Chest
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Patients in the ICU are thought to have abnormal circadian rhythms, but quantitative data are lacking. ⋯ The findings indicate that circadian rhythms are present but altered in patients in the ICU, with the degree of circadian abnormality correlating with severity of illness.
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Paper-based diaries and self-report of symptom worsening in COPD may lead to underdetection of exacerbations. Epidemiologically, COPD exacerbations exhibit seasonal patterns peaking at year-end. We examined whether the use of a BlackBerry-based daily symptom diary would detect 95% or more of exacerbations and enable characterization of seasonal differences among them. ⋯ Smartphone-based collection of COPD symptom diaries enables near-complete identification of exacerbations at inception. Exacerbation rates in the Christmas season do not reach levels that necessitate changes in disease management.
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Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) can lead to the development of pulmonary hypertension, which is associated with an increased risk of death. In pulmonary arterial hypertension, survival is directly related to the capacity of the right ventricle to adapt to elevated pulmonary vascular load. The relative importance of right ventricular function in IPF is not well understood. Our objective was to evaluate right ventricular echocardiographic and hemodynamic predictors of mortality in a cohort of patients with IPF referred for lung transplant evaluation. ⋯ Right-sided heart size and right ventricular dysfunction measured by echocardiography and higher pulmonary vascular resistance by invasive hemodynamic assessment predict mortality in patients with IPF evaluated for lung transplantation.
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It is unknown if the radiographic fibrosis score predicts mortality in persistent hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) and if survival is similar to that observed in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) when adjusting for the extent of radiographic fibrosis. ⋯ Survival in patients with HP was superior to that of those with IPF with similar degrees of radiographic fibrosis. The combination of auscultatory crackles and radiographic reticulation identified patients with HP who had a particularly poor outcome.
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Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) is an endogenous inhibitor and uncoupler of nitric oxide synthase. By promoting the formation of peroxynitrite, ADMA is believed to contribute to several aspects of asthma pathogenesis (ie, airway inflammation, oxidative stress, bronchial hyperresponsiveness, and collagen deposition). The aim of the present study was to compare this mediator in healthy children and children with asthma using the completely noninvasive exhaled breath condensate (EBC) technique. ⋯ We measured ADMA in EBC by UPLC-MS/MS, a reference analytical technique. Higher ADMA levels were found in children with asthma, supporting a role for this mediator in asthma pathogenesis. This oxidative stress-related mediator also seems to be scarcely affected by steroid therapy. We speculate that ADMA might be a target for new therapeutic strategies designed to control oxidative stress in asthma.