In pre-school children rhinitis has a strong association with wheezing symptoms, asthma and atopic dermatitis. Allergic sensitization is a risk factor for rhinitis and should be evaluated even in pre-school children.

Patients exposed to a surgical safety checklist experience better postoperative outcomes, but this could simply reflect wider quality of care in hospitals where checklist use is routine.

Airway inflammation is a characteristic of asthma. Exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) has been demonstrated to be related to actual levels of airway inflammation in asthmatic patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the temperature of exhaled air is related to eNO levels.Temperature of exhaled air and eNO were measured in 52 asthmatic children with a cross-sectional design.A significant relationship was demonstrated between eNO and temperature of peak and plateau exhaled air temperature. The relationship between both the peak and the plateau values and eNO was more evident when it was corrected for environmental temperature.These results suggest a relationship between exhaled nitric oxide and the temperature of exhaled air in asthmatic patients not treated with systemic steroids.

The purpose of the present study was to assess the possible relationships between exhaled nitric oxide (ENO), a circulating marker of eosinophil activation, serum eosinophil cationic protein (SECP), level of airway responsiveness to methacholine and lung function in asthmatic children, as well as to compare these markers between children with and without inhaled steroid therapy.In a cross-sectional study ENO, SECP and bronchial hyperresponsiveness to methacholine were evaluated in a group of 57 asthmatic children (21 without and 36 with regulator inhaled steroid therapy; aged 6±13 yrs).ENO was significantly lower in steroid treated children (p<0.01). No significant differences between steroid treated and untreated children were observed for the provocative concentration of methacholine causing a 20% faill in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1; PC20), SECP and FEV1. In the whole study population significant increase correlations were observed between PC20 and SECP (r=-0.329, p=0.013) and between ENO and FEV1% of predicted (r=-0.348, p<0.01). In the group not receiving inhaled steroids the inverse relationship between PC20 and SECP was more evident (r=-0.581, p<0.001). In the steroid-treated group a significant inverse relationship was observed between ENO and FEV1 (r=-0.426, p=0.0011).The level of exhaled nitric oxide and the relationships between lung function, bronchial reactivity and markers of inflammation are different between steroidtreated and untreated asthmatic children. This has implications for the monitoring of asthma in childhood. The relationship between airway inflammation and airway responsiveness has been evaluated by different groups with contrasting results. Some authors [1±6] have found a strong relationship between inflammatory cells in the airway and the level of bronchial responsiveness while others failed to find such a correlation [7±11].Similarly, contrasting results have been found between serum markers of eosinophil activation, in particular serum eosinophil cationic protein (SECP), and the degree of bronchial responsiveness in asthmatic patients [12±15].Recently, the measurement of exhaled nitric oxide (ENO) has been proposed as a noninvasive means for assessing the degree of airway inflammation [16±18]. Some studies have evaluated the effect of treatment with inhaled steroids on the levels of ENO in asthmatic adults [19,20] and one study in children with acute asthma [21]. Furthermore, a few studies have evaluated the relationship of this parameter with the level of airway hyperresponsiveness with contrasting results [22±25].The purpose of the present study was to assess the possible relationship between ENO, a circulating marker of eosinophil activation SECP, level of bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) to methacholine and lung function in asthmatic children, as well as to compare these markers between patients with and without inhaled steroid treatment. Material and methods Subjects and study designFifty-seven children with mild to moderate asthma, clinically st...

Interleukin (IL)-8 is a major factor in inflammatory response and the IL-8 levels in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) may be used as a marker of airway inflammation. Airway acidification is implicated in the pathophysiology of obstructive airway diseases and pH EBC values have been used as a marker of airway acidification. The aim of our study is to investigate whether IL-8 and pH levels in EBC of cystic fibrosis (CF) children with respiratory exacerbations change after antibiotic treatment. Lung function, IL-8 and pH EBC values were measured in fifteen CF children (mean age 11 years) with acute exacerbation before (T0) and after two weeks (T1) of antibiotic treatment. IL-8 and pH values were compared by paired t-test. A p<0.05 was considered significant. IL-8 EBC levels decreased after antibiotic treatment (TO 0.36±0.03pg/ml vs T1 0.28±0.03pg/ml; p=0.03) and pH values increased (TO 7.3610.09 vs T1 7.61±0.08; p=0.04). Results suggest possible application of EBC as a non-invasive tool to monitor efficacy of antibiotic treatment in CF patients.

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