WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE   Inhaled long-acting beta-agonists have been licensed for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) since the late 1990s, and they improve lung function and symptoms of dyspnoea. However, the evidence that long-acting beta-agonists alone can reduce the rate of COPD exacerbations is not conclusive. This meta-analysis was performed to evaluate thei...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by the extracellular deposition of beta-amyloid fibrils within the brain and the subsequent association and phenotypic activation of microglial cells associated with the amyloid plaque. The activated microglia mount a complex local proinflammatory response with the secretion of a diverse range of inflammatory products. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory dru...

Eotaxin is a potent eosinophil chemoattractant implicated in various allergic inflammatory conditions including asthma, but relatively little is known about its regulation. Human airway smooth muscle cells are an important source of eotaxin in the airway. We have previously demonstrated that beta(2)-adrenoceptor agonists (beta(2)-agonists) and glucocorticoids additively inhibit eotaxin producti...

This study was designed to determine the percentage of asthma-related emergency department (ED) visits made by patients who recently ran out of their inhaled short-acting beta-agonists or inhaled corticosteroids and to characterize this understudied patient population. A secondary analysis was performed of data from four ED-based multicenter studies of acute asthma during 1996-1998 (n = 64 EDs)...

The combination of heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease presents many therapeutic challenges. The cornerstones of therapy are beta-blockers and beta-agonists, respectively. Their pharmacological effects are diametrically opposed, and each is purported to adversely affect the alternative condition. The tolerability of beta-blockade in patients with mild and fixed airflow obstr...

Platelets from a patient with a mild inherited bleeding disorder and abnormal platelet aggregation and secretion show reduced generation of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate, mobilization of intracellular Ca2+, and phosphorylation of pleckstrin in response to several G protein mediated agonists, suggesting a possible defect at the level of phospholipase C (PLC) activation (see accompanying report). ...