Chest
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Letter Multicenter Study
Provision of Day-Case Local Anesthetic Thoracoscopy: A Multicenter Review of Practice.
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Observational Study
Eosinophils in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations are associated with increased readmissions.
A subset of patients with COPD demonstrates eosinophilic inflammation either in their sputum or blood. Previous studies regarding the association between increased blood eosinophil levels and poor readmission outcomes are conflicting. The goal of this study was to investigate outcomes following severe COPD exacerbations in patients with higher blood eosinophil levels. ⋯ Blood eosinophil levels can be used as a biomarker in severe COPD exacerbations for predicting higher readmission rates.
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A 27-year-old man with OSA, posttraumatic stress disorder, and chronic mechanical back pain presented with a 3-day history of acute atraumatic worsening of his low back pain as well as right groin numbness that was exacerbated by walking. He also complained of bilateral leg "heaviness," pain, and swelling, all becoming so severe that he rented a wheelchair for mobility.
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Discriminating circulatory problems with reduced stroke volume (SV) from deconditioning, in which the muscles cannot consume oxygen normally, by gas exchange parameters is difficult. ⋯ The best single gas exchange parameter to discriminate between circulatory problems and deconditioning is V.e/V.co2 slope to peak V.O2 ratio. Combining it with ΔV.o2/ΔWR and periodic breathing improves the discriminative ability.