American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Dec 2010
Comparative StudyAssessment of exhaled breath condensate pH in exacerbations of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A longitudinal study.
Exhaled breath condensate pH has been proposed as a noninvasive marker of airway inflammation. However, due to standardization difficulties in pH measurement techniques, different pH readings were obtained in previous studies. ⋯ Our data suggest that exacerbation of asthma, but not chronic obstructive airway disease, is associated with acidification of breath condensate.
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Dec 2010
Comparative StudyTargeted delivery of amikacin into granuloma.
Nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infection is a growing problem in the United States and remains underrecognized in the developing world. The management of NTM infections is further complicated by several factors, including the need to use high systemic doses of toxic agents, the length of therapy, and the development of drug resistance. ⋯ DC-based drug delivery may be an adjunct and useful method of delivering high local concentrations of antibiotics into mycobacterial granulomas.
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Dec 2010
Comparative StudyThreshold of biologic responses of the small airway epithelium to low levels of tobacco smoke.
Epidemiologic data demonstrate that individuals exposed to low levels of tobacco smoke have decrements in lung function and higher risk for lung disease compared with unexposed individuals. Although this risk is small, low-level tobacco smoke exposure is so widespread, it is a significant public health concern. ⋯ The small airway epithelium detects and responds to low levels of tobacco smoke with transcriptome modifications. This provides biologic correlates of epidemiologic studies linking low-level tobacco smoke exposure to lung health risk, identifies the genes most sensitive to tobacco smoke, and defines thresholds at which the lung epithelium responds to low levels of tobacco smoke.
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Dec 2010
Comparative StudyProtective role of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-β/δ in septic shock.
Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-β/δ is a transcription factor that belongs to the PPAR nuclear hormone receptor family, but the role of PPAR-β/δ in sepsis is unknown. ⋯ PPAR-β/δ protects against multiple organ injury and dysfunction, and inflammation caused by endotoxic shock and improves survival in polymicrobial sepsis by a mechanism that may involve activation of Akt and inhibition of GSK-3β and NF-κB.