Respiratory center

The presence of prolonged symptoms after COVID infection worsens the workability and quality of life. 200 adults with long COVID syndrome were enrolled after medical, physical, and mental screening, and were divided into two groups based on their performance. The intervention group (n = 100) received supervised rehabilitation at Department of Pulmonology, Semmelweis University with the registration number 160/2021 between 01/APR/2021-31/DEC/2022, while an age-matched control group (n = 100) received a single check-up...

BACKGROUND: Smear microscopy for acid-fast bacilli visualization is important to assess the infectivity rate in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB), but it has limited sensitivity; hence, it is important to find an alternative strategy. The aim of our study was to compare the fluorescence microscopy grading by Auramine O phenol staining technique of respiratory samples with the cyclic threshold (Ct) values of GeneXpert Ultra (Mycobacterium tuberculosis/rifampicin [MTB/RIF]) and assess the diagnostic efficacy of GeneXpert Ultra (MTB/RIF) compared to microscopy in suspected cases of PTB...

A 17-year-old male presented to our hospital from an external center with complaints of chest pain and shortness of breath, referred with preliminary diagnoses of pulmonary stenosis and pulmonary artery dilation. Echocardiography revealed moderate pulmonary regurgitation and mild pulmonary stenosis. Coronary computed tomography (CT) angiography showed normal coronary arteries and no presence of a patent ductus arteriosus, but an aneurysmal dilation of up to 4 cm was observed in the pulmonary artery. The patient was found to have a quadricuspid (QPV) pulmonary valve, while the aortic valve appeared normal...

OBJECTIVES: We sought to evaluate the association between the carbon dioxide (co2) ventilatory equivalent (VEqco2 = minute ventilation/volume of co2 produced per min), a marker of dead space that does not require a blood gas measurement, and mortality risk. We compared the strength of this association to that of physiologic dead space fraction (VD/Vt = [Paco2-mixed-expired Pco2]/Paco2) as well as to other commonly used markers of dead space (i.e., the end-tidal alveolar dead space fraction [AVDSf = (Paco2-end-tidal Pco2)/Paco2], and ventilatory ratio [VR = (minute ventilation × Paco2)/(age-adjusted predicted minute ventilation × 37...

PURPOSE: During the major shift in China's policies on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), many residents will be infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) over a short period, including a few patients with breast cancer undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Moreover, it is unknown whether this comorbidity affects the efficacy of NAC for breast cancer and the patient's psychological state and quality of life (QOL). This study aims to answer these questions...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate postmarketing ocrelizumab safety and effectiveness in a real-world population with multiple sclerosis (MS) and matching these parameters among MS disease types. METHODS: This was a retrospective, single-center study with MS patients treated with ocrelizumab. Demographic, clinical characteristics and immunological data were analyzed, including annualized relapse rate (ARR), relapse-free rate, Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), complete blood count parameters, immunoglobulin (Ig) levels, liver function tests (LFT), hepatitis markers and adverse events in the 4-year follow-up...

Shape and size of the nasopharyngeal airway is controlled by muscles innervated facial, glossopharyngeal, vagal, and hypoglossal cranial nerves. Contrary to brainstem networks that drive facial, vagal and hypoglossal nerve activities (FNA, VNA, HNA) the discharge patterns and origins of glossopharyngeal nerve activity (GPNA) remain poorly investigated. Here, an in situ perfused brainstem preparation (n=19) was used for recordings of GPNA in relation to phrenic (PNA), FNA, VNA and HNA. Brainstem transections were performed (n=10/19) to explore the role of pontomedullary synaptic interactions in generating GPNA...

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown a protective effect of dexmedetomidine use in kidney transplantation. In contrast, it is not known whether intraoperative administration of dexmedetomidine can reduce early allograft dysfunction incidence following liver transplantation. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of dexmedetomidine use during surgery on early allograft dysfunction following orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). STUDY DESIGN: This is a single-center, double-blinded, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial...

Goal: Recently, large datasets of biosignals acquired during surgery became available. As they offer multiple physiological signals measured in parallel, multimodal analysis - which involves their joint analysis - can be conducted and could provide deeper insights than unimodal analysis based on a single signal. However, it is unclear what percentage of intraoperatively acquired data is suitable for multimodal analysis. Due to the large amount of data, manual inspection and labelling into suitable and unsuitable segments are not feasible...

BACKGROUND: Since its first outbreak, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to a great deal of published literature highlighting the short-term determinants of morbidity and mortality. Recently, several studies have reported radiological and functional sequelae from 3 months to 1 year among hospitalized COVID-19 survivors; however, long-term (more than 1 year) respiratory consequences in this population remain to be evaluated. OBJECTIVE: To assess the long-term radiological and pulmonary function outcomes of patients with COVID-19 2 years after resolution of the initial infection...

