• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.607-611
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• 2015

Background: Chronic respiratory disease is an important factor for development of lung cancer. To explore the influence of hazy weather on respiratory diseases and its variation the present study was conducted. Materials and Methods: Data from air pollution surveillance from January to October 2014 and case records of visiting patients in the $263^{th}$ Hospital of Chinese PLA in the corresponding period were collected to analyze the relevance between different degrees of air pollution (hazy weather) and the number of visiting patients in Department of Respiratory Disease. Results: Air quality index (AQI) of hazy weather had significantly positive association with particulate matter 2.5 ($PM_{2.5}$) and the number of patients with 5 kinds of respiratory diseases i and different pollutants had distinct influences on various respiratory diseases. Conclusions: The degree of air pollution in Beijing City is in close association with the number of patients with respiratory diseases, in which $PM_{2.5}$ and $SO_2$ are in more significant influences on all respiratory diseases. This could have essential implications for lung cancer development in China.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제79권4호
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• pp.241-247
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• 2016

Bronchodilators are the cornerstone of symptomatic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) treatment. They are routinely recommended for symptom reduction, with a preference of long-acting over short-acting drugs. Bronchodilators are classified into two classes based on distinct modes of action, i.e., long-acting antimuscarinics (LAMA, once-daily and twice-daily), and long-acting ${\beta}2$-agonists (LABA, once-daily and twice-daily). In contrast to asthma management, evidence supports the efficacy of both classes of long-acting bronchodilators as monotherapy in preventing COPD exacerbations, with greater efficacy of LAMA drugs versus LABAs. Several novel LAMA/LABA fixed dose combination inhalers are currently approved for COPD maintenance treatment. These agents show superior symptom control to monotherapies, and some of these combinations have also demonstrated superior efficacy in exacerbation prevention versus monotherapies, or combinations of inhaled corticosteroids plus LABA. This review summarizes the current data on clinical effectiveness of bronchodilators alone or in combination to prevent exacerbations of COPD.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제83권3호
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• pp.185-194
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• 2020

Blood eosinophil counts have emerged as a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) biomarker that predict the effects of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) in clinical practice. Post-hoc and prospective analysis of randomized control trials have shown that higher blood eosinophil counts at the start of the study predict a greater response to ICS. COPD patients with frequent exacerbations (2 or more moderate exacerbations/yr) or a history of hospitalization have a greater response to ICS. Ex-smokers also appear to have a greater ICS response. Blood eosinophil counts can be combined with clinical information such as exacerbation history and smoking status to enable a precision medicine approach to the use of ICS. Higher blood eosinophil counts are associated with increased eosinophilic lung inflammation, and other biological features that may contribute to the increased ICS response observed. Emerging data indicates that lower blood eosinophil counts are associated with an increased risk of bacterial infection, suggesting complex relationships between eosinophils, ICS response, and the airway microbiome.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제86권2호
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• pp.71-81
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• 2023

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects close to 400 million people worldwide. COPD is characterized by significant airflow limitation on spirometry. Most patients with COPD are diagnosed in their fifth or sixth decades of life. However, the disease begins much earlier. By the time airflow limitation is detected on spirometry, patients with COPD have lost close to 50% of their small airways. Thus, identification of patients with early COPD, defined as persons with preserved spirometry, who demonstrate pathologic or functional hallmarks of COPD, is essential for disease modification and ultimately disease elimination. This paper provides an up-to-date overview of the current case definition of early COPD, its importance, the novel technologies required for its detection in young adults and future directions in therapeutics for treatment.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제86권3호
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• pp.166-175
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• 2023

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The lower airways contain a rich and diverse microbiome, which may play a significant regulatory role in both health and disease. In COPD, the microbiome becomes perturbed, causing dysbiosis. Increased representation of members in the Proteobacteria phylum and certain members in the Firmicutes phylum has been associated with increased risk of exacerbations and mortality. Therapies such as inhaled corticosteroids and azithromycin may modulate the airway microbiome or its metabolites in patients with COPD. This paper provides an up-to-date overview of the airway microbiome and its importance in the pathophysiology of COPD and as potential therapeutic target in the future.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제79권4호
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• pp.207-213
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• 2016

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) encompasses several clinical syndromes, most notably emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Most of the current treatments fail to attenuate severity and progression of the disease, thereby requiring better mechanistic understandings of pathogenesis to develop disease-modifying therapeutics. A number of theories on COPD pathogenesis have been promulgated wherein an increase in protease burden from chronic inflammation, exaggerated production of reactive oxygen species and the resulting oxidant injury, or superfluous cell death responses caused by enhanced cellular injury/damage were proposed as the culprit. These hypotheses are not mutually exclusive and together likely represent the multifaceted biological processes involved in COPD pathogenesis. Recent studies demonstrate that mitochondria are involved in innate immune signaling that plays important roles in cigarette smoke-induced inflammasome activation, pulmonary inflammation and tissue remodeling responses. These responses are reviewed herein and synthesized into a view of COPD pathogenesis whereby mitochondria play a central role.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제59권5호
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• pp.464-472
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• 2005

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제83권2호
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• pp.107-115
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• 2020

Aging is often viewed as a progressive decline in fitness due to cumulative deleterious alterations of biological functions in the living system. Recently, our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying aging biology has significantly advanced. Interestingly, many of the pivotal molecular features of aging biology are also found to contribute to the pathogenesis of chronic lung disorders such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, for which advanced age is the most crucial risk factor. Thus, an enhanced understanding of how molecular features of aging biology are intertwined with the pathobiology of these aging-related lung disorders has paramount significance and may provide an opportunity for the development of novel therapeutics for these major unmet medical needs. To serve the purpose of integrating molecular understanding of aging biology with pulmonary medicine, in this review, recent findings obtained from the studies of aging-associated lung disorders are summarized and interpreted through the perspective of molecular biology of aging.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제71권1호
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• pp.1-7
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• 2011

Many findings suggest that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) imposes an enormous burden on patients, health-care professionals and society. COPD contributes to morbidity and mortality and to a significant use of health-care resources. In spite of a higher prevalence of COPD in Korea, the result of COPD treatment is not effective. The purpose of this article was to review recent advances in the study of COPD in Korea with the aim of improving effective management. This review highlights articles pertaining to the following topics; prevalence, assessment of COPD, risk factors for hospitalization, co-morbid diseases, phenotypes, and treatment issues.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제40권3호
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• pp.314-318
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• 1993

Chronic eosinophilic pneumonia is an idiopathic condition characterized by chronic infiltration of the lung with eosinophils, weight loss, dyspnea, and pulmonary infiltration. Recently, we have experienced one case of chronic eosinophilic pneumonia presenting as the acute respiratory failure. A 34-year-old man was admitted to the hospital with one month's history of coughing, dyspnea, mucoid sputum, weight loss and one day's history of subcutaneous emphysema. The radiographic lung lesion and dyspnea rapidly progressed to a critical condition of acute respiratory failure. The combination of blood eosinophilia, lung infiltration on the chest x-ray, sign of acute rapiratory failure, rapid response to steroid therapy, and the finding of the transbronchial lung biopsy permit the diagnosis of chronic eosinophilic pneumonia.