Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0149514 (bronchitis)
 6,902 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Kartagener's syndrome (occurrence of bronchitis and sinusitis in patients with transposed viscera or situs inversas) increases susceptibility to purulent infections of the upper and lower respiratory tract, leading to long-term damage to the respiratory tract. Arge reported that male sterility is a component of Kartagener's syndrome. Application of electron microscopy (EM) techniques to the study of the sperm of infertile men showed the presence of immotile spermatozoa with abnormal anoxemal structures. Afzelius, in examining respiratory tracts, reported tracheobronchial clearance with no mucociliary transport; absence of ciliary motion in biopsy material; and, similarity in EM appearance of ciliary anoxemes and sperm. Most of the subjects studied had Kartagener's syndrome; others had immotile sperm and chronic respiratory infection but not situs inversus. Other studies had similar observations; Eliasson et al. introduced the term "immotile ciliasyndrome." Sturgess et al. reported the presence of a completely differenct ciliary anoxemal defect in both respiratory tract and spermatozoa of 3 siblings with chronic respiratory tract disease but not Kartagener's syndrome. The defect in Kartagener's syndrome is the absence of dynein arms (believed to be responsible for the generation of ciliary movements and radial spokes which allow the cilia to bend) while the defect in Sturgess cases is lack of radial spokes. Whatever the mechanism, the movement of the cilia is restricted. In respiratory tracts, this defect leads to loss of ciliary cleansing action with chronic infective sequelae as in Kartagener's syndrome. It is not known whether the ciliated cells of the fallopian tubes can result in female sterility, nor if ciliary immotility in the brain ventricles and central canal of the spinal end (these areas are lined with ciliated cells) has been associated with any disorder. The sensory hairs of olfactory and vestibular cells also have dynein arms capable of some motility. Further research along these lines should be encouraged.
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PMID:Fertility, immotile cilia and chronic respiratory infections. 31 98

Respiratory cilia and sperm flagella of nine Japanese patients with immotile-dyskinetic cilia syndrome were studied ultrastructurally by using a tannic acid-containing fixative. Respiratory cilia from two female patients with Kartagener's syndrome and one male patient with situs inversus and sinobronchitis were completely immotile and lacked both dynein arms. However, approximately 30% of the spermatozoa from the male patient were weakly motile. In four patients with immotile cilia syndrome without Kartagener's triad, immotile respiratory cilia generally lacked the inner dynein arms. Two clinically unusual cases, an 11-year-old boy and a 29-year-old woman with prolonged saccharin test, recurrent bronchitis, and bronchiectasia, possessed motile respiratory cilia. Ultrastructurally, both dynein arms were normal, but numerous defective central pairs (more than 50% and 70%, respectively) were seen, and the defect in the second case was similar to the transposition of microtubules reported by Sturgess et al (N Engl J Med 303:318-322, 1980). However, defects in the first case were unique and may be congenital. We propose a new type of dyskinetic cilia syndrome with defective central pairs. Additionally, nasal cilia from a 35-year-old man with immotile cilia syndrome contained excess large singlets within ciliary axonemes consisting of 17 protofilaments.
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PMID:Nine Japanese patients with immotile-dyskinetic cilia syndrome: an ultrastructural study using tannic acid-containing fixation. 186 67

Genital tract reconstruction has been attempted in subfertile men with obstructive azoospermia (370 patients) or unilateral testicular obstruction (80 patients), and in vasectomised men undergoing reversal for the first (130 patients) or subsequent (32 patients) time. Histopathological changes in the obstructed testes and epididymes, and immunological responses to the sequestered spermatozoa have been studied to gain insight into possible causes of failure of surgical treatment. The results of surgery have been assessed by follow-up sperm counts and occurrence of pregnancies in the female partners. The best results were obtained with vasectomy reversal (patency 90%, pregnancy 45%), even after failed previous attempts (patency 87%, pregnancy 37%). Epididymovasostomy gave good results with postinfective caudal blocks (patency 52%, pregnancy 38%), while postinfective vasal blocks were better corrected by total anatomical reconstruction (patency 73%, pregnancy 27%) than by transvasovasostomy (patency 9%, no pregnancies). Poor results were obtained with capital blocks (patency 12%, pregnancy 3%), in which substantial lipid accumulation was demonstrated in the ductuli efferentes; three-quarters of these patients had sinusitis, bronchitis or bronchiectasis (Young's syndrome). There is circumstantial evidence to suggest that this syndrome may be a late complication of mercury intoxication in childhood. After successful reconstruction, fertility was relatively reduced in those men who had antibodies to spermatozoa, particularly amongst the postinfective cases. Similarly, impaired fertility was found in men with unilateral testicular obstruction and antibodies to spermatozoa. Mononuclear cell infiltration of seminiferous tubules and rete testis was noted occasionally, supporting a diagnosis of autoimmune orchitis; although rare, this was an important observation as the sperm output became normal with adjuvant prednisolone therapy.
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PMID:Testicular obstruction: clinicopathological studies. 224 Oct 62

In 168 azoospermic males with normal or only slightly raised serum FSH levels, serum antisperm antibodies were measured, and the site of obstruction or the nature of the failure of spermatogenesis was defined by exploratory scrototomy with inspection of epididymes, vasography and testicular biopsy. When possible, surgical reconstruction was done by side-to-side epididymovasostomy, with vasovasostomy when necessary using 6/0 Prolene and no splints. Acquired blocks of cauda epididymis (34 cases) and vas (23 cases) were significantly more commonly associated with serum antisperm antibodies than congenital bilateral absence of vasa (29 cases) or blocks at the caput epididymis (48 cases), most of which were associated with sinusitis, bronchitis or bronchiectasis (Young's syndrome). Many of the former patients came from abroad, whereas most of the latter came from the British Isles. Sperm counts of 10 million per ml or more were produced by 23 (45%) of 51 adequately followed up patients with acquired blocks following surgical reconstruction, and 11 pregnancies (21.5%) were produced. Amongst those with spermatozoa in the ejaculate after surgery, serum antisperm antibodies were found significantly less often in those whose wives became pregnant compared with those who failed to produce pregnancies. It is concluded that failure of surgical treatment in some of these cases may have an immunological basis. No success was achieved with other groups.
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PMID:Exploratory scrototomy in 168 azoospermic males. 665 53