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In a retrospective review of 7 years of Walter Reed Army Medical Center fiberoptic bronchoscopy records, 154 patients with biopsy specimen proved (122) and clinically diagnosed (32) sarcoidosis were identified. Endobronchial mucosal appearance was normal in only 70 (45%). Abnormal mucosal findings included erythema (29 patients), nodules (13), plaques (13), and cobblestoning (29). Fifty-nine patients were evaluated with endobronchial biopsies (EBBX), and non-necrotizing granulomata diagnostic of sarcoidosis were found in 42 (71%). The diagnostic yield from endobronchial biopsies was similar regardless of the type of mucosal abnormality. EBBX specimens were diagnostic in 85% of black patients and 38% of white patients (p=0.00081), but diagnostic yield did not correlate with patient's sex, symptoms, radiographic stage of disease, or extent of physiologic abnormalities. Four patients with normal-appearing bronchial mucosa underwent EBBX, and sarcoidosis was diagnosed in two. Transbronchial lung biopsy (TBBX) specimens were diagnostic of sarcoidosis in 61 of 82 (74%) black and 28 of 56 (50%) white patients (p=0.0038). We conclude that the bronchial mucosa appears abnormal in the majority (55%) of patients with sarcoidosis. EBBX specimens will diagnose sarcoidosis in a high percentage of such patients and should be performed routinely. EBBX may be preferable to TBBX because of its greater safety profile. In our patients, the yield of both EBBX and TBBX was significantly greater in African-Americans than white Americans. (CHEST 1997; 111:619-22) Key words: African-Americans; endobronchial biopsy; fiberoptic bronchoscopy; racial differences; sarcoidosis; transbronchial lung biopsy; white Americans Abbreviations: EBBX = endobronchial biopsy; FB = fiberoptic bronchoscope(y); TBBX=transbronchial lung biopsy, Sarcoidosis, a disease of unknown etiology, most commonly presents with manifestations of intrathoracic disease. Symptomatic patients typically present with nonproductive cough, exertional dyspnea, and vague chest discomfort. In the United [...]

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week -- Investigators publish new report on Obesity. According to news reporting originating in Tokyo, Japan, by NewsRx journalists, [...]

'Recent evidence due to the discovery of a family of kinases implicated in arterial hypertension now points to the underlying molecular mechanisms that dictate Na+, K+ and water handling in [...]

According to the authors of recent research from Boston, Massachusetts, 'Fatty acid synthase (FASN) plays an important role in energy metabolism of fatty acids and is overexpressed in some colon [...]

Researchers detail in 'Microarray-based transcriptomic analysis of differences between long-term gregarious and solitarious desert locusts,' new data in Central Nervous System Infection. 'Desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria) show an extreme form [...]

According to the authors of a study from Charlottesville, Virginia, 'Spinocerebellar ataxia type 7 (SCA7) is a neurodegenerative disease caused by expansion of a CAG repeat encoding a polyglutamine tract [...]

With growing concern that excessive levels of fructose may pose a great health risk - causing high blood pressure, kidney disease and diabetes - researchers at the University of Colorado [...]

Data detailed in 'A comparative proteome analysis links tyrosine kinase 2 (Tyk2) to the regulation of cellular glucose and lipid metabolism in response to poly(I:C)' have been presented. 'Tyrosine kinase [...]

According to the authors of recent research from Munster, Germany, 'The oxidoreductase WWOX was initially described as a putative tumor suppressor in breast cancer. Non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) frequently [...]

According to the authors of a study from Jaunpur, India, 'Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) is a key enzyme in the metabolism of folate, whose role in bipolar disorder is controversial. The [...]

'Steatosis, or excessive accumulation of lipids in the liver, is a generally accepted previous step to the development of more severe conditions like nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, fibrosis, and cirrhosis. We aimed, [...]

In this recent study, researchers in Helsinki, Finland conducted a study 'To study the whole-body cholesterol metabolism in man, cholesterol synthesis and absorption need to be measured. Because of the [...]

According to the authors of a study from Jiangsu, People's Republic of China, 'H-1 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) based metabonomic method was used to characterize the profile of low-molecular-weight endogenous [...]

According to the authors of a study from Guangdong, People's Republic of China, 'Background The effect of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) on cardiac function during the chronic prediabetes state is [...]

According to recent research from Dijon, France, 'Plasma phospholipid transfer protein (PLTP) is involved in intravascular lipoprotein metabolism. PLTP is known to act through 2 main mechanisms: by remodeling high-density [...]

A new study, 'Distinct intracellular vesicle transport mechanisms are selectively modified by spastin and spastin mutations,' is now available. According to recent research from Erlangen, Germany, 'Spastin is a microtubule [...]

Scientists discuss in 'Novel intronic CYP21A2 mutation in a Japanese patient with classic salt-wasting steroid 21-hydroxylase deficiency' new findings in metabolism. According to recent research from Tokyo, Japan, 'Congenital adrenal [...]

Research findings, 'The NS1 protein of the 1918 pandemic influenza virus blocks host interferon and lipid metabolism pathways,' are discussed in a new report. 'The 'Spanish influenza' of 1918 claimed [...]

According to recent research published in the journal Chemico - Biological Interactions, 'Abnormal regulation of glucose and impaired carbohydrate utilization that result from a defective or deficient insulin are the [...]

A new study, 'Central role of manganese in regulation of stress responses, physiology, and metabolism in Streptococcus pneumoniae,' is now available. 'The importance of Mn(2+) for pneumococcal physiology and virulence [...]

According to recent research published in the journal Proteomics Clinical Applications, 'Previously, we reported that glycine N-methyltransferase (GNMT) interacts with benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) and inhibits BaP-DNA adducts formation. In addition, Gnmt [...]

Scientists discuss in 'Q344ter mutation causes mislocalization of rhodopsin molecules that are catalytically active: a mouse model of Q344ter-induced retinal degeneration' new findings in retinal degeneration. According to recent research [...]

A new study involving the University of Iowa, Mayo Clinic and two other institutions provides insight on weight control, suggesting that a ATP-sensitive potassium channel critical to survival and stress [...]