Public Release: 5-May-2015 Women hospitalized 60 percent more than men … – EurekAlert (press release)


The News-Press

Public Release: 5-May-2015 Women hospitalized 60 percent more than men
EurekAlert (press release)
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (May 5, 2015) – While it may be a stereotype, it's also true that women seek medical care more frequently than men do. And a recent study shows that women with acute asthma who are treated in the emergency department (ED) are …
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Poverty, race drive asthma rates more than city living, research shows – Memphis Commercial Appeal


Memphis Commercial Appeal

Poverty, race drive asthma rates more than city living, research shows
Memphis Commercial Appeal
There are, however, pockets around the country in suburban and rural areas where the prevalence of asthma is just as high, according to the study, recently published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. The common links among 23,000

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Undifferentiated Bronchial Fibroblasts Derived from Asthmatic Patients Display Higher Elastic Modulus than Their Non-Asthmatic Counterparts.

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Undifferentiated Bronchial Fibroblasts Derived from Asthmatic Patients Display Higher Elastic Modulus than Their Non-Asthmatic Counterparts.

PLoS One. 2015;10(2):e0116840

Authors: Sarna M, Wojcik KA, Hermanowicz P, Wnuk D, Burda K, Sanak M, Czy? J, Michalik M

Abstract
During asthma development, differentiation of epithelial cells and fibroblasts towards the contractile phenotype is associated with bronchial wall remodeling and airway constriction. Pathological fibroblast-to-myofibroblast transition (FMT) can be triggered by local inflammation of bronchial walls. Recently, we have demonstrated that human bronchial fibroblasts (HBFs) derived from asthmatic patients display some inherent features which facilitate their FMT in vitro. In spite of intensive research efforts, these properties remain unknown. Importantly, the role of undifferentiated HBFs in the asthmatic process was systematically omitted. Specifically, biomechanical properties of undifferentiated HBFs have not been considered in either FMT or airway remodeling in vivo. Here, we combine atomic force spectroscopy with fluorescence microscopy to compare mechanical properties and actin cytoskeleton architecture of HBFs derived from asthmatic patients and non-asthmatic donors. Our results demonstrate that asthmatic HBFs form thick and aligned ‘ventral’ stress fibers accompanied by enlarged focal adhesions. The differences in cytoskeleton architecture between asthmatic and non-asthmatic cells correlate with higher elastic modulus of asthmatic HBFs and their increased predilection to TGF-?-induced FMT. Due to the obvious links between cytoskeleton architecture and mechanical equilibrium, our observations indicate that HBFs derived from asthmatic bronchi can develop considerably higher static tension than non-asthmatic HBFs. This previously unexplored property of asthmatic HBFs may be potentially important for their myofibroblastic differentiation and bronchial wall remodeling during asthma development.

PMID: 25679502 [PubMed – as supplied by publisher]

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Study shows race, ethnicity and poverty impact childhood asthma more than … – West Hawaii Today

Study shows race, ethnicity and poverty impact childhood asthma more than
West Hawaii Today
For more than 50 years, researchers have described childhood asthma as a plague of the inner city — urban areas where 20 percent or more of the population lives below the poverty line. But a new study by researchers from Johns Hopkins University

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