Chest
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We developed and validated the first-ever sleep apnea (SA) risk calculator in a large population-based cohort of Hispanic/Latino subjects. ⋯ We created an internally validated, highly discriminating, well-calibrated, and parsimonious prediction model for SA. Contrary to the study hypothesis, the variables did not have different predictive magnitudes in male and female subjects.
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Cough is recognized as an important troublesome symptom in the diagnosis and monitoring of asthma. Asthma control is thought to be determined by the degree of airway inflammation and hyperresponsiveness but how these factors relate to cough frequency is unclear. The goal of this study was to investigate the relationships between objective cough frequency, disease control, airflow obstruction, and airway inflammation in asthma. ⋯ Ambulatory cough frequency monitoring provides an objective assessment of asthma symptoms that correlates with standard measures of asthma control but not airflow obstruction or airway inflammation. Moreover, cough frequency and airflow obstruction represent independent dimensions of asthma control.
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Case Reports
A 65-Year-Old Groundskeeper With High Fever, Pulmonary Nodules, and Thoracic Lymphadenopathy.
A 65-year-old man with treated latent tuberculous infection presented with 1 week of fevers (up to 39.6°C), chills, headache, lightheadedness, and malaise. He reported a chronic, nonproductive cough without hemoptysis but denied other localizing symptoms, sick contacts, or recent travel. He lived in an urban area in eastern Colorado and owned one healthy dog but otherwise denied known animal exposures. ⋯ Six weeks prior to admission, he began work as a groundskeeper on a golf course that had experienced recent flooding, using a riding mower and exposing himself to airborne dust and organic debris. He smoked a pipe daily for 30 years but quit 2 months prior to presentation, although he continued to smoke marijuana weekly. He denied intravenous drug use.
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Myiasis refers to a parasitic infestation of vertebrate mammals by dipterous larvae (maggots) of higher flies. Infections in humans typically occur in tropical and subtropical regions, regions with limited medical access, and areas with poor hygiene and living conditions. Infestations in humans have been described in subcutaneous, nasal, ocular, oropharyngeal, and orotracheal cases; however, reports of pulmonary myiasis in humans in the United States and other developed countries are extremely rare. We describe a patient with recently diagnosed primary pleural angiosarcoma who presented to our clinic for the management of a thoracostomy tube and was diagnosed with pleural myiasis.
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In emphysema airway resistance can exceed collateral airflow resistance, causing air to flow preferentially through collateral pathways. In severe emphysema ventilation through openings directly through the chest wall into the parenchyma (spiracles) could bypass airway obstruction and increase alveolar ventilation via transpleural expiration. During lung transplant operations, spiracles occasionally can occur inadvertently. ⋯ During transpleural spiracle ventilation, inspiratory tidal volumes (TV) were unchanged; however, expiration was entirely transpleural in two patients whereas the expired TV to the ventilator circuit was reduced to 25% of the inspired TV in one. At baseline, mean PCO2 was 61 ± 5 mm Hg, which decreased to a mean PCO2 of 49 ± 5 mm Hg (P = .05) within minutes after transpleural spiracle ventilation and further decreased at 1 to 2 h (36 ± 4 mm Hg; P = .002 compared with baseline) on unchanged ventilator settings. This observation of increased alveolar ventilation supports further studies of spiracles as a possible therapy for advanced emphysema.