1,726 research outputs found
Salmeterol plus fluticasone propionate versus fluticasone propionate plus montelukast: a randomised controlled trial investigating the effects on airway inflammation in asthma
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Few studies have compared treatment strategies in patients with asthma poorly controlled on low dose inhaled corticosteroids, and little is known about the effects of different treatments on airway inflammation. In this double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel group study, we compared the effects of salmeterol plus fluticasone propionate (FP) (Seretide™; SFC) and FP plus montelukast (FP/M) on sputum inflammatory markers, airway responsiveness, lung function, and symptoms in adult asthmatics.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Sixty-six subjects were randomised to SFC or FP/M for 12 weeks. The primary outcome was changes in neutrophil, eosinophil, macrophage, lymphocyte, and epithelial cell levels in induced sputum. Additional outcomes included the change in other sputum markers of airway inflammation, airway responsiveness, symptom control, and lung function.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Both treatments had no significant effect on induced sputum inflammatory cells, although there was a trend for a reduction in sputum eosinophils. Both treatments significantly improved airway responsiveness, whereas SFC generally led to greater improvements in symptom control and lung function than FP/M. FP/M led to significantly greater reductions in sputum cysteinyl leukotrienes than SFC (treatment ratio 1.80; 95% CI 1.09, 2.94).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Both treatments led to similar control of eosinophilic airway inflammation, although PEF and symptom control were better with SFC.</p> <p>Study number</p> <p>SAM40030 (SOLTA)</p
Effects of surgery on the mental status of older persons. A meta-analytic review
The data bases of 18 empirical studies were combined into one comprehensive data set and subjected to meta-analysis. The following trends were observed: (1) surgery has a significantly decompensating impact on the mental status of older persons, and the average effect size observed is modest (r = .37); (2) for all mental status measures included in the review (cognition, delirium and affect), effect size appears to be significantly moderated by patient age; (3) patient sex may be predictive of the kind of mental impairment that is most likely to occur within an older surgery population, with women manifesting a greater affinity for delirious and men for cognitive decompensation; (4) most existing research within this domain of study is either purely descriptive or anecdotal: of 46 studies reviewed, only 18, or 39.1% of the total published output, were of sufficient methodologic rigor to allow for scientifically valid effect-size computations. The implications of these findings for future research are discussed
Galaxy Harassment and the Evolution of Clusters of Galaxies
Disturbed spiral galaxies with high rates of star formation pervaded clusters
of galaxies just a few billion years ago, but nearby clusters exclude spirals
in favor of ellipticals. ``Galaxy harassment" (frequent high speed galaxy
encounters) drives the morphological transformation of galaxies in clusters,
provides fuel for quasars in subluminous hosts and leaves detectable debris
arcs. Simulated images of harassed galaxies are strikingly similar to the
distorted spirals in clusters at observed by the Hubble Space
Telescope.Comment: Submitted to Nature. Latex file, 7 pages, 10 photographs in gif and
jpeg format included. 10 compressed postscript figures and text available
using anonymous ftp from ftp://ftp-hpcc.astro.washington.edu/pub/hpcc/moore/
(mget *) Also available at http://www-hpcc.astro.washington.edu/papers
Efficient unidirectional nanoslit couplers for surface plasmons
Plasmonics is based on surface plasmon polariton (SPP) modes which can be
laterally confined below the diffraction limit, thereby enabling ultracompact
optical components. In order to exploit this potential, the fundamental
bottleneck of poor light-SPP coupling must be overcome. In established SPP
sources (using prism, grating} or nanodefect coupling) incident light is a
source of noise for the SPP, unless the illumination occurs away from the
region of interest, increasing the system size and weakening the SPP intensity.
