Wikipedia:Main Page history/2012 January 15

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High resolution computed tomography (HRCT) images of the lower chest in a 16-year-old boy with diffuse panbronchiolitis

Diffuse panbronchiolitis (DPB) is an inflammatory lung disease of unknown cause. It is a severe, progressive form of bronchiolitis, an inflammatory condition of the bronchioles (small air passages in the lungs). DPB causes severe inflammation and nodule-like lesions of terminal bronchioles, chronic sinusitis, and intense coughing with large amounts of sputum production. The disease is believed to occur when there is susceptibility, or a lack of immune system resistance, to DPB-causing bacteria or viruses, caused by several genes that are found predominantly in individuals of East Asian descent. DPB occurs more often in males, and usually begins around age 40. It was recognized as a distinct new disease in the early 1960s, and was formally named "diffuse panbronchiolitis" in 1969. If left untreated, DPB progresses to bronchiectasis, an irreversible lung condition that involves enlargement of the bronchioles, and pooling of mucus in the bronchiolar passages. The eventual result of untreated DPB can lead to respiratory failure and heart problems. Daily treatment of DPB with macrolide antibiotics such as erythromycin eases symptoms and increases survival time, but the disease has no known cure. (more...)

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  • On this day...

    January 15: Pongal (Tamils, 2012); Armed Forces Day in Nigeria; Army Day in India

    Damage caused by the Boston Molasses Disaster

  • 1759 – The British Museum in London, today containing one of the largest and most comprehensive collections in the world, opened to the public in Montagu House, Bloomsbury.
  • 1919 – A large molasses tank in Boston, Massachusetts, burst and a wave of molasses rushed through the streets (damage pictured), killing 21 people and injuring 150 others.
  • 1937Spanish Civil War: Nationalists and Republican forces both withdrew after suffering heavy losses, ending the Second Battle of the Corunna Road.
  • 1975 – Portugal signed the Alvor Agreement with UNITA, the MPLA, and the FNLA, ending the Angolan War of Independence.
  • 1993Salvatore "The Beast" Riina, one of the most powerful members of the Sicilian Mafia, was arrested after three decades as a fugitive.
  • More anniversaries: January 14 January 15 January 16

    It is now January 15, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

    Today's featured picture

    Edward Teller

    Edward Teller (1908–2003) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist, known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb". Teller was born in Budapest and emigrated to the United States in 1935. He was an early member of the Manhattan Project charged with developing the first atomic bombs. He was an early proponent of a fusion weapon, which most of his contemporaries believed was infeasible. In 1951, he and Polish mathematician Stanisław Ulam finally made the breakthrough which made the hydrogen bomb possible.

    Photo: US Department of Energy; Restoration: Greg L/PLW

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