Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia is a significant cause of mortality in immunocompromised patients. Current concepts suggest that attachment of P. carinii to alveolar epithelium is required for development of pneumonia. We examined the mechanism of P. carinii adherence to cultured A549 cells, a permanent cell line derived from human alveolar epithelium. P. carinii adherence was quantified by meas...

RESULTS. A total of 4.8% of children had atopic asthma, 1.9% had nonatopic asthma, 3.4% had resolved asthma, and 4.3% had frequent respiratory symptoms. Mean BMI was higher among children with nonatopic asthma, whereas prenatal maternal smoking was a risk factor for resolved asthma. Atopic and nonatopic asthma were similar for most measures of asthma severity (eg, medication use and lung functi...

The prevalence of byssinosis in a sample of cotton ginnery workers in Greece was investigated. The respiratory symptoms, F.E.V.1.0, and V.C. of 70 male ginnery workers were recorded. No case of clinical byssinosis was found, but a statistically significant relationship exists between years of exposure to cotton dust and impairment of lung function. On the contrary no significant relationship ex...

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with important chronic comorbid diseases, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and hypertension. The present study analysed data from 20,296 subjects aged > or =45 yrs at baseline in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (ARIC) and the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS). The sample was stratified based on baseline lung func...

BACKGROUND Sweepers are chronically exposed to dust raised during sweeping. Dust is regarded as the most influential agent and it is perceived as a frequent cause of respiratory system illness and may cause acute and chronic lung function impairment. AIMS The aim of this study was to determine the acute lung function changes in sweepers exposed to dust generated from street sweeping. MATERI...