This book sums up the mechanistic basis, current status, and future prospects of steroid inhalation as the cornerstone of prophylactic asthma therapy, identifying its kinetic basis-especially the essential airway selectivity-and including a historical account of inhaled glucocorticoid development. Makes connections among the underlying pharmacology, impact of new simulation models, newly recognized molecular targets, and therapeutic outcomes of short- and long-term steroid inhalation therapy! Containing more than 1600 works cited, drawings, tables, equations, and micrographs, Inhaled Steroids in Asthma -describes the developmental history of inhaled steroids and provides general models for lung selectivity -considers the best way to select inhaled steroids -clarifies local metabolism, airway and lung uptake and retention, and other determinants of once-daily usage -addresses variations in lung deposition and total bioavailability among available steroids and formulations -surveys the dynamics of receptor gene-mediated processes -analyzes the role of chemokines in airway allergic inflammatory diseases -discusses the effects of inhaled steroids in vivo on cell progenitors in asthma and rhinitis -details measuring airway inflammation as a guide for treatment decisions -outlines the clinical relevancy of exhaled nitric oxide in asthma -covers optimal trial design for judging antiasthmatic potency and efficacy -evaluates the safety of inhaled steroids Written by more than 40 of the world's leading authorities and investigators, Inhaled Steroids in Asthma is an authoritative reference for pulmonologists and pulmonary disease specialists; physiologists; allergists; immunologists; molecular, cell, and lung biologists; pediatricians; pharmaceutical scientists and pharmacologists; and medical school and upper-level undergraduate, graduate, and medical school students in these disciplines.