The purpose of the study was to determine whether serial graded exercise test (GXT) responses, known to have prognostic importance, in the coronary artery disease population generally, can differentiate certain cardiovascular morbidity and mortality endpoints among physically active patients. Data were obtained in 1989 at three community-based cardiac rehabilitation programs from three serial GXT results in 23 paired cardiac event (CE) and non-event (NE) patients. A cardiac event was defined as having an myocardial infarction (MI), percutaneous translumial angioplasty (PTCA), coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), and cardiac death. Comparisons were made just prior to each CE patients event. Statistical analyses were done on four exercise test variables: ST-segment depression (ST80) at peak exercise, heart rate adjusted 5Tsegment depression (ST/HR slope), exercise induced ventricular dysrhythmias (PVC), and exercise induced chest pain. Chi-square analyses showed no significant changes across the serial tests for any of the variables examined in either the CE or NE groups (P)0.05). Nevertheless, the CE group had significantly more 8Tsegment depression, ST/HR slope, and exercise chest pain in all GXT intervals in comparison to the NE group. These findings do not support the use of serial exercise GXTs for prognostic information for the physically active cardiac rehabilitation maintenance patients. / Master of Science

Submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Master’s Degree in Technology: Chiropractic, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2017. / Background: The increasing cost and prevalence of chronic low back pain (LBP), has resulted in more resources being devoted to its treatment and management than ever before, despite only approximately 10% of acute cases progressing to chronicity. Determining prognostic factors for the short-term improvement of acute and chronic patients with LBP has become a research focus area to try and identify baseline factors that may affect a patients’ improvement with conservative treatment. Internationally studies have been conducted in developed countries however similar studies are lacking in developing settings like South Africa. It is unclear if the prognostic factors identified would be similar across populations. Thus, this study aimed to determine if pain, disability (social and physical), anxiety, depression, work fear-avoidance and locus of control, were associated with short-term prognosis, as determined by self-reported improvement using a Patients Global Impression of Change (PGIC) scale, in acute and chronic LBP patients attending the Durban University of Technology Chiropractic Day Clinic (DUT CDC). Method: Consecutive patients seeking treatment at the DUT CDC with a new episode of non-specific LBP, who met the study criteria, were approached for participation in the study. On agreeing to participate they were given the Bournemouth Questionnaire (BQ), a demographic questionnaire and a letter of information and consent (LOIC) at the initial consultation by student chiropractors. Those participants that were still attending treatment at the 4th/5th and tenth visit were required to complete the BQ and the PGIC. Results: A hundred participants were enrolled in the study, 65% had acute LBP and 52% were male. Only 20% of the initial group were still attending treatment at the 4th/5th follow-up. Baseline comparisons of those with acute and chronic pain revealed no significant difference in gender or age. Acute patients at the initial visit had higher levels of disability (social and physical), anxiety, depression and fear-avoidance beliefs than the chronic pain participants. At the 4th/5th treatment, the acute pain patients showed a significant decrease in pain (p=0.002) and disability (p=0.032), with all other measures decreasing from baseline measures. Similarly, chronic pain participants had a significant decrease in pain (p=0.038) but a significant increase in depression (p=0.015) scores, with all other prognostic factors being rated higher than at the initial consultation. The majority of participants (85%) in this study reported a clinical improvement in their LBP. In the acute pain sufferers, all but one participant reported improvement, thus identification of prognostic factors or this group was not possible. In the chronic pain participants, no factors were identified as prognostic for improvement, regardless of the low numbers still attending at the 4th/5th visit. Conclusions: Trends suggested that chronic pain sufferers were less likely to report decreases in the prognostic factors (except for pain), when compared to the acute pain participants. In the chronic LBP participants, no factors were associated with improved prognosis. The predictive value in determining which patients were less likely to improve was limited in the current study due to a small sample size. / M

