Quadriceps muscle weakness is an important component of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We hypothesised that quadriceps weakness would also be a feature of restrictive lung disease due to scoliosis. We studied 10 patients with severe scoliosis (median (interquartile range (IQR)) forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV(1))() 35.3 (11)% ...

BACKGROUND: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common disorder in modern society and closely associated with obesity. Because OSA increases the likelihood of complications in the perioperative period, preoperative recognition is very important for bariatric patients. Polysomnography (PSG) remains the gold standard for diagnosis, but it is a time-consuming and ...

BACKGROUND: Neutrophils have been implicated in the pathogenesis of COPD. Several chemoattractants for neutrophils have been measured in samples of exhaled breath condensate (EBC) and induced sputum (IS) from patients with COPD. The aims of this study were to compare EBC and IS supernatant neutrophil chemotactic activity (NCA) from ex-smoking ...

BACKGROUND: This study describes the characteristics of a large sample of patients hospitalised for the first time for a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation. METHODS: All subjects first admitted for a COPD exacerbation to nine teaching Spanish hospitals during January 2004-March 2006, were eligible. COPD diagnosis was confirmed by ...

BACKGROUND: According to current guidelines, spirometry should be performed in patients suspected of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by the results of history taking and physical examination. However, little is known about the diagnostic value of patient history and physical examination for COPD. OBJECTIVES: To review the existing evidence on ...

The objective of this study was to compare the perception of dyspnea during acute bronchoconstriction and bronchodilation in patients with mild asthma with normal lung function who never experienced severe asthma exacerbations in the past. We studied 83 mild, stable asthmatic patients aged 18-58 years. All patients underwent the methacholine ...

The chronic systemic inflammation and oxidative stress are important features in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Atherosclerosis is accepted as an inflammatory disease. Both local and systemic inflammation and oxidative stress negatively affect the atherosclerotic process. Metabolic alterations, systemic inflammation, and neurohormonal activation frequently occur in patients with COPD. However, ...

BACKGROUND: The effect of adenosine monophosphate (AMP) on forced vital capacity (FVC) has never been systematically investigated. OBJECTIVE: To compare methacholine- and AMP-induced changes in FVC, as a marker of air trapping, in asthmatic patients treated and not treated with inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs). METHODS: Airway responsiveness to equipotent concentrations of ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Little is known about the aetiology and clinical characteristics of COPD among people who have never smoked. METHODS: A case-control study was conducted to describe the potential risk factors for clinically significant COPD among smokers and people who had never smoked. Medical record reviews and scoring of ...

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have suggested that allergic rhinitis is closely related to bronchial asthma, reflecting the "one airway-one disease" hypothesis. It is unclear if the effects of pranlukast, a leukotriene-receptor antagonist, are consistent with this hypothesis. OBJECTIVE: The goal of the study was to determine if pranlukast has effects on ...

New technologies have allowed remote real-time electronic recording of symptoms and spirometry. The feasibility of utilising this technology in COPD patients has not been investigated. This is a feasibility study. The primary objective is to determine whether the use of an electronic diary with a portable spirometer can be performed ...

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by a decline in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV(1)) and, in many advanced patients, by arterial hypoxemia with or without hypercapnia. Spirometric and gas exchange abnormalities have not been found to relate closely, but this may reflect a narrow range of ...

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is recognized as a source of systemic inflammation and is associated with the development of cardiovascular disease. However, little is known about the association between COPD and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Therefore, we investigated the relationship between COPD and CKD and the association between ...

BACKGROUND: Structural and inflammatory changes in asthma involve both the large and small airways, with involvement of the distal lung being related to disease severity. We have previously shown that changes in the extracellular matrix (ECM) composition of the distal lung are associated with loss of alveolar attachments in patients ...

The aim of the present study was to describe angiographic findings and embolisation results in smokers with haemoptysis. We retrospectively reviewed the clinical data and angiographic findings from 35 patients with smoking-related bronchopulmonary disease and no associated comorbidity, who were referred for embolisation for mild (n = 6), moderate (n ...

The objective of the study was to test the hypothesis that fraction of exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) is elevated in nonsmoking subjects with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and compare it with the results in patients with asthma and a control population. Cross-sectional study. Pulmonology Clinic at a University ...

The aim of the study was to assess links between family relationships and severity of dyspnea identified in asthmatic adults. A total of 131 consecutive, non-selected patients with asthma participated in the study: 88 women (67.18%) and 43 men (32.82%). The mean age of the studied patients was 49.87 years, ...

