Annals of the American Thoracic Society
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
FEV(1)/FEV(6) to diagnose airflow obstruction. Comparisons with computed tomography and morbidity indices.
FVC is a difficult maneuver for many patients, and forced expiratory volume in 6 seconds (FEV6) has been proposed as a surrogate for FVC for the diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Previous studies have performed head-to-head comparisons of these thresholds but did not examine their relationships with structural lung disease, symptoms, or exacerbations. ⋯ FEV1/FEV6 can be substituted for FEV1/FVC in diagnosing airflow obstruction and may better predict COPD-related pathology and morbidity.
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Approximately 20% of patients hospitalized for COPD exacerbations in the United States will be readmitted within 30 days. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has recently proposed to revise the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program to financially penalize hospitals with high all-cause 30-day rehospitalization rates after a hospitalization for COPD exacerbation on or after October 1, 2014. ⋯ The evidence base is inadequate to recommend specific interventions to reduce rehospitalizations in this population and does not justify penalizing hospitals for high 30-day rehospitalization rates after COPD exacerbations.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Azithromycin may antagonize inhaled tobramycin when targeting Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis.
Recent studies of inhaled tobramycin in subjects with cystic fibrosis (CF) find less clinical improvement than previously observed. Nonhuman data suggest that in some strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, azithromycin can antagonize tobramycin. ⋯ Oral azithromycin may antagonize the therapeutic benefits of inhaled tobramycin in subjects with CF with P. aeruginosa airway infection.
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IFN-γ release assays (IGRAs) including the QuantiFERON-TB gold in-tube test (QFT-GIT) are increasingly used in place of the tuberculin skin test (TST) in surveillance programs for Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in the United States. However, data on conversions, reversions, and predictive value of QFT in such programs for health care workers (HCWs) are limited. ⋯ Poor IGRA reproducibility and a low predictive value of QFT-GIT conversions indicate that QFT-GIT with current interpretation criteria should not be used for serial screening of U.S. HCWs. Negative TSTs have higher reproducibility than QFT-GIT for serial testing of HCWs in low tuberculosis incidence settings.
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Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder of motile cilia. The diagnosis of PCD has previously relied on ciliary analysis with transmission electron microscopy or video microscopy. However, patients with PCD may have normal ultrastructural appearance, and ciliary analysis has limited accessibility. Alternatively, PCD can be diagnosed by demonstrating biallelic mutations in known PCD genes. Genetic testing is emerging as a diagnostic tool to complement ciliary analysis where interpretation and access may delay diagnosis. ⋯ The diagnosis of PCD is challenging and has traditionally relied on ciliary biopsy, which is unreliable as the sole criterion for a definitive diagnosis. Molecular genetic analysis can be used as a complementary test to increase the diagnostic yield.