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Post-COVID-19 subjects typically experience symptoms of fatigue, cognitive impairment, and sleep difficulty, which can be relieved by conventional aerobic exercise. Virtual Reality (VR) technology to support conventional exercise has recently gained much attention. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the effects of traditional treadmill exercise compared to virtual reality-simulated treadmill exercise on fatigue, cognitive function, sleep quality, and participant satisfaction with the exercise program in post-COVID-19 subjects...

OBJECTIVES: Use of Synthetic and designer products, including synthetic marijuana (SM), among adolescents poses a major risk to public health. Little is known about the motivating factors of synthetic substance use in adolescents. This study examined the motivations, predictors, perceived risks and benefits, and differences with SM versus natural marijuana among adolescents. METHODS: Between April 2016 and May 2018, a convenience sample of adolescents receiving substance use treatment from a local counseling center completed an anonymous survey to assess the use of natural and synthetic marijuana use, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire to assess levels of current psychiatric symptoms and the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences-Positive Scale to assess symptoms of psychosis...

Objective: To observe the expression of Galectin-7 in the serum and sputum of asthmatic children and to explore its significance in asthmatic children. Methods: The study prospectively selected 183 children diagnosed with bronchial asthma at Department Ⅱ of Respiratory Medicine, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Diseases, Beijing Children's Hospital of Capital Medical University. The control group consisted of 41 children with other bronchial diseases and 43 healthy children. Children in the asthma group were divided into acute and non-acute exacerbation groups...

COVID-19 disease progression can be accompanied by a "cytokine storm" that leads to secondary sequelae such as acute respiratory distress syndrome. Several inflammatory cytokines have been associated with COVID-19 disease progression, but have high daily intra-individual variability. In contrast, we have shown that the inflammatory biomarker γ' fibrinogen (GPF) has a 6-fold lower coefficient of variability compared to other inflammatory markers such as hs-CRP. The aims of the study were to measure GPF in serial blood samples from COVID-19 patients at a tertiary care medical center in order to investigate its association with clinical measures of disease progression...

BACKGROUND: Differentiated service delivery (DSD) for children and adolescents living with HIV can improve targeted resource use. We derived a mortality prediction score to guide clinical decision making for children and adolescents living with HIV. METHODS: Data for this retrospective observational cohort study were evaluated for all children and adolescents living with HIV and initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART); aged 0-19 years; and enrolled at Baylor clinics in Eswatini, Malawi, Lesotho, Tanzania, and Uganda between 2005 and 2020...

Descendants of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant now account for almost all SARS-CoV-2 infections. The Omicron variant and its sublineages have spike glycoproteins that are highly diverged from the pandemic founder and first-generation vaccine strain, resulting in significant evasion from monoclonal antibody therapeutics and vaccines. Understanding how commonly elicited antibodies can broaden to cross-neutralize escape variants is crucial. We isolate IGHV3-53, using "public" monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) from an individual 7 months post infection with the ancestral virus and identify antibodies that exhibit potent and broad cross-neutralization, extending to the BA...

BACKGROUND: Although lung transplantation (LTx) is the last resort for patients with end-stage lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), the high waitlist mortality is a source of concern in Japan. Discontinuation of mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors prior to LTx is recommended due to the incidence of severe adverse events. Therefore, we hypothesized that mTOR inhibitors may affect the mortality of patients with LAM on the LTx waitlist. METHODS: We retrospectively compared the characteristics of consecutive patients with LAM on the LTx waitlist who were and were not receiving mTOR inhibitors...

Pfizer/BioNTech (BNT162b2) is a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine that is highly effective in preventing the most severe outcomes of COVID-19 infection. Nucleoside-modified severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) mRNA vaccines induce effective stimulation of T follicular helper (TFH) cells, leading to a robust germinal center B cell response. Side effects from the BNT162b2 vaccination, including significant lymphadenopathy, have been reported previously. Here, we present a case of angioimmunoblastic lymphoma (AITL), a rare, peripheral T-cell lymphoma with RHOA-G17v-mutated gene developing in a patient following BNT162B2 vaccine with a plausible explanation...

BACKGROUND: COVID patients continue to experience unremitting symptoms that extend far beyond the initial illness. While there is rapid accumulation of data on acute COVID treatment in hospitalized patients, little is known regarding post-COVID management. OBJECTIVES: To describe our center's experience treating post-COVID sub-syndromes encountered in Post-COVID Lung Clinic. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed data on 98 post-COVID patients evaluated in our clinic between 07/01/2020-12/31/2022...

INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE: Perioperative anesthetic management in cases of severe airway obstruction with positional symptoms can be associated with difficulties in ventilation or intubation, with a risk of acute respiratory decompensation at every stage of anesthesia. CASE PRESENTATION: Here we describe the anesthetic management of an 18-year-old woman with a mature teratoma who presented with progressive exertional dyspnea that was aggravated in the supine position in the operating room...