Swiss medical weekly
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Swiss medical weekly · Jan 2006
ReviewTargeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)--a new therapeutic option in oncology?
The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is commonly overexpressed in a variety of solid tumours, and clinical trials indicate that this antigen has important roles in cancer aetiology and progression. EGFR thus provides a rational target for cancer therapies and a number of strategies influencing this receptor, and its downstream signal cascades, including monoclonal antibodies, tyrosine-kinase inhibitors, antisense oligonucleotides inhibiting EGFR synthesis and antibody-based immunoconjugates, have been evaluated. ⋯ In the case of tyrosine-kinase inhibitors, amplification, high polysomy of the EGFR gene, high protein expression and mutations of the receptor were found to be significantly associated with better response to such treatment. However, many questions remain unanswered and future issues in the development of EGFR inhibitors will include the identification of biological predictors of response, combination with other therapies and also their use in earlier stages of cancer.
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Epidemiological, clinical, and experimental evidence correlates current levels of ambient air pollution with both respiratory and cardiovascular effects. Oxidative stress, inflammation, induction of a pro-coagulatory state and dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system appear to play a major role. Acute effects include changes in lung function, heart rate, blood pressure and inflammatory state, and clinical measures such as respiratory symptoms, thrombosis, myocardial infarction, arrhythmia, stroke, and death. ⋯ These morbidities ultimately lead to shorter life expectancy. Host factors including genotype are important modifiers of the effects of air pollution. Further research will help identify susceptible subgroups and disentangle specific effects and mechanisms associated with various constituents and sources of air pollution.
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Swiss medical weekly · Oct 2005
Defects of airway smooth muscle cell function are important in asthma.
For many years asthma has been regarded as an inflammatory disease of the airway mucosa leading to bronchial hyperreactivity. Recent studies showed marked abnormalities in airway smooth muscle behaviour in patients with asthma. The pathogenesis of asthma seems to consist of airway inflammation combined with airway smooth muscle remodelling. The latter pathology is linked to a lack of the ant-proliferative transcription factor C/EBP-alpha in this specific cell type.
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Swiss medical weekly · Sep 2005
Clinical TrialDiagnostic value of lung auscultation in an emergency room setting.
In daily routine, physicians use history, physical examination and technology-based information such as laboratory tests and imaging studies to diagnose the patients' disease. We determined the diagnostic value of lung auscultation in patients admitted to the Medical emergency room with chest symptoms. ⋯ In contrast to history taking, abnormal lung auscultation does not appear to contribute considerably to the final diagnosis in patients presenting with chest symptoms in an emergency room setting. However, normal lung auscultation is a valuable predictor for not having a lung or heart disease, whereas wheezing is a predictor for having a lung disease and not having a heart disease.
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Swiss medical weekly · Sep 2005
Association between maternal smoking and low birth weight in Switzerland: the EDEN study.
To study the association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and low birth weight (LBW), small-for-gestational-age birth weight (SGA) and preterm birth, and to quantify the population-attributable fractions for these outcomes in Switzerland. ⋯ Maternal smoking during pregnancy was closely associated with LBW, SGA and preterm birth. A large proportion of these perinatal outcomes could have been prevented in Switzerland if maternal smoking had been avoided.