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- Papadopoulos, N G, et al.
(författare)
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Mechanisms of virus-induced asthma exacerbations: state-of-the-art. A GA2LEN and InterAirways document.
- 2007
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Ingår i: Allergy. - : Wiley. - 0105-4538 .- 1398-9995. ; 62:5, s. 457-70
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Viral infections of the respiratory tract are the most common precipitants of acute asthma exacerbations. Exacerbations are only poorly responsive to current asthma therapies and new approaches to therapy are needed. Viruses, most frequently human rhinoviruses (RV), infect the airway epithelium, generate local and systemic immune responses, as well as neural responses, inducing inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness. Using in vitro and in vivo experimental models the role of various proinflammatory or anti-inflammatory mediators, antiviral responses and molecular pathways that lead from infection to symptoms has been partly unravelled. In particular, mechanisms of susceptibility to viral infection have been identified and the bronchial epithelium appeared to be a key player. Nevertheless, additional understanding of the integration between the diverse elements of the antiviral response, especially in the context of allergic airway inflammation, as well as the interactions between viral infections and other stimuli that affect airway inflammation and responsiveness may lead to novel strategies in treating and/or preventing asthma exacerbations. This review presents the current knowledge and highlights areas in need of further research.
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| 2. |
- Björklund, Mats, et al.
(författare)
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Quantitative Trait Evolution and Environmental Change
- 2009
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Ingår i: PloS one. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 4:2, s. e4521-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Given the recent changes in climate, there is an urgent need to understand the evolutionary ability of populations to respond to these changes. Methodology/Principal Findings: We performed individual-based simulations with different shapes of the fitness curve, different heritabilities, different levels of density compensation, and different autocorrelation of environmental noise imposed on an environmental trend to study the ability of a population to adapt to changing conditions. The main finding is that when there is a positive autocorrelation of environmental noise, the outcome of the evolutionary process is much more unpredictable compared to when the noise has no autocorrelation. In addition, we found that strong selection resulted in a higher load, and more extinctions, and that this was most pronounced when heritability was low. The level of density-compensation was important in determining the variance in load when there was strong selection, and when genetic variance was lower when the level of density-compensation was low. Conclusions: The strong effect of the details of the environmental fluctuations makes predictions concerning the evolutionary future of populations very hard to make. In addition, to be able to make good predictions we need information on heritability, fitness functions and levels of density compensation. The results strongly suggest that patterns of environmental noise must be incorporated in future models of environmental change, such as global warming.
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