Here, we report, to our knowledge, the largest case study of human pythiosis. The disease has high rates of morbidity and mortality. Early diagnosis and effective treatment are urgently needed to improve clinical outcomes. Because P. insidiosum is distributed worldwide and can infect healthy individuals, an awareness of human pythiosis should be promoted in Thailand and in other countries.
Our Thai version of the ESS showed an excellent internal consistency and test-retest reliability. It is able to discriminate between control subjects and OSA patients and to assess the response of treatment; however, it has a weak relationship with the apnea-hypopnea index. Therefore, we recommend use it to combine with more comprehensive clinical evaluation in obstructive sleep disordered breathing patients.
We previously showed that individuals with seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR) had a reduced ability to condition air, which was improved by inflammation. We hypothesized that individuals with perennial allergic rhinitis (PAR) would condition air like SAR with inflammation. Because individuals with asthma usually have inflammation in the nose, we hypothesized that they would condition air like individuals with PAR. We performed a prospective, parallel study on 15 normal subjects, 15 subjects with SAR outside their allergy season, 15 subjects with PAR, and 15 subjects with asthma. Cold, dry air (CDA) was delivered to the nose and the temperature and humidity of the air were measured before entering and after exiting the nasal cavity. The total water gradient (TWG) was calculated and represents the nasal conditioning capacity. The TWG in the SAR group was significantly lower than that in normal subjects. There were no significant differences in TWG between the PAR and normal groups. Subjects with asthma had a significantly lower TWG than did normal subjects. There was a significant negative correlation between TWG and Aas score in the group with asthma (r(s) = -0.8, p = 0.0007). Our data show that subjects with asthma have a reduced ability of the nose to condition CDA compared with normal subjects, but which is similar to SAR out of season.
This is the first study in Asians demonstrating that an AT-MAD, if done properly, is a practical short-term treatment of OSA, with good outcomes including improved QOL. Its advantages are its low cost and ready-to-use nature. However, further randomized controlled trials are required.
Preconditioning the nasal mucosa with HHA partially decreases the early response to nasal challenge with antigen irrespective of the administration technique. The secretory response, however, is only inhibited by localized delivery of HHA to the nose. The inhibitory effects of HHA are therefore probably related to local changes in the nasal mucosa and are not dependent on total body exposure to HHA.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.