BACKGROUND: Endoscopic thoracic sympathectic denervation (ESD) is a procedure used in primary hyperhidrosis and upper extremity ischemia. Bronchial tone is affected by the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems and bronchial asthma is associated with an imbalance between them. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of ESD ...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: Laryngeal symptoms are increasingly recognized to occur in chronic persistent cough and may result from the sensory hyperresponsiveness that characterizes this condition. Apart from cough, the motor consequences of sensory activation have not been well described in chronic persistent cough. The efficacy of speech pathology treatment for chronic cough ...

BACKGROUND: A 20% change in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV(1)) during methacholine challenge testing (MCT) is a reliable marker of asthma. When the FEV(1) decrease is < 20%, there is controversy whether other changes in flows and conductance may be useful. We conducted this study to determine whether ...

Airway remodeling can be assessed using high-resolution computerized tomography (HRCT) scanning of both parenchymal-and airway abnormalities in patients with asthma. The aim of this study was to examine structural changes in large and small airways of asthmatic patients using HRCT to determine if remodeling changes had occurred after prolonged use ...

Chronic urticaria is now considered as an autoimmune disorder due to histamine-releasing autoantibodies in 40-50% of cases. These histamine releasing-autoantibodies directed against the high affinity IgE receptor or against IgE can be detected in vivo by autologous serum skin test (ASST) or in vitro by a functional assay employing basophils. ...

Recently, we identified several flavonoids as inhibitors of the nuclear enzyme poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP)-1 in vitro and in vivo. PARP-1 is recognized as coactivator of nuclear factor-kappaB and plays a role in the pathophysiology of diseases with low-grade systemic inflammation, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and type 2 ...

BACKGROUND: Anticholinergic premedication is commonly used during flexible bronchoscopy, although the benefits are unproven and potential risks exist. METHODS: We studied 1,000 patients undergoing diagnostic flexible bronchoscopy to investigate the efficacy and safety of atropine and glycopyrrolate. Patients received atropine (0.01 mg/kg; n = 339), glycopyrrolate (0.005 mg/kg; n = ...

OBJECTIVES: To identify predictors of success for an 8week pulmonary rehabilitation programme (PRP) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). METHODS: Sixty patients were stratified in subgroups according to baseline findings: airway obstruction (FEV(1) >/= or <50% pred), pulmonary hyperinflation (TLC > or <or=120% pred), BMI value (BMI > ...

INTRODUCTION: Considering the different clinical aspects of polyps in asthmatic and nonasthmatic patients, we aimed to explore their histopathological characteristics. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty-five asthmatic patients and 25 nonasthmatic patients with polypoid chronic rhinosinusitis (29 male, 21 female; mean age 41.3 +/- 13.27; range 15-78 years) were enrolled in the ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Hyperoxia has been shown to reduce resting ventilation, hyperinflation and dyspnoea in patients with severely hypoxaemic COPD. This study assessed the effects of hyperoxia on these resting measures in patients with COPD of varying disease severity and characterized those patients who responded. METHODS: Measurements of dyspnoea (Borg ...

We studied 54 patients with hypoxemic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The Mini Mental State Examination and the Mental Deterioration Battery were used for neuropsychological assessment. Heart rate variability (HRV) was assessed based on 24-h Holter ECG recording. Mann-Whitney test was used to compare HRV parameters of patients performing normally ...

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the most common medical problem in Nepal. Echocardiography based cardiac evaluation in COPD is rare in Nepal. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the echocardiography based cardiac function in consecutively admitted COPD patients (507) in medical wards of Nepal Medical College Teaching ...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate spontaneous release of superoxide anion by peripheral blood granulocytes of atopic patients with uncontrolled asthma undergoing glucocorticoid therapy and of healthy subjects. METHODS: We studied 32 patients, aged 6 to 18 (mean 12.04), and 29 healthy subjects as a comparative group. Patients were grouped according to the ...

The effect of comorbid conditions such as asthma and atopy on the severity of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) and the presence of nasal polyps (NPs) remains an area of investigation. We sought to elucidate the relationship among these entities. The study population included 106 consecutive patients who were referred to a ...

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) in AS patients. METHODS: Thirty-one patients with AS were included in the study. The demographic data, spinal mobility measures and Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) scores were recorded for each patient. All participants underwent one night of ...

BACKGROUND: It is not clear whether the benefits of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) apply equally to patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) with different levels of starting disability. We have therefore investigated the effect of pulmonary rehabilitation stratified by the MRC dyspnoea scale in patients with COPD. METHODS: This is ...

