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This is an observational study of the mid-long-term results of a single course of phytothermotherapy with grass baths (group A, 54 patients), of a course of usual medical care (group B, 58 patients) and of a course of physiokinesistherapy (FKT, group C, 30 patients) in knee osteoarthritis. For each group of consecutively treated patients we evaluated the Lequesne algo-functional Index, the drug consumption, the frequency of the patient-physician contacts and laboratory or radiological examinations after 10-15 days of treatment and at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months with blind telephonic follow-up. The mean Lequesne-score at basal time was 7.5+/-3.3, 11.9+/-5.3 and 11.0+/-2.7 in group A, B and C respectively. In each group this score diminished at the end of the treatment (p<0.001). At 3, 6, 9 and 12 months the score remained lower than at basal time in group A (p<0.001) and group B (p<0.01), but not in group C. Drug consumption, patient-physician contacts and lab examinations were 5 times lower in group A than in group B and group C at basal time and throughout the follow-up. The study underlines the mid-long term efficacy of grass baths on both pain and functionality in knee osteoarthritis; this effect, compared to basal values, was even more evident at 3 and 6 months than that of usual medical care. FKT shows improvement only at the end of the treatment, but not long-lastingly.

This article reviews the changes in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cytology and cell differentials in some of the rarer interstitial lung diseases. In a few of these diseases BAL has a diagnostic value and can replace lung biopsy. In pulmonary Langerhans cell histiocytosis the characteristic diagnostic finding is an increase in CD1 + Langerhans cells greater than 4% of total cells. The sensitivity of this cutoff value is low because only approximately 50% of patients show this elevation. In pulmonary alveolar proteinosis, the sensitivity of a diagnostic BAL is almost 100%, and the characteristic finding of milky and turbid fluid on gross examination and the characteristic findings with acellular globules that stain pink with PAS (periodic-acid-Schiff), along with abnormal foamy macrophages and a characteristic dirty background obviates the need for lung biopsy. In diffuse alveolar hemorrhage, BAL is the method of choice to diagnose the alveolar bleeding by showing free red blood cells and hemosiderin-laden, iron-positive macrophages. The underlying disorder has to be identified by history and clinical and laboratory tests. In eosinophilic lung disease, the diagnosis can be made if the BAL cell differentials show 25% or more eosinophils. In collagen vascular disease-associated lung fibrosis, the precise role of BAL in assessment and monitoring disease remains unclear. In drug-induced interstitial lung disease BAL may support a certain clinical/pathological pattern of lung involvement and is helpful for exclusion of other diseases, such as malignancies with pulmonary metastasis, heart disease with pulmonary congestion, or infections. The same is true for radiation-induced lung injury.

Objective: To study the relationships between airway responsiveness to methacholine and capsaicin, proximal or distal reflux and the effects of short-term acid inhibition., Material and Methods: Twenty-nine asthmatics, not taking steroids regularly, underwent respiratory symptom measurements, 24-h dual-probe pH monitoring, and challenges with methacholine and capsaicin. Challenges and symptom measurements were repeated after 12 days' omeprazole treatment (20 mg b.i.d.). The results (median and range) were expressed as PD20 methacholine (mg) and PD5 capsaicin (dose causing five coughs, nmol)., Results: Seventeen patients presented pathological reflux in the distal esophagus, and 17 in the proximal esophagus. At baseline no correlation was found between PD20 or PD5 and reflux. Treatment with omeprazole did not change bronchial responsiveness to methacholine (basal: 0.16 mg, 0.02-1.27; omeprazole: 0.15 mg, 0.02-1.60); omeprazole decreased the tussive response to capsaicin (basal: 0.08 nmol, 0.08-2.46; omeprazole: 0.61 nmol, 0.08-9.84, p<0.001) only in patients with pathological reflux. The decrease was positively correlated with proximal acid exposure (r2=0.70, p<0.001). Omeprazole reduced asthma symptoms in patients with proximal reflux, cough in those with proximal or distal reflux., Conclusions: In asthmatics, inhibition of gastric acid secretion does not influence bronchial hyperresponsiveness but decreases tussive sensitivity and this effect is related to proximal reflux.

In this review the authors focus on Erdheim-Chester disease, a rare systemic disorder of unknown etiology, likely neoplastic, characterised by xantogranulomatous infiltrates of foamy, lipid-laden histiocytes in all involved sites, principally bone, retroperitoneum, lung, pleura, pericardium, retroorbital tissue and brain; moreover periadventitial tissue of the aorta and major arteries may be present. The clinical picture and the course are very various. Erdheim-Chester disease belongs to histiocytosis and differs from Langerhans' cell histiocytosis for clinical, histologic and immunohistochemical features. After the observation of 2 cases we have reviewed the literature; we think useful to present the principal features of the disease, which is likely more frequent than expected; Erdheim-Chester disease is rarely diagnosed because of the poor knowledge of the disease, which is not reported on the common textbooks of medicine.

For many years a secondary role in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis has been ascribed to neutrophil, relatively to the inflammatory response's evaluation. This cell was considered lacking in a peculiar activity and ever depending on lymphocytes and monocytes. During the recent years the neutrophil has been recognized as a cytokines producing cell, really able to modulate its role in joints inflammation. In the light of the latest information it's possible reconsider the role of this cell, looking at it like a moderate co-protagonist in the expression of rheumatoid damage, regarding both to joint inflammation and the maintenance of the damage itself. On the grounds of these knowledge, polymorphonuclear granulocyte could be also chosen as target of the newest therapies in the treatment of this disease. The aim of this short review is to focus the activity of neutrophils in rheumatoid arthritis, trying to follow them through their migration from blood to sinovial tissue and to understand the dynamic relation with the cytokine network, that from these cells pathway depends.