Asthma is a heterogeneous chronic disease sited on chromosome 5 (5q31). [1, 2] There are about 100 genes linked to asthma. These genes handle the immune system and inflammation [3]. One gene known as DENND1B, causes an increased amount of the molecule cytokine to be released. [4] Cytokine is the motive for the symptoms of asthma to arise. Asthma is affected by several genetic and environmental factors that can cause life-threatening complications to occur for the people who have this disease.
There are two types of asthma that are due to phenotypes, they are childhood onset asthma and adulthood onset asthma. Children with childhood onset asthma are atopic which means that they are affected by allergens in their environment due to genetics [5]. They are also more sensitive to the allergens on account of airway cells being sensitive to allergens [5]. Adulthood onset asthma is less prevalent than childhood onset asthma and is discovered more in men than women [5]. Adulthood onset asthma is mostly like childhood onset; nevertheless it is not affected by allergens, which is known as intr...
Occupational Asthma This type of asthma is triggered by something in the patient's place of work. Factors such as chemicals, vapors, gases, smoke, dust, fumes, or other particles can trigger asthma. It can also be caused by a virus (flu), molds, animal products, pollen, humidity and temperature. Another trigger may be stress. Occupational asthma tends to occur soon after the patients starts a new job and disappears not long after leaving that
Some triggers to asthma may consist of allergies, air pollutants(smoke, mold or even fumes), and obesity. Allergies can initiate an allergic reaction which could then trigger asthma symptoms. Smoke settles in the moist lining of your airways and damages the thin structures known as cilia. Cilia cleans all the dust and mucus from those airways. Therefor without these hairlike networks present, particles accumulate and build up occur. Smoke, also can cause more mucus to form, which can, in turn, trigger an asthma attack. Obesity puts you at an increased risk of developing asthma. Being obese puts more abdominal fat on the lungs and limits their inflation capacities, impairing lung
Allergies are the one of the main leading causes of asthma. About 90% of children under the age of ten that are infected with asthma have allergies. Around 70% of people under the age of thirty have asthma and 50% of those over thirty. Allergies is likely to be a helping factor to asthma if:
Asthma is the leading cause of chronic illness in children and is responsible for nearly 10% of the Emergency Room visits for children <15 year of age. It occurs in as many as 10%-12% of children in the United States and is gradually growing. Asthma can begin at any age , but most children have their first symptoms by age five. Because Camp Wapiti is for children ages 8-13 exclusively, this report will focus primarily on childhood asthma.
As modern medical research begins to discover the deep-rooted genetic and environmental origins of many chronic diseases and illnesses, researchers have began to realize the complexity of illnesses that plague mankind. One prevalent disease among humans is Asthma, a chronic lung disease that irritates and tightens the airways, resulting in reocurring periods of coughing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and wheezing. Asthma’s phenotypic range does not follow the relative simplicity of Mendelian genetics, but is rather rooted in multiple genes, such as Interleukin-13 (IL-13), and specific environmental exposures such as air pollution.
Asthma is a condition of the bronchial tubes characterized by episodes of constriction and increased mucous production. A person with asthma has bronchial tubes that are super sensitive to various stimuli, or triggers, that can produce asthma symptom.In other words, asthmatics have special sensitivity that causes their lung tissue to react far more than is should to various stimulating factors or triggers. For this reason, people with asthma are said to have "twitchy airways."Some symptoms that people with asthma commonly experience are chest tightenings, difficulty inhaling and exhaling, wheezing, production of large amounts of mucous in their windpipes and coughing.Coughing can be frequent or intermittent, and can be loose-reflecting extra mucous secretion in the airways or dry and deep-reflecting tight bronchospasms. Not all these symptoms occur in every case of asthma.Sometimes people may have coughing without and symptoms for months or even years before it's realized that they are asthmatic. Interestingly enough, asthma symptoms are most severe at night, while we're lying down our airways narrow as a result of gravity changes. Also our lungs do not clear secretions as well at night, which leads to mucous retention, and that can increase the obstruction to air flow.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) (2014), one in eleven children and one in twelve adults has asthma. Consequently, nine people die every day from asthma (CDC, 2014). The financial burden was $56 billion each year (CDC, 2014). Children missed 10.5 million days of school (CDC, 2014). Adults missed 14.2 days of work (CDC, 2014). The impact this disease has on our community is colossal. As a result, it is critical to understand the pathophysiology of asthma in order advocate for successful control and prevention of progression. This paper will review the pathophysiological mechanisms of chronic asthma and acute asthma exacerbation.
When people hear the word asthma, the first thing that comes to mind is a nerd wheezing and taking an inhaler almost every five minutes, but that is not the case for everyone who is diagnosed with this disease. A person with asthma will often wheeze, become breathless, experience tightness in the chest, and cough at night or early in the morning. Asthma is a chronic respiratory condition and a disease marked by spasms in the bronchi of the lungs, caused by chronic inflammation within the breathing passages. This may...
Asthma is a respiratory disorder marked by breathing difficulty caused by temporary narrowing of the bronchi, the airways branching from the trachea to the lungs. Attacks usually are brought on by allergic reaction to ANTIGENS such as grass and tree pollens, mold spores, fungi, animal dander, and certain foods but may also be caused by chemical irritants in the atmosphere or by infections of the respiratory tract. Susceptibility to an asthma attack is based on hyperactivity of the bronchial muscles, which constrict on exposure to one or another of these agents. Episodes of asthma vary widely in severity and may last from a few minutes to several days.
Asthma is a chronic disease that makes it difficult to breathe. The airways to the lungs swell up and become inflamed, which narrows the air passageway to the lungs and the lungs cannot receive the amount of oxygen that it needs. “Mucus builds up inside the airways so you have trouble getting air in and out of your lungs.” (Pope, 2002, p.44). If the lungs do not receive the essential amount of air, it will cause a lot of distress and wheezing to the patient.
The most obvious symptom of asthma is the wheezing sound that comes from the lungs, but some people do not manifest this symptom and the only way they are aware that they have asthma is by undergoing a test at the doctor’s office. Some natural relaxation remedies that you should consider as an asthmatic are abdominal breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery, and biofeedback can help relieve stress (Mark 1019). There is more research that suggests that diet can plays a great role in alleviating asthma symptoms. A great example is omega-3 fatty acids which is found naturally in high-fat fish such as salmon, mackerel, or cod and it enables the body to make more products that help decrease inflammation (Mark 1010). Unfortunately, there is no direct evidence that this actually benefits those who have as...
Most of you may not think of asthma as a killer disease, yet more that 5,000 Americans die of asthma each year. According to the Mayo Clinic web page, asthma also accounts for more that 400,000 hospital discharges annually. As the number of people with asthma increases, the more likely you are to come in contact with a person who has the disease. As far as I can remember, I have had asthma my whole life. My mother and one of my sisters also have asthma, so I have a first hand experience with it. This morning, I will discuss some interesting facts about asthma, I will specifically focus on what it is, warning signs, symptoms, causes, and the treatments that are used.
Usually, in a healthy person, there is a delicate balance among immune cells not to be oversensitive to antigens. However, in asthmatic person airway inflammation reflects the distortion of this sensitive balance. For instance exposure to defined allergies or nonspecific stimuli initiates a cascade of cellular activations resulting both acute and chronic inflammatory responses such as wheezing, chest tightness, dyspnea and cough (McPhee & Hammer, 2012).
Asthma attack has greatly affected the people of Oakland, especially the West Oakland residents. This has been attributed mainly to Port of Oakland activities, which has produced many emissions to the surrounding environment (Hoek et al., 2013). The strategies undertaken assume a great role in reducing these disparities. Full adoption of these activities in CAOP will ensure proper and healthy living vicinities among residents. The hope is to see all key stakeholders and other businesses joining together with residents of Oakland to make this community cleaner, safer and healthier. This will surely address all the problems hence creating a livable working environment in the whole Oakland, especially communities near
Asthma is a disease that currently has no cure and can only be controlled and managed through different treatment methods. If asthma is treated well it can prevent the flare up of symptoms such as coughing, diminish the dependence on quick relief medication, and help to minimize asthma attacks. One of the key factors to successful treatment of asthma is the creation of an asthma action plan with the help of a doctor that outlines medications and other tasks to help control the patient’s asthma ("How Is Asthma Treated and Controlled?"). The amount of treatment changes based on the severity of the asthma when it is first diagnosed and may be the dosage may be increased or decreased depending on how under control the patient’s asthma is. One of the main ways that asthma can be controlled is by becoming aware of the things that trigger attacks. For instance staying away from allergens such as pollen, animal fur, and air pollution can help minimize and manage the symptoms associated with asthma. Also if it is not possible to avoid the allergens that cause a patient’s asthma to flare up, they may need to see an allergist. These health professionals can help diagnosis what may need to be done in other forms of treatment such as allergy shots that can help decrease the severity of the asthma ("How Is Asthma Treated and Controlled?").