BACKGROUND: The course of disease for patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is highly heterogeneous. Prognostic models rely on demographic and clinical characteristics and are not reproducible. Integrating data from genomic analyses may identify novel prognostic models and provide mechanistic insights into IPF. METHODS: Total RNA of peripheral blood mononuclear cells was subjected to microarray profiling in a training (45 IPF individuals) and two independent validation cohorts (21 IPF/10 controls, and 75 IPF individuals, respectively). To identify a gene set predictive of IPF prognosis, we incorporated genomic, clinical, and outcome data from the training cohort. Predictor genes were selected if all the following criteria were met: 1) Present in a gene co-expression module from Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) that correlated with pulmonary function (p < 0.05); 2) Differentially expressed between observed "good" vs. "poor" prognosis with fold change (FC) >1.5 and false discovery rate (FDR) < 2 %; and 3) Predictive of mortality (p < 0.05) in univariate Cox regression analysis. "Survival risk group prediction" was adopted to construct a functional genomic model that used the IPF prognostic predictor gene set to derive a prognostic index (PI) for each patient into either high or low risk for survival outcomes. Prediction accuracy was assessed with a repeated 10-fold cross-validation algorithm and independently assessed in two validation cohorts through multivariate Cox regression survival analysis. RESULTS: A set of 118 IPF prognostic predictor genes was used to derive the functional genomic model and PI. In the training cohort, high-risk IPF patients predicted by PI had significantly shorter survival compared to those labeled as low-risk patients (log rank p < 0.001). The prediction accuracy was further validated in two independent cohorts (log rank p < 0.001 and 0.002). Functional pathway analysis revealed that the canonical pathways enriched with the IPF prognostic predictor gene set were involved in T-cell biology, including iCOS, T-cell receptor, and CD28 signaling. CONCLUSIONS: Using supervised and unsupervised analyses, we identified a set of IPF prognostic predictor genes and derived a functional genomic model that predicted high and low-risk IPF patients with high accuracy. This genomic model may complement current prognostic tools to deliver more personalized care for IPF patients.

No description available.

Dans ce mémoire, différentes architectures pour le contrôle et la surveillance des systèmes techniques complexes de grande dimension (STCGD) sont discutées. Les problématiques de maintenance conditionnelle et d'évaluation de l'état de santé sont définies. Les types de diagnostic et de pronostic sont présentés afin d'aboutir à une évaluation de l'état de santé des STCGD. Les études relatives au diagnostic décentralisé sont discutées puis les apports des NTIC et des technologies distribuées au diagnostic sont présentés. Par la suite, le diagnostic distribué et les travaux relatifs à ce mode de déploiement sont introduits. Les limites des approches centralisées et décentralisées du diagnostic sont présentées et confrontées à l'apport des approches distribuées. Les informations et/ou les connaissances supports aux diagnostic et au pronostic ainsi que leur modélisation afin de les exploiter sont décrites et formalisées. Une caractérisation des statuts que peut prendre un composant est proposée. Il est décrit les pré-requis nécessaires pour la couche de surveillance des STCGD et les principes du diagnostic et du pronostic sont ensuite présentés sous la forme de différents algorithmes. Enfin, une méthode d'évaluation de l'état de santé des STCGD est proposée. Plusieurs déploiements peuvent être envisagés pour l'évaluation de la santé des STCGD. Une plateforme de simulation a été développée pour évaluer les performances des déploiements centralisés et distribués. La plateforme a eu pour but de se comporter comme la couche de surveillance d'un STCGD. Un cas d'étude paramétrable est proposé pour chacun des deux déploiements et leurs performances sont comparées. / In this dissertation, various architectures for the control and the monitoring of Large Scale Complex Technical Systems (LSCTS) are discussed. The problematic of condition-based maintenance and health status assessment is defined. A diagnostic and prognostic typology is presented leading to the assessment of the health status of LSCTSs. Decentralized diagnosis studies are discussed then the contributions of the ICT and of the distributed technologies for the diagnosis are presented. Thereafter, the distributed diagnosis and works relative to this kind of deployments are introduced. The limits of the centralized and decentralized diagnosis approaches are presented. Then the centralized approaches are compared to the distributed ones. Information and/or knowledge that support the diagnosis and the prognosis as well as their modeling in order to exploit them are described and formalized. A characterization is proposed for the different status of a component can be in. Requirements are described for the monitoring layer of the LSCTSs are described in order to implement the proposed diagnosis and prognosis principles that are then specified by the means of algorithms. Eventually, a health assessment method of the LSCTSs is also proposed. Several deployments can be considered to implement the health assessment of the LSCTSs. A simulation platform, which was developed to evaluate the performances of the centralized and the distributed deployments, is presented. Among the purposes of the platform, one is to behave as the monitoring layer of a LSCTS. A use case is proposed for two deployments and their performances are compared.

