Systemic effects of inhaled steroids and their relevance in children with asthma

No Abstract

Acute viral bronchiolitis: Dawn of a new era for the prevention of respiratory syncytial virus infection through vaccination

Many cases of bronchiolitis are caused by the respiratory syncytialvirus (RSV), which was first identified in 1956 as causing illness inhumans. Despite ongoing efforts since the 1960s to develop an RSVvaccine, it has remained elusive. The RSV vaccine research agendaexperienced a major setback after the increased susceptibility tosevere RSV disease and death in children who received the firstformalin-inactivated vaccine in the 1960s. Only in the mid-1980swas the search for an RSV vaccine re-ignited. Alternative approachesto developing this vaccine included attempts at attenuation of RSV,which generally resulted in vaccine candidates that were either tooreactogenic or too attenuated. Furthermore, the targeted approachof using the conserved fusion protein (F-protein), although showingsome promise in older persons with underlying medical conditions,was not developed into a potential candidate for young children, forwhom the need is greatest

Clinical presentation of chronic-non-infectious rhinitis in children

No Abstract

Ultra- and Hyper-compact HII regions at 20 GHz

We present radio and infrared observations of 4 hyper-compact HII regions and 4 ultra-compact HII regions in the southern Galactic plane. These objects were selected from a blind survey for UCHII regions using data from two new radio surveys of the southern sky; the Australia Telescope 20 GHz survey (AT20G) and the 2nd epoch Molonglo Galactic Plane Survey (MGPS-2) at 843 MHz. To our knowledge, this is the first blind radio survey for hyper- and ultra-compact HII regions. We have followed up these sources with the Australia Telescope Compact Array to obtain H70-alpha recombination line measurements, higher resolution images at 20 GHz and flux density measurements at 30, 40 and 95 GHz. From this we have determined sizes and recombination line temperatures as well as modeling the spectral energy distributions to determine emission measures. We have classified the sources as hyper-compact or ultra-compact on the basis of their physical parameters, in comparison with benchmark parameters from the literature. Several of these bright, compact sources are potential calibrators for the Low Frequency Instrument (30-70 GHz) and the 100-GHz channel of the High Frequency Instrument of the Planck satellite mission. They may also be useful as calibrators for the Australia Telescope Compact Array, which lacks good non-variable primary flux calibrators at higher frequencies and in the Galactic plane region. Our spectral energy distributions allow the flux densities within the Planck bands to be determined, although our high frequency observations show that several sources have excess emission at 95 GHz (3 mm) that can not be explained by current models.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

The occupational illnesses of grandparents

While visiting our kids and grandson last year, I had a recurring thought: being a grandparent is not for 'sissies'. My wife and I thought about how grandparenting challenged our health; each day saw some insult to body homeostasis and we were grateful each night for another day survived. Don't get me wrong, we wouldn't trade days with our little man for all the gold in China or the USA, but I came to think that grandparents are special people, not for giving love or gifts, but for putting our bodies on the line. Occupational illness is a given - the Compensation Commissioner needs to take note.http://www.samj.org.z

The interaction between respiratory allergies and infection

The link between allergy and infection, or the microbial world, is receiving world-wide attention. Infectious organisms may play a role in allergy prevention, but some organisms have been linked to the causation of atopic disease. Many (sometimes the same) organisms may exacerbate atopic disease, including diseases of the respiratory tract.http://reference.sabinet.co.za/sa_epublication/cacihb201

Pediatric asthma in Southern Africa

Pediatric asthma has been well researched and actively managed in Southern Africa for many years. From the earliest study of asthma prevalence in 1979 revealing a significant rural – urban asthma gradient to more recent studies suggesting that asthma now abounds in all population and socio-economic groups, Southern Africa has been the subject of a significant number of publications relating to asthma prevalence, etiologies or associations and treatment guidelines. Asthma is now present in 20% of school-children across Southern Africa, but may not have the same etiological factors commonly seen in the West. Southern Africa has areas with a high asthma prevalence, areas with amongst the highest mortality in the world and similar problems to first-world countries with regard to morbidity and cost of disease. Guidelines for asthma management published from South Africa highlight the importance of aiming for complete asthma control and avoiding morbidity, exacerbations and mortality.http://www.benthamscience.com/open/toallj

The 5 x 5 plan for asthma control : the green route to asthma control

Apart from medication to control asthmatic inflammation, the education of patients and parents is the most important therapeutic step in achieving asthma control and normal life. This is a critical, but sadly often neglected, activity. It can be stated with certainty that an asthmatic who does not know the information outlined in this paper will never be free of asthma symptoms. Education is important at every visit, and is not time consuming or difficult to perform. This plan is easy to remember and use.http://www.tandfonline.com/oemdam201

Guest editorial

Many authors have suggested that one of the most important contributing factors to the enhanced survival of the human population over time has been the vaccination of children. You only have to think of polio and how vaccination spared generations of that disease. Naturally, though, improvements in environmental status, such as favourable living conditions and improved quality of life, have also played an important role in this. Today, as we face a critical infectious disease - COVID-19 in the form of a pandemic both globally, on a national scale and, in our case, a provincial scale, the significant contribution that vaccines make to controlling and preventing infection has become a topic uppermost in the minds of both healthcare professionals and the general public. So important is the COVID vaccine to human survival that many countries and corporations will not permit access if people cannot prove that they have been vaccinated. For this reason, 'vaccine visas' have become a commonplace passport of sorts that make it possible to cross national borders as much as business thresholds. Accordingly, which vaccine you have received has become much less of an issue than having had the vaccination itself. A COVID-19 vaccine now appears to be the only sure-fire way of preventing severe disease and death from the virus in citizens of all ages.https://journals.co.za/journal/caciam2023Paediatrics and Child Healt