Twenty-four patients with reversible airflow obstruction under suboptimal control on conventional therapy entered a double-blind placebo-controlled trial of additional oral sustained release aminophylline. Assessment was by diary cards, twice daily PEFR, and weekly FEV1. Nineteen patients completed the trial satisfactorily. Eleven were improved subjectively by addition of aminophylline. The mea...

Asthma is the most common chronic pulmonary disease in world, affecting more than three hundred million people from different races and age groups. Childhood asthma considered one of main causes increased healthcare expenditures, particularly developing countries. Spirometry essential commonly used lung function test. It mainly for evaluation to obtain reliable data detection diseases, such as ...

This study was carried out to obtain normal lung function values for women in south eastern Nigeria with a view to establishing prediction equations for forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume at the first second (FEV(1)) and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR). Lung function values were measured in 600 apparently healthy Nigerian women aged between 18 and 57 years. FVC and FEV1 were...

Fifty-two patients admitted to hospital with acute severe asthma took part in a prospective study investigating the rate and pattern of their subsequent recovery. Clinical assessment of the severity of the acute attack on admission (according to pulse rate, degree of pulsus paradoxus, and peak expiratory flow rate) did not reliably predict the results of arterial blood gas analysis. Subjects we...

BACKGROUND We conducted this study in Budapest, Hungary, to better characterize the effects of exposure to ambient air pollutants on the lung function of asthmatic children. METHODS The 60 study participants were 9-14 years old, had physician-diagnosed asthma, and were symptomatic during the previous year. Their ambient air pollutant exposures to total suspended particulates (TSP) and sulphur...

BACKGROUND Previous studies have not found a consistent association between exposure to domestic cooking using gas appliances and exacerbation of asthma. We investigated the immediate airflow response to acute exposure from single episodes of gas cooking, and peak airflow variability from continued exposure to repeated episodes of gas cooking in a group of non-smoking asthmatic women. METHODS...

Daily variations in ambient particulate air pollution are associated with variations in respiratory lung function. It has been suggested that the effects of particulate matter may be due to particles in the ultrafine (0.01-0.1 microm) size range. Because previous studies on ultrafine particles only used self-monitored peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR), we assessed the associations between partic...

Peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) was measured in 19 mothers during elective Caesarean section under unsupplemented extradural anaesthesia. In 18 mothers, serial measurements of peak expiratory flow rate indicated adequate expiratory reserve and residual abdominal muscle power consistent with an effective cough. In one mother, with severe respiratory disease, PEFR decreased to a value indicative...

OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of bronchodilator pretreatment on deposition uniformity of aerosolized pentamidine (AP) in HIV-positive patients who coughed while inhaling AP. DESIGN Nonrandomized control trial. SETTING A university hospital. PATIENTS Ten HIV-positive patients who were using AP prophylactically. INTERVENTION Four patients who coughed during AP administration were pret...

Carbon monoxide is known to be present in measurable quantities in the exhaled air of normal subjects and at higher concentrations in asthmatic patients not treated with glucocorticoids. To examine whether exhaled CO is useful in monitoring asthma control, time course changes in peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) and exhaled CO concentration before and after treatment of acute asthma exacerbation...