To elucidate the mechanisms of intractable pediatric bronchial asthma and the indication of low-dose erythromycin (EM) therapy, the serum chemokine levels of and the angiogenic factor were evaluated in 55 pediatric patients with bronchial asthma; 7.4 +/- 3.5 yr old, who had been treated with inhaled steroid, leukotriene receptor antagonist, theophylline and others for more than a year. Both the...

INTRODUCTION This study aims to evaluate bronchial thickness via thorax high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) in subjects with mild intermittent asthma in comparison with healthy control subjects. METHODS A total of 37 out-patients (mean ± SD age = 36.7 years (9.7 years); 54.8% males) with mild intermittent asthma and 13 healthy control subjects (mean ± SD age = 25.0 years (2.9 years); 6...

Airway remodeling is a term used to collectively indicate bronchial structural changes that may lead to irreversible airflow obstruction and progressive decline in lung function in asthmatic patients. Bronchial myofibroblasts contribute to airway remodeling by producing collagenous proteins in the subepithelial zone and by increasing the density of contractile cells in the bronchial wall. A sub...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW To review bronchial provocations tests used in the measurement of bronchial hyperresponsiveness to help in the diagnosis of asthma. RECENT FINDINGS The bronchial provocations tests reviewed include exercise, methacholine, AMP and mannitol, with reference to methodology and monitoring of treatment. SUMMARY Methacholine is used for identifying bronchial hyperresponsiveness a...

A cross sectional study was carried out to determine the prevalence of bronchial hyperresponsiveness and asthma in 3067 students aged 11-17 years in an urban and a rural area of Guangzhou (Canton), China. The methods used included a self administered questionnaire, a histamine bronchial provocation test, and allergen skinprick tests. Bronchial hyperresponsiveness was defined as a 20% fall in FE...

Introduction . Violation of bronchial patency is a particularly urgent problem in pediatric practice, which primarily due to the increase frequency its development and occurrence young children with acute respiratory infections lower tract, lack an unambiguous unified interpretation causal factors formation pathogenetic mechanisms, as well difficulty differential diagnosis pathological conditio...

background: use of hormone replacement therapy (hrt) may increase the risk of adult-onset asthma in women. various in vitro studies have reported that estradiol stimulates human mast cell lines causing release of allergic mediators which was not observed in estrogen receptor-alpha (er-alpha) knockout mice. thus, estrogen might be a key element in occurrence of asthma. in the present study, we p...

In adolescence, some paediatric asthma patients will become symptom-free and require no further treatment. There is little information on the atopic status, lung function and bronchial responsiveness of these patients. Symptom-free asthma patients (n=118) aged 7.7-19.2 yrs, were evaluated 1 year after termination of therapy. Bronchial asthma had previously been diagnosed on the basis of recurre...

OBJECTIVES To elucidate the presence of neutrophil chemotactic factor (NCF) and characterize them in the bronchial trees of symptomatic patients with bronchial asthma. METHODS Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluids were concentrated by ultrafiltration. Differential counts of BAL cells was performed upto 500 cells on the cytocentrifuge-prepared slides. NCF activities in concentrated BAL fluids we...

Bronchial asthma is associated with increased levels of exhaled nitric oxide which are suppressible by glucocorticosteroid inhalation. Children with bronchial asthma were studied to elucidate the relation between endogenous NO release and recent symptoms of bronchial obstruction. Twenty-five children with atopic asthma and 11 healthy control subjects were enrolled and exhaled NO was studied usi...