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Asthma not only impairs the breathing and quality of life of more than 25 million people who live with it, it poses an immense financial burden to the U.S. healthcare [...]

By focusing on asthma management, physicians not only improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare spending, they also earn more money. Asthma is a condition targeted under the Medicare Access and [...]

Ivy leaves dry extract is registered as an expectorant in patients with respiratory diseases associated with productive cough. Next to its secretolytical properties, bronchospasmolytical effects are described. However only limited [...]

Objective: San'ao decoction (SAD) is a commonly used traditional combinatorial formula composed of Herba Ephedrae, Radix Glycyrrhizae and Amygdalus Communis Vas. Early studies showed that in the OVA sensitization asthmatic [...]

Plants of the genus Croton have been used extensively in the northeast of Brazil for treating various clinical conditions. Previous studies have demonstrated that the essential oil of some specimens [...]

Bone marrow stromal cells [BMSCs; also known as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)] effectively suppress inflammatory responses in acute graft-versus-host disease in humans and in a number of disease models in mice. Many of the studies concluded that BMSC-driven immunomodulation is mediated by the suppression of proinflammatory Th1 responses while rebalancing the Th1/Th2 ratio toward Th2. In this study, using a ragweed induced mouse asthma model, we studied if BMSCs could be beneficial in an allergic, Th2-dominant environment. When BMSCs were injected i.v. at the time of the antigen challenge, they protected the animals from the majority of asthma-specific pathological changes, including inhibition of eosinophil infiltration and excess mucus production in the lung, decreased levels of Th2 cytokines (IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13) in bronchial lavage, and lowered serum levels of Th2 immunoglobulins (IgG1 and IgE). To explore the mechanism of the effect we used BMSCs isolated from a variety of knockout mice, performed in vivo blocking of cytokines and studied the effect of asthmatic serum and bronchoalveolar lavage from ragweed challenged animals on the BMSCs in vitro. Our results suggest that IL-4 and/ or IL-13 activate the STAT6 pathway in the BMSCs resulting in an increase of their TGF-[beta] production, which seems to mediate the beneficial effect, either alone, or together with regulatory T cells, some of which might be recruited by the BMSCs. These data suggest that, in addition to focusing on graft-versus-host disease and autoimmune diseases, allergic conditions--specifically therapy resistant asthma--might also be a likely target of the recently discovered cellular therapy approach using BMSCs. allergy | cellular therapy | immunomodulation | mesenchymal stem cell www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0910720107

Helping patients control their asthma not only improves outcomes, it can boost physician payments under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) and in risk-adjusted payment models. [...]

Many patients with asthma are treated in the primary care setting. The primary care physician is therefore in a key position to recognize poorly controlled asthma and to improve asthma [...]

Phenotypic modulation of airway smooth muscle (ASM) is an important feature of airway remodeling in asthma that is characterized by enhanced proliferation and secretion of pro-inflammatory chemokines. These activities are regulated by the concentration of free [Ca.sup.2+] in the cytosol ([[Ca.sup.2+].sub.i]). A rise in [[Ca.sup.2+].sub.i] is normalized by rapid reuptake of [Ca.sup.2+] into sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) stores by the sarco/endoplasmic reticulum [Ca.sup.2+] (SERCA) pump. We examined whether increased proliferative and secretory responses of ASM from asthmatics result from reduced SERCA expression. ASM cells were cultured from subjects with and without asthma. SERCA expression was evaluated by western blot, immunohistochemistry and real-time PCR. Changes in [[Ca.sup.2+].sub.i], cell spreading, cellular proliferation, and eotaxin-1 release were measured. Compared with control cells from healthy subjects, SERCA2 mRNA and protein expression was reduced in ASM cells from subjects with moderately severe asthma. SERCA2 expression was similarly reduced in ASM in vivo in subjects with moderate/severe asthma. Rises in [[Ca.sup.2+]].sub.i] following cell surface receptor-induced SR activation, or inhibition of SERCA-mediated [Ca.sup.2+] re-uptake, were attenuated in ASM cells from asthmatics. Likewise, the return to baseline of [[Ca].sub.i] after stimulation by bradykinin was delayed by approximately 50% in ASM cells from asthmatics, siRNA-mediated knockdown of SERCA2 in ASM from healthy subjects increased cell spreading, eotaxin-1 release and proliferation. Our findings implicate a deficiency in SERCA2 in ASM in asthma that contributes to its secretory and hyperproliferative phenotype in asthma, and which may play a key role in mechanisms of airway remodeling.

As biomedicine turns increasingly toward chronic diseases, compliance of adherente with pharmaceutical regimens has become a major focus. This article explores the specters created by the diagnostics of non-compliance, focusing on asthma in the eastern Caribbean country of Barbados. I argue that the rubric of compliance in biomedicine today medicalizes 'culture' as a gendered irrational use of medications; and such a focus has created a counterdiscourse among families and medical practitioners that posits a biomedicine obsessed with 'compliance.' I suggest that these reciprocal reactions comprise a medical schismogenics that exceed the diagnostics of noncompliance, whether biomedical or anthropological. [Keywords: compliance, schismogenesis, pharmaceutical, Barbados], In medicine today, talk of compliance to pharmaceutical prescriptions is everywhere. As biomedical researchers and practitioners increasingly turn toward chronic diseases--asthma, heart disease, cancer, diabetes--the daily taking of medications has [...]

On completion of this article, you should be able to: (1) create an effective and efficient written asthma action plan, (2) describe the options for monitoring asthma using a written [...]

OBJECTIVE: To determine the nature and extent to which asthma characteristics and management differ between allergy and pulmonary subspecialists. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We used baseline data from 3342 adults enrolled [...]

On completion of this article, you should be able to: (1) properly assess impairment using the new asthma guidelines, (2) integrate the Asthma Control Test questionnaire in routine asthma office [...]