Several tests are available for evaluation of respiratory disorders but most of them are invasive and associated with some risk or patient discomfort. Examples include bronchoscopy (bronchoalveolar lavage, BAL) [1], venopuncture [2] and sputum induction [3]. Noninvasive sampling of nongaseous substances contained in expired air, collected as exhaled breath condensate (EBC) has been used to detect inflammatory markers and by-products including nitric oxide and arachidonic acid metabolites and proteins [4]. Nerve growth factor (NGF) is a protein that has been implicated in neurogenic airway inflammation and this pilot study aimed to develop a non-invasive approach for evaluation of allergic airway inflammatory disease by measuring and comparing levels of NGF in the induced sputum and EBC of ten (10) asthmatics and ten (10) non-asthmatics.Though twenty (20) subjects were sampled, an unexpected event due to a defective NGF kit inadvertently resulted in an unsuccessful analysis of fifteen (15) sets of specimen (6 non-asthmatics and 9 asthmatics), limiting the study.This study is significant because occupational lung diseases are the number one work-related illness in the United States and occupational asthma is the most common form [9]. Toluene diisocyanate (TDI) is the commonest cause of occupational asthma and workers exposed to TDI vapor may develop inflammatory conditions including asthma, rhinitis and nasal irritation [7].Results: NGF was detected and measured only in sputum, with a mean NGF level of 210 (210-210, range 0) in asthmatics and 164 (7-280, range 273) in non-asthmatics. Nonetheless, we failed to reject the null hypothesis (number 3).Conclusion: This limited study did not have adequate power (power 11%) due to the small sample size and thus lacks internal validity. Further studies are needed using a larger sample size.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:USF/oai:scholarcommons.usf.edu:etd-3649 |
Date | 01 June 2006 |
Creators | Nwiloh, Victor Maduabuchi |
Publisher | Scholar Commons |
Source Sets | University of South Flordia |
Detected Language | English |
Type | text |
Format | application/pdf |
Source | Graduate Theses and Dissertations |
Rights | default |
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