Health-related quality of life (HRQL) has become an important outcome in asthma, since traditional outcomes, such as respiratory symptoms and pulmonary function, might not entirely express the patient’s perception of the limitations caused by the disease. The aim of this thesis was to study HRQL in asthma and to analyse if HRQL was related to asthma onset and prognosis. Other aims were to identify determinants of low HRQL in clinically-verified asthmatics, and to study whether low HRQL was a predictor of mortality. In 1990, a self-administered questionnaire was completed by 12,560 individuals from three age groups (16, 30-39, and 60-69 years) in two counties of Sweden. In a second phase, all subjects who reported a history of obstructive respiratory symptoms (n = 1,851) and 600 randomly-selected controls were invited to a clinical investigation including spirometry, allergy testing, and assessment of HRQL with the Gothenburg Quality of Life instrument. In 2003, the eligible subjects in the cohort (n=11,282) were sent a new questionnaire. Mortality data in the cohort was followed up during 1990–2008 using data from the National Board of Health and Welfare Mortality Database. The 616 subjects with clinically-verified asthma 1990 had significantly lower HRQL than subjects without asthma. In the 2003 follow-up, the 305 subjects with persistent asthma had a lower HRQL than the 155 subjects who showed improvement in asthma during the follow-up. Subjects who had developed asthma by the follow-up had a significantly lower HRQL at baseline than those who did not develop asthma. Significant determinants of quality of life in asthma were female sex, smoking habits, higher airway responsiveness to irritants, respiratory symptom severity, positive skin prick test, and absenteeism from work or school. Low HRQL was related to increased mortality, but this association was not found when analyzing the asthmatic group alone. In conclusion, measurements of HRQL are of value for evaluating both the impact and progression of asthma. / <p>medicine doktorsexamen</p>

<p dir="rtl" style="text-align: left;">Karcinom bronha je važna i &scaron;iroko rasprostranjena bolest koja predstavlja veliki problem javnog zdravlja. Kod osoba mu&scaron;kog pola se nalazi na prvom mestu kako po učestalosti obolevanja tako i kao uzrok smrti među svim malignim tumorima, dok se kod osoba ženskog pola nalazi na trećem ili četvrtom mestu po obolevanju, a po umiranju uglavnom na drugom mestu. Kod najvećeg broja bolesnika bolest se otkriva u uznapredovalom ili metatstaskom stadijumu, a hemioterapija predstavlja jedan od vidova lečenja uznapredovale ili metastatske bolesti. Pored toga &scaron;to produžava preživljavanje i pobolj&scaron;ava kvalitet života obolelih praćena je istovremeno i brojnim neželjenim događajima. Iako hemioterapijski protokoli bazirani na preparatima platine ostvaruju najveću efektivnost kod bolesnika sa uznapredovalim nemikrocelularnim karcinomom bronha toksičnost koja je prati predstavlja najveći problem sa kojim se susrećemo. Ali, uprkos ovoj činjenici veliki broj studija je pokazao da je upravo odsustvo mijelotoksičnosti tokom hemioterapije udruženo sa lo&scaron;ijim ishodom lečenja kod obolelih od karcinoma bronha. Iz tog razloga je i predloženo da se hematolo&scaron;ka toksičnost koristi kao mera biolo&scaron;ke aktivnosti citotoksičnih lekova, njen prognostički značaj je evaluiran i proučavan u velikom broju studija. Ciljevi ove doktorske disertacije su bili da se utvrditi uticaj leukopenije, anemije i trombocitopenije kao nezavisnih prognostičkih faktora na preživljavanje bolesnika sa nemikrocelularnim karcinomom bronha; da se utvrditi učestalost hematolo&scaron;ke toksičnosti lečenih hemioterapijskim protokolima Cisplatin/Vepezid i Gemcitabin/Cisplatin i da se utvrdite razlike u preživljavanju bolesnika lečenih hemioterapijskim protokolima Cisplatin/Vepezid i Gemcitabin/Cisplatin. U uzorku je analizirano 200 bolesnika, 76% mu&scaron;kog i 24% ženskog pola, prosečne starosti 61.4 godine. Najzastupljenji su bili bolesnici u IV stadijumu 50.5%, a najče&scaron;ći patohistolo&scaron;ki tip karcinoma u uzorku je bio adenokarcinom sa 51.5%. Nije utvrđeno postojanje statistički značajne razlike u gradusima leukopenije, anemije i trombocitopenije između posmatranih grupa, (<em>X</em>²=2.908, <em>X</em>²=2.264, <em>X</em>²=3.403, p&gt;0.05). U obe grupe je univarijantnom analizom dokazanao da stadijum bolesti i terapijski odgovor imaju statistički značaj kao &bdquo;ne - hematolo&scaron;ki&ldquo; prognostički faktori (p&lt;0.01). U obe grupe su takođe univarijentnom analizom leukopenija, anemija i trombocitopenija identifikovane kao prognostički faktori kod obolelih