Background: Auricular pressure method is a non-medication method which has been applied for a long time. This method significantly improved the clinical symptoms in premenopausal women. Objectives: to evaluate the effects of auricular pressure method on some hemological and endocrinal indices of the patients with pre-menopausal syndrome. Subjects and methods: 30 patients with menopausal syndrome aged 40- 55 were treated by applying continuously auricular method on Shen men, endocrine, sympathetic nerve points for 30 days. An open-clinical trial was conducted with a comparison of the results before and after treatment. Results: After 30 days of treatment there were no change in hemological indices while serum Estradiol concentration increased to 199,33 \xb1 299,83pnol/l and FSH decreased to 16,33 \xb1 108,70 UL/I compared with those before treatment.The increased levels of estrogen explained partly the improvement of clinical symptoms after treatment. Number of erythrocyte, leukocyte, platelet, haemoglobin, hematocrit did not change. Conclusions: Auricular pressure method produced an influence on the levels of serum Estradiol and FSH. However, it caused no effects on hemological indices in the patients with menopausal syndrome. \r\n', u'\r\n', u'\r\n', u'
Premenopause

Background/Aims: Although international guidelines for bronchiectasis management have been published in Western countries, there is a lack of data about their application in Asian populations including patients with different phenotypes. We aimed to investigate the current status of bronchiectasis management in Asian populations. Methods: A nationwide questionnaire survey was performed of Asian respiratory specialists from South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka. Participants were invited by e-mail to answer a questionnaire comprising 25 questions based on international guidelines for the management of bronchiectasis. Results: A total of 221 physicians participated in the survey. About half of them were Korean (50.2%), with the next most common nationalities being Japanese (23.1%), Taiwanese (13.6%), and Singaporean (7.7%). Only 18 (8.1%) responders had local guidelines for bronchiectasis. While 85 (38.5%) responders checked sputum acid-fast bacillus smear/culture about 1 to 3 times per year, only a small proportion of responders routinely performed a serum immunoglobulin test (36/221, 16.3%) or evaluated for allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (41/221, 18.6%). Less than half (43.4%) of responders performed eradication treatment in patients with drug-sensitive Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection, mainly due to the limited availability of inhaled antibiotics (34.8%). In addition, 58.6% of responders considered physiotherapy such as airway clearance and pulmonary rehabilitation. Conclusions Discrepancies might exist between guideline recommendations and practice for bronchiectasis management in Asian populations, partly due to the limited availability of treatment in each country. The development of local guidelines that consider the phenotypes and situation will help to standardize and improve the management of bronchiectasis.

Air pollution, climate change, and reduced biodiversity are major threats to human health with detrimental effects on a variety of chronic noncommunicable diseases in particular respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. The extent of air pollution both outdoor and indoor air pollution and climate change including global warming is increasing-to alarming proportions particularly in the developing world especially rapidly industrializing countries worldwide. In recent years, Asia has experienced rapid economic growth and a deteriorating environment and increase in allergic diseases to epidemic proportions. Air pollutant levels in many Asian countries especially in China and India are substantially higher than are those in developed countries. Moreover, industrial, traffic-related, and household biomass combustion, indoor pollutants from chemicals and tobacco are major sources of air pollutants, with increasing burden on respiratory allergies. Here we highlight the major components of outdoor and indoor air pollutants and their impacts on respiratory allergies associated with asthma and allergic rhinitis in the Asia-Pacific region. With Asia-Pacific comprising more than half of the world's population there is an urgent need to increase public awareness, highlight targets for interventions, public advocacy and a call to action to policy makers to implement policy changes towards reducing air pollution with interventions at a population-based level.
Administrative Personnel ; Air Pollutants ; Air Pollution ; Air Pollution, Indoor ; Allergy and Immunology ; Asia ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Asthma ; Biodiversity ; Biomass ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; China ; Climate Change ; Climate ; Consumer Advocacy ; Developed Countries ; Economic Development ; Family Characteristics ; Global Warming ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; India ; Rhinitis, Allergic ; Tobacco