Chest
-
Passive smoking, or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), is a risk factor for lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, and childhood asthma, but a relationship with COPD has not been fully established. Our aim was to study ETS as a risk factor for COPD in never smokers. ⋯ In this population-based sample of never smokers, ETS was independently associated with COPD. The association was stronger for ETS in multiple settings. ETS in multiple settings was, after age, the strongest risk factor for COPD and comparable to personal smoking of up to 14 cigarettes/d in comparable materials. The findings strongly advocate measures against smoking in public places.
-
The increased prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in countries endemic for TB poses a serious complication in the clinical management of this major infectious disease. Understanding the impact of T2DM on TB and the determinants of comorbidity is critical in responding to this growing public health problem with better therapeutic approaches. Here, we performed an exploratory study assessing a series of biologic parameters that could serve as markers of pathogenesis in TB with T2DM. ⋯ Elevated plasma levels of HO-1 and TIMP-4 and peripheral blood neutrophil counts are potential single and combined markers of pathogenesis in TB and T2DM.
-
Case Reports
Small Airway-Centered Granulomatosis Caused by Long-term Exposure to Polytetrafluoroethylene.
To date, there have been no reports of chronic pulmonary granulomatosis associated with exposure to polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). Here, we report three cases of small airway-centered granulomatous lesions in workers employed at facilities that apply coatings to pans and other utensils. The workers were repeatedly exposed to PTFE particles that were probably generated by the drying process when PTFE coatings are dried in a convection oven at high temperatures (380-420 °C). ⋯ Analysis of the spectrum extracted from the position of the foreign particles enabled precise identification of the foreign bodies as PTFE. Fourier transform infrared revealed that all of the lung tissue samples had bands at 1,202 to 1,148 cm(-1) and 1,202 to 1,146 cm(-1), which are characteristic of the asymmetric and symmetric stretching vibrations of the C-F bonds of PTFE. These cases suggest that recurrent inhalational exposure to PTFE particles causes chronic pulmonary granulomatosis.
-
Congenital tracheal anomalies occur in 1:10,000 births and can be associated with congenital cardiac disease. This patient presented with right mainstem atresia, right bronchoesophageal fistula without esophageal atresia (H-type esophageal lung), and left pulmonary arterial (PA) sling. ⋯ To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of esophageal lung in conjunction with a PA sling, as well as the first documented use of an expandable prosthesis to prevent acute postpneumonectomy syndrome. This case can provide clinicians with increased clinical knowledge for treatment of this rare and potentially lethal combination of congenital anomalies.
-
Phenotypic differences in physiologic, radiologic, and clinical characteristics are increasingly recognized in COPD. The factors associated with a 1 -antitrypsin deficiency (A1AD)physiologic phenotypes and how they progress with time have yet to be explained. ⋯ There are distinct physiologic phenotypes in A1AD with differing demographic features that relate to progression.