od NSCLC, dok multivarijantnom analizom ni jedan od analiziranih faktora nije identifikovan kao prognostički. U obe grupe su bolesnici sa leukopenijom, anemijom i trombocitopenijom gradusa 3 i 4 imali statistički značajno duže preživljavanje u odnosu na bolesnike sa gradusom 0. Nije postojala razlika u preživljavanju bolesnika lečenih hemioterapijskim protokolima cisplatin/etopozid I gemcitabin/cisplatin (F=0.069; p&gt;0.05). Nije postojala razlika u preživljavanju bolesnika sa anemijom, leukopenijom i trombocitopenijom između grupa A i B za graduse 0, 3 i 4</p> / <p>Lung cancer is an important and widespread disease which represents a major public health problem. It is the most frequent disease among all malignant diseases at males, among women it is on the third or fourth place among malignant diseases. In most cases the disease is detected at an advanced or metastatic stage and chemotherapy is one of the therapy options of. Despite the fact that chemotherapy prolongs survival and improves quality of life of patients, at the same time chemotherapy causes a number of different adverse events. Although chemotherapy protocols based platinum achieve maximum effectiveness in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, toxicity that accompanies represents a big problem. But despite this fact, a number of studies have shown that the absence of myelotoxicity during chemotherapy is associated with poorer treatment outcomes in patients with bronchial carcinoma. For this reason, it is proposed that hematological toxicity may be used as a measure of the biological activity of the cytotoxic drug, and its prognostic significance was studied and evaluated in a number of studies. The objectives of this dissertation were to determine the effect of leucopenia, anemia andthrombocytopenia as an independent prognostic factor in the survival of patients with Non Small Cell Lung lung cancer, to determine the incidence of hematological toxicity treated with chemotherapy protocols cisplatin/etoposid and gemcitabine/cisplatin and to determine differences in survival patients treated with chemotherapy protocols cisplatin/etoposid and gemcitabine/ cisplatin. We analyzed 200 patients, 76% male and 24% female, mean age 61.4 years. The most frequent were patients in stage IV 50.5%, and the most common histopathological type was adenocarcinoma with 51.5%. We did not find statistically significant differences in grade of leukopenia, anemia and thrombocytopenia between the groups (<em>X</em>²=2.908,<em> X</em>²=2.264, <em>X</em>²=3.403, p&gt;0.05). In both groups, the univariant analysis has shown that the stage of disease and response rate as a non-hematological prognostic factor had statistical significance (p &lt;0.01). In both groups of patients with NSCLC leucopenia, anemia and trombocitopenia has identified with univariant analysis as a prognostic factors, but multivariant analysis did not show that any of analyzed factors are prognostic. In both groups, patients with grade 3 and 4 of leucopenia, anemia and trombocitopenia had statistically longer survival than patients with grade 0. We did not find statistically significant difference in overall survival of patients treated with cisplatin/etoposid i gemcitabin/cisplatin regimes (F=0.069; p&gt;0.05). We did not find any statistically differences in overall survival between group A and B for leucopenia, anemia and trombocitopenia grade 0, 3 and 4.</p>

<p>Primarni glomerulonefritisi predstavljaju inflamatorna oboljenja bubrega, kod kojih su primarno zahvaćeni glomerulusi, ali promene na tubulointersticijumu imaju veliki značaj za tok i prognozu bolesti. Pored kliničko-laboratorijskih ispitivanja, perkutana biopsija bubrega zauzima značajno mesto u dijagnostici posebnih oblika glomerulonefritisa. Lipokalin vezan za neutrofilnu gelatinazu (NGAL) zauzima značajno mesto medju novijim biomarkerima u nefrologiji. Osnovna funkcija mu je transport gvoždja, ali ima ulogu i u regulaciji metabolizma gvoždja, regulaciji inflamacije, dok u masnom tkivu utiče na razvoj insulinske rezistencije i dijabetesa. Cilj ispitivanja je utvrditi nivo lipokalina 2 u serumu i urinu bolesnika sa primarnim glomerulonefritisom, te utvrditi postojanje korelacije izmedju nivoa lipokalina 2 i patohistolo&scaron;kog oblika glomerulonefritisa, stepenom bubrežne insuficijencije i brzinom progresije bubrežne insuficijencije. Takodje, cilj ispitivanja je bio analizirati povezanost lipokalina 2 sa odogovorom na primenjenu terapiju glomerulonefritisa. Ispitivanje je sprovedeno na 60 bolesnika sa dijagnozom primarnih glomerulonefritisa. Nivo lipokalina 2 je odredjivan pri postavljanju dijagnoze i nakon minimalno &scaron;est meseci lečenja. Rezultati