ObjectiveTo explore the application of pulmonary ventilation and perfusion imaging (V/P SPECT/CT) in quantitative evaluation of ventilation and perfusion function and its potential value in guiding local treatment of lung in patients with asthma.MethodsA total of 20 patients with asthma were included in this study. All patients underwent V/P SPECT/CT and pulmonary function test, and symptoms were assessed by the ACT questionnaire. Patients were graded for degree of airway obstruction according to V/ P SPECT/CT image visual scoring criteria. The comprehensive lung function (%) of the patients was quantitatively evaluated by combining the ventilation and perfusion defect of each lung segment in V/P imaging. The correlation between the degree of airway obstruction, comprehensive lung function, pulmonary function test and ACT score was analyzed.ResultsV/P SPECT/CT imaging can be used to grade the degree of airway obstruction in asthma patients (0-3 grade). Airway obstruction grading by V/P SPECT/CT visual score was associated with predictive forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1%pred) of patients (r=–0.74, P<0.001). V/P SPECT/CT can also comprehensively evaluate ventilation and perfusion function in patients with asthma, and comprehensive lung function measured by this method was also correlated with FEV1%pred (r=0.629, P=0.003). V/P SPECT/CT can be used to quantitatively analyze the percentage of ventilation and perfusion function in each lung lobe. Compared with V/P SPECT/CT results, the CT volume overestimates the contribution in the upper lobes, and underestimates the lower lobes contribution to overall function.ConclusionsV/P SPECT/CT can be used as a new method to directly reflect the degree of airway obstruction in patients with asthma. Moreover, it can comprehensively and quantitatively evaluate the ventilation and perfusion function of asthma patients. V/P SPECT/CT can also be used to evaluate lobe function in patients with asthma, helping to identify the heterogeneity of changes in pulmonary function in patients with asthma, and has potential value for future treatment targeting specific areas of the lung.
Objective To investigate the expression of aquaporin-1( AQP-1) in pulmonary tissues of asthma mice and the effects of acetazolamide( AZ) on AQP-1 expression. Methods Forty C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into five groups. Group A was treated with phosphate buffer as a non-asthmatic group.The mice in group B, C, D, and E were sensitized with ovalbumin( OVA) and challenged with aerosol OVA to establish asthma model. The mice in group B, C, and D were interperitoneally injected with AZ at doses of 300, 200, 100 mg/kg, respectively during the challenge period. Results ①Wet/dry weight ratio of lung tissues in group E was significantly higher than that in group A( P lt;0. 05) , while it was lower in B, C and D groups than group E. ②The total number of cells, the number of eosinophils, and interleukin-5( IL-5) inBALF of group E were higher than those in group A( P lt;0. 05) , and interferon-γ( IFN-γ) level was lower in group E than in group A ( P lt; 0. 05) . After AZ treatment, the total number of cells, the number of eosinophils, neutrophils and lymphocytes were significantly decreased( P lt; 0. 05) , which were positively correlated with the dose of AZ. ③AQP-1 were expressed in tracheal epithelium, microvascular endothelial cell and bronchial peripheral vascular bed, and the expression in group E was significantly higher than that in group A( P lt;0. 01) . AQP-1 expression was significantly decreased after the intervention of AZ ( P lt;0. 05) .The decrease was positively correlated with the dose of AZ. The expression of AQP-1 mRNA showed no significant difference among these groups( P gt;0. 05) . Conclusions AQP-1 was over-expressed in the lung tissue of mice with asthma. AZ can inhibit the expression of AQP-1 and relieve lung inflammatory cells infiltrationin a dose-dependent manner. It is the protein expression of AQP-1 not the AQP-1 mRNA which were significantly different in different groups, suggesting that AZ affected AQP-1 in the post-transcriptional stage.
Objective To evaluate the efficacy of Budesonide / formoterol to control asthma under real-life conditions. Methods A multi-center, open label, non-interventional study was conducted. Asthma control after 12 week therapy with Budesonide/ formoterol was assessed by Asthma Control Questionnaire( ACQ) and modified Asthma Control Questionnaire ( ACQ5) . Results A total of 360 asthma patients were recruited, including 228 adult patients and 132 child patients. After 12 weeks’ therapy, all the patients’medium value of ACQ was decreased significantly from 2. 03 ( adults 2. 20, children 1. 74) at baseline to 0. 60 ( adults 0. 78, children 0. 29) ( P lt; 0. 0001 ) , and the medium value of ACQ5 was also decreased significantly from2. 4 ( adults 2. 24, children 1. 76) at baseline to 0. 47 ( adults 0. 62, children 0. 20) ( P lt;0. 0001) . Conclusion Budesonide / formoterol is effective in asthma treatment, by which most asthma patients obtain and maintain clincal control.
Chronic airway diseases constitute the majority of mortality of respiratory diseases in China. The 2017 Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease has proposed a novel scheme for classification of disease severity. The mainstream for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) management has shifted to the combination of long acting β2 agonists (LABA) and long acting muscarinic cholinergic antagonists instead of inhaled corticosteroid and LABA. Tiotropium was effective in early COPD with little or even without symptoms. The manangement strategy on COPD may be moving to the upper stream (early intervention). Greater interest has been focusing on clinical phenotyping and inflammatory pathways in asthma. The greater understanding of the pathogenesis of asthma has been associated with the clinical trial progress which suggests that multiple medications targeting at Th2 pathways may provide benefits for implementing personalized therapy. Medications targeting at neutrophilic airway inflammation and blockade of KIT pathways are expected to provide novel rationales for managing asthma with different phenotypes. There has been a considerable progress in bronchiectasis research in China, particularly in terms of etiology, bacteriology and clinical phenotying investigations. The establishment of bronchiectasis research centers in China may help better understanding of the pathogenesis of bronchiectasis, thus identifying potential targets for intervention, which may provide crucial rationale for future intervention to improve the long-term prognosis.
