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Biomedical subjects

M Govindaraj

Publications and source records attributed to M Govindaraj.

18 recordsLinked to original sources

Asthma and wheezing.

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Adrenal Cortex Hormones

What is the cause of dyspnea in asthma and emphysema?

A group of 50 asthmatics and another of 27 subjects with emphysema were interviewed with regard to the nature of dyspnea. They were in particular asked whether their difficulty was during inspiration or in expiration. Asthmatics chiefly described dyspnea as inspiratory while the majority of the emphysema group were unable to relate their distress to either phase of respiration. It is not clear why these two types who share common physiologic abnormalities and form the two well defined polar groups in the spectrum of airways obstruction experience clearly different sensations of dyspnea.

Adult

Asthma and chronic bronchitis: contrasting changes in body weight and hematocrit values during recovery from acute episodes.

Two groups of hospital inpatients, one with asthma and the other with chronic bronchitis were studied during the course of an acute episode. All had comparable airways obstruction and were free of cardiac involvement. They were treated on roughly similar lines and without the use of adrenal corticosteroids or any other agent that may influence body water balance. Body weight and hematocrit values done on admission and following recovery from dyspnoes, show that the asthmatics gained in weight and showed significant decrease in hematocrit on recovery, while there was no appreciable changes in the bronchitic group.

Asthma

Effect of alpha-receptor blocking drugs and disodium cromoglyate on histamine hypersensitivity in bronchial asthma.

Twenty patients with extrinsic type bronchial asthma are shown to have a significant fall in vital capacity (V.C.) and forced expiratory volume in 1 second (F.E.V.(1)) after an intravenous infusion of 50mug. of histamine dihydrochloride. In 10 of these subjects the fall in V.C. and F.E.V.(1) produced by intravenous histamine is inhibited by the alpha-receptor blocking drugs phentolamine and phenoxybenzamine injected before the histamine test. The inhalation of disodium cromoglycate in 10 subjects is also shown to inhibit the fall in V.C. and F.E.V.(1) produced by the intravenous infusion of histamine. It is suggested that bronchial smooth muscle in asthmatic subjects has alpha-adrenergic receptor sites, and that a possible mechanism for the action of disodium cromoglycate is that it stabilizes the cell membrane, thereby altering calcium ion transport.

Adolescent

Deaths from asthma.

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Adrenal Cortex Hormones

Sputum production during recovery from acute asthma--effect of adrenal corticosteroids.

The effect of corticosteroid drugs on sputum production was studied in 74 patients of asthma. They were alternatively allotted to two different treatment schedules-conventional bronchodilator drugs alone and bronchodilators plus corticosteroids. All the subjects recovered, bringing out sputum in the process. However, the steroid treated group produced significantly less sputum than the other group. It is concluded that (a) sputum expectoration is a regular accompaniment of recovery from acute asthma and (b) steroids inhibit sputum production in acute asthma.

Acute Disease