Several studies conducted during the 1990s indicated an increase in the prevalence of symptoms of asthma; more recent investigations suggest that the trend is stabilizing or may even be reversing.
We ...compared 2 cross-sectional surveys conducted in 1994 and 2002 in 8 areas in northern and central Italy, to evaluate prevalence changes for asthma, allergic rhinitis, and eczema.
The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood methods and questionnaires were used to investigate 6- to 7-year-old children (16,115 and 11,287 questionnaires completed by parents in 1994-1995 and 2002, respectively) and 13- to 14-year-old adolescents (19,723 and 10,267 questionnaires completed by adolescents in 1994-1995 and 2002, respectively). In each phase, the overall response rate was >90%. Prevalence changes were calculated as the absolute difference between the prevalence recorded on the 2 occasions.
The prevalence of wheeze (past 12 months) increased slightly among children (change: 0.8%; 95% confidence interval CI: 0.0% to 1.6%) and was rather stable among adolescents. Symptoms of allergic rhinitis (children: change: 5.2%; 95% CI: 4.0% to 6.4%; adolescents: change: 4.1%; 95% CI: 1.9% to 6.3%) and symptoms of atopic eczema (children: change: 4.4%; 95% CI: 3.6% to 5.2%; adolescents: change: 2.1%; 95% CI: 1.2% to 3.0%) increased clearly in both age groups. There was some heterogeneity across the centers among adolescents, especially for allergic rhinitis, with larger increases seen in the 3 metropolitan areas. The changes observed paralleled profound family changes, ie, better parental education, higher rates of maternal employment, and lower rates of exposure to parental smoke. These factors, however, do not explain all of the observed changes in prevalence.
The results indicate that the epidemiologic features of asthma and allergies in Italy are changing rapidly, although the causes are still uncertain.
Abstract Background The recurrence rate for stage I non-small cell lung cancer is high, with 20–40% of patients that relapse after surgery. The aim of this study was to evaluate new F-18 ...fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) derived parameters, such as standardized uptake value index (SUVindex ), metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG), as predictive factors for recurrence in resected stage I non-small cell lung cancer. Methods We retrospectively reviewed 99 resected stage I non-small cell lung cancer patients that were grouped by SUVindex , TLG and MTV above or below their median value. Disease free survival was evaluated as primary end point. Results The 5-year overall survival and the 5-year disease free survival rates were 62% and 73%, respectively. The median SUVindex , MTL and TLG were 2.73, 2.95 and 9.61, respectively. Patients with low SUVindex , MTV and TLG were more likely to have smaller tumors ( p ≤ 0.001). Univariate analysis demonstrated that SUVindex ( p = 0.027), MTV ( p = 0.014) and TLG ( p = 0.006) were significantly related to recurrence showing a better predictive performance than SUVmax ( p = 0.031). The 5-year disease free survival rates in patients with low and high SUVindex , MTV and TLG were 84% and 59%, 86% and 62% and 88% and 60%, respectively. The multivariate analysis showed that only TLG was an independent prognostic factor ( p = 0.014) with a hazard ratio of 4.782. Conclusion Of the three PET-derived parameters evaluated, TLG seems to be the most accurate in stratifying surgically treated stage I non-small cell lung cancer patients according to their risk of recurrence.
Pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis (PPFE) is a rare interstitial lung disease characterized by the fibrotic thickening of subpleural and parenchymal areas of the upper lobes. It may be both idiopathic ...or secondary to infections, interstitial lung diseases and/or drug exposure. Often PPFE patients report recurrent lower respiratory tract infections, suggesting that repeated inflammatory alterations induced by pulmonary infections may contribute to the development/progression of PPFE.
Here, we report for the first time the case of a patient affected by Giant cell Arteritis with histologically proven PPFE. The lung involvement in GCA is rare and interstitial lung diseases are usually reported as an uncommon clinical manifestation of GCA. Our patient is probably the first case presenting PPFE associated with GCA and we wonder if this is a real associative disease or a coincidence perhaps, secondary to drug effects.
Context: One year after initial treatment, low-risk differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) patients undergo recombinant human (rh)TSH-stimulated serum thyroglobulin (Tg) (rhTSH-Tg) and neck ultrasound ...(US).
Objective: The need for more rhTSH-Tg in these patients is controversial. We evaluated the utility of a second rhTSH-Tg in DTC patients 2–3 yr after their first evaluation.
Results: At the first rhTSH-Tg, basal and stimulated serum Tg was undetectable in 68 of 85 patients. Neck US was unremarkable in all but one, who had evidence of lymph node disease. Seventeen of 85 patients had undetectable serum Tg that became positive after rhTSH, with negative imaging in 10 and evidence of disease in seven. Patients with no evidence of disease were reevaluated 2–3 yr later (second rhTSH-Tg). In patients in which the first stimulated Tg was undetectable, all had undetectable basal serum Tg, which remained undetectable after rhTSH in 66 of 67 patients (98.5%) and became detectable in one (1.5%) (positive neck US). In the 10 patients with detectable stimulated Tg in the first test, basal serum Tg and US were negative at the second test, but rhTSH-Tg became detectable in six. Compared with the first rhTSH-Tg, the second stimulated Tg in these six patients decreased in one, increased in three, and stabilized in two patients.
