Inhaled corticosteroids are effective antiinflammatory therapy for asthma; however, they do not completely abolish allergen-induced airway inflammation. Leukotriene modifiers attenuate both early and late allergen responses and have antiinflammatory properties. We reasoned that treatment with budesonide and montelukast in combination might provide greater antiinflammatory effects than either drug alone, and the purpose of this study was to compare the effects of treatment with budesonide and montelukast, alone or in combination, on outcome variables after allergen inhalation. Ten subjects with asthma with dual responses after allergen inhalation were included in this randomized, double-blind, crossover study. Outcomes included early and late asthmatic responses, and changes in airway responsiveness and sputum eosinophilia, measured before and after challenge. Treatment with montelukast attenuated the maximal early asthmatic response compared with placebo (p < 0.001) and budesonide (p = 0.002). Both budesonide and montelukast, alone and in combination, attenuated the maximal late asthmatic response compared with placebo (p < 0.01). Budesonide and montelukast, alone and in combination, afforded protection against allergen-induced airway hyperresponsiveness (p < 0.05), although the treatment effect of budesonide was greater than that of montelukast (p < 0.05). Treatment with budesonide and montelukast, alone and in combination, also attenuated allergen-induced sputum eosinophilia. Thus, montelukast and budesonide attenuated allergen-induced asthmatic responses, airway hyperresponsiveness, and sputum eosinophilia, although combination treatment did not provide greater antiinflammatory effects than either drug alone.
Despite conventional teaching, the evidence relating osteoporotic vertebral fractures or kyphosis to pulmonary function is limited. On the basis of available studies, declines in VC secondary to kyphosis seem modest and directly related to the number of vertebral fractures or degree of kyphosis. Future studies need longitudinal follow-up of larger numbers of men and women, appropriate proxies for height, standardized measures for pulmonary function and kyphosis, and efforts to blind outcomes ascertainment.
Background and Purpose Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is a systemic disease characterized by mucocutaneous telangiectasias, epistaxis, and arteriovenous malformations (AVM). Intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) rates in this population are not well described. We report ICH rates and characteristics in HHT patients with brain arteriovenous malformations (HHT-BAVM). Methods We studied the first 153 HHT-BAVM patients with follow-up data enrolled in the Brain Vascular Malformation Consortium HHT Project. We estimated ICH rates after BAVM diagnosis. Results The majority of patients were female (58%) and Caucasian (98%). The mean age at BAVM diagnosis was 31±19 years (range: 0–70), with 61% of cases diagnosed upon asymptomatic screening. Overall, 14% presented with ICH; among symptomatic cases, 37% presented ruptured. During 493 patient-years of follow-up, 5 ICH events occurred yielding a rate of 1.02% per-year (95% CI: 0.42–2.44%). ICH-free survival differed significantly by ICH presentation (P=0.003); ruptured cases had a higher ICH rate (10.07%, 95% CI: 3.25–31.21%) than unruptured cases (0.43%, 95% CI: 0.11–1.73%). Conclusions HHT-BAVM patients who present with hemorrhage are at a higher risk for re-hemorrhage compared to BAVMs detected pre-symptomatically.
We have entered a new phase in the evolution of our understanding of the role of the eosinophil with a greater appreciation of novel potential functions that may be ascribed to this enigmatic cell type. This review not only provides an update to our current understanding of the various immunobiological roles for the eosinophil, but also attracts attention to some novel observations predicting functions beyond its putative effector role. These observations include the intriguing possibility that the eosinophil may posses the capacity to regulate the immune and inflammatory responses in diseases such as asthma.
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