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Previous Volume 356:1367-1369 March 29, 2007 Number 13 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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The precise role of airway smooth muscle in the pathogenesis of asthma remains uncertain. The contraction of airway smooth muscle certainly causes acute narrowing of the airway and airflow obstruction in asthma, and smooth-muscle mass is increased in asthmatic airways. However, whether airway smooth muscle generates sufficient force in vivo to account for the excessive airway obstruction that characterizes asthma is unknown. Abnormalities in the dynamics of contraction,¹ in the capacity of smooth muscle to maintain shortening in the face of load fluctuations imposed by tidal breathing,² or in the capacity to relax³ represent other important mechanisms by which airway . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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From the Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago (J.S.); and the Vermont Lung Center, Department of Medicine, University of Vermont, Burlington (C.G.I.).

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Bronchial Thermoplasty
Macklem P. T., Medford A. R.L., Agrawal A., Cox G., Thomson N. C., Laviolette M.
Extract | Full Text | PDF  
N Engl J Med 2007; 356:2744-2745, Jun 28, 2007. Correspondence

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