Back-side illumination of subwavelength apertures in optically thick metal
films eliminates this problem but does not ensure a unique propagation
direction for the SPP. We propose a novel back-side slit-illumination method
based on drilling a periodic array of indentations at one side of the slit. We
demonstrate that the SPP running in the array direction can be suppressed, and
the one propagating in the opposite direction enhanced, providing localized
unidirectional SPP launching.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure
Secular Evolution of Galaxy Morphologies
Today we have numerous evidences that spirals evolve dynamically through
various secular or episodic processes, such as bar formation and destruction,
bulge growth and mergers, sometimes over much shorter periods than the standard
galaxy age of 10-15 Gyr. This, coupled to the known properties of the Hubble
sequence, leads to a unique sense of evolution: from Sm to Sa. Linking this to
the known mass components provides new indications on the nature of dark matter
in galaxies. The existence of large amounts of yet undetected dark gas appears
as the most natural option. Bounds on the amount of dark stars can be given
since their formation is mostly irreversible and requires obviously a same
amount of gas.Comment: 8 pages, Latex2e, crckapb.sty macros, 1 Postscript figure, replaced
with TeX source; To be published in the proceeedings of the "Dust-Morphology"
conference, Johannesburg, 22-26 January, 1996, D. Block (ed.), (Kluwer
Dordrecht
Cancer incidence in British Indians and British whites in Leicester, 2001–2006
BACKGROUND: Incidence rates for many cancers are lower in India than in Britain and it is therefore of interest to compare rates in British Indians to British whites, as well as to rates in India. We present estimates for Leicester, which has the largest population of Indian origin in Britain, and also has virtually complete, self-assigned, ethnicity data. METHODS: We obtained data on all cancer registrations from 2001 to 2006 for Leicester with ethnicity data obtained by linkage to the Hospital Episode Statistics database. Age-standardised incidence rates were calculated for British Indians and British whites as well as incidence rate ratios, adjusted for age and income. RESULTS: Incidence rate ratios for British Indians compared with British whites were significantly less than 1.0 for all cancers combined (0.65) and for cancer of the breast (0.72), prostate (0.76), colon (0.46), lung (0.30), kidney (0.36), stomach (0.54), bladder (0.48) and oesophagus (0.64), but higher than 1.0 for liver cancer (1.95). CONCLUSION: These results are likely to be the most accurate estimate of cancer incidence in British Indians to date and confirm that cancer incidence in British Indians is lower than in British whites in Leicester, particularly for cancer of the breast, prostate, colon and lung (and other smoking-related cancers), but much higher than in India
Saturn satellites as seen by Cassini Mission
In this paper we will summarize some of the most important results of the
Cassini mission concerning the satellites of Saturn. Given the long duration of
the mission, the complexity of the payload onboard the Cassini Orbiter and the
amount of data gathered on the satellites of Saturn, it would be impossible to
describe all the new discoveries made, therefore we will describe only some
selected, paramount examples showing how Cassini's data confirmed and extended
ground-based observations. In particular we will describe the achievements
obtained for the satellites Phoebe, Enceladus and Titan. We will also put these
examples in the perspective of the overall evolution of the system, stressing
out why the selected satellites are representative of the overall evolution of
the Saturn system.Comment: 34 pages, 10 figures, to appear on the special issue of Earth, Moon
and Planets for the Elba worksho
Surface Plasmon Polariton Excitation in Metallic Layer Via Surface Relief Gratings in Photoactive Polymer Studied by the Finite-Difference Time-Domain Method
We performed numerical investigations of surface plasmon excitation and propagation in structures made of a photochromic polymer layer deposited over a metal surface using the finite-difference time-domain method. We investigated the process of light coupling into surface plasmon polariton excitation using surface relief gratings formed on the top of a polymer layer and compared it with the coupling via rectangular ridges grating made directly in the metal layer. We also performed preliminary studies on the influence of refractive index change of photochromic polymer on surface plasmon polariton propagation conditions
Microbial ligand costimulation drives neutrophilic steroid-refractory asthma
Funding: The authors thank the Wellcome Trust (102705) and the Universities of Aberdeen and Cape Town for funding. This research was also supported, in part, by National Institutes of Health GM53522 and GM083016 to DLW. KF and BNL are funded by the Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, BNL is the recipient of an European Research Commission consolidator grant and participates in the European Union FP7 programs EUBIOPRED and MedALL. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Anti-Allergic Cromones Inhibit Histamine and Eicosanoid Release from Activated Human and Murine Mast Cells by Releasing Annexin A1
PMCID: PMC3601088This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
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