studije ukazuju da bolesnici sa primarnim glomerulonefritisom imaju značajno veće nivoe lipokalina 2 u odnosu na zdrave osobe. Bolesnici sa proliferativnim oblicima primarnih glomerulonefritisa imaju veće nivoe NGAL-a u serumu i odnosa uNGAL/kreatinin, ali razlika nije statistički značajna. Nije utvrdjeno postojanje značajne razlike u prosečnim nivoima NGAL-a u serumu, niti urinu, pri postavljanju dijagnoze, izmedju bolesnika sa pozitivnim i negativnim efektom lečenja primarnog glomerulonefritisa. Utvrdjeno je postojanje korelacije izmedju nivoa NGAL-a u serumu i vrednosti kreatinina, ureje, mokraćne kiseline, klirensa kreatinina i broja leukocita, dok je sa nivoom NGAL-a u urinu utvrdjena korelacija sa klirensom kreatinina, dnevnom proteinurijom i serumskim albuminima. Utvrdjeno je postojanje statistički značajne razlike u prosečnim nivoima NGAL-a u serumu u zavisnosti od stadijuma bubrežne insufijencije. Nije utvrdjeno postojanje značajne razlike u prosečnim nivoima NGAL-a u serumu pri postavljanju dijagnoze, izmedju bolesnika sa povoljnim i nepovoljnim efektom lečenja na bubrežnu funkciju.</p> / <p>The primary glomerulonephritis are inflammatory kidney diseases. Glomerulus are primarily affected, but tubulointerstitial changes are very important for course and prognosis of the disease. In addition to clinical and laboratory testing, percutaneous renal biopsy has an important place in the diagnosis of specific forms of glomerulonephritis. Neutrophil gelatinaseassociated lipocalin (NGAL) occupies an important place among the newer biomarkers in nephrology. The main function of NGAL is transport of iron, whether it has a role in the regulation of iron metabolism, regulation of inflammation, while in adipose tissue affects the development of insulin resistance and diabetes. The aim of this study was to determine the level of lipocalin 2 in serum and urine of patients with primary glomerulonephritis and determine the existence of a correlation between the level of lipocalin 2 and histological forms of glomerulonephritis, the degree of renal insufficiency and speed of progression of renal insufficiency. Also, the aim of this study was to analyze the association of lipocalin 2 with the effect of therapy for glomerulonephritis. The study was conducted on 60 patients diagnosed with primary glomerulonephritis. The levels of lipocalin 2 were determined at diagnosis and after a minimum of six months of treatment. The study results show that patients with primary glomerulonephritis have significantly higher levels of lipocalin 2 compared to healthy people. Patients with proliferative forms of primary glomerulonephritis have higher levels of NGAL in serum and ratio uNGAL/creatinine, but the difference was not statistically significant. There was no significant differences in average levels of NGAL in serum or urine at the beginning, between patients with positive and negative effects of the treatment of primary glomerulonephritis. Correlation was found between the level of NGAL in serum and creatinine, urea, uric acid, creatinine clearance and the number of leukocytes, while the level of NGAL in urine correlated with creatinine clearance, the daily proteinuria and serum albumin. Statistically significant differences in mean levels of NGAL in serum depending on the severity of renal insufficiency were found. No evidence of significant differences in average levels of NGAL in serum at the beginning, among patients with favorable and unfavorable effects of treatment on renal function were found.</p>

ABSTRACT Background: For patients with life-limiting illnesses, having adequate knowledge of prognosis can strongly impact the choice between curative and supportive treatment. Objectives: The purpose of this research study is to explore patient understanding of prognosis and to illuminate the experience of having or not having prognostic information in people diagnosed with life-limiting illnesses. This study aims to investigate the patient's understanding of the term "prognosis", the significance of the term "prognosis" to the patient, and how prognosis may or may not affect future treatment choices. In addition, this study aims to further understand the experience of prognostic communication between provider and patient. The over-arching goal is to capture the personal perspectives of participants with a view to exploring their experiences around knowledge of their prognosis. Methods: A qualitative research design using a phenomenological approach was employed to examine how people experience prognosis. An invitation to participate in the study was publically announced via local newspapers, social media venues, and word of mouth. Participants who