2.Your vaguely offensive use of the term “cult”: I went to the trouble of checking the definition in the Oxford dictionary: cult NOUN • 1A system of religious veneration and devotion directed towards a particular figure or object. ‘the cult of St Olaf’

Thanks for sharing this with all of us today, @garyschwitzer @HealthNewsRevu A nice gift. #healthcare #healthcarenews #journalism #reporting #factsmatter #truthmatters https://t.co/hNHdZDl2rc

ASM journals are the most prominent publications in the field, delivering up-to-date and authoritative coverage of both basic and clinical microbiology.

Many Mondo commenters may be unaware of the extent to which post World War II the US consciously sought to extend its cultural influence and worldview not only to the Third World but to Europe as well. The CIA and State Department financed cultural groups/magazines which supported the US worldview. More significantly, the US opened up other cultures to US cinema or else. Economic aid to post war France was tied to opening up France to American movies, the prime transmitter of American mythology. It seems to have paid off. I am now going to provide three quotes from “The Grand Chessboard” to show the geostrategic importance Zbigniew Brzezinski placed upon culture.

BACKGROUND: A key component of many asthma management guidelines is the recommendation for patient education and regular medical review. A number of controlled trials have been co… [more]

You sound like screeching distortion. Jewish is a religion-based identity. There’s no confusion about it.

© 2016 The Authors Background/Aims Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is characterized by airway inflammation, in which contributes to loss of lung function. Systemic inflammation is also a feature of COPD contributing to many associated co-morbidities. Statins, omega-3 fatty acids (docosahexanoic acid, DHA and eicosapentanoic acid, EPA) and lycopene have been shown to decrease systemic inflammation; however their combined effects have not been investigated. This study aims to identify changes in systemic and airway inflammation induced by statins alone or in combination with DHA, EPA and lycopene in COPD. Methods COPD patients (n¿=¿11) received rosuvastatin (20¿mg/day) for 4 weeks, then a combination of rosuvastatin (20¿mg/day), DHA and EPA (1.5¿g/day) and lycopene (45¿mg/day) for 8 weeks. Blood and sputum were collected and lung function measured by spirometry at baseline, week 4 and 12. Plasma fatty acids were measured using gas chromatography, while plasma carotenoids were analysed using high-performance liquid chromatography. Plasma CRP and IL-6 concentrations were measured using ELISA; and peripheral blood gene expression was measured using the nCounter¿ GX Human Inflammation Kit 2. Results Following the interventions, clinical characteristics and plasma IL-6 and CRP were unchanged. Sputum neutrophil proportion and absolute count was increased and macrophage proportion decreased by rosuvastatin (P¿=¿0.020 and P¿=¿0.015; respectively). Rosuvastatin increased LTB4R and decreased CXCL10 and AGER gene expression in white blood cells. The addition of lycopene and omega-3 fatty acids decreased LTB4R and increased CXCL10 to basal levels, whilst combined use of interventions increased ALOX15 blood gene expression. Conclusion This study shows that rosuvastatin, omega-3 fatty acids and lycopene have some anti-inflammatory effects systemically, but rosuvastatin may increase airway neutrophils, which would be undesirable in COPD patients, warranting further investigation.

Asthma is accompanied by the accumulation of potentially damaging eosinophils within inflamed airways. How eosinophils may be removed from the airways is not clear. The phagocytic… [more]

© 2018 American College of Chest Physicians Background: The decision to treat a suspected case of pertussis with antibiotics is usually based on a clinical diagnosis rather than waiting for laboratory confirmation. The current guideline focuses on making the clinical diagnosis of pertussis-associated cough in adults and children. Methods: The American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) methodologic guidelines and the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation framework were used. The Expert Cough Panel based their recommendations on findings from a systematic review that was recently published on the topic; final grading was reached by consensus according to Delphi methodology. The systematic review was carried out to answer the Key Clinical Question: In patients presenting with cough, how can we most accurately diagnose from clinical features alone those who have pertussis-associated cough as opposed to other causes of cough? Results: In adults, after pre-specified meta-analysis exclusions, pooled estimates of sensitivity and specificity were generated for only 4 clinical features: paroxysmal cough, post-tussive vomiting, inspiratory whooping, and absence of fever. Both paroxysmal cough and absence of fever had high sensitivity (93.2% [95% CI, 83.2-97.4] and 81.8% [95% CI, 72.2-88.7], respectively) and low specificity (20.6% [95% CI, 14.7-28.1] and 18.8% [95% CI, 8.1-37.9]). Inspiratory whooping and posttussive vomiting had a low sensitivity (32.5% [95% CI, 24.5-41.6] and 29.8% [95% CI, 18.0-45.2]) but high specificity (77.7% [95% CI, 73.1-81.7] and 79.5% [95% CI, 69.4-86.9]). In children, after pre-specified meta-analysis exclusions, pooled estimates of sensitivity and specificity were generated for only 1 clinical feature in children (0-18 years): posttussive vomiting. Posttussive vomiting in children was only moderately sensitive (60.0% [95% CI, 40.3-77.0]) and specific (66.0% [95% CI, 52.5-77.3]). Conclusions: In adults with acute (< 3 weeks) or subacute (3-8 weeks) cough, the presence of whooping or posttussive vomiting should rule in a possible diagnosis of pertussis, whereas the lack of a paroxysmal cough or the presence of fever should rule it out. In children with acute (< 4 weeks) cough, posttussive vomiting is suggestive of pertussis but is much less helpful as a clinical diagnostic test. Guideline suggestions are made based upon these findings and conclusions.

The baseline risk of developing prostate cancer of any stage is likely higher than that of the general population (estimated at about 51 per 1000 men diagnosed), and PSA screening probably increases their detection of any stage cancer by a larger magnitude than in the general population (29 more per 1000 men (95% CI 26 to 32 more))

The skeleton of an America’s Cup boat for the 2017 races is made from carbon composite, as are increasing amounts of Airbus’s aircraft; notably the A350 series, whose wings are entirely made from composite; the wing structure is very similar to the sail wing of the yacht.

In another study, published this year in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the team used the emerging scientific field of proteomics (the study of proteins) to identify four blood-based biomarkers that when analysed together can distinguish between asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.