The European respiratory journal : official journal of the European Society for Clinical Respiratory Physiology
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The causes of severe childhood asthma are poorly understood. Our aim was to define global patterns of gene expression in children with severe therapy-resistant and controlled asthma. White blood cells were isolated and the global transcriptome profile was characterised using the Affymetrix Human Gene ST 1.0 chip in children with severe, therapy-resistant asthma (n=17), controlled asthma (n=19) and healthy controls (n=18). ⋯ Significant correlations between expression of TAS2Rs and clinical markers of asthma severity were found in both adults and children. In conclusion, specific gene expression patterns were observed in children with severe, therapy-resistant asthma. The increased expression of bronchodilatory TAS2Rs suggests a new target for the treatment of asthma.
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Long-term macrolide treatment was first shown to alter the natural history of diffuse panbronchiolitis (DPB) in the late 1980s. Since then, macrolides have been demonstrated to exert anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activity in addition to being antimicrobial. Indeed, their spectrum of action extends to the regulation of leukocyte function and production of inflammatory mediators, control of mucus hypersecretion, resolution of inflammation and modulation of host defence mechanisms. ⋯ However, most of the studies were limited by small numbers of patients and short follow-up. More recently, landmark studies have demonstrated the efficacy of azithromycin in reducing the risk of acute exacerbations in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but the optimal duration and dosing of macrolide treatment remain uncertain. With the exception of patients with DPB and cystic fibrosis, until clear evidence of efficacy is available, the long-term use of macrolides should be limited to highly selected patients after careful evaluation of benefit and harm, or in the context of randomised controlled clinical trials.
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Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is characterised by a progressive decline in cardiac output (CO) and right heart failure. NICOM® (noninvasive cardiac output monitor) is a bioreactance-based technology that has been broadly validated, but its specific application in right heart failure and PH is unknown. Cardiac catheterisation was performed in 50 consecutive patients with PH. ⋯ All three CO methods detected an increase in CO in response to vasodilator challenge. CO measured via NICOM is precise and reliably measures CO at rest and changes in CO with vasodilator challenge in patients with PH. NICOM may allow for the noninvasive haemodynamic assessment of patients with PH and their response to therapy.