Condition: Asthma
Interventions: Drug: Vapendavir; Drug: Vapendavir; Drug: Placebo
Sponsor: Biota Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Recruiting – verified February 2015
View full post on ClinicalTrials.gov: asthma | received in the last 14 days
Scientists to explore biology of human asthma by using slime mould – News-Medical.net
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Scientists to explore biology of human asthma by using slime mould
News-Medical.net Scientists from Royal Holloway, University of London, will research the biology of human asthma by using a slime mould, an organism which has no lungs but could hold the key to new treatments. Professor Robin Williams, from the School of Biological … |
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Human coronaviruses: viral and cellular factors involved in neuroinvasiveness and neuropathogenesis.
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Human coronaviruses: viral and cellular factors involved in neuroinvasiveness and neuropathogenesis.
Virus Res. 2014 Oct 1;
Authors: Desforges M, Le Coupanec A, Stodola JK, Meessen-Pinard M, Talbot PJ
Abstract
Among the various respiratory viruses infecting human beings, coronaviruses are important pathogens, which usually infect the upper respiratory tract, where they are mainly associated with common colds. However, in more vulnerable populations, such as newborns, infants, the elderly and immune-compromised individuals, these opportunistic pathogens can also affect the lower respiratory tract, leading to pneumonia, exacerbations of asthma, and various types of respiratory distress syndrome. The respiratory involvement of human coronaviruses has been clearly established since the 1960’s. Nevertheless, for almost three decades now, data reported in the scientific literature has also demonstrated that, like it was described for other human viruses, coronaviruses have neuroinvasive capacities since they can spread from the respiratory tract to the central nervous system (CNS). Once there, infection of CNS cells (neurotropism) could lead to human health problems, such as encephalitis and long-term neurological diseases. Neuroinvasive coronaviruses could damage the CNS as a result of misdirected host immune responses that could be associated with autoimmunity in susceptible individuals (virus-induced neuroimmunopathology) and/or viral replication, which directly induces damage to CNS cells (virus-induced neuropathology). Given all these properties, it has been suggested that these opportunistic human respiratory pathogens could be associated with the triggering or the exacerbation of neurologic diseases for which the etiology remains poorly understood. Herein, we present host and viral factors that participate in the regulation of the possible pathogenic processes associated with CNS infection by human coronaviruses and we try to decipher the intricate interplay between virus and host target cells in order to characterize their role in the virus life cycle as well as in the capacity of the cell to respond to viral invasion.
PMID: 25281913 [PubMed – as supplied by publisher]
View full post on pubmed: asthma
Allogeneic Human Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells for a Single Male Patient With Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)
Condition: Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy
Intervention: Biological: Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Sponsors: Allergy and Asthma Consultants, Wichita, KansasAidan Foundation; Neil H. Riordan PhDAllergy and Asthma Consultants, Wichita, Kansas
Enrolling by invitation – verified September 2014
View full post on ClinicalTrials.gov: asthma | received in the last 14 days
A Computational Physiology Approach to Personalized Treatment Models: The Beneficial Effects of Slow Breathing on the Human Cardiovascular System.
A Computational Physiology Approach to Personalized Treatment Models: The Beneficial Effects of Slow Breathing on the Human Cardiovascular System.
Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2014 Jul 25;
Authors: Fonoberova M, Mezic I, Buckman JF, Fonoberov VA, Mezic A, Vaschillo E, Mun EY, Vaschillo B, Bates ME
Abstract
Heart rate variability biofeedback intervention involves slow breathing at a rate of ~6 breaths per min (resonance breathing) to maximize respiratory and baroreflex effects on heart period oscillations. This intervention has wide-ranging clinical benefits and is gaining empirical support as an adjunct therapy for biobehavioral disorders, including asthma and depression. Yet, little is known about the system-level cardiovascular changes that occur during resonance breathing or the extent to which individuals differ in cardiovascular benefit. This study used a computational physiology approach to dynamically model the human cardiovascular system at rest and during resonance breathing. Noninvasive measurements of heart period, beat-to-beat systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and respiration period were obtained from 24 healthy young men and women. A model with respiration as input was parameterized to better understand how the cardiovascular processes that control variability in heart period and blood pressure change from rest to resonance breathing. The cost function used in model calibration corresponded to the difference between the experimental data and model outputs. A good match was observed between the data and model outputs (heart period, blood pressure, and corresponding power spectral densities). Significant improvements in several modeled cardiovascular functions (e.g., blood flow to internal organs, sensitivity of the sympathetic component of the baroreflex, ventricular elastance) were observed during resonance breathing. Individual differences in the magnitude and nature of these dynamic responses suggest that computational physiology may be clinically useful for tailoring heart rate variability biofeedback interventions for the needs of individual patients.
PMID: 25063789 [PubMed – as supplied by publisher]
View full post on pubmed: asthma
Human rhinovirus and wheezing: short and long-term associations in children.
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Human rhinovirus and wheezing: short and long-term associations in children.
Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2013 Aug;32(8):827-33
Authors: van der Gugten AC, van der Zalm MM, Uiterwaal CS, Wilbrink B, Rossen JW, van der Ent CK
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Human rhinoviruses (HRVs) have been suggested to play a role in the development of childhood wheezing. However, whether HRV is causally related to the development of wheezing or HRV-associated wheeze is merely an indicator of disease susceptibility is unclear. Our aim was to study the role of HRV during infancy in the development of lower respiratory disease during infancy and childhood.
