American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Oct 2013
Respiratory and Auditory Cortical Processing in Children with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome.
Children with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) have impaired cortical processing of respiratory afferent stimuli, manifested by blunted sleep respiratory-related evoked potentials (RREP). However, whether this impairment is limited to respiratory stimuli, or reversible after successful treatment, is unknown. We hypothesized that, during sleep, children with OSAS have (1) abnormal RREP, (2) normal cortical processing of nonrespiratory stimuli, and (3) persistence of abnormal RREP after treatment. ⋯ Children with OSAS have persistent primary or irreversible respiratory afferent cortical processing deficits during sleep that could put them at risk of OSAS recurrence. OSAS does not seem to affect the cortical processing of nonrespiratory (auditory) afferent stimuli during sleep.
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Oct 2013
The Role of Soluble Guanylyl Cyclase in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.
Soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC), a cyclic guanosine 5'-monophosphate-generating enzyme, regulates smooth muscle tone and exerts antiinflammatory effects in animal models of asthma and acute lung injury. In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), primarily caused by cigarette smoke (CS), lung inflammation persists and smooth muscle tone remains elevated, despite ample amounts of nitric oxide that could activate sGC. ⋯ Down-regulation of sGC because of CS exposure might contribute to airflow limitation in COPD.