Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Dose rather than concentration

Bronchoprovocation is a pulmonary function test frequently performed in patients as a diagnostic or therapy management tool.  It assesses the subject’s level of airway responsiveness following increasing aerosol challenges of methacholine, a direct bronchoconstrictive agent.  

Recently, the European Respiratory Society (ERS), in collaboration with the American Thoracic Society (ATS), updated their guidelines relative to this test.  The most significant modification made was the recommendation that the test outcome be expressed in terms of the dose delivered rather than as the concentration of the solution loaded into the nebulizer1.  The ERS guidelines state that this updated end-point reporting allows for comparable results from different devices or protocols, since the dose concept can account for delivery variations2


Methacholine challenge tests are also performed at the pre-clinical level.  There, the notion of delivered dose was introduced earlier3 and researchers who have been using the flexiVent FX system have known for some time the effectiveness of this now recommended clinical procedure or its impact on study comparison.  Indeed, with the push of a button, the operating flexiVent software can automatically generate a delivered dose estimate for each subject and aerosol challenge.  The dose calculation is based on specific nebulizer, subject, and system characteristics and imposes no restrictions on the experimental protocol nor does it require additional pieces of equipment.  The delivered dose estimate thus offers an important standardization to the preclinical assessment of airway responsiveness that now coincides with the most recent clinical recommendations. 

Contact us for more information on the delivered dose concept.  Our application specialists will be happy to answer your questions or assist you to improve your study.

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Phone: 1.514.286.1429 | Toll Free 1.877.572.4737
Email: [email protected]


READ MORE
1Coates, Allan L., et al.  2017.  ERS technical standard on bronchial challenge testing: general considerations and        performance of methacholine challenge tests.  European Respiratory Journal 49 (5): 1601526.
2Coates, Allan L., et al.  2017.  The PD 20 but not the PC 20 in a methacholine challenge test is device independent.  Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology 118 (4): 508-509.
3Robichaud, Annette, Liah Fereydoonzad, and Thomas F. Schuessler.  2015.  Delivered dose estimate to standardize airway hyperresponsiveness assessment in mice.  American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology 308 (8): L837-L846.

Thursday, October 19, 2017

Great success at JAX Workshop on Phenotyping Mouse Models of Human Lung Disease

After a year of absence, the well-established Workshop on Phenotyping Mouse Models of Human Lung Disease returned last week in Bar Harbor, ME.  As in the past, SCIREQ was a partner in this year's event, in collaboration with the Jackson Laboratory Educational Program.


The course, which offers great learning and networking opportunities, contains both a theoretical and a practical part and covers various topics relevant to respiratory research.  Two laboratory sessions on lung function measurements are typically included in the event schedule.  During these sessions, the participants are divided into small groups, where they can interact with key leaders in the field, such as Dr Wayne Mitzner (John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) or Dr Lennart K. A. Lundblad (The University of Vermont), while learning about state-of-the-art techniques.


This renowned scientific event catering to the needs of pre-clinical researchers from around the world was fully attended this year.  We will be there next time.  We hope you will be there too!

For more information on SCIREQ or its products for respiratory research applications, please visit our website at www.scireq.com.

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Biennale Pneumologie 2017 et CQSR

Merci aux organisateurs et à tous les participants de la Biennale Pneumologie 2017 et du CQSR, qui a eu lieu dans la magnifique ville de Québec. Nous avons particulièrement apprécié le volet sur la recherche fondamentale appliquée, où nous avons pu assister à des présentations sur l’asthme, la fibrose kystique, la SDRA et les MPOC (pour les Québécois) ou BPCO (pour les Français)   J

emka TECHNOLOGIES et SCIREQ sont fières de travailler avec les chercheurs francophones qui étudient sur le système respiratoire et les maladies cardio-pulmonaires.

Au plaisir de vous revoir à la Biennale 2019.


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Thursday, October 12, 2017

Workshop on Eosinophils in Allergy and Related Diseases – Tokyo, Japan

Will you be attending the 31st Workshop on Eosinophils in Allergy and Related Diseases in Tokyo? If so, come and meet with our partner emka TECHNOLOGIES Japan and see our solutions for your research.

Workshop Information
Date:         21st October 2017
Time:        10:00 am - 17:00 pm
Location:  Tokyo, Japan
Chairman: Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima, Allergy & Clinical Immunology, Chiba University
                 Hospital
Director:    Dr. Makoto Nagata, Allergy Center, Saitama Medical University


More information from previous workshops on this topic: