Chest
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Case Reports
Necrotic Tuberculin Skin (Mantoux) Test Reaction: A Case Report and an Estimation of Frequency.
Tuberculin skin testing was performed on a 5-year-old girl in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She had been immunized by Bacille de Calmette et Guérin. She was tested because of a palpable cervical node and a slightly elevated temperature. ⋯ To our knowledge, this is the first instance of necrosis in 11,392 people who received Tubersol doses since 1996 to date at our International Vaccination Center, for an estimated incidence of 0.18 per 1,000 (95% Poisson 0.04-0.70 per 1,000 doses used). At a follow-up consultation after 77 days, the lesion had scarred and the child showed no signs suggestive of active TB. Although latent TB infection remains the most likely diagnosis, other types of mycobacterial infection may be considered in the tropical setting and in the absence of signs suggestive of active TB.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
An Internet-Mediated Pedometer-Based Program Improves Health-Related Quality of Life Domains and Daily Step Counts in COPD: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Low levels of physical activity (PA) are associated with poor outcomes in people with COPD. Interventions to increase PA could improve outcomes. ⋯ An Internet-mediated, pedometer-based walking program can improve domains of HRQL and daily step counts at 4 months in people with COPD.
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The central disorders of hypersomnolence are characterized by severe daytime sleepiness, which is present despite normal quality and timing of nocturnal sleep. Recent reclassification distinguishes three main subtypes: narcolepsy type 1, narcolepsy type 2, and idiopathic hypersomnia (IH), which are the focus of this review. Narcolepsy type 1 results from loss of hypothalamic hypocretin neurons, while the pathophysiology underlying narcolepsy type 2 and IH remains to be fully elucidated. ⋯ In those patients with narcolepsy type 1, sodium oxybate is effective for the treatment of both sleepiness and cataplexy. Despite these treatments, there remains a subset of hypersomnolent patients with persistent sleepiness, in whom alternate therapies are needed. Emerging treatments for sleepiness include histamine H3 antagonists (eg, pitolisant) and possibly negative allosteric modulators of the gamma-aminobutyric acid-A receptor (eg, clarithromycin and flumazenil).
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Sensitivity Analyses of the Change in Forced Vital Capacity in a Phase 3 Trial of Pirfenidone for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.
FVC outcomes in clinical trials on idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) can be substantially influenced by the analytic methodology and the handling of missing data. We conducted a series of sensitivity analyses to assess the robustness of the statistical finding and the stability of the estimate of the magnitude of treatment effect on the primary end point of FVC change in a phase 3 trial evaluating pirfenidone in adults with IPF. ⋯ Our results confirm the robustness of the statistical finding on the primary end point of change in FVC in the ASCEND trial and corroborate the estimated magnitude of the pirfenidone treatment effect in patients with IPF.
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Approximately 8% of the world population resides above 1,600 m, with about 10 million people living above 2,500 m in Colombia. However, reference values for polysomnography (PSG) and oxygen saturation (Spo2) of children < 2 years old residing at high altitude are currently unavailable. ⋯ Healthy infants (≤ 18 months old) born and residing at high altitude show preserved sleep architecture but higher apnea-hypopnea indexes and more prominent desaturation with respiratory events than do those living at low altitude. The current study findings can be used as reference values for infants at high altitude.