Assessment of asthma control in users of oral anti-asthma medications.

BACKGROUND: Despite guidelines recommending inhalation therapy as the preferred choice, oral therapy is still widely used in the treatment of asthma in India. However, data about the level of asthma control and healthcare use in patients on oral anti-asthma medications are scarce.METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted to assess the level of asthma control and healthcare use in patients taking oral anti-asthma medications.RESULTS: The study population consisted of 381 adults randomly selected from health screening programmes. All subjects were already receiving oral anti-asthma medications; however, up to 72% had not been diagnosed with asthma by their treating doctors prior to the screening programmes. The cohort had a mean age of 48.26 ± 13.83 years (70% males) and mean peak expiratory flow of 245 ± 78.93 mL/sec. The mean Asthma Control Questionnaire 5 (ACQ-5) score was 2.53 ± 1.15, with respectively 33%, 49.3% and 32.6% reporting at least one episode of breathlessness, one emergency doctor visit and one hospitalisation due to asthma or its symptoms in the past year.CONCLUSION: Underdiagnosis and inappropriate management, as indicated by the poor asthma control and increased hospitalisations seen in this study, is probably a key contributor to the increased burden of the disease in India.

Superior Photo-thermionic electron Emission from Illuminated Phosphorene Surface.

This work demonstrates that black phosphorene, a two dimensional allotrope of phosphorus, has the potential to be an efficient photo-thermionic emitter. To investigate and understand the novel aspects we use a combined approach in which ab initio quantum simulation tools are utilized along with semiclassical description for the emission process. First by using density functional theory based formalism, we study the band structure of phosphorene. From the locations of electronic bands, and band edges, we estimate the Fermi level and work function. This leads us to define a valid material specific parameter space and establish a formalism for estimating thermionic electron emission current from phosphorene. Finally we demonstrate how the emission current can be enhanced substantially under the effect of photon irradiation. We observe that photoemission flux to strongly dominate over its coexisting counterpart thermionic emission flux. Anisotropy in phosphorene structure plays important role in enhancing the flux. The approach which is valid over a much wider range of parameters is successfully tested against recently performed experiments in a different context. The results open up a new possibility for application of phosphorene based thermionic and photo-thermionic energy converters.

Reference values for peak expiratory flow in Indian adult population using a European Union scale peak flow meter.

BACKGROUND: Reference values of peak expiratory flow (PEF) in Indian adults have to date been derived locally, using an old (Wright) scale peak flow meter. There are thus no reliable reference values for PEF for Indians and this formed the aim of the study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A European Union (EU) scale peak flow meter (PFM) was used for the study. A respiratory health and demographic questionnaire was administered to 1000 male and female adults from randomly selected locations in the country in this multi centric study. The locations represented different geographic, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Patients were stratified according to height and age. The PEF values were measured using the Breathometer™ (Cipla Ltd., India) with EU scale. Reference equations were derived from multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: A total of 3608 participants were excluded. In 80% of the remaining 6138 healthy adults (M: 3720; F: 2418), the predicted regression equations were derived. Gender, age, and height were the significant determinants of PEF. The equations in L/minute are: Females: PEF = -1.454 (Age) + 2.368 (Height) Males: PEF = -1.807 (Age) + 3.206 (Height). The derived equation was validated by comparing the predicted PEF values with the measured values in the remaining sample of 20% (Mean ΔPEF: M = 1.85 L/minute, CI = -2.76, 6.47; F = 1.64, CI = -2.89, 6.18). An Indian adult with average height and age was found to have approximately 30% lower PEF compared to the corresponding European adult using the Nunn and Gregg equation. CONCLUSION: We derived reference values of PEF for Indian adults using a validated EU scale peak flow meter.