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of airway malacia and its relationship with ancillary morphologic features in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A retrospective review was performed of a consecutive series of patients with COPD who were imaged with inspiratory and dynamic expiratory multidetector ...

BACKGROUND: It has been shown that interleukin (IL)-18 levels in induced sputum are reduced in asthmatic and healthy smokers. However, in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients, recent data show an overproduction in the lungs and increased serum levels of IL-18, suggesting that IL-18 may be involved in the pathogenesis ...

Impulse oscillometry (IOS) is a forced oscillation technique that enables pulmonary functional studies to be performed without requiring strenuous maneuvers. IOS assesses different components of respiratory impedance. The aim of this study was to compare the inspiratory and expiratory IOS parameters in COPD patients. IOS and spirometry were performed in ...

BACKGROUND: Sensitization to Trichophyton, a major dermatophyte, has been associated with asthma. Whether such sensitization is generally associated with the severity of asthma, like other molds such as Alternaria, is unknown. METHODS: We compared 258 patients with asthma, which was classified by severity as mild (n = 123), moderate (101), ...

The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of obstructive sleep apnea in patients with inflammatory myopathy. An observational and prospective study was performed on a cohort of adult patients with inflammatory myopathy followed at a specialized outpatient clinic. Sixteen consecutive adult patients were evaluated by the Epworth ...

COPD is a diverse disease entity with multiple dimensions that uniquely define the patient's performance, morbidity and mortality. FEV(1) is both the traditional metric used to define the progression of COPD as well as the strongest spirometric predictor of mortality in COPD patients. However, besides pulmonary functional abnormalities, COPD is ...

Airway angiogenesis may be an important part of structural remodelling in the pathogenesis of asthma. The development of asthma is frequently preceded by rhinitis. We sought to determine whether the levels of angiogenesis-related factors are elevated in airways of patients with rhinitis or controlled asthma. We analysed the induced sputum ...

Aim: Nowadays, there are still some difficulty to distinguish smoker asthmatic patients and COPD. Differentiation of these disorders is very important as their treatment choices are different. The aim of this study is to investigate the presence of auscultation together with pulmonary function test (PFT) findings and the power of ...

RATIONALE: During deglutition, a strongly preferred exhale-swallow-exhale pattern has been shown in healthy adults. Disruption of this pattern can provoke prandial aspiration. Impaired coordination of breathing and swallowing has been measured in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) during the exacerbated state, but no reports describe the coordination of ...

BACKGROUND: Long-acting-beta-agonists and inhaled corticosteroids are widely used in patients with obstructive lung disease. We determined the occurrence of potential side effects to inhaled steroids and long-acting-beta-agonists in an open post-marketing observational study. METHODS: A total of 158 adult patients treated with long-acting-beta-agonists and inhaled steroids because of asthma or ...

Several cellular and molecular alterations have been described in skeletal and respiratory muscles of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but information on potential abnormalities of mitochondrial function is scarce. The aim of the present study was to investigate mitochondrial function in the vastus lateralis (VL) and external intercostalis ...

Bone mineral density decreases with advancing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) severity, but it is not known whether this is reflected in higher fracture rates. The present authors wanted to compare the prevalence of vertebral deformities in COPD patients with those in a population-based reference group to determine whether the ...

OBJECTIVES: Like chronic heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an enormous public health problem in industrialized countries. Our aim was to determine the prevalence and clinical impact of COPD among patients hospitalized for heart failure in a community hospital serving a population of 125,000 people. METHODS: Between 2001 ...

Malnutrition is an important problem in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It still remains unclear whether malnutrition contributes to poor pulmonary function through a loss of respiratory muscle mass, or if advanced disease and hypoxemia are the causes of weight loss and malnutrition in COPD patients. This study ...

An unusual encounter of a thyroid storm, on two separate occasions, is reported in a patient with metastatic differentiated thyroid cancer following initially direct trauma to, and later tumour embolisation of, a metastatic skeletal lesion. Shortly after a fall, our patient presented with pain and swelling in the right shoulder, ...

BACKGROUND: Lower peak expiratory flow (PEF) and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV(1)) have been consistently found after slow inspiration with end-inspiratory pause (EIP). OBJECTIVES: It was the aim of this study to establish the respective influence of the speed of preceding inspiration (SPI) and EIP on the parameters ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Cyclooxygenase (COX) is an enzyme that converts arachidonic acid to prostanoids. There are two isoforms of COX, namely COX-1 and COX-2. COX-2 is highly inducible by several stimuli and is associated with inflammation. Recent studies have shown that COX-2 is upregulated in the airway epithelium of patients ...