Deep breathing

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: To explore the efficacy of deep diaphragmatic breathing training (DEP) in patients with gastroesophageal reflux-induced chronic cough (GERC). METHODS: A randomized controlled study was conducted involving 60 GERC patients who were divided into the intervention group and the control group (each with 30 patients). Both groups received routine medication treatment for GERC, while the intervention group received DEP training additionally. Both groups were evaluated by cough symptom scores, Hull airway reflux questionnaire (HARQ), gastroesophageal reflux diagnostic questionnaire (GerdQ), generalized anxiety disorder scale-7 (GAD-7), patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), the Leicester cough questionnaire (LCQ), as well as capsaicin cough sensitivity testing, B-ultrasound and surface electromyography (sEMG) of the diaphragmatic muscles before and after treatment...

Numerous driven techniques have been utilized to assess dynamic cerebral autoregulation (dCA) in healthy and clinical populations. The current review aimed to amalgamate this literature and provide recommendations to create greater standardization for future research. The PubMed database was searched with inclusion criteria consisting of original research articles using driven dCA assessments in humans. Risk of bias were completed using Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network and Methodological Index for Non-Randomized Studies...

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to test the hypothesis that breathing can be directly linked to postural stability and psychological health. A protocol enabling the simultaneous analysis of breathing, posture, and emotional levels in university students is presented. This aims to verify the possibility of defining a triangular link and to test the adequacy of various measurement techniques. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE: Twenty-three subjects (9 females and 14 males), aged between 18 and 23 years, were recruited...

INTRODUCTION: The currently accepted best practice radiation treatment for left breast cancer patients is Deep Inspiration Breath Hold (DIBH) where patients hold a deep breath to reduce late cardiac and pulmonary effects from treatment. DIBH can be challenging and induce or exacerbate anxiety in patients due to the perceived pressure to reduce radiation treatment side effects. This study explored the experiences of patients treated with Deep Inspiration Breath Hold Radiation Therapy (DIBH-RT) to improve patient-centred care and inform the design of multimedia educational tools for future patients undergoing DIBH...

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted regular global activities in every possible way. This pandemic, caused by the transmission of the infectious Coronavirus, is characterized by main symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, and loss of smell. A current key focus of the scientific community is to develop automated methods that can effectively identify COVID-19 patients and are also adaptable for foreseen future virus outbreaks. To classify COVID-19 suspects, it is required to use contactless automatic measurements of more than one symptom...

Cancer is a well-recognized risk factor for thromboembolic events and thromboembolism. This case report presents the rare coexistence of rectal carcinoma and pulmonary artery thrombosis in a female patient. A 44-year-old female presented with complaints of abdominal pain, vomiting, and obstipation. She had recently been diagnosed with rectal carcinoma. She had not undergone any invasive procedures in the past. Given the possibility of intestinal obstruction, an exploratory laparotomy was performed, followed by retrocolic gastrojejunostomy with Roux-en-Y anastomosis with a feeding JT tube insertion...

MRI plays an important role in abdominal imaging because of its ability to detect and characterize focal lesions. However, MRI examinations have several challenges, such as comparatively long scan times and motion management through breath-holding maneuvers. Techniques for reducing scan time with acceptable image quality, such as parallel imaging, compressed sensing, and cutting-edge deep learning techniques, have been developed to enable problem-solving strategies. Additionally, free-breathing techniques for dynamic contrast-enhanced imaging, such as extra-dimensional-volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination, golden-angle radial sparse parallel, and liver acceleration volume acquisition Star, can help patients with severe dyspnea or those under sedation to undergo abdominal MRI...

BACKGROUND: Multi-echo chemical-shift-encoded magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been widely used for fat quantification and fat suppression in clinical liver examinations. Clinical liver water-fat imaging typically requires breath-hold acquisitions, with the free-breathing acquisition method being more desirable for patient comfort. However, the acquisition for free-breathing imaging could take up to several minutes. The purpose of this study is to accelerate four-dimensional free-breathing whole-liver water-fat MRI by jointly using high-dimensional deep dictionary learning and model-guided (MG) reconstruction...

Vapor-driven smart Janus materials have made significant advancements in intelligent monitoring, control, and interaction, etc. Nevertheless, the development of ultrafast response single-layer Janus membrane, along with a deep exploration of the smart response mechanisms, remains a long-term endeavor. Here, the successful synthesis of a high-crystallinity single-layer Covalent organic framework (COF) Janus membrane is reported by morphology control. This kind of membrane displays superior mechanical properties and specific surface area, along with excellent responsiveness to CH2 Cl2 vapor...

