Search results for "Airways"
showing 10 items of 46 documents
Authors' response to: epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) in small airways of COPD patient.
2013
We understand the reservations highlighted by Sohal and Walters in their letter in response to our recent work published.1 In their letter, Sohal and Walters argue that E-cadherin and ZO-1 are absent in our immunohistochemistry analysis of small bronchi of smokers and COPD patients, and that if disappeared completely epithelium would fall apart.1 In our study, we detected downregulation of E-cadherin and ZO-1 as well as a change of intercellular and apical distribution to diffuse cytoplasmic redistribution (figure 3B; in our work published in Thorax on 7 January 2013),2 but not …
Sex differences in obstructive sleep apnoea.
2019
Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and obstructive sleep apnoea/hypopnoea syndrome (OSAHS) have long been considered predominantly male-related conditions. The clinical presentation of sleep disordered breathing in females differs from males and can vary with age and physiological status,e.g.menopause and pregnancy. Overall, females appear to be more symptomatic, with lower apnoea–hypopnoea index scores compared to males. Furthermore, they appear to have more prolonged partial upper airway obstruction, and may report insomnia as a symptom of OSAHS more frequently. As a consequence of these differences in clinical presentation, females with sleep disordered breathing are often underdiagnosed and…
An Official American Thoracic Society Workshop Report: Evaluation and Management of Asthma in the Elderly.
2016
Asthma in the elderly (>65 yr old) is common and associated with higher morbidity and mortality than asthma in younger patients. The poor outcomes in this group are due, in part, to underdiagnosis and undertreatment. There are a variety of factors related to aging itself that affect the presentation of asthma in the elderly and influence diagnosis and management. Structural changes in the aging lung superimposed on structural changes due to asthma itself can worsen the disease and physiologic function. Changes in the aging immune system influence the cellular composition and function in asthmatic airways. These processes and differences from younger individuals with asthma are not well u…
Exploring the relevance and extent of small airways dysfunction in asthma (ATLANTIS): baseline data from a prospective cohort study
2019
BACKGROUND: Small airways dysfunction (SAD) is well recognised in asthma, yet its role in the severity and control of asthma is unclear. This study aimed to assess which combination of biomarkers, physiological tests, and imaging markers best measure the presence and extent of SAD in patients with asthma.METHODS: In this baseline assessment of a multinational prospective cohort study (the Assessment of Small Airways Involvement in Asthma [ATLANTIS] study), we recruited participants with and without asthma (defined as Global Initiative for Asthma severity stages 1-5) from general practices, the databases of chest physicians, and advertisements at 29 centres across nine countries (Brazil, Chi…
Assessing and accessing the small airways; implications for asthma management
2013
Despite the wealth of experience in the management of asthma, the disease remains inadequately controlled in some patients, who face long-term respiratory impairment and disability. The disease has been characterised as an inflammatory condition affecting first the larger airways and eventually the smaller airways, but there is evidence that peripheral airway involvement defines a particular and more severe phenotype of asthma. For this reason, assessing functional and biological parameters reflective of small airways involvement is important prognostically. No assessment method is universally and directly representative of peripheral airway function, but the traditional spirometric tests, …
The potential role of SP-D as an early biomarker of severity of asthma
2021
Surfactant decreases the surface tension of peripheral airways and modulates the immunological responses of the lung. The alterations of surfactant due to the airway inflammation suggest a role in the pathogenesis of asthma. We aim to test the hypothesis that serum levels of SP-A (Surfactant Protein A) and SP-D (Surfactant Protein-D) are altered in patients with mild asthma compared to healthy controls and those alterations are related to functional abnormalities of peripheral airways, which are an early marker of progression of asthma. In this pilot study, we recruited 20 mild asthmatics and 10 healthy controls. We measured serum SP-A and SP-D and all subjects underwent clinical, lung func…
Scaling up strategies of the chronic respiratory disease programme of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (Action Plan B…
2016
Action Plan B3 of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA) focuses on the integrated care of chronic diseases. Area 5 (Care Pathways) was initiated using chronic respiratory diseases as a model. The chronic respiratory disease action plan includes (1) AIRWAYS integrated care pathways (ICPs), (2) the joint initiative between the Reference site MACVIA-LR (Contre les MAladies Chroniques pour un VIeillissement Actif) and ARIA (Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma), (3) Commitments for Action to the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing and the AIRWAYS ICPs network. It is deployed in collaboration with the World Health Organizatio…
Effects of Exercise on the Airways
2012
In the last ten years, the effects of exercise on bronchial epithelial cells and inflammatory cells in the airways have been studied in detail, and such new information has been combined with previous knowledge on bronchial reactivity and asthma evoked by exercise in asthmatic patients and athletes. The resulting picture is very complex, and the potential clinical consequences are often contradictory, suggesting the opportunity to define different phenotypes of exercise-associated airway changes (Lee & Anderson, 1985; Haahtela et al., 2008; Moreira et al., 2011a). Studies in asthmatic athletes in the 90’ had began to explore the possibility that airway inflammation might be involved in exer…
Small airways in sedentary and endurance-trained dystrophic (mdx) mice.
2015
The effects of mild endurance exercise training on the small airways in mdx mice are unknown. We compared epithelial thickness and turnover, apoptosis, and stress marker expression in small airways of mdx mice and wild-type (WT) controls, at rest and during exercise training. Mdx and WT mice were randomly assigned to sedentary (mdx-S, n=17; WT-S, n=19) or trained (mdx- EX, n=14; WT-EX, n=16) groups. Low-intensity endurance training (running on a wheel) was done 5 d/wk for 6 wk at progressively increasing speed (rpm from 16 to 24) and time (15 min to 1 h). Lungs were processed for light microscopy and periodic acid Schiff (PAS) staining. Hsp60 and PCNA were quantified by immunohistochemistry…
A multipronged approach to unveil the emerging role of Hsp60 in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
2011
Inflammation is a major component of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and its cause and mechanisms are still incompletely understood. For example, the role of heat shock proteins (Hsps), many of which are molecular chaperones, has not been explored in detail in COPD, despite the fact that these molecules are known to participate in inflammation in other diseases. It has been shown that extracellular Hsps can signal certain types of T cells, macrophages, dendritic cells, and neutrophils and, thereby, elicit inflammation and immunity. However, these phenomena have not been investigated in COPD despite: a) the increasing awareness of Hsp participation in inflammation and immunity; …