasal nitric oxide (nNO) is produced in high quantity in the upper airways. It is thought to be involved in host defence functions and regulation of mucociliary function, and to serve as a biochemical airborne transmitter. The measurement of nNO is easy and non-invasive. It has evolved as a screening test to exclude primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) in patients with suggestive symptoms, because ...

Airspaces of the lung are lined by an epithelium whose cellular composition changes along the proximal-to-distal axis to meet local functional needs for mucociliary clearance, hydration, host defense, and gas exchange. Advances in cell isolation, in vitro culture techniques, and genetic manipulation of animal models have increased our understanding of the development and maintenance of the pulm...

fluid, and normal and CF ASL did not differ in fluid osmo-School of Medicine lality or in Na ϩ and Cl Ϫ concentrations. The major differ-Baltimore, Maryland 21205 ences between normal and CF epithelia were in the volume of fluid absorbed and in mucociliary clearance. Twenty-four hours after 50 ␮l of saline was placed on the cells, the depth of fluid on the normal cultures was Introduction 18 ␮m...