METHODS: In a population-based birth cohort, during the 1st year of life, nose and throat swabs were collected on a monthly basis, regardless of any symptoms. Polymerase chain reaction was used to detect an extensive panel of respiratory pathogens. Lung function was measured before 2 months of age. Information on respiratory symptoms was collected by daily questionnaires and electronic patient files.
RESULTS: 1425 samples were collected in 140 infants. Both the presence of (single or multiple) pathogens (HRV equal to other pathogens) and increased respiratory system resistance were significantly associated with lower respiratory symptoms during infancy. HRV presence during infancy was not associated with the risk of wheezing at age 4, but every HRV episode with wheezing increased the risk of wheezing at age 4 (odds ratio 1.9, 1.1-3.5). This association weakened after adjustment for lung function (odds ratio 1.4, 0.7-2.9).
CONCLUSIONS: HRV and other viruses are associated with lower respiratory symptoms during infancy, as well as a high presymptomatic respiratory system resistance. HRV presence during infancy is not associated with childhood wheezing, but wheeze during a HRV episode is an indicator of children at high risk for childhood wheeze, partly because of a reduced neonatal lung function.
PMID: 23584579 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]
View full post on pubmed: asthma
Effects of a Cocoa Shot on the Human Brain 2
Condition: Caffeine
Interventions: Dietary Supplement: no caffeine; Dietary Supplement: high caffeine; Dietary Supplement: no theobromine; Dietary Supplement: low theobromine; Dietary Supplement: high theobromine
Sponsors: Wake Forest School of Medicine; The Hershey Company
Recruiting – verified March 2014
View full post on ClinicalTrials.gov: asthma | received in the last 14 days
Structural insights into the interaction between a potent anti-inflammatory protein, vCCI, and the human CC chemokine, Eotaxin-1.
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Structural insights into the interaction between a potent anti-inflammatory protein, vCCI, and the human CC chemokine, Eotaxin-1.
J Biol Chem. 2014 Jan 30;
Authors: Kuo NW, Gao YG, Schill MS, Isern N, Dupureur CM, Liwang PJ
Abstract
Chemokines play important roles in the immune system, not only recruiting leukocytes to the site of infection and inflammation but also guiding cell homing and cell development. The soluble poxvirus-encoded protein vCCI, a CC chemokine inhibitor, can bind to human CC chemokines tightly to impair the host immune defense. This protein has no known homologs in eukaryotes, and may represent a potent method to stop inflammation. Previously, our structure of the vCCI:MIP-1? complex indicated that vCCI uses negatively charged residues in ?-sheet II to interact with positively charged residues in the MIP-1? N-terminus,20’s region and 40’s loop. However, the interactions between vCCI and other CC chemokines have not yet been fully explored. Here, we used NMR and fluorescence anisotropy to study the interaction between vCCI and eotaxin-1 (CCL11), a CC chemokine that is an important factor in the asthma response. NMR results reveal that the binding pattern is very similar to the vCCI:MIP-1? complex, and suggest that electrostatic interactions provide a major contribution to binding. Fluorescence anisotropy results on variants of eotaxin-1 further confirm the critical roles of the charged residues in eotaxin. In addition, the binding affinity between vCCI and other wild type CC chemokines, MCP-1, MIP-1? and RANTES, were determined as 1.09 nM, 1.16 nM, and 0.22 nM, respectively. To our knowledge, this is the first work quantitatively measuring the binding affinity between vCCI and different CC chemokines.
PMID: 24482230 [PubMed – as supplied by publisher]
View full post on pubmed: asthma
A Single-Nucleotide Polymorphism of Human Neuropeptide S Gene Originated from Europe Shows Decreased Bioactivity.
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A Single-Nucleotide Polymorphism of Human Neuropeptide S Gene Originated from Europe Shows Decreased Bioactivity.
PLoS One. 2013;8(12):e83009
Authors: Deng C, He X, Hsueh AJ
Abstract
Using accumulating SNP (Single-Nucleotide Polymorphism) data, we performed a genome-wide search for polypeptide hormone ligands showing changes in the mature regions to elucidate genotype/phenotype diversity among various human populations. Neuropeptide S (NPS), a brain peptide hormone highly conserved in vertebrates, has diverse physiological effects on anxiety, fear, hyperactivity, food intake, and sleeping time through its cognate receptor-NPSR. Here, we report a SNP rs4751440 (L(6)-NPS) causing non-synonymous substitution on the 6(th) position (V to L) of the NPS mature peptide region. L(6)-NPS has a higher allele frequency in Europeans than other populations and probably originated from European ancestors ?25,000 yrs ago based on haplotype analysis and Approximate Bayesian Computation. Functional analyses indicate that L(6)-NPS exhibits a significant lower bioactivity than the wild type NPS, with ?20-fold higher EC50 values in the stimulation of NPSR. Additional evolutionary and mutagenesis studies further demonstrate the importance of the valine residue in the 6(th) position for NPS functions. Given the known physiological roles of NPS receptor in inflammatory bowel diseases, asthma pathogenesis, macrophage immune responses, and brain functions, our study provides the basis to elucidate NPS evolution and signaling diversity among human populations.
PMID: 24386135 [PubMed – as supplied by publisher]
View full post on pubmed: asthma
Effects of Tobacco Products on Live Attenuated Influenza Virus (LAIV) Infections in Human Volunteers
Conditions: Influenza, Human; Smoking; Respiratory Tract Infections; Habits
Intervention: Biological: LAIV
Sponsors: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; National Institutes of Health (NIH); National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI); Food and Drug Administration (FDA); Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science (TCORS
Not yet recruiting – verified December 2013
View full post on ClinicalTrials.gov: asthma | received in the last 14 days