The respiratory tract, once believed to be sterile, harbors diverse bacterial communities. The role of microorganisms within health and disease is slowly being unraveled. Evidence points to the neonatal period as a critical time for establishing stable bacterial communities and influencing immune responses important for long-term respiratory health. This review summarizes the evidence of early ...

background: cotton is the main agricultural export product in benin. cotton dust is thus present in the air during the handling and processing of cotton. this dust contains a mixture of substances including ground up plant matter, fibres, bacteria, fungi, soil, pesticides, noncotton matter, and other contaminants. while cotton processing is decreasing in industrialized countries, it is increasi...

Clinical and epidemiological studies have established that people who were small at birth and had poor infant growth have an increased risk of adult cardiovascular and respiratory disease, particularly if their restricted early growth is followed by accelerated childhood weight gain. This relationship extends across the normal range of infant size in a graded manner. The ‘mismatch hypothesis’, ...