Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0847097 (acidity)
 15,165 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Exhaled markers of airway inflammation become increasingly important in the management of childhood asthma. The aims of the present study are: 1) to compare exhaled markers of inflammation (nitric oxide, carbon monoxide, and acidity of breath condensate) with conventional asthma measures (lung function tests and asthma control score) in childhood asthma; and 2) to investigate the detectability of albumin, CRP, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-alpha, sICAM-1, and sTNF-R75 in the exhaled breath condensate (EBC) of asthmatic children. Thirty-two children with mild to moderate persistent asthma and healthy controls aged 6-12 years were studied. We measured exhaled NO and CO, and subsequently EBC was collected. Inflammatory mediators in EBC were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Respiratory symptoms and asthma control were assessed using the asthma control questionnaire (ACQ) of Juniper et al. (Eur Respir J 1999;14:902-907). Exhaled NO showed a significant correlation with exhaled CO (r = 0.59, P < 0.05) and FEV1 (r = -0.59, P < 0.05), but not with ACQ score (r = 0.48, P = 0.06). Exhaled CO was correlated with prebronchodilator FEV1 (r = -0.45, P < 0.05), but not with asthma control (r = 0.18, P = 0.35). Acidity of EBC was significantly lower in asthmatic children than in healthy controls (P < 0.05), but did not correlate with any of the conventional asthma measures. We were not able to demonstrate the presence of CRP, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-alpha, sICAM-1, and sTNF-R75 in EBC. Albumin was found in two EBC samples of asthmatic children. We conclude that exhaled NO had a better correlation with lung function parameters and asthma control than exhaled CO and acidity of EBC, in mild to moderate persistent childhood asthma. However, exhaled NO, CO, and deaerated pH of EBC did not differ between asthmatic children and controls, possibly because of a too homogeneous and well-controlled study population. To further evaluate the clinical utility of exhaled markers in monitoring childhood asthma, more studies are required on a wider range of asthma severity, and preferably with repeated measurements of markers and of asthma control.
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PMID:Childhood asthma: exhaled markers of airway inflammation, asthma control score, and lung function tests. 1521 92

The present study describes a novel bacterial isolate exhibiting high ability to synthesise and secrete butyrate. The novel isolated bacterium was obtained from human faeces and grown in selective liquid intestinal microflora medium containing rumen fluid under microaerobic conditions. Its probiotic properties were demonstrated by the ability of the isolate to survive high acidity and medium containing bile acids and the ability to adhere to colon cancer cells (Caco-2) in vitro. Phylogenetic identity to Enterococcus durans was established using specific primers for 16S rRNA (99% probability). PCR analyses with primers to the bacterial gene encoding butyrate kinase, present in the butyrogenic bacteria Clostridium, showed that this gene is present in E. durans. The in vivo immunoprotective and anti-inflammatory effects of E. durans were assessed in dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis in Balb/c mice. Administration of E. durans ameliorated histological, clinical and biochemical scores directly related to intestinal inflammation whereas the lactic acid bacterium Lactobacillus delbrueckii was ineffective in this regard. Colonic cDNA concentrations of IL-1beta and TNF-alpha were significantly down regulated in DSS-treated E. durans-fed mice but not in control or DSS-treated L. delbrueckii- fed mice. Fluorescent in situ hybridisation analyses of colonic tissue from mice fed E. durans, using a butyrate kinase probe, demonstrated that E. durans significantly adheres to the colonic tissue. The novel isolated bacterium described in the present paper, upon further characterisation, can be developed into a useful probiotic aimed at the treatment of patients suffering from ulcerative colitis.
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PMID:Isolation and characterisation of new putative probiotic bacteria from human colonic flora. 1734 85

Cachexia is a pathological state characterized by weight loss and protein mobilization during various diseases. Nutritional supplementation or appetite stimulants are unable to restore the loss of lean body mass. Agents interfering with TNF-alpha have not been very successful to date. Only eicosapentaenoic acid was able to interfere with the action of proteolysis-inducing factors. An acceleration of proteolysis and branched-chain amino acid oxidation was correlated with chronic metabolic acidosis. Therefore, we suggest here that the main cause of cachexia is the increased acidity of the body fluids, which results in a higher and non-specific proteolysis of muscle proteins. Moderate hypoxia might be close related to lactic acid production within the whole body, not only in the cancer cells. Anorexia seems to be a consequence, but a cause of cachexia: the cachectic patients are in fact well fed, unfortunately they use fatty acids from their fat and glucose via muscle proteins, amino acids, alanine, and lactic acid. Our hypothesis is consistent with the most findings reported in literature and opens new ways for cachexia prevention and therapy, such as pH correction or higher oxygenation.
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PMID:Chronic metabolic acidosis may be the cause of cachexia: body fluid pH correction may be an effective therapy. 1818 Jan 10

The effect of tacrolimus (FK506) on peptic ulcer was evaluated using pyloric ligation (PL) model in rats. Tacrolimus was administered orally at different doses (1, 2 and 3 mg/kg) and it showed a gastric ulcer healing effect in a dose dependent manner. Gastric volume, total and free acidity and ulcerative index parameters were reduced in the tacrolimus treated rats as compared to pyloric ligated rats. The higher dose (3 mg/kg) treated group produced significant results similar to that of the ranitidine (50 mg/kg) treated group. Pretreatment with tacrolimus also produced significant (p<0.05) reduction in TBARS, total calcium, TNF-alpha, IL-8 and MPO whereas it showed an increase in GSH level at higher dose. The anti-secretory and anti-ulcerative effect of tacrolimus may be due to immunosuppressive actions by inhibition of calcineurin and the oxidative pathway. It can be concluded that tacrolimus can play an important role in the treatment of peptic ulcer disorder to improve the quality of life.
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PMID:Activity of tacrolimus: an immunosuppressant, in pyloric ligation-induced peptic ulcer in the rat. 1995 32