Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Altered Protease And Antiprotease Balance During A Copd Exacerbation Contributes To Mucus Obstruction, Shashi Chillappagari, Jenni Preuss, Sebastian Licht, Christian Müller, Poornima Mahavadi, Gaurav Sarode, Claus Vogelmeier, Andreas Guenther, Lutz Narlich, Bruce K. Rubin, Markus O. Henke

Pediatrics Publications

Background

Proteases have been shown to degrade airway mucin proteins and to damage the epithelium impairing mucociliary clearance. There are increased proteases in the COPD airway but changes in protease-antiprotease balance and mucin degradation have not been investigated during the course of a COPD exacerbation. We hypothesized that increased protease levels would lead to mucin degradation in acute COPD exacerbations.

Methods

We measured neutrophil elastase (NE) and alpha 1 protease inhibitor (A1-PI) levels using immunoblotting, and conducted protease inhibitor studies, zymograms, elastin substrate assays and cigarette smoke condensate experiments to evaluate the stability of the gel-forming mucins, MUC5AC and MUC5B, …

Novel Cinnamic Acid-Based Dehydropolymers For Emphysema: In Vitro And In Vivo Assessment Of Their Activities, Bhawana Saluja

Theses and Dissertations

Pulmonary emphysema is a serious worldwide illness, causing progressive and irreversible alveolar wall loss and difficulty in breathing. It is caused mostly by cigarette smoking. However, its unresolved complex and multiple pathogenic mechanisms have left this disease without effective pharmacotherapy. This project hypothesized that cinnamic acid-based dehydropolymers (DHPs), originally discovered as novel anti-coagulants, protect against emphysema through their potent triple inhibitory actions against oxidative stress, inflammation and elastase, some of the pathogenic mechanisms associated with this disease. Three in vitro inhibitory activity assays for oxidative stress, lung inflammation and neutrophil elastase (NE) were developed and used to identify the most …

Health Promoting Lifestyle And Quality Of Life In Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Saichol Janwijit

Theses and Dissertations

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has a severe impact on quality of life (QOL). Using the Health Promotion Model as a guide, a cross-sectional, correlational design was used to describe relationships among individual characteristics and experiences (age, gender, race, severity of illness, resilience), behavior-specific cognitions and affect (self-efficacy, barriers, social support), behavioral outcomes (health promoting lifestyle), and QOL in this patient population. One hundred and twenty participants were recruited from three clinics at Virginia Commonwealth University Health System. In addition to a demographic survey, participants completed a 151-item questionnaire incorporating measures resilience, severity of illness, self-efficacy, and barriers to a …

The Respiratory Instensive Care Unit, James P. Baker

MCV/Q, Medical College of Virginia Quarterly

This unit functions within the Department of Medicine and as a regular rotation for the second year medical residents and for the straight medical interns. Each of these groups of house officers spends one month in rotation on this service. In addition there are medical students and house officers who elect to spend time on this service available most of the time. The nursing service has been trained by the attending physicians in addition to the senior nurses, and it has a continuing program of review and training of respiratory care skills. With this approach, in addition to having a …