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Background Omalizumab, an anti-IgE antibody, is used to treat patients with severe allergic asthma. The evolution of lung function parameters over time and the difference between omalizumab responder and nonresponder patients remain inconclusive. The objective of this real-life study was to compare the changes in forced expiratory volume in 1 second ( FEV1) of omalizumab responders and nonresponders at 6 months. Methods A multicenter analysis was performed in 10 secondary and tertiary institutions. Lung function parameters (forced vital capacity ( FVC), pre- and postbronchodilator FEV1, residual volume ( RV), and total lung capacity ( TLC) were determined at baseline and at 6 months. Omalizumab response was assessed at the 6-month visit. In the omalizumab responder patients, lung function parameters were also obtained at 12, 18, and 24 months. Results Mean prebronchodilator FEV1 showed improvement in responders at 6 months, while a decrease was observed in nonresponders (+0.2±0.4 L and −0.1±0.4 L, respectively, P<.01). After an improvement at 6 months, pre- and postbronchodilator FEV1 remained stable at 12, 18, and 24 months. The FEV1/ FVC remained unchanged over time, but the proportion of patients with an FEV1/ FVC ratio <0.7 decreased at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months (55.2%, 54.0%, 54.0%, and 44.8%, respectively, P<.05). Mean RV values decreased at 6 months but increased at 12 months and 24 months ( P<.05). Residual volume/total lung capacity ( RV/ TLC) ratio decreased at 6 months and remained unchanged at 24 months. Conclusion After omalizumab initiation, FEV1 improved at 6 months in responder patients and then remained stable for 2 years. RV and RV/ TLC improved at 6 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess the prevalence of distal airway obstruction and its risk factors in agricultural areas.Methods: A cross sectional study of respiratory symptoms and lung function was performed among French farmers and their spouses (1122 subjects) who came for preventive medicine examinations. They answered a respiratory questionnaire and performed pulmonary function tests on a portable spirometer. Diagnoses of chronic bronchitis were made on the basis of reported chronic respiratory symptoms. Airway obstruction was determined from predicted values. Odds ratio (OR) and linear regression coefficients were calculated after stratification by smoking and history of cardiac and other respiratory diseases.Results: Of respiratory symptoms prevalence of chronic cough was 8.47%, and chronic bronchitis 7.66%. Prevalence of distal airway obstruction was 11.4%, and overall airflow obstruction 3.2%. Smokers were 20.2% men, and 5.7% women. Linear regressions showed high association between pack-years in smokers or exsmokers and forced expiratory volume in one second/forced vital capacity (FEV1/VC) and forced expiratory flow between 25% and 75% of vital capacity (FEF25-75). In non-smokers without any history of cardiac or respiratory diseases, age and the size of farms had the highest correlations with these variables. OR for distal airway obstruction was 2.1 in subjects > 50 years old v the younger ones and 3.02 in the smaller farms v the larger ones.Conclusion: After stratification by smoking and history of cardiac and respiratory diseases, distal airway obstruction is present in agricultural areas. The age, and the size of farm are the highest respiratory risk factors in non-smokers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The proliferative response of type II cells is an important event following silica-induced lung injury. Alveolar macrophages, when activated by fibrogenic agents, secrete various biological mediators which affect cell growth.Methods: Human alveolar macrophages from normal volunteers were incubated in serum-free medium or in the presence of increasing concentrations of silica. Alveolar macrophage conditioned media were diluted and added to type II cell cultures for proliferation studies. Purified type II pneumocytes were isolated from fetal rat lungs for bioassays. Growth factor activities were partially characterised by size exclusion chromatography. Each fractionated mitogenic peak was preincubated with monoclonal antibody against platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) or antisera against insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) or fibroblast derived growth factor (FGF) in order to study the nature of each activity.Results: Conditioned media from alveolar macrophages exposed to silica induced an increase in type II cell DNA synthesis and cell number over that seen when type II cells were incubated with unstimulated alveolar macrophage supernatants. Size exclusion of alveolar macrophage supernatants exposed to silica showed four peaks of type II cell stimulating activity with apparent molecular weights of 38, 22, 16, and 8 kDa. Anti-PDGF antibody significantly reduced the activity of the first and second peaks, antiserum against IGF-1 partially reduced the activity of the first and fourth peaks, and antiserum against FGF reduced only the third peak of activity.Conclusions: Human alveolar macrophages exposed to silica in vitro release mitogens for type II pneumocytes including PDGF-like, IGF-1-like, and FGF-like molecules. These agents are likely to be involved in the epithelial repair and type II cell hyperplasia observed in silicosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Some of the prominent features of silicosis are hyperplasia and hypertrophy of epithelial type II cells, which in experimental animals are often accompanied by accumulation of phospholipids in the lung.Methods: The total phospholipid content of lung lavage fluid and its composition in 28 granite stone cutters with long term exposure to silica dust (23 with radiological silicosis) was compared with that of lavage fluid in 15 normal volunteers, 15 patients with untreated idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and 19 patients with untreated stage 2 or 3 sarcoidosis. All lavage fluid was obtained at the time of first pulmonary investigation, which also included lung function tests.Results: In the normal subjects total phospholipid content was 1.13 (0.16) micrograms phosphorus/ml of lung lavage, in the patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis 0.52 (0.07) microgram/ml (p < 0.05), and in the patients with sarcoidosis 1.02 (0.20) microgram/ml composition being in the range reported in humans. In the patients with silicosis total phospholipid content was significantly decreased to an average of 0.46 (0.08) microgram/ml compared with the findings in normal subjects and patients with sarcoidosis. Within the group exposed to silica changes in total phospholipid content did not correlate with the severity of the radiographic disease, changes in lung function, the cellularity of lung lavage fluid, or hyaluronate concentrations. The secretory capacity of rat epithelial type II cells was not significantly different when cultured with bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from all four groups of subjects.Conclusions: Total phospholipid content in lung lavage fluid was significantly reduced in granite workers with radiological evidence of lung disease, but showed no correlation with radiological or functional markers of disease severity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Bortezomib is a proteasome inhibitor indicated for the treatment of multiple myeloma patients. The most frequent side effects are gastrointestinal and neurological. Serious pulmonary complications have been described rarely. Observation. This case involves a 74-year-old man suffering from IgG Kappa myeloma treated with bortezomib, melphalan, and dexamethasone. After administering chemotherapy, the patient developed an acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). A surgical pulmonary biopsy proved the existence of bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP) lesions. Systemic corticotherapy led to a rapid improvement in the patient's condition. Conclusion. This is the first reported histologically confirmed case of bortezomidinduced BOOP. Faced with severe respiratory symptoms in the absence of other etiologies, complications due to bortezomid treatment should be evoked and corticotherapy considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]