Search

Exposure to polluted air may trigger respiratory symptoms in certain subjects. Maximal expiratory flow volume measurements and methacholine bronchial challenges were conducted in 25 asthmatics and 30 healthy volunteers, before and after breathing bagged polluted air for 30 min, to determine whether exposures to polluted air influence respiratory function and bronchial reactivity. No differences in forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1.0), total respiratory resistance (Rrs), and bronchial reactivity were noted for normal subjects after they inhaled polluted air and ambient air. Significant decreases in FEV1.0 and FEV1.0/FVC, an increase in airway reactivity, and elevation of baseline Rrs values occurred in the asthmatic subjects, after exposure to polluted air. These findings suggest that asthmatic patients are more vulnerable to the adverse effects of polluted air.

Most available prediction equations for the single breath carbon monoxide diffusing capacity, or DLCO, are based on white populations and do not account for racial differences. We performed this test on 436 Chinese adults. The method of measurement essentially followed the American Thoracic Society recommendations. Data on 306 subjects who had two technically acceptable test results provided prediction equations and upper and lower 95% confidence limits for healthy nonsmokers. Simple linear equations using age, height, and body weight as independent variables were generated and compared with nonlinear models. The use of nonlinear models did not add to the predictability of standard linear regressions. The distribution of residuals (predicted-measured values) was Gaussian with simple linear regressions. A comparison of predicted values for DLCO, calculated from different equations in an independent group of healthy subjects, revealed that the present set of equations had the smallest residual mean and standard deviation rankings compared with other equations for white subjects. These are the first DLCO equations proposed for Chinese men and women aged 20 to 70 yr. The predicted values from this study for DLCO and alveolar volume (VA), were significantly lower than those of most equations for white subjects, but were not for DLCO/VA. Although a portion of the differences may be explained by the additive effects of technical factors, the discrepancies can also be attributed to the smaller body size in this ethnic group, and consequently to the smaller lung volumes. Equations derived from whites, with inclusion of smokers, provided predicted values comparable to, or even lower than, those from this study.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

SUMMARY 1.The two cases of pulmonary alveolar microlithiasis reported in a family are the youngest so far recorded in the literature. One had an early phase of roentgenologic abnormalities at two years and ten months of age and developed the characteristic findings by the age of eight years when diagnosis was made by needle biopsy. The second is four years of age, and already has fully developed classic chest x-ray abnormalities, as well as congenital heart disease. 2.Regarding etiology of this condition, we are strongly in favor of the theory of an inborn error of respiratory metabolism.

This is the first prospective clinical trial recorded to date of short-course chemotherapy in pulmonary tuberculosis complicated by pneumoconiosis. Forty-eight anthrasillicotic and 11 silicotic patients with previously untreated pulmonary tuberculosis completed 9-month, short-course chemotherapy regimens: 2 months of daily streptomycin, isoniazid, rifampicin, and pyrazinamide followed by daily isoniazid and rifampicin for 7 months (2SHRZ/7HR). There were 3 treatment failures (5%). The remaining 56 patients (95%) all had their sputum converted within 4 months (mean, 1.5 months). Bacteriologic relapses were noted in 3 patients (5%) after 18 to 40 months of follow-up (mean, 28.4 months). The relapses occurred within 7 months after chemotherapy was stopped. There were 2 deaths from nontuberculosis causes during the follow-up period. Fifty-one patients (90%) remained bacteriologically sterile for 28.4 +/- 6.1 months. These results suggest that the 2SHRZ/7HR regimen is satisfactory in treating anthrasilicotic or silicotic patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, though antituberculosis chemotherapy seemed less effective in patients with pneumoconiosis than in those without pneumoconiosis.

An eight-nation cooperative epidemiological study revealed the Asian and African features of sarcoidosis. Almost every country reported from several to less than 30 cases, except for Japan which had already collected over 3,000 cases. Not a single case was found in the mass x-ray surveys conducted by several countries on a large scale (Tables 1 and 2). Although the number of the cases included in this study were small, this information is the first of this kind for Asia and Africa.

Background Trichoderma reesei is a widely used model cellulolytic fungus, supplying a highly effective cellulase production system. Recently, the biofuel industry discovered filamentous fungi from the Penicillium genus as a promising alternative to T. reesei. Results In our study, we present a systematic over-expression analysis of nine β-glucosidase encoding genes in the wild-type strain 114-2 of Penicillium oxalicum. We found that the over-expression of BGL1, BGL4, or BGL5 significantly enhanced both β-glucosidase activity and hydrolysis efficiency of the enzyme system on filter paper. We utilised two strategies to over-express β-glucosidase in the strain RE-10 that—although over-producing cellulase, does so at the cost of the cellulase mixture deficiency. The constitutive promoter of gene pde_02864 encoding 40S ribosomal protein S8 was used to over-express three β-glucosidases: BGL1, BGL4, and BGL5. We found that all mutants show significantly enhanced levels of β-glucosidase at transcriptional, protein, and activity levels. Furthermore, the inducible promoter from bgl2 was used to conditionally over-express the β-glucosidases BGL1 and BGL4. Surprisingly, this induced expression strategy enables significantly improved expression efficiency. The BGL1 over-expressing mutant I1-13 particularly improved the β-glucosidase activity at a factor of 65-folds, resulting in levels of up to 150 U/ml. All our BGL over-expression mutants displayed significant enhancement of cellulolytic ability on both microcrystalline cellulose and filter paper. In addition, they substantially reduced the enzyme loads in the saccharification of a natural lignocellulose material delignified corncob residue (DCCR). The mutant I4-32 with over-expression of BGL4 achieved the highest glucose yield in the saccharification of DCCR at only 25 % enzyme load compared to the parental strain RE-10. Conclusions In summary, genetically engineering P. oxalicum to significantly improve β-glucosidase activity is a potent strategy to substantially boost the hydrolytic efficiency of the cellulase cocktail, which will ultimately lead to a considerable reduction of cost for biomass-based biofuel. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13068-016-0491-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2009. Includes bibliographic references (pages 237-258) Generally, perceptions of Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) and IT service performance success have been investigated within three primary research streams - the Knowledge Management systems literature, the Service Management literature and the User Satisfaction literature. These three approaches have been developed in parallel and have not been integrated to study the effects. This thesis develops an integrated research framework that distinguishes perceptions and beliefs about the service performance and KMS which are increasingly an important element in the achievement of user satisfaction. The proposed framework was supported, providing preliminary evidence that KMS is perceived to have some moderation on service performance and the various factors which in turn, impact the user satisfaction.