Chest
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There were limited studies concerning ambient air pollution exposure on development of bronchitic symptoms among children. These studies provided suggestive but inconclusive results. Therefore, the objective of this study is to assess the association between air pollutants and the prevalence of bronchitic symptoms in the Taiwan Children Health Study. ⋯ The results suggest that long-term exposure to outdoor air pollutants, such as NO(2), CO, and O(3), may increase the prevalence of bronchitic symptoms among children.
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Comparative Study
In vitro evaluation of endotracheal tubes with intrinsic suction.
Endotracheal tube (ETT) intubation impairs mucus clearance, which can lead to respiratory compromise. We compared three ETTs that have intrinsic capacity to aspirate secretions pooling above the cuff. ⋯ The ISIS transmits suction pressure to the tube orifice more powerfully than the Evac and SACETT. This feature makes the ISIS less prone to obstruction by mucus but more likely to obstruct by tissue suction.
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Respiratory viruses frequently are recovered in the upper-respiratory tract during acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD), but their role as contributing pathogens remains unclear. The usefulness of procalcitonin and C-reactive protein as indicators of the presence or absence of viral infection in this setting also needs to be evaluated. ⋯ Prevalence of upper-respiratory viral infection, as detected from nasopharyngeal swab by RT-PCR, is high in AECOPD and low after clinical recovery, suggesting that AECOPD frequently are triggered by viral infections initiated in the upper-respiratory tract. In our study, serum procalcitonin and C-reactive protein did not discriminate virus-associated exacerbations from others.
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This is a report of a 61-year-old woman with improved pulmonary arterial hypertension following treatment with rapamycin for an islet cell tumor of the pancreas with liver metastases.
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Previous studies undertaken to identify risk factors for peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC)-associated DVT have yielded conflicting results. PICC insertion teams and other health-care providers need to understand the risk factors so that they can develop methods to prevent DVT. ⋯ Prior DVT and surgery lasting > 1 h identify patients at increased risk for PICC-associated DVT. More importantly, increasing catheter size also is significantly associated with increased risk. Rates of PICC-associated DVT may be reduced by improved selection of patients and catheter size.