responded to study advertisements and who met inclusion criteria were asked to participate in one interview answering open-ended questions aimed at examining their experience with and knowledge of their prognosis. In addition, questions about prognostic communication between patient and health care provider were explored. All interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed using phenomenological methods. Results: Three study participants met the study criteria and were interviewed. Several themes emerged from the data including 1) patients have need for information about their illness, 2) prognostic data inform treatment choices, 3) patient experiences are unique and 4) patients feel a connection to nurses involved in their care. Conclusions: This study illuminated the patients' desire and need for information during their illness, the desire for patient autonomy, the difficulty of starting and having prognostic conversations, the downstream impact of having prognostic information, and the important role that nurses play for patients facing serious health issues. It is hopeful that the themes identified during the course of this research ultimately contribute to the knowledge base by informing healthcare providers on the importance of conveying prognostic information in a timely, direct, and sensitive manner.

L’asthme professionnel est une maladie fréquente, qui coûte cher, qui touche des travailleurs jeunes, dont le diagnostic est difficile et avec d’importantes conséquences socio-économiques. La prévention occupe une place centrale dans la gestion de l’asthme professionnel, d’un point de vue de santé publique. Ce mémoire de maîtrise présente trois articles rapportant des développements récents en matière de prévention de l’asthme professionnel. Tout d’abord, une revue de la littérature sur les agents sensibilisants de bas poids moléculaire dans l’asthme professionnel entre 2000 et 2010 recense 41 nouveaux agents et insiste sur l’importance de mettre à jour régulièrement les bases de données afin d’améliorer la prévention primaire. Ensuite, basé sur un cas clinique, la deuxième publication présente l’utilité potentielle du modèle d’analyse de risque QSAR (Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship) dans le processus diagnostique de l’asthme professionnel, notamment lors d’une exposition multiple à des agents sensibilisants. Enfin, le troisième article présente la performance en milieu clinique du premier questionnaire de dépistage spécifique à l’asthme professionnel. Un modèle simple associant 8 items du questionnaire, l’âge des travailleurs et leur durée d’exposition professionnelle permet de discriminer 80% des 169 sujets adressés pour suspicion d’asthme professionnel. Un tel modèle pourrait être intégré dans les programmes de surveillance médicale qui constituent la base de la prévention secondaire. Ces trois publications insistent sur les possibilités d’explorer de nouveaux outils préventifs dans le domaine de l’asthme professionnel, outils qui ouvrent des perspectives de développements futurs dont les implications cliniques et socio-économiques peuvent être importantes. / Occupational asthma is a common disease, which affects young workers and is difficult to diagnose. It is a major financial burden and has important socioeconomic consequences. Prevention is central in the management of occupational asthma, in terms of public health. This thesis presents three articles reporting on recent developments in the prevention of occupational asthma. First, a review of the literature on sensitizing low-molecular- weight agents in occupational asthma between 2000 and 2010 reports 41 new agents and emphasizes the importance of regularly updating databases to improve primary prevention. Then, based on a clinical case, the second publication presents the potential utility of the model of risk analysis QSAR (Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship) in the diagnostic workup for occupational asthma, especially in the case of multiple exposure to sensitizing agents. The third article presents the clinical performance of the first screening questionnaire specific to occupational asthma. A simple model consisting of 8 items of the questionnaire, age and exposure duration could discriminate 80% of the 169 subjects with and without OA in a clinical setting. Such a model could be integrated into medical surveillance programs, which are the basis of secondary prevention. These three publications emphasize the possibilities to explore new prevention tools in the field of occupational asthma, tools that provide opportunities for future developments, which could have major clinical and socio-economic implications.