Exhaled nitric oxide in asthma: variability, relation to asthma severity, and peripheral blood lymphocyte cytokine expression.

Exhaled nitric oxide has been used as a means of indirectly measuring the underlying inflammation in asthma. The objectives of the study were to measure exhaled nitric oxide levels in asthma patients and healthy volunteers, to study peripheral blood lymphocyte cytokine expression, and to study the relationship between exhaled nitric oxide and intracellular cytokine expression. Exhaled nitric oxide was elevated in patients with moderate to severe asthma and with treatment decreased in the first week reaching to a near normal level by 4 weeks. Elevated exhaled nitric oxide was associated with decreased IL-4 and IL-13 cytokine expression by CD8 lymphocytes.

Frequency of alcohol use and obesity in community medicine patients.

BACKGROUND: Obesity is an important public health problem. However, the effects of alcohol use on the risk for obesity have not been thoroughly explored. This study focuses on how frequency of alcohol use is related to the risk of obesity in a community medicine clinic population. METHODS: This study used a cross-sectional survey to test the hypothesis that obesity (BMI > 30) is associated with alcohol use. The convenience sample was drawn from three clinics that primarily serve low-income populations. Independent variables included frequency of alcohol use, frequency of binge drinking, demographic characteristics, health behaviors and health status. RESULTS: In comparison to non-drinkers, people who consumed alcohol 3 or more days per month had lower odds of being obese (Adjusted Odds Ratio = .49, p < .04). As expected, there was a significant association between watching eight or more hours of television per day and obesity (AOR = 2.34, p < .01). CONCLUSION: More frequent drinking and less television time are independently associated with reduced odds of obesity in this sample of community medicine patients. Additional research is needed to isolate casual mechanisms.

Epidemiology and clinical picture of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection and the acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV-1) infection which causes the terminal Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is one of the major new pandemics of this millenium. This infection is believed to be a zoonosis which achieved sustained transmission among humans because of recent increases in sexual promiscuity and needle-sharing drug use. Although the HIV-1 epidemic is of relatively recent onset, its modes of transmission have been clearly defined: sexual relations, blood injection, and childbirth. Other possible transmission methods such as non-sexual social interaction and insects have been explicitly excluded. Susceptibility is increased by genital ulcers and lack of male circumcision but probably not by genetic factors or female circumcision. Transmissibility is also increased by genital ulcers and, more importantly, by the stage of disease. Progression by stages to fatal diseases will probably occur in most, if not all, infected individuals, usually within a decade. While HIV-1 has a direct effect on the intestinal track and the central nervous system, its primary effect is suppression of the immune system resulting in overwhelming secondary infections and, less clearly, cancers. Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 infection is incurable and is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. Although life-prolonging treatments have been developed, a vaccine will likely not be available in the foreseeable future. Like most previous new epidemic diseases, HIV-1 infection is being and will continue to be modified by changing human behavior patterns.