M Azem | PubMed Health

PubMedDate not supplied

Persistent cough: differential diagnosis.

Cough may be defined as a physiologic response to foreign or noxious substances that enter or irritate the respiratory tract. It is the fifth most common symptom complex for which patients seek medical care and which results in more than 30 million office visits per year. When cough is present for more than three weeks it is referred to as chronic or persistent cough. This presentation will examine the differential diagnosis of persistent cough together with a description of the autonomic innervation of the human airways, mechanism(s) of cough, and approach to the patient.

Autonomic Nervous System↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Possible mechanisms of late-life-onset allergic diseases and asthma in the senior citizen.

The clinical spectrum of allergic diseases and asthma changes over the life span of the individual and is influenced by a wide variety of anatomic, physiologic, and immunologic factors. Nowhere do these changes play a more important role than in the elderly patient with allergic disease or asthma where the culmination of these events contribute to disease expression, which at times can result in irreversible endstage disease. It is estimated that between 2010 and 2030 the elderly population will increase by 75% and will represent a significant proportion of consumers of total health care resources. This presentation will examine possible mechanism(s) that contribute to the development of late-onset allergic diseases and asthma in the elderly as a possible basis for identification of antecedents of endstage disease and interventive strategies for the prevention of the irreversible consequences in this population.

Age of Onset↗