Polyacrylate nanoparticles: toxicity or new nanomedicine?

Improvements in Function with Tiotropium (UPLIFT1) trial [4]. The authors are correct in highlighting the notable differences between the Lung Health Study and UPLIFT1 study populations with respect to age and disease severity. It is of interest, however, that, in the Lung Health Study, a post hoc subanalysis of the annual rates of decline by smoking category (continuing smokers, intermittent smokers and sustained quitters), baseline lung function (range 90–55% predicted FEV1) and age (range 35–70 yrs) showed that baseline disease severity (FEV1 % predicted) was not predictive of the annual change in FEV1 in mL?yr within any smoking category, whereas older subjects who were either continuing or intermittent smokers had a slightly more rapid annual decline in lung function than younger subjects in the same smoking categories, although among quitters age did not influence FEV1 decline [2]. These findings suggested that smoking cessation leads to generally comparable benefits (in terms of slowing disease progression) across the spectrum of middle to older age and mild to moderate disease severity. The UPLIFT1 trial results appear to confirm and extend the findings from the Lung Health Study to an older and more severely diseased COPD population.