Conclusions: The second rhTSH-Tg was informative in patients who had first stimulated Tg detectable but not in those who had undetectable Tg at the first test, in which the only patient with recurrence was diagnosed by neck US. Thus, rhTSH-Tg should be repeated only in patients who have had a positive first rhTSH-Tg and negative imaging.
The clinical course of systemic sclerosis‐associated interstitial lung disease (SSc‐ILD) is highly variable and easily measurable biomarkers are needed to predict disease progression. Serum ...epithelial biomarker KL‐6 is predictive of disease progression measured by a decline in DLCO, regardless of ILD severity, and could provide increased prognostic ability to inform risk stratification in SSc‐ILD.
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ABSTRACT
Background and objective
The course of systemic sclerosis‐associated interstitial lung disease (SSc‐ILD) is highly variable, and accurate prognostic markers are needed. KL‐6 is a mucin‐like glycoprotein (MUC1) expressed by type II pneumocytes, while CYFRA 21‐1 is expressed by alveolar and bronchiolar epithelial cells. Both are released into the blood from cell injury.
Methods
Serum KL‐6 and CYFRA 21‐1 levels were measured in a retrospective (n = 189) and a prospective (n = 118) cohort of SSc patients. Genotyping of MUC1 rs4072037 was performed. Linear mixed‐effect models were used to evaluate the relationship with change in lung function parameters over time, while association with survival was evaluated with Cox proportional hazard analysis.
Results
In both cohorts, KL‐6 and CYFRA 21‐1 were highest in patients with lung involvement, and in patients with extensive rather than limited ILD. KL‐6 was higher in patients carrying the MUC1 rs4072037 G allele in both cohorts. In patients with SSc‐ILD, serum KL‐6, but not CYFRA 21‐1, was significantly associated with DLCO decline in both cohorts (P = 0.001 and P = 0.004, respectively), and with FVC decline in the retrospective cohort (P = 0.005), but not the prospective cohort. When combining the cohorts and subgrouping by severity (median CPI = 45.97), KL‐6 remained predictive of decline in DLCO in both milder (P = 0.007) and more severe disease (P = 0.02) on multivariable analysis correcting for age, gender, ethnicity, smoking history and MUC1 allele carriage.
Conclusion
Our results suggest serum KL‐6 predicts decline in lung function in SSc, suggesting its clinical utility in risk stratification for progressive SSc‐ILD.
The
promoter variant rs35705950 is associated with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). MUC5B glycoprotein is overexpressed in IPF lungs. We examined immunohistochemical expression of MUC5B in ...different interstitial lung disease patterns according to rs35705950 T-allele carriage. We observed increased expression of MUC5B in T-allele carriers in both distal airways and honeycomb cysts in patients with IPF (n=23), but no difference in MUC5B expression according to T-carrier status in the distal airways of patients with idiopathic non-specific interstitial pneumonitis (n=17), in scleroderma-associated non-specific interstitial pneumonitis (n=15) or in control lungs (n=20), suggesting that tissue overexpression in
rs35705950 T-carriers is specific to IPF.
Consistency of results between different readers is an important issue in medical imaging, as it affects portability of results between institutions and may affect patient care. The International ...Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in pursuing its mission of fostering peaceful applications of nuclear technologies has supported several training activities in the field of nuclear cardiology (NC) and SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) in particular. The aim of this study was to verify the outcome of those activities through an international clinical audit on MPI where participants were requested to report on studies distributed from a core lab.
The study was run in two phases: in phase 1, SPECT MPI studies were distributed as raw data and full processing was requested as per local practice. In phase 2, images from studies pre-processed at the core lab were distributed. Data to be reported included summed stress score (SSS); summed rest score (SRS); summed difference score (SDS); left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF) and end- diastolic volume (EDV). Qualitative appraisals included the assessment of perfusion and presence of ischemia, scar or mixed patterns, presence of transient ischemic dilation (TID), and risk for cardiac events (CE). Twenty-four previous trainees from low- and middle-income countries participated (core participants group) and their results were assessed for inter-observer variability in each of the two phases, and for changes between phases. The same evaluations were performed for a group of eleven international experts (experts group). Results were also compared between the groups.
Expert readers showed an excellent level of agreement for all parameters in both phase 1 and 2. For core participants, the concordance of all parameters in phase 1 was rated as good to excellent. Two parameters which were re-evaluated in phase 2, namely SSS and SRS, showed an increased level of concordance, up to excellent in both cases. Reporting of categorical variables by expert readers remained almost unchanged between the two phases, while core participants showed an increase in phase 2. Finally, pooled LVEF values did not show a significant difference between core participants and experts. However, significant differences were found between LVEF values obtained using different software packages for cardiac analysis.
In this study, inter-observer agreement was moderate-to-good for core group readers and good-to-excellent for expert readers. The quality of reporting is affected by the quality of processing. These results confirm the important role of the IAEA training activities in improving imaging in low- and middle-income countries.
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