Oxidative stress is implicated in the pathogenesis of asthma, and clinical studies show an imbalance in the level of oxidants to the level of antioxidants in subjects with asthma. Aldehydes and glutathione are examples of biomarkers of oxidant-induced damage and antioxidant status in asthma, respectively. In the study, we applied analytical techniques based on liquid chromatography for the assessment of aldehydes and glutathione in the exhaled breath condensate of children with asthma and in control subjects without asthma. Twelve subjects with asthma were evaluated at exacerbation and after 5 days of therapy with prednisone. At exacerbation, malondialdehyde levels were higher in patients with asthma (30.2 +/- 2.4 nM) than in control subjects (19.4 +/- 1.9 nM, p = 0.002) and were reduced after steroid therapy (18.5 +/- 1.6 nM, p = 0.001). At exacerbation, glutathione levels were lower in subjects with asthma (5.96 +/- 0.6 nM) than in control subjects (14.1 +/- 0.8 nM, p < 0.0001) and were increased after the therapy (8.44 +/- 1.2 nM, p = 0.04). Malondialdehyde and glutathione both in subjects with asthma and control subjects were negatively correlated (r = -0.5, p = 0.001). The study shows that aldehydes and glutathione are detectable in the exhaled breath condensate of children with asthma and healthy children and that their levels are modified during asthma exacerbation and after a 5-day course of therapy with oral prednisone.

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Children acutely exposed to chlorine in a swimming pool presented a substantial lung function impairment associated with biochemical exhaled breath alterations, represented mainly by an increase in LTB(4) and a reduction in Fe(NO). Although lung function and Fe(NO) improved within a few weeks, the increased levels of exhaled LTB(4) persisted for several months.

These data show that EBC pH values of stable asthmatic children are lower compared with those of healthy controls and positively correlated with ammonia concentrations, supporting the hypothesis that airway acidification may have a role in the pathobiology of allergic asthma.

Leukotriene B(4) (LTB(4)) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) are inflammatory mediators involved in the neutrophil response to pulmonary bacterial colonization in cystic fibrosis (CF). The aim of this study was to investigate whether the LTB(4) and IL-8 levels in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) could be related to the type of bacterial colonization in CF patients. The pH level in EBC was analyzed as an estimate of airway acidification. Forty children were evaluated: 10 CF patients with P. aeruginosa, 10 CF patients with S. aureus, 10 not colonized CF patients, and 10 healthy children. LTB(4) and IL-8 in EBC were analyzed by specific enzyme immunoassay kits (EIA). The pH of EBC was measured with a pH-meter after deareation by bubbling with argon. Exhaled LTB(4) was higher in CF children with P. aeruginosa compared to those with S. aureus (P < 0.01), not colonized (P < 0.001), and healthy children (P < 0.01). Exhaled IL-8 was elevated in CF patients colonized by P. aeruginosa compared with other subgroups (vs. not colonized, P < 0.05; vs. healthy children, P < 0.001). IL-8 levels were higher in CF children with S. aureus than in healthy children (P < 0.05). There was an increase in IL-8 levels in not colonized CF patients compared with healthy children (P < 0.05). EBC pH was higher in healthy children compared to CF patients not colonized (P < 0.05). Our data suggest that EBC is suitable for evaluating neutrophil inflammatory mediators (LTB(4), IL-8, and pH) involved in the response to pulmonary bacterial colonization in CF children.

BackgroundSerum procalcitonin and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) elevations have been associated with pneumonia in adults. Our aim was to establish their diagnostic usefulness in a cohort of hospitalized multimorbid patients ≥65 years old admitted to hospital with acute respiratory symptoms.MethodsWith a retrospective cohort study design, all multimorbid patients ≥65 years-old with acute respiratory symptoms admitted to an internal medicine hospital ward in Italy from January to August 2013 were evaluated. Pneumonia diagnosis, comorbidities expressed through Cumulative Illness Rating Scale (CIRS), setting of living, length of stay, serum hs-CRP and procalcitonin at admission were collected for each patient. Data were analyzed with Mann-Whitney’s U test and multivariate Cox logistic regression analysis. A Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve was used to verify each biomarker’s association with pneumonia diagnosis.ResultsFour hundred fifty five patients (227 M) were included in the study, of whom 239 with pneumonia (138 M, mean age 80 ± 13) and 216 without pneumonia (89 M, mean age 80 ± 14). After adjustment for age and sex, median levels of hs-CRP were significantly higher in patients with pneumonia (116 mg/L, IQR 46.5–179.0, vs 22.5 mg/dl, IQR 6.9–84.4, p < 0.0001), while procalcitonin median levels were not (0.22 ng/ml IQR 0.12–0.87, vs 0.15 ng/ml, IQR 0.10–0.35, p = 0.08). The ROC analysis showed that, unlike procalcitonin, hs-CRP values were predictive of pneumonia (AUC 0.76, 95 % CI 0.72–0.79, p < 0.0001, cut-off value 61 mg/L), even after adjustment for possible confounders including nursing home residence and dementia. Serum hs-CRP levels >61 mg/L were independently associated with a 3.59-fold increased risk of pneumonia (OR 3.59, 95 % CI 2.35–5.48, p < 0.0001).ConclusionIn elderly multimorbid patients who require hospital admission for respiratory symptoms, serum hs-CRP testing seems to be more useful than procalcitonin for guiding the diagnostic process when clinical suspicion of pneumonia is present. Procalcitonin testing might hence be not recommended in this setting.

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Formation constants of ternary complexes of Cu" with (S)-amino-acid amides (phenylalaninamide, proiinamide, and tryptophanamide) and (R)-or (S)-amino acids (valine, phenylalanine, proline, and tryptophan) were determined potentiometrically at 25" and I = 0 . 1~ (KC1). Significant stereoselectivity was found for the systems (S)-tryptophanamide/proline, (S)-prolinamide/tryptophan, and (S)-phenylalaninamide/proline, the diastereoisomeric complexes with 'homochiral' ( S S ) being more stable than with 'heterochiral' ( S R ) ligands. The stereoselectivity observed may be explained on the basis of repulsive interactions between the ligand side-chain residues. The present data on the stability of mixed complexes in solution allow to draw some conclusions on the mechanism of chiral discrimination of amino acids in HPLC (reversed-phase) using Cu" complexes of (S)-amino-acid amides as selectors for ligand-exchange chromatography (LEC).1. Introduction. -Several investigations on mixed complexes of transition-metal ions with amino acids or dipeptides and different ligands are reported in the literature both in solution and in the solid state because of their significance as models for metal-ionassisted biological processes [ 13 [2]. The stabilities of these complexes were often explained on the basis of noncovalent interactions such as hydrophobic effects, aromatic ring stacking, H-bonding, or electrostatic ligand-ligand interactions [3].Stereoselectivity in mixed complexes of Cu" with a -amino acids has received little attention [4], and it appears to be essentially restricted to systems in which phenylalanine [5] [6], proline [7] [8], tryptophan [5-71, tyrosine [8] [9], and histidine [5] [6] are mutually involved, the effect being negligible, whenever one or both amino acids are aliphatic. Significant enantioselective effects were reported for Cu" complexes of N-alkylated valine and proline [lo], or histidine [5] with amino acids, although some data are not reliable (low precision) [lo]. N-carboxymethyl derivatives of (S)-Val, Ser, Ileu, Ala, Asp, Glu are enantioselective towards (R)/(S)-Val, Thr, and Leu [ 1 I].