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Background: In children with asthma, there are many cases in which wheeze is confirmed by auscultation with a normal lung function, or in which the lung function is decreased without wheeze. Using an objective lung sound analysis, we examined the effect of wheeze and the lung function on lung sound parameters in children with asthma., Methods: A total of 114 children with asthma (males to females = 80: 34, median age 10 years old) were analyzed for their lung sound parameters using conventional methods, and wheeze and the lung function were checked. The effects of wheeze and the lung function on lung sound parameters were examined., Results: The patients with wheeze or decreased forced expiratory flow and volume in 1 s (FEV 1 ) (% pred) showed a significantly higher sound power of respiration and expiration-to-inspiration sound power ratio (E/I) than those without wheeze and a normal FEV 1 (% pred). There was no marked difference in the sound power of respiration or E/I between the patients without wheeze and a decreased FEV 1 (% pred) and the patients with wheeze and a normal FEV 1 (% pred)., Conclusions: Our data suggest that bronchial constriction in the asthmatic children with wheeze similarly exists in the asthmatic children with a decreased lung function. A lung sound analysis is likely to enable an accurate understanding of airway conditions., (Copyright © 2023 Japanese Society of Allergology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Parainfluenza virus type 3 (PIV-3) is one of the common pathogens for respiratory infections in children. Whether viral load of PIV-3 is associated with severity of respiratory diseases in children is not yet known. Our aim was to determine significance of PIV-3 viral load among infected children., Methods: We conducted a single-center, retrospective study at Tokyo Metropolitan. Children's Medical Center, Japan, from June to August 2021. Hospitalized children were screened with a posterior nasal swab for multiplex PCR, and viral load was subsequently measured from remained samples by real-time PCR. Demographic data were collected from digital charts. PIV-3 positive patients were categorized into mild group with no oxygen demand, moderate group with low-flow oxygen demand and severe group with high-flow nasal cannula oxygen or non-invasive positive pressure ventilation or mechanical ventilation. Viral loads were compared among mild, moderate and severe groups., Results: 151 patients were positive for PIV-3. We found no statistically significant association among PIV-3 viral load and severity of respiratory diseases (p = 0.35), and no statistically significant association between severity of illness and co-detection of other viruses. In each severity group, relatively high viral load per posterior nasal swab was observed at the time of testing., Conclusion: Among PIV-3 patients, we could not find statistically significant between viral load and their severity, therefore we could not conclude that viral load is a good surrogate marker for clinical severity of PIV-3., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None. In conducting the research, we received approval from the hospital's Ethics Committee., (Copyright © 2023 Japanese Society of Chemotherapy, Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases, and Japanese Society for Infection Prevention and Control. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)