Small airway inflammation and extrafine inhaled corticosteroids plus long-acting beta2-agonists formulations in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Abstract Objectives To summarize the evidence of small airways involvement in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) pathophysiology, and to evaluate the efficacy of extrafine formulations of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) in combination with long-acting beta2-agonists (LABAs) in the treatment of COPD. Data source A search of the PubMed database was conducted using the keywords "COPD", "small airways", "inflammation" and "extrafine formulation." The search was limited to entries published in English before August 2016. Only studies conducted in humans were considered. Study selection Publications were included on the basis of relevance. Results COPD is a common preventable and treatable disease, characterized by persistent and progressive airflow limitation. With improved understanding of COPD pathophysiology, small airways (internal diameter Conclusion There is an urgent need for improved and reliable techniques for small airways assessment in order to detect early damage, disease progression and response to treatment. Evidence from randomized clinical trials supports the benefits of extrafine ICS/LABA formulations in COPD, real world studies are necessary to confirm this

A case-report of a pulmonary tuberculosis with lymphadenopathy mimicking a lymphoma.

Abstract Clinical and radiological manifestations of tuberculosis (TB) are heterogeneous, and differential diagnosis can include both benign and malignant diseases (e.g., sarcoidosis, metastatic diseases, and lymphoma). Diagnostic dilemmas can delay appropriate therapy, favoring Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission. We report on a case of TB in an immunocompetent, Somalian 22-year-old boy admitted in the respiratory unit of an Italian university hospital. His symptoms and clinical signs were thoracic pain, weight loss, latero-cervical, mediastinal, and abdominal lymphadenopathy. Smear microscopy and PCR were negative for Mycobacterium tuberculosis . The unclear histological pattern, the unusual clinical presentation, the CT scan signs, the BAL lymphocytes suggested the suspicion a lymphoma. Culture conversion proved Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. This case report highlights the risk of misdiagnosis in patients with generalized lympho-adenopathy and pulmonary infiltrates, particularly in Africans young patients

Usefulness of the CAT, LCOPD, EQ-5D and COPDSS Scales in Understanding the Impact of Lung Disease in Patients with Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency

Alpha-1-antitrypsin defi ciency (AATD) is an inherited disorder responsible for early onset emphysema associated with a signifi cant impairment of healthrelated quality of life (HRQoL). Our aim was to assess the usefulness of different instruments to evaluate the HRQoL in patients with AATD compared to non-AATD COPD. Observational, cross-sectional study in which all patients fi lled out a series of questionnaires: the COPD severity score (COPDSS), the EuroQoL 5-Dimensions (EQ-5D), the Living with COPD (LCOPD) and the COPD Assessment Test (CAT). A total of 96 patients were included, 35 with AATD (mean age 56.5 yrs, 57.1% male and mean FEV1(%) 48.7% and 61 non-AATD COPD (70.3 yrs, 80.3% men and FEV1(%) 47%. The questionnaire scores were similar, with a tendency towards worse scores in AATD for the EQ-5D (VAS) (64.8 (20.2) vs. 71.6 (17.1); p = 0.08). The correlations between the different scores and FEV1(%) were signifi cant in both groups for COPDSS and LCOPD, but not for CAT and EQ-5D. In general, the correlations of scores with FEV1(%) were stronger for AATD compared with non-AATD COPD patients: COPDSS r = –0.570, p < 0.01 for AATD and r = –0.260, p < 0.05 for COPD; LCOPD r = –0.502, p < 0.001 for AATD and r = –0.304, p < 0.05 for non-AATD COPD. Patients with AATD have a similar degree of HRQoL impairment as older subjects with non-AATD COPD and showed a stronger correlation between HRQoL measurements and lung function impairment compared with non-AATD COPD. This may be related to the characteristics of the disease in these patients who are usually younger, with less co-morbidity and lower smoking consumption

The Coexistence of asthma and Chronic Ostructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD): prevalence and risk factors in young, middle-aged and elderly people from the general population

Background: The joint distribution of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has not been well described. This study aims at determining the prevalence of self-reported physician diagnoses of asthma, COPD and of the asthma-COPD overlap syndrome and to assess whether these conditions share a common set of risk factors. Methods: A screening questionnaire on respiratory symptoms, diagnoses and risk factors was administered by mail or phone to random samples of the general Italian population aged 20–44 (n = 5163) 45–64 (n = 2167) and 65–84 (n = 1030) in the frame of the multicentre Gene Environment Interactions in Respiratory Diseases (GEIRD) study. Results: A physician diagnosis of asthma or COPD (emphysema/chronic bronchitis/COPD) was reported by 13% and 21% of subjects aged &lt;65 and 65–84 years respectively. Aging was associated with a marked decrease in the prevalence of diagnosed asthma (from 8.2% to 1.6%) and with a marked increase in the prevalence of diagnosed COPD (from 3.3% to 13.3%). The prevalence of the overlap of asthma and COPD was 1.6% (1.3%–2.0%), 2.1% (1.5%–2.8%) and 4.5% (3.2%–5.9%) in the 20–44, 45–64 and 65–84 age groups. Subjects with both asthma and COPD diagnoses were more likely to have respiratory symptoms, physical impairment, and to report hospital admissions compared to asthma or COPD alone (p&lt;0.01). Age, sex, education and smoking showed different and sometimes opposite associations with the three conditions. Conclusion: Asthma and COPD are common in the general population, and they coexist in a substantial proportion of subjects. The asthma-COPD overlap syndrome represents an important clinical phenotype that deserves more medical attention and further research.</br

Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio and clinical outcomes in COPD: recent evidence and future perspectives

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a disabling condition that is characterised by poorly reversible airflow limitation and inflammation. Acute exacerbations of COPD are a common cause of hospitalisation and death among COPD patients. Several biochemical markers have been studied as outcome predictors in COPD; however, their measurement often requires significant time and resources. Relatively simple biomarkers of inflammation calculated from routine complete blood count tests, such as the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), might also predict COPD progression and outcomes. This review discusses the available evidence from studies investigating the associations between the NLR, COPD exacerbations and death in this patient group

Arginines Plasma Concentration and Oxidative Stress in Mild to Moderate COPD

This 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.Background Elevated plasma concentrations of the endogenous nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) have been observed in respiratory conditions such as asthma and cystic fibrosis. Since oxidative stress has been shown to increase the activity of arginine methylating enzymes, hence increased ADMA synthesis, and to reduce ADMA degrading enzymes, hence increased ADMA concentrations, we assessed methylated arginines concentrations in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a disease characterized by increased oxidative stress. Methods Plasma arginine, ADMA and symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA), oxidative stress markers (thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, TBARS, and plasma proteins SH, PSH) and antioxidants (taurine and paraoxonase 1, PON1, activity) were measured in 43 COPD patients with mild (n = 29) or moderate (n = 14) disease and 43 age- and sex-matched controls. Results TBARS significantly increased with COPD presence and severity (median 2.93 vs 3.18 vs 3.64 μmol/L, respectively in controls, mild and moderate group, p<0.0001 by ANOVA) whereas PSH decreased (6.69±1.15 vs 6.04±0.85 vs 5.33±0.96 μmol/gr prot, p<0.0001 by ANOVA). Increased ADMA/arginine ratio, primarily due to reduced arginine concentrations, was also observed with COPD presence and severity (median 0.0067 vs 0.0075 vs 0.0100, p<0.0001 by ANOVA). In multiple logistic regression analysis, only TBARS (OR 0.44, 95% CI 0.25–0.77; p = 0.0045) and ADMA/Arginine ratio (OR 1.72, 95% CI 2.27–13.05; p = 0.02) were independently associated with COPD severity. Conclusion COPD presence and severity are associated with increased oxidative stress and alterations in arginine metabolism. The reduced arginine concentrations in COPD may offer a new target for therapeutic interventions increasing arginine availability

Seventy years of asthma in Italy: age, period and cohort effects on incidence and remission of self-reported asthma from 1940 to 2010

Background: It is well known that asthma prevalence has been increasing all over the world in the last decades. However, few data are available on temporal trends of incidence and remission of asthma. Objective: To evaluate the rates of asthma incidence and remission in Italy from 1940 to 2010. Methods: The subjects were randomly sampled from the general Italian population between 1991 and 2010 in the three population-based multicentre studies: ECRHS, ISAYA, and GEIRD. Individual information on the history of asthma (age at onset, age at the last attack, use of drugs for asthma control, co-presence of hay-fever) was collected on 35,495 subjects aged 20–84 and born between 1925–1989. Temporal changes in rates of asthma incidence and remission in relation to age, birth cohort and calendar period (APC) were modelled using Poisson regression and APC models. Results: The average yearly rate of asthma incidence was 2.6/1000 (3,297 new cases among 1,263,885 person-years). The incidence rates have been linearly increasing, with a percentage increase of +3.9% (95%CI: 3.1–4.5), from 1940 up to the year 1995, when the rates begun to level off. The stabilization of asthma incidence was mainly due to a decrease in the rates of atopic asthma after 1995, while non-atopic asthma has continued to increase. The overall rate of remission was 43.2/1000person-years, and it did not vary significantly across generations, but was associated with atopy, age at asthma onset and duration of the disease. Conclusions: After 50 years of a continuous upward trend, the rates of asthma incidence underwent a substantial stabilization in the late 90s. Despite remarkable improvements in the treatment of asthma, the rate of remission did not change significantly in the last seventy years. Some caveats are required in interpreting our results, given that our estimates are based on self-reported events that could be affected by the recall bias

Evidence for preferences of Italian patients for physician attire

BACKGROUND: The relationship between patient and physician is a complex interaction that includes multiple factors. The objective of this study was to explore Italian patients' preferences regarding physician appearance. METHODS: A questionnaire was developed to survey patients in different medical and surgical settings; each subject was asked to choose one picture of either a male or female physician from a selection of different attires (professional, casual, surgical scrubs, trendy, and careless). Patients were also surveyed about issues such as the presence of a name tag, hair length, trousers on women, amount of makeup, presence of tattoos, and body piercing. Statistical analysis was performed using a Chi-square test. RESULTS: A total of 765 questionnaires (534 completed from patients waiting for an internal medicine visit and 231 for other subspecialties) were completed. The majority (45%) of patients preferred the gastroenterologist to wear a surgical scrub with a white coat. For the other specialists, patients accepted either scrubs or formal dress under a white coat (P ≤ 0.05), with a name tag. Trendy attire was preferred by nine patients (1.1%). The entire sample judged it inappropriate for clinicians to have long hair, visible tattoos, body piercing, and, for women, to wear trousers and use excessive makeup. CONCLUSION: This is the first study conducted in Italy regarding physician attire. As in other Western countries, Italian patients favor physicians in professional attire with a white coat. Wearing professional dress is part of "etiquette based medicine" and may favorably influence clinician-patient relationships and patient compliance.</br