Graham Barr

..We therefore hypothesized that residual lung volume in COPD would be associated with greater LV mass...

..An obstructive pattern of spirometry and emphysema were associated distinctly and independently with subclinical atherosclerosis in the carotid arteries and peripheral circulation, respectively, and were not independently related to CAC...

..The coexistence of COPD and asthma is widely recognized but has not been well described. This study characterizes clinical features, spirometry, and chest CT scans of smoking subjects with both COPD and asthma...

..Lung function at the end of life depends on its peak and subsequent decline. Because obesity is epidemic in young adulthood, we quantified age-related changes in lung function relative to body mass index (BMI)...

..We estimated potential costs and benefits of DOTS expansion in Haiti from the government, and societal perspectives...

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..Clinical studies examining endothelial function are lacking, particularly early in the disease. Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) is a physiologic measure of endothelial reactivity to endogenous nitric oxide...

..We evaluated the prevalence of these comorbid conditions and compared testing, patient knowledge, and management in a national sample of patients with COPD...

..Handheld spirometers have several advantages over desktop spirometers, but worries persist regarding reproducibility and validity of data from handheld spirometers. We undertook an independent examination of the EasyOne handheld spirometer...

..These measures may also provide imaging-based surrogate markers, and novel therapeutics targeted to the pulmonary vasculature might reduce symptoms and improve function in these common diseases...

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..National data are lacking on patient and physician perceptions of and patterns of care for COPD...

..To evaluate the addition of methylxanthines to standard treatments in patients presenting with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)...

..The glycemic threshold for type 2 diabetes should be established by cost-effectiveness analysis. The clinical diagnosis of diabetes mellitus could be streamlined by incorporation of hemoglobin A1c into established criteria...

..We assessed the relation between neighborhood poverty and TB at the height of the epidemic and longitudinally from 1984 through 1992...

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..Differences in the inflammation and cytokine profile between COPD and asthma might explain why COPD, but not asthma, is associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes...

..Given these findings, some of the poorer prognosis of African-American patients with PLN may result from socio-economic rather than biological or genetic factors...

..Cigarette smoking is the major cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but studies on the contribution of other smoking techniques are sparse...

..Plasma carbonyl content is a poor biomarker of oxidative stress in COPD and emphysema...

..Cigarette smoking is a risk factor for diffuse parenchymal lung disease. Risk factors for subclinical parenchymal lung disease have not been described...

..To study the association between serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and urinary albumin excretion in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and to assess whether the association is modified by ethnicity, sex, or systolic blood pressure...

..Given that the greatest increase in asthma mortality has occurred among older women, further research is needed to examine physician prescribing patterns and patient beliefs in this vulnerable population...

..Cured meats are high in nitrites. Nitrites generate reactive nitrogen species that may cause nitrative and nitrosative damage to the lung resulting in emphysema...

..An alternative approach to missing data yielded similar results. In conclusion, higher levels of fibrinogen, but not CRP, independently predicted greater FEV(1)/FVC decline in the elderly...

..To determine whether the self-reported diagnosis of adults who present to the emergency department (ED) with an acute exacerbation of either asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is validated by medical record review...

..CONCLUSIONS Women with diabetes had unfavorable cardiovascular risk factor profiles compared with men. African American and Hispanic women had less favorable profiles than non-Hispanic white women...

..However, the overall associations of dairy intake with lung density and lung function have not been studied...

..In this sample, reduced FMD was not an independent predictor of hypertension incidence, suggesting that impaired endothelial function does not play a major role in the development of hypertension...

..Blacks with chronic illness have poorer outcomes than whites in the United States. The health outcomes of minorities with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) on the lung transplant waiting list have not been studied...

..g., cumulative residential air pollution exposure, exposure to ETS as an adult). Childhood ETS exposure was associated with detectable differences on computed tomography scans of adult lungs of nonsmokers...

