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Asthma affects 340 million people worldwide and varies in time. Twenty years ago, in Canada, the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean asthma family cohort was created to study the genetic and environmental components of asthma. This study is a follow-up of 125 participants of this cohort to explore the appearance, persistence, and progression of asthma over 10–20 years. Participants answered a clinical standardized questionnaire. Lung function was assessed (forced expiratory volume in 1 s, forced vital capacity, bronchial reversibility, and methacholine bronchoprovocation), skin allergy testing was performed, blood samples were obtained (immunoglobulin E, white blood cell counts) and phenotypes were compared between recruitment and follow-up. From the participants without asthma at recruitment, 12% developed a phenotype of adult-onset asthma with the presence of risk factors, such as atopy, high body mass index, and exposure to smoking. A decrease of PC20 values in this group was observed and a decrease in the FEV1/FVC ratio in all groups. Also, 7% of individuals with asthma at recruitment developed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, presenting risk factors at recruitment, such as moderate-to-severe bronchial hyperresponsiveness, exposure to smoking, and asthma. This study allowed a better interpretation of the evolution of asthma. Fine phenotypic characterization is the first step for meaningful genetic and epigenetic studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the effect of simmering on the chemical and mechanical properties of paper. Iron gall ink corrosion of paper threatens to destroy a large portion of historic manuscripts, records and drawings globally. A great deal of effort has been and continues to be, invested in studying and understanding the causes and pathways of iron gall ink corrosion of paper, and the efficacy of various conservation treatments. Among the many traditional treatments, "boiling paper" as a treatment for corroded iron gall ink documents has been used for more than 30 years 68.

The aim of this study was to document the clinical picture of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and of other sleep disturbances, and to study the relationship of daytime sleepiness to anthropometric data, muscular impairment, and CTG trinucleotide repeat expansion in myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1). A total of 157 DM1 patients were surveyed using a modified version of the Sleep Questionnaire and Assessment of Wakefulness. Other measurements included muscular impairment rating and the size of the trinucleotide repeat. Factor analysis and reliability estimates were used to produce a daytime sleepiness scale with five items of the questionnaire. Thirty-eight healthy family members were studied as control subjects. It was found that EDS was present in 33.1% of DM1 patients. Severity of daytime sleepiness correlated with the degree of muscular impairment but not with age, gender, body mass index, age at onset of symptoms, duration of illness, and CTG repeat. DM1 patients reported a longer sleep period, a less restorative sleep, and more difficulty falling asleep, being alert in the morning and staying awake after meals than controls, but a similar incidence of narcolepsy auxiliary symptoms. Compared with DM1 patients without EDS, those with EDS reported greater hypnagogic hallucinations, and greater pain associated with nocturnal awakenings and in their legs upon morning awakenings. In sum, both DM1 patients with and without EDS exhibit characteristics of sleep duration and sleepiness comparable with those found in idiopathic hypersomnia. The severity of daytime sleepiness is weakly related to the extent of muscular impairment but not to CTG repeat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A picture-preference test designed to measure ten traits believed to characterize alcoholics was administered to 106 alcoholics, 15 neurotics, and 80 normals. As predicted, alcoholics had higher scorn on this test than normals or neurotics. The mean score of the neurotics was virtually the same as the mean of the normals. Whatever is measured by this test reliably distinguishes alcoholics from both neurotics and normals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses picture-preference test devised by L. Cowan to measure the trait of addictivenss in personality. Cowan used 276 subjects including addicts, neurotics, and normals to construct, a picture-preference test. The object was to evaluate Cowan's scales and to rearrange and delete items to produce more adequate revised scales on the basis of data obtained from a new sample of 109 normals and 106 alcoholics. The revised scales, constructed by selecting items primarily on the basis of their point-biserial correlation with the original scale to which they belonged, do not exhibit higher reliabilities than the original scales, but they are considerably shorter and hence more efficient, and they discriminate clearly between alcoholic and normal subjects.