American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Nov 2013
Native American Ancestry Affects the Risk for Gene Methylation in the Lungs of Hispanic Smokers from New Mexico.
Gene promoter methylation detected in sputum predicts lung cancer risk in smokers. Compared with non-Hispanic whites (NHW), Hispanics have a lower age-standardized incidence for lung cancer. ⋯ NAA may be an important risk modifier for methylation in Hispanic smokers. Smoking intensity may have a greater impact on risk for lung cancer in Hispanics compared with NHWs.
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Nov 2013
Observational StudyStatin Exposure is Associated with Decreased Asthma-Related Emergency Department Visits and Oral Corticosteroid Use.
Statins, or HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, may aid in the treatment of asthma through their pleiotropic antiinflammatory effects. ⋯ Among statin users with asthma, statin exposure was associated with decreased odds of asthma-related emergency department visits and oral corticosteroid dispensings.
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Nov 2013
Brain Activity Associated with Placebo Suppression of the Urge-to-Cough in Humans.
Antitussive therapies are accompanied by a substantial placebo effect, indicating that inhibitory circuits in the brain have a significant capacity to regulate cough neural processing. However, essentially nothing is known about the identity of these inhibitory circuits or how they reduce coughing. Understanding these processes may help develop more effective antitussive therapies in the future. ⋯ Placebo-related decreases in urge-to-cough are accompanied by commensurate decreases in several brain regions activated during capsaicin inhalation, suggesting that beliefs about treatment can modify the central processing of inputs arising from the airways. The prefrontal cortex and posterior parietal cortex are likely to play an active role in the modification of airway sensory processing after administration of a placebo.