BACKGROUND Retention of airway secretions is a common and serious problem in ventilated patients. Treating or avoiding secretion retention with mucus thinning, patient-positioning, airway suctioning, or chest or airway vibration or percussion may provide short-term benefit. METHODS In a series of laboratory experiments with a test-lung system we examined the role of ventilator settings and lu...

The objective of the present study was to determine if exposure of cervical mucus to air during specular examination could modify mucus pH. Detection of changes is justified because of their possible interference with sperm-mucus interaction, since an acidic pH is unfavorable to sperm penetration and is associated with infertility due to the cervical factor. Twenty women with good quality mucus...

objectives this study investigates the prevalence of burning mouth symptom for the first time in an institutional group of patients in shiraz, iran, among whom some were found to have bms through excluding the recognizable physical or biochemical causes of mouth burning. methods in this cross sectional study, from the existing records of 2 533 patients who referred to shiraz dental school since...

Asthma is characterized by mucus abnormalities. Airway epithelial hyperplasia and metaplasia result in changes in stored and secreted mucin and the production of a pathologic mucus gel. Mucus transport is impaired, culminating in mucus plugging and airway obstruction-a major cause of morbidity in asthma. The polymeric mucins MUC5AC and MUC5B are integral components of airway mucus. MUC5AC and M...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of mucus production as a biomarker. This was done by exposing the mussel Perna perna to various sublethal concentrations of Cu. Mussels are effective as a bioindicator species as they accumulate Cu in their tissues. Differences in mucus production rates were evaluated at different Cu concentrations. The findings of this study indicate that incre...

Slugs and snails specifically secrete mucus to aid their locomotion. This mucus is the contact material between molluscan herbivores and plants. We have recently shown that the locomotion mucus of the slug Deroceras reticulatum contains salicylic acid (SA).(1) When applied to wounded leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana this mucus induces the activity of the SA-responsive pathogenesis related 1 (PR1)...

Airway mucus hypersecretion is a feature of a number of severe respiratory diseases, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and cystic fibrosis (CF). However, each disease has a different airway inflammatory response, with consequent, and presumably linked, mucus hypersecretory phenotype. Thus, it is possible that optimal treatment of the mucus hypersecretory element of...

AIM To investigate colonic mucus thickness in vivo in health and during experimental inflammatory bowel disease. METHODS Colitis was induced with 5% DSS in drinking water for 8 days prior to experiment, when the descending colonic mucosa of anesthetized rats was studied using intravital microscopy. Mucus thickness was measured with micropipettes attached to a micromanipulator. To assess the c...

OBJECTIVE The inner mucus layer in mouse colon normally separates bacteria from the epithelium. Do humans have a similar inner mucus layer and are defects in this mucus layer a common denominator for spontaneous colitis in mice models and ulcerative colitis (UC)? METHODS AND RESULTS The colon mucus layer from mice deficient in Muc2 mucin, Core 1 O-glycans, Tlr5, interleukin 10 (IL-10) and Slc...