AssTRAcr To evaluate the effect of negative ionisation of inspired air on bronchial reactivity, 11 asthmatic children were challenged twice by exercise and 10 were challenged twice by histamine inhalation. The children breathed negatively ionised air (4 x 105 -10 X 105 ions/cm3) or control room air in random order in a double-blind fashion. All challenges were matched in terms of basal lung function and the exercise tests were matched in terms of ventilation and respiratory heat loss. Exercise-induced asthma was significantly attenuated by exposure to negatively ionised air, the mean postexercise fall in one-second forced expiratory volume (FEVy) being 29% (SE 5%) of the initial value after the control and 21% (3%) after the ionised air test (p < 0.02). Ten of the 11 subjects developed less exercise-induced asthma while breathing ionised air. Although the median dose of histamine (cumulative breath units) which caused a constant fall in FEV, for each individual was higher with the ionised air challenge than with the control challenge the difference was not significant. Five of the 10 subjects were less sensitive to histamine and the other five more sensitive when breathing ionised air. It is concluded that negative ionisation of inspired air can modulate the bronchial response to exercise but the effect on the response to histamine is much more variable.Asthmatic patients show increased airway responsiveness when exposed to various stimuli, both specific stimuli such as antigen inhalation and nonspecific ones such as histamine inhalation or physical exertion.

The Lightscan is a new technology offering sensitive imaging detection of inflammatory changes in subjects with RA and OA with PIP arthritis. POI was more sensitive than CE and correlated significantly to GSUS and PDUS, while presenting a higher sensitivity and specificity for the detection of healthy subjects versus patients (RA, OA) based on the ROC analysis.

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Background The Lightscan, a novel imaging technology, is detecting inflammatory activity in proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joints. Objectives This study aimed at the comparison of Lightscan (LS) to musculoskeletal ultrasonography (US) and clinical examination (CE) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or osteoarthritis (OA) and in healthy controls. Methods A total of 87 subjects (70 female, mean age 49±19 years, range 22-86) were examined. The total cohort included 30 patients with active RA (DAS28>2.6), 8 RA patients in clinical remission (DAS28≤2.6), 21 patients with OA, and 28 individuals as a healthy control group. All patients received clinical joint examination (tender/swollen joints). US in grey-scale (GSUS) and power Doppler mode (PDUS) of the PIPs 2-5 (palmar/dorsal view) were performed. All patients were examined by LS. LS was transilluminating the PIPs of both hands using laser diodes with three different wavelengths (670, 820, and 904 nm), one joint after the other. A CCD camera was recording the scattered-light in a 2-dimensional light pattern. Those black/white bitmaps with a depth of 8 bits were transformed into a false colour image [1] and analysed with a non-local image segmentation method [2]. In order to compare LS with US, a sum-score was defined and calculated for GSUS, PDUS and LS individually. The means of the sum-score were compared to each other. ROC-analysis was done for LS and US. Results In the statistical analysis the results of LS and CE agreed in 52% on average (agreement was calculated for each PIP joint individually; agreement range was 32-66%). Disagreement in 40% (range 28-55%) of the results was due to the high rate of positive findings in LS. In 8% (range 2-12.5%) positive findings were only found in CE. In the ROC-analysis, LS showed better sensitivity and specificity for the detection of inflammation in RA and OA (AUC=0.88) than GSUS (AUC=0.8) and PDUS (AUC=0.67). By using this analysis, the cut-off for LS was defined at the score of 1.3. Conclusions It is known that US is more sensitive than the CE [3,4]. Thus, while showing better results in the ROC-analysis, we conclude LS to be more sensitive than US and CE in assessing inflammatory activity in patients with RA and OA. References Minet O et al. J Biophotonics. 2010;3:130-7 Minet O et al. Las. Phys. Lett. 2007;4:604-10 Backhaus, M et al. Arthritis Rheum. 1999;42:1232-45 Backhaus, M et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2002;6:895-904 Disclosure of Interest None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.3338

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