Summarized articles

Hello Everybody,
Sorry for posting my 6 articles late, I got a little problem with my computer. Here I am posting my articles summaries, if there are any suggestions please let me know. I tried to follow the suggestions from the paper revied by Dr. Byrd. It is being really hard to compile a lot of information in half of a page, but I tried my best. These may not look long enough but if we change the spacing to double space they are about 1/2 page.

I have e-mailed them to Mike with the part # 3

Krouse, J., Veling, M., Ryan, M., Pillsbury, H., Krouse, H., Joe, S., Heller A., Han, J., Fineman, S. & Brown, R. (2007). Executive summary: asthma and the unified airway. Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, 136, 699-706.


Krouse et al. (2007) explain the importance for otorhinolaryngologists to consider asthma diagnosis and treatment in patients suffering from upper respiratory infections. The authors examine the relationship between upper- respiratory disorders such as rhinitis and lower respiratory-illness such as asthma. The authors use the concept of unified airway as model for concurrent inflammatory processes in the upper and lower respiratory tract. The authors indicate that the prevalence of asthma among patients with rhinosinusitis is 20% and the prevalence of asthma for patients with rhinosinusitis with polyps is estimated at 50%, the prevalence of theses two conditions is considerable high in comparison to the prevalence of asthma in the general population which is estimate at 5% to 8%. The conclusion of this article emphasize that otorhinolaryngologists can help to reduce the symptom and improve the quality of life of patients who suffer from asthma.









Nicholas, S., Jean-Louis, B., Ortiz, B., Northridge, M., Shoemaker, K, Vaughan, R., Rome, M., Canada, G., & Hutchinson V. (2005). Addressing the childhood asthma crisis in Harlem: the Harlem children’s zone asthma initiative. American Journal of Public Health, 95(2), 245-249.

Nicholas et al. (2005) conducted an asthma screening community intervention to determine the prevalence of and the management of symptoms among children 0 -12 years of age living Central Harlem. The intervention included screening questionnaires for parents and guardians of children living within the Harlem zone project, active surveillance of hospital and clinic records, day cares centers and recreational programs in the area. As part of the program intervention parents were offered the opportunity to have their children examined by a doctor or a nurse from the Harlem Hospital asthma team. According to the results 1982 children were screened, 28.5% of them were told by a doctor that they have asthma, 30.3% of the children experienced symptoms of asthma, among other findings there is a high prevalence of asthma was detected among school-age males, Latinos and children living with smokers.










Fowler, M., Davenport, M., & Garg, R. (1992). School functioning of US children with asthma. Pediatrics, 90(6), 939-944.

Fowler, Davenport & Garg (1992) examine data from the 1988 US National Health Interview Survey in Child Health to determine the effects of asthma in relationship to school functioning. The data analyzed included school outcomes in terms of grades failure and learning disability, number of absences due to asthma, other categories included in the survey were family income and parents’ level of education. The results of this analysis report that children with asthma had a slightly higher rates of grad failure compared with the group of well children, but these children reported to have almost twice the rates of disabilities (9%) compared to the well group. Regarding to the socioeconomic level, children from families with low incomes particularly children with asthma were at increased risk for school failure.












Kinnert, M., Price, M., Liu, A., & Robinson J. (2003). Morbidity patterns among low-income wheezing infants. Pediatrics, 112(1), 49-57.

Kinnert et al. (2003) analyze the influence of biological, environmental and social factors that impact the morbidity of low-income infants who have wheezing illnesses. The elements analyzed in the study were demographic information from the infants’ medical records, serum and urine lab tests taken from the infants of who participated in the study, and interviews with the primary care takers. The findings indicate that only 72% of the infants who participated in the study were taking bronchodilators, 46% of these group had at least one hospitalization do to respiratory problems. One of the interesting results indicates that infants from foreign-born Hispanic families have higher number of visits to the emergency department. The authors were not able to investigate culturally based attitudes and beliefs that influence health seeking behaviors.










Newacheck, P., Budetti, P., & Halfon, N. (1986). Trends in activity- limiting chronic conditions among children. American Journal of Public Health, 76(2), 178-184.

In this article Newacheck , Budetti, and Halfom (1986) examine the possible explanations for the Nation Center for Health Statistics 1981 survey results regarding the increase in the number of children under 17 years of age with activity-limiting with chronic health conditions. According to the authors there are four cases that can help to explain the results of the survey, these are: changes in the parental perceptions about disabilities, improved access to health care services, expanded screening programs in the schools or an improvement of the national survey. After providing an explanations of these causes the authors conclude that between 1969 and 1981 there was a significant increase in reporting in three health conditions including respiratory diseases, mental and nervous disorders, and orthopedic impairments.









Li, J.,& O’Connell, E. (1996). Clinical evaluation of asthma. Annals of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, 76, 1-14.
Li and O’Connell (1996) examine the effectiveness of the use of patient medical history and symptoms in the diagnosis of asthma. The authors explain that symptoms such as wheezing, chest tightness and difficulty taking breaths are suggestive of asthma; but other symptoms of the disease that may suggest alternative diagnosis among patients with asthma. One of the studies cited by the authors showed that from 14,127 patients who were evaluated for asthma 6.1% were diagnosed with asthma, and 3.3% went undiagnosed while having active asthma. The authors conclude that there are limitations in the clinical evaluation of asthma even by specialists, for that reason they recommend hat physician should recognize the limitations of medical history and physical examination when evaluating patients for asthma, they also suggest the use of other tests for the diagnosis of asthma.