High prevalence of laryngeal obstruction during exercise in severe asthma

Exertional dyspnea is a key and pervasive feature in severe asthma and often persists despite optimization of asthma treatment (1). Laryngeal or vocal cord dysfunction, an inappropriate and excessive closure of the glottis during the breathing cycle, is recognised to be present in up to half of severe asthmatics (2,3). This laryngeal closure can lead to transient airflow obstruction during exercise and exertional dyspnea (4). Whilst the normal response of the laryngeal structures is to abduct during exercise, in some individuals, the glottic aperture can narrow inappropriately during exercise. It is currently unclear whether laryngeal closure is present and contributes to the aetiology of exertional dyspnea in patients with severe asthma, yet such a finding may explain the ‘treatment refractory’ nature of this symptom and have implications for management. The aim of this study was to evaluate exercise-related laryngeal function in a cohort of patients with severe asthma and exertional dyspnoea. We utilised the technique of continuous laryngoscopy during exercise (CLE) and hypothesised that laryngeal obstruction would be prevalent and relate to lung function, dyspnoea and exercise intolerance

An allograft mouse model for the study of hearing loss secondary to vestibular schwannoma growth

Vestibular schwannoma is a benign neoplasm arising from the Schwann cell sheath of the auditory-vestibular nerve. It most commonly affects both sides in the genetic condition Neurofibromatosis type 2, causing progressive high frequency sensorineural hearing loss. Here, we describe a microsurgical technique and stereotactic coordinates for schwannoma cell grafting in the vestibular nerve region that recapitulates local tumor growth in the cerebellopontine angle and inner auditory canal with resulting hearing loss. Tumor growth was monitored by bioluminescence and MRI in vivo imaging, and hearing assessed by auditory brainstem responses. These techniques, by potentially enabling orthotopic grafting of a variety of cell lines will allow studies on the pathogenesis of tumor-related hearing loss and preclinical drug evaluation, including hearing endpoints, for NF2-related and sporadic schwannomas

The economic awareness, knowledge and pocket money practices of a sample of UK adolescents: A study in economic socialisation and economic psychology

179 male and female UK adolescents in full-time education, aged 16–18, answered open-ended questions about basic economics and closed questions about pocket money practices; pertinent background variables were also recorded. There was widespread ignorance about ‘interest rates' and ‘inflation’ and only 34% knew what the letters ‘APR’ stood for. The results suggest that greater education in economic competency is required. Pocket money practices may indeed have an influence on economic socialisation as those who received pocket money regularly during childhood were economically more competent at the age of 16–18. Adolescents in wealthier, middle class homes were more likely to receive pocket money regularly; payments to boys were more regular than to girls. Suggestions are made for further research