..Although many foods and nutrients are associated with lung function or symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the relation between overall diet and newly diagnosed COPD is not known...

..The effects of different antihypertensive medication classes on C-reactive protein (CRP) levels are still not well characterized, and might be of relevance to treatment choices...

..26-1.91). After adjustment for body mass index, the rate ratio was 1.16 (95% CI, 0.94-1.42). Short stature predicted adult-onset asthma in a large cohort of women, but this association was not independent of obesity...

..The risk factors for venous thromboembolism (VTE) following lung transplantation are not well established. We aimed to estimate the incidence of VTE and to identify the risk factors for VTE after lung transplantation...

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..A study was undertaken to test the effect of 100 mg aspirin or placebo on alternate days on the risk of adult-onset asthma in the Women's Health Study...

..In conclusion, COPD can be studied in large, questionnaire-based cohorts of health professionals...

..Nitrites generate oxidative-nitrative stress and were shown in animal models to cause emphysema. Prospective epidemiologic data on cured meats and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), however, are sparse...

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..Female reproductive hormones may contribute to the onset of asthma among adult women, but do not appear to hasten the development of COPD...

..Prior studies suggest that obesity may cause asthma. Obesity and asthma are prevalent in low-income urban neighborhoods, but the impact of obesity on asthma in such neighborhoods has not been examined...

..Frequent nut and seed consumption was associated with lower levels of inflammatory markers, which may partially explain the inverse association of nut consumption with cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk...

..16, 95% CI 0.98-1.36, p = 0.09; HR for Hispanics = 1.21, 95% CI 0.99-1.48, p = 0.056). In summary, black and Hispanic patients with IPF have worse survival than whites after listing for lung transplant...

..In addition, BMI predicts asthma. We hypothesized that these DNA sequence variants predict adult-onset asthma only in sedentary women...

..Recent studies have suggested that ICS therapy also may decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease, and perhaps of all-cause mortality. We examined this hypothesis in a large, well-characterized cohort of asthmatic women...

..In an observational cohort study, women who self-selected for frequent aspirin use developed less newly diagnosed asthma than women who did not take aspirin...

..00; p(trend) = 0.002). In contrast to these findings, the consumption of cured meats was not associated with the risk of adult-onset asthma. These data suggest that cured meat may worsen the adverse effects of smoking on risk of COPD...

..National datasets should include individual-level measures of socioeconomic status in order to improve evaluation of social and environmental causes of disparities in renal transplant outcomes...

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..This analysis shows that spraying pyrethroids for WNV control in New York City was not followed by population-level increases in public hospital ED visit rates for asthma...

..This article reviews the existing literature and evaluates the epidemiologic and pathophysiologic evidence underlying a possible link between acetaminophen and asthma...

..We hypothesized that a similar pattern would be evident in children presenting to the emergency department (ED) with an asthma exacerbation...

..Results are compatible with some effect of particulate matter exposures on development of carotid atherosclerosis...

..Data on the relations of different types of fish meals and long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) to measures of atherosclerosis are sparse...

..S.-funded efforts to expand the DOTS program in Mexico, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic could reduce tuberculosis-related morbidity and mortality among migrants to the United States, producing net cost savings for the United States...

..This study will examine if a particular kind of heart failure (with preserved ejection fraction or "diastolic" heart failure) is caused in part by and may share pathogenesis with subclinical lung disease. ..

..If confirmed, this hypothesis would lead to the testing of currently available (e.g., statins) and novel (e.g., stem cell) therapies targeted to the endothelium in COPD. ..

..This novel hypothesis, if confirmed, has the potential to lead directly to the testing of currently available therapies for endothelial dysfunction in COPD. ..

..Use of this existing cohort with previously collected blood samples will provide relatively cost-effective results about this potentially promising and safe therapy for COPD. ..

..If confirmed, this hypothesis would lead to the testing of currently available (e.g., statins) and novel (e.g., stem cell) therapies targeted to the endothelium in COPD. ..