A Meza Morales | PubMed Health

PubMedDate not supplied

[The use of steroids in asthmatic children].

During the last years it has been discovered that inflammation is the main substrate in asthma psychopathology. Treatment with steroids, inhaled or systemic is the first step in the antiinflammatory course during acute or chronic stages, and the early introduction is recommended to avoid prolongation of the attack. Actually, the disponibility of inhaled steroids, change the way we face with this illness, due their great local potency, their minimal side effects and the availability of metered dose devices.

Asthma↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Skin tests in allergy].

Allergen skin testing is one of the preferred in vivo methods for assessing the presence of specific IgE antibodies against an allergen. This article review the clinical applications, techniques, reagents, evaluation, and safety of skin testing to help the allergologist to its better clinical use.

Allergens↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Eosinophils].

Although we still do not fully understand many aspects of eosinophil function, they are certainly active participants in important physiological and pathophysiological events. Eosinophils kill many species of helmints and other parasites and probably play a role in defence against infection; they also probably play a role in inflammatory responses in the lung, skin and heart. The following discussion will review finding that support such conclusions.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[The use of methotrexate in cortico-resistant asthma].

Methotrexate represents a new therapeutic modality in patients with corticoresistant asthma. Its mechanism of action is the competitive inhibition of the folate reducing enzyme, converting folic acid in tetrahydrofolate during the S phase of the cell cycle. It is 50% fixed to albumin and excreted by glomerular filtration and proximal tubule secretion.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Morphological features of the nasal mucosa in healthy children exposed to different concentrations of atmospheric pollution].

OBJECTIVE: During the last decades the impact of pollution in big cities on the upper respiratory tract of children has become an issue of interest. The purpose of the present study was to determine if exposure of healthy children to different concentrations of atmospheric pollution alters morphologically the nasal respiratory epithelium. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this randomised, prospective, open clinical trial we included 71 healthy children matched for age and sex and divided them into 3 groups: Group I, 31 children from Mexico City. Group II, 21 children from Tula, Hidalgo a moderate polluted area, and Group III, 19 children from Contepec, Michoacán, a rural non-polluted area. We took a nasal biopsy from the lower turbinate and performed nasal cytology in all children. The samples were examined twice by a pathologist with a double-blind technique. Ozone measurements were taken during 1992. RESULTS: Nasal symptoms (nasal obstruction, pruritus and dryness) were present in 96.8%, 71.4% and 52.6% of patients in groups I, II and III respectively (p = 0.001). We also found bilateral hypertrophy turbinates in 100% of children in group I versus 81% and 73% in groups II and III (p = 0.009). Citologic examination disclosed no significant differences among the study groups, although p values were 0.06 respecting inflammation and abnormal goblet cells when we compared group I versus group II and III. Respecting histological examination we found significant differences when comparing group I versus II and III in squamous metaplasia (p = 0.02) and pseudoepitheliomatous hyperplasia (p = 0.003), with not significant differences among keratinization (p = 0.06) and dysplasia (p = 0.06). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicate that exposure to a polluted atmosphere is followed by severe changes in the histology and cytology of the nasal mucosa in healthy children, with these changes being more frequent and severe in the more polluted areas. These findings implicate that we must put more attention on the long term effects of atmospheric pollution in order to establish stronger control measures.

Adolescent↗