COPD
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Review Biography Historical Article
What we owe to alpha(1)-antitrypsin and to Carl-Bertil Laurell.
The archetypal status of alpha(1)-antitrypsin in biology and medicine grew from the finding, thirty years ago, by Carl-Bertil Laurell, of the association of its deficiency with emphysema. In biology, alpha(1)-antitrypsin now provides the model for both the structure and the remarkable mechanism of the serpin protease inhibitors that control the key proteolytic pathways of the body. In medicine, the plasma deficiency of alpha(1)-antitrypsin has drawn attention to protease-antiprotease imbalance as a contributory cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. ⋯ The extensive development of such diverse fields of studies, each based on alpha(1)-antitrypsin, is a measure of the encouragement Laurell gave to younger colleagues in the field. It also reflects the great advantage of linked contributions from clinical as well as basic sciences. Time after time, scientific controversies and deadlocks have been solved by landmark clinical cases, which have revealed unexpected findings and insights, within and beyond the fields of study.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Comparison of oral and depot intra-muscular steroids in assessing steroid-responsiveness in COPD.
Non-compliance or euphoria may limit the usefulness of prednisolone tablets in assessing steroid-responsiveness in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Depot intra-muscular methyl-prednisolone (imMP), producing a plateau steroid effect over two weeks, may be more reliable. Following two weeks of placebo, twenty-seven COPD patients (mean FEV 1 43% predicted) participated in a two-week randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-design trial taking either 120 mg imMP with placebo tablets or placebo injection with prednisolone 30 mg daily. ⋯ By contrast, there were small mean improvements in lung function on oral prednisolone (mean FEV 1, FVC and IC increased by 100, 320 and 150 ml, respectively). Only the improvement in FVC was significantly greater after prednisolone compared with imMP. Single depot intra-muscular injections of steroids have no advantage over oral daily prednisolone in testing steroid-responsiveness in COPD patients.
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COPD mortality alone among major causes of diseases continues to rise in most countries worldwide. We examine trends, and gender and ethnic differences in COPD hospitalization and mortality in Singapore from 1991 to 1998, and examine possible explanations. ⋯ Exceptionally steady declines in COPD mortality rates, and stable rates of hospitalization are observed in Singapore in the 1990s. Differing levels and trends of hospitalization and mortality by gender and ethnicity are related to known demographic variations and trends of smoking prevalence in the country.