CONTEXT: Asthma has been defined as a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways that is associated with recruitment of inflammatory cells and the clinical development of wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and cough. Asthma is a major public health issue. It affects 5% of the United States population and accounts for 2 million emergency department visits, 470,000 hospitalizations, and 4500 deaths annually. OBJECTIVE: To review the pathophysiology and characteristic pathologic patterns of this disease and discuss the possible mechanisms of production of the lesions. DATA SOURCES: We searched the literature using MEDLINE and OVID. We also searched related conference abstracts and bibliographies of selected studies. CONCLUSIONS: There has been a significant evolution in our understanding of asthma. Specific pathways and mechanisms in recent years have been studied; however, numerous mediators and cell receptors have raised new questions that remain to be answered.
CONTEXT: Asthma has been defined as a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways that is associated with recruitment of inflammatory cells and the clinical development of wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and cough. Asthma is a major public health issue. It affects 5% of the United States population and accounts for 2 million emergency department visits, 470,000 hospitalizations, and 4500 deaths annually. OBJECTIVE: To review the pathophysiology and characteristic pathologic patterns of this disease and discuss the possible mechanisms of production of the lesions. DATA SOURCES: We searched the literature using MEDLINE and OVID. We also searched related conference abstracts and bibliographies of selected studies. CONCLUSIONS: There has been a significant evolution in our understanding of asthma. Specific pathways and mechanisms in recent years have been studied; however, numerous mediators and cell receptors have raised new questions that remain to be answered.
Authors: Biree Andemariam; Alexander J Adami; Anurag Singh; Jeffrey T McNamara; Eric R Secor; Linda A Guernsey; Roger S Thrall Journal: Transl Res Date: 2015-03-16 Impact factor: 7.012
Authors: Tengfei Zhang; Kamal Srivastava; Ming-Chun Wen; Nan Yang; Jing Cao; Paula Busse; Neil Birmingham; Joseph Goldfarb; Xiu-Min Li Journal: Phytother Res Date: 2010-07 Impact factor: 5.878