ObjectiveTo investigate the fatigue of asthma patients, and to analyze its influencing factors, and provide a reference for clinical intervention.MethodsThe convenience sampling method was adopted to select asthma patients who were in clinic of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University from November 2018 to March 2019. The patients’ lung function were measured. And questionnaires were conducted, including general data questionnaire, Chinese version of Checklist Individual Strength-Fatigue, Asthma Control Test, Chinese version of Self-rating Depression Scale. Relevant data were collected for multiple stepwise linear regression analysis.ResultsFinally, 120 patients were enrolled. The results of multiple stepwise linear regression analysis showed that age, education level, place of residence, time period of frequent asthma symptoms, degree of small airway obstruction, Asthma Control Test score and degree of depression were the influencing factors of fatigue in asthma patients (P≤0.05). Multivariate linear stepwise regression analysis showed that degree of small airway obstruction, degree of depression and time period of frequent asthma symptoms were the main influencing factors of fatigue in asthma patients, which could explain 51.8% of the variance of fatigue (ΔR2=0.518).ConclusionsThe incidence of fatigue in asthma patients is at a relatively high level. Medical staff should pay attention to the symptoms of fatigue in asthma patients. For asthma patients, it is recommended to strengthen standardized diagnosis and treatment, reduce the onset of symptoms at night and eliminate small airway obstruction. Psychological intervention methods are needed to improve patients’ depression, reduce fatigue symptoms, and improve quality of life.
Objective To investigate the modulating roles of Clara cell secretory 16 kD protein ( CC-16) , transcription factor T-bet, and GATA-3 in airway inflammation of patients with asthma. Methods 25 patients with acute exacerbation of asthma were enrolled as an asthma group and 33 healthy volunteers were enrolled as control. The plasma levels of CC16, IFN-γ, and IL-4 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ( ELISA) . The mRNA expressions of T-bet and GATA-3 in the peripheral bloodmononuclear cells ( PBMCs) were measured by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction ( RT-PCR) .Results The levels of CC16 and IFN-γin the asthma group were lower than those in the control group [ ( 21. 96 ±7. 31 ) ng/mL vs. ( 64. 88 ±25. 27) ng/mL, ( 118. 73 ±22. 59) pg/mL vs. ( 145. 53 ±29. 50) pg/mL, both P lt;0. 01] . The IL-4 level in the asthma group was significantly higher than that in the control group [ ( 425. 22 ±4. 37) pg/mL vs. ( 69. 72 ±10. 15 ) pg/mL, P lt; 0. 01] . The T-bet mRNA expression and T-bet /GATA-3 ratio of PBMCs in the asthma group were significantly lower than those in the control group( both P lt; 0. 01) . The expression GATA-3 mRNA was significantly higher than that in the control group( P lt;0. 01) . The level of CC16 was positively correlated with T-bet mRNA expression and the ratio of T-bet /GATA-3 ( r =0. 792, 0. 761, respectively, P lt; 0. 01) . There was no correlation between CC16 and the GATA-3 mRNA expression ( P gt;0. 05) . Conclusions These results suggest that CC16 and T-bet play important protection roles in the pathogenesis of asthma. GATA-3, IFN-γ, and IL-4 also participate in the airway inflammation of asthma.
Objective To explore the clinical and inflammatory characteristics and risk factors of severe asthma to improve clinicians' awareness of the disease. Methods The general information of patients with asthma who visited the Department of Respiratory Medicine, the First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University from May 2018 to May 2021, as well as the diagnosis and treatment of asthma, personal history, comorbidities, auxiliary examination, asthma control test (ACT) score were collected. A total of 127 patients were included, including 40 in the severe asthma group and 87 in the mild-to-moderate asthma group. Chi-square test, independent sample t test and logistic regression were used to analyze the clinical characteristics, inflammatory markers and risk factors of severe asthma. Results Compared with the patients with mild to moderate asthma, the patients with severe asthma were more older (51.0±12.0 years vs 40.7±12.8 years, P<0.05), had more smokers (32.5% vs. 14.9%, P<0.05), and more males (67.5% vs. 40.2%, P<0.05). The patients with severe asthma got poor FEV1%pred [(56.1±23.8)% vs. (93.2±18.0)%, P<0.05] and FEV1/FVC [(56.7±13.2)% vs. (75.8±9.0)%, P<0.05)], and more exacerbations in the previous year (2.7±3.1 vs. 0.1±0.4, P<0.05), lower ACT score (14.4±3.7 vs. 18.0±5.0, P<0.05), and higher blood and induced sputum eosinophil counts [(0.54±0.44)×109/L vs. (0.27±0.32)×109/L, P<0.05; (25.9±24.2)% vs. (9.8±17.5)%, P<0.05]. There was no significant difference in the proportion of neutrophils in the induced sputum or FeNO between the two groups (P>0.05). Analysis of related risk factors showed that smoking (OR=2.740, 95%CI 1.053 - 7.130), combined with allergic rhinitis (OR=14.388, 95%CI 1.486 - 139.296) and gastroesophageal reflux (OR=2.514, 95%CI 1.105 - 5.724) were risk factors for severe asthma. Conclusions Compared with patients with mild to moderate asthma, patients with severe asthma are characterized by poor lung function, more exacerbations, and a dominant eosinophil inflammatory phenotype, which is still poorly controlled even with higher level of treatment. Risk factors include smoking, allergic rhinitis, and gastroesophageal reflux, etc.