Are high barometric pressure, low humidity and diurnal change of temperature related to the onset of asthmatic symptoms?

BACKGROUND: Meteorologic factors play a role in the expression of asthmatic symptoms; however, there are controversies about the causal relationship between meteorologic factors and asthma. The relationship between meteorologic parameters and emergency admissions for asthmatic symptoms in this hospital were analyzed. METHODS: A total of 205 patients (130 boys and 75 girls, 0.1-16.6 years of age) who were admitted to Hakodate Chuo General Hospital for asthmatic symptoms between 1 January and 31 December 1997 were submitted to our study. We divided a total of 365 days into two groups of days with and without any admissions. Meteorologic factors for the days with admissions and 1-3 days before hospitalization were compared with those of the days of no admissions. Statistical analysis was done with the Mann-Whitney U-test. RESULTS: On the days with admissions and 1 day before hospitalizations, barometric pressure was higher and relative humidity lower than on days with no admissions. The diurnal difference between maximum and minimum temperature for days 1 day before days with admissions was larger than that for 1 day before days with no admissions. CONCLUSIONS: It is thought that change in barometric pressure, relative humidity and temperature had some influence on the worsening of asthmatic symptoms.

Time-course changes of eosinophil counts in premature infants: no effects of medical manipulation, except erythropoietin treatment, on eosinophilia.

In order to determine the factors responsible for eosinophilia during the neonatal period, we counted the eosinophils of premature infants every week and compared the medical profiles of infants with eosinophil counts above the 95th percentile and those below that percentile during the course of study. Medical treatments such as mechanical ventilation, antibiotics administration and intravenous catheterization had no significant effects on the increase of eosinophils. Furthermore, the incidence of eosinophil counts above the 95th percentile was not different between breast-fed and formula-fed infants. The infants treated with erythropoietin had greater eosinophil counts than those with no treatment. It is probable that medical manipulation using foreign bodies such as intratracheal tube, intravenous catheter, antibiotics and artificial formula had no significant effects on the increase of eosinophil counts, except for exogenous erythropoietin.

Gestational age assessment in Japanese low birthweight infants.

We evaluated the validity of the Ballard scoring system for assessing gestational age in Japanese low birthweight infants. Infants included in this study were 116 neonates who were admitted to seven hospitals in Hokkaido. Gestational ages of all infants were prenatally established by ultrasonographic measurement of the crown-rump length performed between 8 and 12 weeks of gestation (clinical age). Of these, 74 infants were appropriate for gestational age (AGA) and the remaining were small for gestational age (SGA). Mean birthweight was 1703 g and 34% (39/116) were < 1500 g. The correlation coefficient for the total population was 0.93 (P < 0.001). Although mean Ballard age tended to overestimate clinical age, mean differences between Ballard age and clinical age did not exceed 0.6 weeks. Agreement within 2 weeks among all infants was 86.2%. Percentages of agreement within 2 weeks did not differ to a statistically significant degree between AGA and SGA. These results indicate that the Ballard method is of value in assessing gestational age in Japanese low birthweight infants.

Improved immunoassay for the determination of surfactant protein A (SP-A) in human amniotic fluid.

A simple, improved immunoassay for the determination of human surfactant protein A (SP-A) in human amniotic fluid was developed. The immunoreaction with a monoclonal antibody PC6-immobilized plastic bead, peroxidase-labeled monoclonal antibody PE10 and amniotic fluid sample diluting in the buffer containing 0.6% sodium dodecyl sulfate/2% Triton X-100, was carried out simultaneously at 45 degrees C for 30 min in test tubes. After washing the bead with 2% skimmilk in phosphate buffered saline containing 1% Triton X-100, the peroxidase reaction was developed by adding the substrate reagent and the absorbance was measured. The amniotic fluid obtained at full term was used as a standard instead of purified SP-A, because of the stability of the antigenicity. This immunoassay method was used to measure SP-A in 69 samples of amniotic fluid from 22 to 41 weeks of gestation. The result indicated that the SP-A values obtained by the present immunoassay can be used for predicting the fetal lung maturity. This simplified monoclonal immunoassay completed the measurement within 1 hr, and so it could be used routinely in clinical laboratory.

TSH-receptor antibodies in mothers with Graves' disease and outcome in their offspring.

Blood was taken from 56 selected newborn babies whose mothers had Graves' disease, to assess the relation between their thyroid function and the presence of thyrotropin (TSH) binding inhibitor immunoglobulins (TBII) and thyroid stimulating antibodies (TSAb) in maternal serum. All the mothers of the thyrotoxic babies had both these TSH receptor antibodies in their serum. However, most of the mothers whose thyroid function had been well controlled in pregnancy gave birth to normal babies. 15 babies had a transient syndrome of low serum thyroxine (T4) and free T4 with normal TSH and this tended to be associated with TSH receptor antibodies in maternal serum (TBII 9/15, TSAb 4/15). 2 infants had transient hyperthyroxinaemia without hyperthyroidism and both their mothers showed strong TSAb activity without TBII activity.

[Pharmacokinetic studies on aztreonam in late pregnancy in sheep and humans].

The transplacental passage of single intravenous doses of aztreonam (AZT), 1 g or 2 g, was examined in 7 sheep and 14 women in late pregnancy, respectively and the obtained data were analyzed by a two-compartment model. The obtained results were summarized as follows. After single 2 g intravenous doses were given to pregnant sheep, the mean peak level of AZT in maternal blood was 83.79 micrograms/ml and the half-life of the beta-phase was 1.525 hours. After single 1 g intravenous doses were administered to pregnant women, the mean peak level of AZT in blood was 102.62 micrograms/ml and the half-life of beta-phase was 2.128 hours. The peak levels in umbilical venous blood and amniotic fluid were 14.43 micrograms/ml and 11.86 micrograms/ml, respectively.

Endotoxin clearance by exchange blood transfusion in septic shock neonates.

The role of exchange transfusion with fresh whole blood in septic shock infants was evaluated. Endotoxin was positive in 8 of 10 infants and completely removed from 6 by exchange transfusion. All 6 infants with negative endotoxins after exchange transfusions survived, but 2 with positive reactions died despite the exchange transfusion. Staphylococcus aureus was cultured in the blood from 2 infants with negative reactions and one of them survived. These findings suggested that the clearance of endotoxin has an important role in exchange transfusion among septic shock neonates.