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J Mallol

Publications and source records attributed to J Mallol.

116 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

[Satellite symposium: Asthma in the World. Asthma among children in Latin America].

The prevalence of respiratory symptoms related to asthma in children from Latin America has been largely ignored. This region participated in phases I and III of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) with 17 participating centers in phase I and 78 centers in phase III. Data were obtained on asthma, rhinitis and eczema from countries and centers with markedly different climactic, cultural and environmental conditions and socioeconomic development. The results for phase I are presented herein because data from phase III are currently being revised at the ISAAC international data control center and will be officially available in the second half of 2004. Phase I provided important information on the prevalence of asthma in the participating countries and demonstrated wide variation among centers in the same country and among countries. The participating Latin American countries are all developing countries and share more or less the same problems related to low socioeconomic status. Therefore, the results and figures should be analyzed within that context. The range for accumulative and current asthma symptoms in children from the Latin American countries that participated in phase I (89,000) were as follows: the prevalence of asthma ranged from 5.5% to 28% in children aged 13-14 years and from 4.1% to 26.9% in children aged 6-7 years. The prevalence of wheezing in the previous 12 months ranged from 6.6% to 27% in children aged 13-14 years and from 8.6% to 32.1% in children aged 6-7 years. The high figures for asthma in a region with a high level of gastrointestinal parasites infestation, a high burden of acute respiratory and gastrointestinal infections occurring early in life, severe environmental and hygiene problems, suggest that these factors, considered as protective in other (developed) regions of the world, do not have the same effect in this region. Furthermore, those aggressive environmental conditions acting together from very early in life might condition different asthmatic phenotypes with more severe clinical presentation in infancy (first 2 years of life), lower atopy and enhanced airways reactivity. The present study indicates that the prevalence of asthma and related symptoms in Latin America is as high and variable as described previously for industrialized or developed regions of the world and that the environmental risk factors, mainly related with poverty, could be responsible for the different clinical and functional presentations of asthma in children from developing regions.

Adolescent↗

Variability of the raised volume rapid thoracic compression technique in infants with recurrent wheezing.

Measuring forced expiratory flows from raised lung volume in infants represents a significant advance in the assessment of pulmonary function early in life. However, variability in the main parameters obtained with raised volume rapid thoracic compression (RVRTC), FVC, FEV(0.5), FEF(50), FEF(75), and FEF(25-75), has not been completely evaluated. This study was performed to determine the intra-subject variability of spirometric-like parameters in infants with recurrent wheezing obtained with RVRTC. One hundred and two infants with recurrent wheezing (mean age 62 +/- 22 weeks) who were asymptomatic at the moment of measuring lung function participated in this study. For the variability analysis, three to five technically acceptable curves at flow-limitation jacket pressure were employed. The mean coefficient of variation (95 % CI) of spirometric parameters was as follows: FVC = 2.9 % (2.6-3.2); FEV(0.5) = 2.2 % (1.9-2.5); FEF(50) = 3.7 % (3.3-4.1); FEF(75) = 5.9 % (5.2-6.6) and FEF25-75 = 3.3 % (2.9-3.7). This study demonstrates the high reproducibility of the spirometric parameters measured with the technique of raised lung volume in infants.

Chest Wall Oscillation↗

Wheezing during the first year of life in infants from low-income population: a descriptive study.

BACKGROUND: Recurrent wheezing (RW) plays an important role in the morbidity and mortality of children during the first year of life in developing regions and its actual incidence in those areas is virtually unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS: This study describes the occurrence of wheezing during the first year of life in a birth cohort of 188 infants followed monthly and living in a poor urban area in Santiago de Chile. This study showed that 80.3 % of the infants in the cohort had one or more wheezing episode during the first year of life, 43.1 % had RW (3 or more wheezing episodes), 44.1 % had their first wheezing within the first three months of life and 13.3 % had pneumonia (PN). Having one or more episode of wheezing in the first three months of life was the main risk factor for suffering from RW during the first year and RW was a significant risk factor for having PN. CONCLUSIONS: This study found a high prevalence of RW in infants from a low-income population during the first year of life with the disease starting very early in their lives, progressing with more frequent episodes and being significantly associated to PN, particularly in the first 6 months of life.

Age of Onset↗

[Tuberculin reaction in healthy infants vaccinated with BCG at birth].

Tuberculin test with PPD RT-23 with Tween 80 (2 TU strength), was performed to 228 infants under two years of age. None of them had any history of contact with tuberculosis. All were healthy, well-nourished infants, and had been vaccinated with BCG at birth. A positive PPD reaction (greater than 6 mm), was found only in 8.8%, of them and 16.2% had no BCG scar on examination; 14.9% of the studied infants had negative PPD (0-5 mm) reactions together with absent BCG scars. These findings are significantly different from those previously reported by chilean authors, which showed higher proportion of positive (greater than = 6 mm) reaction to 2 TU PPD in infants from similar populations that had been vaccinated with different BCG preparations than our patients. These results suggest the need to evaluate the efficacy of the BCG vaccines that are currently being used in our country to determine the factors that may affect it and the protection that they afford.

BCG Vaccine↗

Beta-2-microglobulin as an index of renal function after cardiopulmonary bypass surgery in children.

In order to evaluate the clinical usefulness of serum and urinary beta-2-microglobulin (beta 2-m) determination as a marker of renal damage following cardiopulmonary bypass surgery (CPB), 37 children, with an age range of 6 months to 13 years undergoing CPB under hypothermia and cardioplegia for congenital malformations, were studied. Renal function was monitored at baseline and on the first and third day after CPB by traditional tests such as creatinine (Cr), endogenous creatinine clearance (Ccr), and fractional sodium excretion (FeNa), as well as by serum and urinary beta 2-m measured by radioimmunosorbent assay. Data were analyzed for the group as a whole and after stratification for the presence of acute renal failure (ARF) defined by an increase in Cr greater than 0.5 mg/dl and/or FeNa greater than 2% and of renal hypoperfusion which was considered in case of hypotension resistant to volume repletion and/or dopamine infusion and of oliguria (less than 1.0 ml/kg/h). The incidence of ARF was 18.9%, mortality 21.7% and among those who developed ARF, 71.4%. Although Cr and FeNa increased significantly on the first postoperative day, values returned to baseline thereafter, probably because of the high mortality rate observed among those who developed ARF and were therefore lost to follow-up. In contrast, Ccr was significantly decreased during the whole study. Even though serum beta 2-m displayed a similar profile to Cr and FeNa returning to baseline by the third day, urinary and fractional excretion of beta 2-m were significantly increased at any time of the study.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Acute Kidney Injury↗