Panitumumab is a human immunoglobulin monoclonal antibody designed to target the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) which is used in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer alone or in combination with chemotherapy. In this report, we present a case of new onset heart failure with reduced ejection fraction in a patient following panitumumab therapy. A 73-year-old gentleman with metastatic rectal adenocarcinoma presented to his local hospital with increased shortness of breath, two months after his first and only dose of panitumumab...

Many studies have examined the effects of meditation practice focused on the normal breath on vagal tone with mixed results. Heart Rhythm Meditation (HRM) is a unique meditation form that engages in the deep slow full breath, and puts the focus of attention on the heart. This form of breathing likely stimulates the vagus nerve with greater intensity. The purpose of this study was (a) to examine how the practice of HRM affects vagal activity as measured by heart rate variability (HRV); and (b) to examine how it affects participants' well-being...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: In radiotherapy treatment planning, respiration-induced motion introduces uncertainty that, if not appropriately considered, could result in dose delivery problems. 4D cone-beam computed tomography (4D-CBCT) has been developed to provide imaging guidance by reconstructing a pseudo-motion sequence of CBCT volumes through binning projection data into breathing phases. However, it suffers from artefacts and erroneously characterizes the averaged breathing motion...

Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading global cause of mortality. Age is an important covariate whose effect is most easily investigated in a healthy cohort to properly distinguish the former from disease-related changes. Traditionally, most of such insights have been drawn from the analysis of electrocardiogram (ECG) feature changes in individuals as they age. However, these features, while informative, may potentially obscure underlying data relationships. In this paper we present the following contributions: (1) We employ a deep-learning model and a tree-based model to analyze ECG data from a robust dataset of healthy individuals across varying ages in both raw signals and ECG feature format...

BACKGROUND: Autonomic nervous system (ANS) testing has aided in our ability to evaluate autonomic dysfunction in migraine patients. We reviewed the literature in multiple databases which investigate ANS function in migraine patients and healthy subjects. METHODS: This systematic review and meta-analysis examined the respective deep breathing, Valsalva manoeuvre, orthostatic and isometric challenge results, using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) and Meta-analyses of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) statements...

BACKGROUND: Preoxygenation is universally recommended before induction of general anaesthesia to prolong safe apnoea time. The optimal technique for preoxygenation is unclear. We conducted a systematic review to determine the preoxygenation technique associated with the greatest effectiveness in adult patients having general anaesthesia. METHODS: We searched six databases for randomised controlled trials of patients aged ≥16 yr, receiving general anaesthesia in any setting and comparing different preoxygenation techniques and methods...

Thoracoabdominal MRI is limited by respiratory motion, especially in neonates who cannot perform breath-holds. To reduce motion blurring, radially-acquired MRI can be reconstructed from data acquired during specific respiratory phases ("hard-gating"), but this reduces image SNR. Various "soft-gating" reconstruction schemes have been proposed that incorporate data acquired outside the period of interest into reconstruction with diminished weighting. However, the choice of soft-gated weighting algorithm and parameters, and effect on image SNR and motion blurring, has not previously been explored...

Respiratory manifestations of chronic liver disease have a profound impact on patient clinical outcomes. Certain conditions within paediatric liver disease have an associated respiratory pathology. This overlap between liver and respiratory manifestations can result in complex challenges when managing patients and requires clinicians to be able to recognise when referral to specialists is required. While liver transplantation is at the centre of treatment, it opens up further potential for respiratory complications...

Background/Objectives: Precise assessment of hypnotic depth in children during procedural sedation with preserved spontaneous breathing is challenging. The Narcotrendindex (NI) offers uninterrupted information by continuous electrocortical monitoring without the need to apply a stimulus with the risk of assessment-induced arousal. This study aimed to explore the correlation between NI and the Comfort Scale (CS) during procedural sedation with midazolam and propofol and to identify an NI target range for deep sedation...

Although true subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is an atypical complication owing to suicide by hanging, pseudo-SAH can often develop because of hypoxic encephalopathy. Therefore, differentiating pseudo-SAH from true SAH using brain computed tomography (CT) is often challenging. In Japan, an individual's cause of brain death must be determined to be eligible for organ donation, regardless of whether true SAH is involved or not. Herein, we report a case of SAH confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a patient with brain death owing to hypoxic encephalopathy following suicide by hanging...

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the association between radiotherapy (RT) and cardiac biomarkers in women with left-sided breast cancer. METHODS: This prospective observational study recruited patients with stage I-III left-sided breast cancer without coronary heart disease who required adjuvant RT. High-sensitivity troponin I(hsTnI), N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide(NT-proBNP), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein(hsCRP) levels were measured pre-RT, immediately after RT, and 3 months post-RT...