Pulmonary pharmacology & therapeutics
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Pulm Pharmacol Ther · Jan 2005
ReviewBleomycin lung toxicity: who are the patients with increased risk?
Bleomycin is an antibiotic drug with anticancer properties produced by Streptomyces verticillus [Cheson BD. Pharmacology of cancer chemotherapy: miscellaneous chemotherapeutic agents. In De Vita Jr. ⋯ Fever is reported in 20-50% of patients and some of them present hyperthermia [Hay J, Shahzeidi S, Laurent G. Mechanisms of bleomycin-induced lung damage. Arch Toxicol 1991;65:81-94].
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Pulm Pharmacol Ther · Jan 2005
ReviewTime to change diagnostic criteria of ARDS: towards the disease entity-based subgrouping.
Because of high mortality and morbidity, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) continues to be one of the clinical challenges for intensivists. The diagnostic criteria for ARDS published by the American-European consensus conference were over simplified and made it possible to conduct large-scale randomized controlled trails (RCTs). ⋯ The Classification of ARDS into several subgroups, which take the underlying disease into account, might limit the number of patients enrolled in an RCT. Where as this subgroup classification would enable selection of a homogeneous population of ARDS patients and may be a key to conducting more focused RCTs and, therefore, having more reliable results.
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Pulm Pharmacol Ther · Jan 2005
ReviewThe human cathelicidin LL-37: a multifunctional peptide involved in infection and inflammation in the lung.
Antimicrobial peptides play an important role in innate immunity of the lung by acting as effector molecules in host defence against inhaled pathogens. Various families of antimicrobial peptides have been identified, including the cathelicidins. Cathelicidins are characterized by a conserved N-terminal cathelin domain and a variable C-terminal antimicrobial domain that can be released from the precursor protein after cleavage by proteinases. ⋯ In addition to killing a broad spectrum of microorganisms, LL-37 was demonstrated to display various cellular activities related to inflammation including cytotoxicity to host cells, chemotaxis, epithelial cell activation, angiogenesis and epithelial wound repair. Focussing on this recent information, this review discusses the role of LL-37 in infection and inflammation in the lung. In addition, the importance of the fact that antimicrobial peptides such as LL-37 display a range of activities for the design and development of antimicrobial peptides for therapeutic use is discussed.
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Pulm Pharmacol Ther · Jan 2005
ReviewPharmacotherapy in complicated parapneumonic pleural effusions and thoracic empyema.
Parapneumonic pleural effusions (PPE) and pleural empyema (PE) present a frequently diagnostic and therapeutic challenge in clinical practice. Although pleural diseases have received increased attention during the past decade, there are still many unanswered questions concerning the diagnosis and treatment of PPE and PE. A lack of controlled studies concerning the management of PPE and PE was noted in recent guidelines. ⋯ Recently, there has been interest in other intrapleural agents including combination drugs consisting of streptokinase and streptodornase-alpha, Dnase. Factors to be considered in evaluating whether or not intrapleural instillation of fibrinolytics is effective include an assessment of clinical responses. This review discusses the use of fibrinolytic agents as a novel therapeutic options for treating the various stages of parapneumonic effusions and empyemas.