Asthma | Buy Asthma Inhalers Online: Ventolin, Flovent, Advair, proventil

Acute Effects of Passive Smoking on Lung Function and Airway Reactivity in Asthmatic Subjects

Nonsmokers are frequently exposed to tobacco smoke in indoor environments. The potential health risks of such involuntary, or passive, smoking is a topic of intense interest. Current evidence suggests that passive smoking acutely lowers the angina threshold and that chronic passive smoking may lead to small airways dysfunction or lung cancer. There is a paucity of data on whether asthmatics may be at special respiratory risk from passive smoking. Asthma is characterized by hyperreactivity of

Deliberations of Pulsus Paradoxus in Asthma

Although determination of pulsus paradoxus (change in systolic pressure greater than 10 mm Hg) in the clinical setting is most commonly done by means of a sphygmomanometer cuff and stethoscope, in our experience, as well as that of other investigators, this is an inaccurate and difficult measurement; yet in very few studies of pulsus paradoxus in man has the arterial blood pressure been measured directly. In this study, direct measurement of systolic and diastolic pressures

Outcomes of Pulsus Paradoxus in Asthma

A typical record of induced pulsus paradoxus during hyperinflation is shown in Figure 1. On inspiration, there is a fall in systolic blood pressure which reaches a minimum usually on the second heartbeat following the fall in Ppl. Diastolic blood pressure also falls but to a lesser extent, resulting in a fall in pulse pressure. There follows a gradual recovery of systolic and diastolic pressures to a maximum in middle to late expiration. Figure 2

Factors Influencing Pulsus Paradoxus in Asthma

Effeets of respiration on the circulation have been recognized for many years. Exaggerated falls in blood pressure in association with enhanced variations in intrathoracic pressure (pulsus paradoxus) were first reported by Gauchat and Katz in 1924. Since pulsus paradoxus in patients with bronchial asthma did not appear to indicate an abnormality of the circulation but was thought to reflect transmission of the negative intrathoracic pressure to the vascular tree, it was not considered to be

The Pathophysiology of Asthma: Mucus Plugging of the Airways

At autopsy, the lungs from patients that die because of asthma are hyperinflated and tend not to collapse after the thorax is opened because the segmental and subsegmental airways and the bronchioles are filled with inflammatory mucus plugs. These plugs contain mucous, serous and cellular elements. The eosinophilic leukocyte is the cell which tends to predominate in these plugs, but other inflammatory cells and a large number of epithelial cells can also be found. The submucosa shows evidence of

The Pathophysiology of Asthma: Inflammation of Airways

While the bronchoconstriction observed following acute antigen challenge in the guinea pig is not associated with airway edema, inflammatory edema probably plays an important role in human disease. Analysis of the protein in the bronchial mucus plugs from asthmatic patients shows large amounts of albumin and large numbers of inflammatory cells which strongly suggest that an inflammatory exudate enters the airways lumen. The study of nonimmunologically-induced inflammatory reaction in the airways of animals has provided several insights

The Pathophysiology of Asthma: Smooth Muscle Spasm

For the purpose of this discussion, the pathophysiologic features of asthma will be divided into muscle spasm, airways inflammation with edema, and mucus hypersecretion. While all three are relatively constant features of asthma, their proportionate contribution to the abnormal physiology may vary considerably with the state of the disease. For example, smooth muscle spasm is probably the feature that accounts for rapid reversibility of the airways obstruction , while inflammatory edema and mucus plugging of the airways

Observations Concerning Expiratory Flow and Bronchodilator Response in Asthma

Isoproterenol acts directly on the smooth muscles, which are distributed throughout the large as well as small airways, by stimulating the cyclic AMP system resulting in bronchodilation. On the other hand, atropine dilates the airways by inhibiting parasympathetic nerve endings responsible for bronchoconstriction via cyclic GMP system. As the nerve supply is densest in the large airways, it is likely that the large airways are the major site of action of atropine. This is supported

Outlet Concerning Expiratory Flow and Bronchodilator Response in Asthma

Patients were divided into two groups depending upon the change in the degree of density dependence of the MEFV curve in response to isoproterenol. Patients showing a decrease in density dependence as measured by a more than 15 percent rise in VisoV and/or a similar fall in the percentage ratio of Vmaxso breathing-Helox to that breathing air (Vmax5o Helox/air) were assigned to group 1. Subjects showing an increase in density dependence of airflow after administration

Research Concerning Expiratory Flow and Bronchodilator Response in Asthma

Thirty subjects complaining of episodic increase in shortness of breath with wheezing and at least 15 percent variability in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) documented by spirometry were considered appropriate subjects for the study. All had persistent respiratory symptoms without an appreciable change in their frequency or severity during the week preceding the study. Five subjects did not complete the study, four of them for reasons not related to the study. The fifth