Relation of oxidant-antioxidant imbalance with disease progression in patients with asthma

Asthma is a chronic airway disorder which is associated to the inflammatory cells. Inflammatory and immune cells generate more reactive oxygen species in patients suffering from asthma which leads to tissue injury. To investigate the role of oxidant-antioxidant imbalance in disease progression of asthmatic patients. In this study, 130 asthmatic patients and 70 healthy controls were documented. For this malondialdehyde level, total protein carbonyls, sulfhydryls, activity of superoxide dismutase [SOD], catalase, glutathione peroxidase [GPx], total blood glutathione, and total antioxidant capacity [FRAP] were measured. Analysis of the data was done using unpaired student t test and one-way ANOVA analysis. P < 0.05 was considered significant. The present work showed that the systemic levels of MDA [4.19 +/- 0.10 nmol/ml, P < 0.001] and protein carbonyls [1.13 +/- 0.02 nmol/mg, P < 0.001] were found to be remarkably higher in asthmatic patients while protein sulfhydryls [0.55 +/- 0.01 mmol/l, P < 0.05] decreased as compared to controls [2.84 +/- 0.12 nmol/ml, 0.79 +/- 0.02 nmol/mg and 0.60 +/- 0.02 mmol/l, respectively]. We also observed decrease in activities of SOD [2047 +/- 50.34 U/g Hb, P < 0.05], catalase [4374 +/- 67.98 U/g Hb, P < 0.01], and GPx [40.97 +/- 1.05 U/g Hb, P < 0.01] in erythrocytes compared to control [2217 +/- 60.11 U/g Hb, 4746 +/- 89.94 U/g Hb, and 48.37 +/- 2.47 U/g Hb, respectively]. FRAP level [750.90 +/- 21.22 micromol/l, P < 0.05] in plasma was decreased, whereas total blood glutathione increased [0.94 +/- 0.02 micromol/l, P < 0.05] as seen in control [840.40 +/- 28.39 mol/l and 0.84 +/- 0.04 mmol/l]. This work supports and describes the hypothesis that an imbalance between oxidant-antioxidant is associated to the oxidative stress which plays a significant role in severity of the disease

Association between serum C- reactive protein levels and other important predictive markers of outcome in COPD

C-reactive protein [CRP] is an acute-phase protein synthesized predominantly by the hepatocytes in response to tissue damage or inflammation. Levels of acute-phase proteins rise rapidly, during infection and after injury. We take up the study to correlate serum CRP levels with other important predictive markers of outcome in COPD. Patient with stable COPD [no exacerbation in the last two months] were taken up for the study. Parameters taken to correlate were age, grade of dyspnea, FEV1. It was found the CRP is negatively correlated with FEV1 and grade of dyspnea but not correlated with age

Herniation of a pulmonary emphysematous bulla to contralateral hemithorax

Herniation of an emphysematous bulla is extremely rare. A 55-year-old male patient presented with complains of shortness of breath and cough for the last 10 years which had exacerbated in the last two days. The patient was a diagnosed case of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Chest x-ray showed bilateral hyperinflated lung fields along with loss of lung markings in left upper lobe and a thin white line in right upper lobe suggestive of wall of bulla. High resolution computed tomography of the chest revealed anterior herniation of a pulmonary bulla from left to right side across midline. Patient was put on antibiotics, hydrocortisone and aminophylline by intravenous route and nebulization of steroid and bronchodilator. However, the patient expired after 5 days following admission