Beneficial Bacteria in the Gut Microbiota May Lead to Improved Metabolic and Immunological Status in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Unlabelled: The progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by functional changes in the airways. The lung-gut axis and gut microbiota (GM) have been linked to the pathophysiology of airway diseases. Regarding COPD, studies have shown that GM alterations could be related the stages of this disease.

Evidence of the association between adherence to treatment and mortality among patients with COPD monitored at a public disease management program in Brazil.

Objective: To evaluate the association between adherence to treatment and mortality among Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients treated in the Brazilian public health system.

Methods: This is cohort study of moderate-to-severe COPD patients monitored in a public pharmaceutical care-based Disease Management Program (DMP). All subjects who died one year after the beginning of the cohort were age-matched with those who remained alive at the end of the cohort period.

Bronchoalveolar Lavage in Systemic Sclerosis Patients: A Systematic Review.

Introduction: We performed a systematic review of the literature to determine the value of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) in evaluating the pulmonary involvement of systemic sclerosis (SSc).

Methods: Articles published between 1980 and 2019 were retrieved from the databases: PubMed and Scielo. The search was restricted to clinical trials published in English, utilizing the keywords "scleroderma, systemic sclerosis, interstitial lung disease, and bronchoalveolar lavage".

Management of COPD within the Brazilian Unified Health Care System in the state of Bahia: an analysis of real-life medication use patterns.

Objective: To describe COPD pharmacological treatment patterns in the state of Bahia, Brazil, and to evaluate the extent to which these patterns conform to clinical guidelines for the management of COPD.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 441 patients referred from the Public Health Care Network of the state of Bahia to a public referral outpatient clinic of a COPD management program of the Brazilian Unified Health Care System. Individuals with a spirometry-confirmed diagnosis of moderate to very severe COPD were included in the study.

Inflammatory and immunological profiles in patients with COPD: relationship with FEV 1 reversibility.

Objective:: To determine whether COPD severity correlates with sputum cell counts, atopy, and asthma.

Methods:: This was a cross-sectional study involving 37 patients with COPD and 22 healthy subjects with normal lung function (controls). Sputum cell counts were determined by microscopy after centrifugation of samples.

Lung function in the absence of respiratory symptoms in overweight children and adolescents.

Objective: To describe lung function findings in overweight children and adolescents without respiratory disease.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving male and female overweight children and adolescents in the 8-18 year age bracket, without respiratory disease. All of the participants underwent anthropometric assessment, chest X-ray, pulse oximetry, spirometry, and lung volume measurements.

Evaluation of atopy in patients with COPD.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of atopy and to evaluate clinical, laboratory, and radiological profiles in patients with COPD.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving outpatients with stable COPD (defined by the clinical history and a post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC < 70% of the predicted value). The patients completed a questionnaire regarding clinical characteristics and atopy, after which they underwent nasal lavage cytology, skin prick testing, chest X-rays, arterial blood gas analyses, and determination of total serum IgE.

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.

Despite the efforts made worldwide to reduce the number of cases of drug-susceptible tuberculosis, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) constitutes an important public health issue. Around 440,000 new cases of MDR-TB are estimated annually, although in 2008 only 7% of these (29,423 cases) were notified. The laboratory tests for diagnosing resistance may be phenotypic (based on culture growth in the presence of drugs) or genotypic (i.

III Brazilian Thoracic Association Guidelines on tuberculosis.

New scientific articles about tuberculosis (TB) are published daily worldwide. However, it is difficult for health care workers, overloaded with work, to stay abreast of the latest research findings and to discern which information can and should be used in their daily practice on assisting TB patients. The purpose of the III Brazilian Thoracic Association (BTA) Guidelines on TB is to critically review the most recent national and international scientific information on TB, presenting an updated text with the most current and useful tools against TB to health care workers in our country.

Brazilian guidelines for community-acquired pneumonia in immunocompetent adults - 2009.

Community-acquired pneumonia continues to be the acute infectious disease that has the greatest medical and social impact regarding morbidity and treatment costs. Children and the elderly are more susceptible to severe complications, thereby justifying the fact that the prevention measures adopted have focused on these age brackets. Despite the advances in the knowledge of etiology and physiopathology, as well as the improvement in preliminary clinical and therapeutic methods, various questions merit further investigation.

Asthma and COPD according to the pulmonologist.

Objective: To evaluate how pulmonologists view the impact that asthma and COPD has on their patients, as well as how they treat these diseases.

Methods: Survey including 227 pulmonologists participating in the VI Brazilian Asthma Conference, II Brazilian COPD Conference and II Brazilian Smoking Conference, all of which were held in 2007.

Results: According to the answers given by the pulmonologists, COPD is a public health problem of equal or greater importance than asthma, and COPD causes various disruptions in the lives of patients and their family members.

Prevalence of active and latent TB among inmates in a prison hospital in Bahia, Brazil.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of latent and active TB among detainees in a prison hospital in Bahia, Brazil.

Methods: A cross-sectional study with prospective data collection was carried out comprising 237 inmates in the Bahia State Prison Hospital between July 2003 and April 2004. A standardized questionnaire was applied and completed by medical students.

Prevalence of allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis in patients with cystic fibrosis in the state of Bahia, Brazil.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) in patients with cystic fibrosis treated at a referral center in the state of Bahia, Brazil.

Methods: A cross-sectional study, with prospective data collection, carried out at the Cystic Fibrosis Referral Center of Bahia of the Octavio Mangabeira Specialized Hospital. We evaluated 74 patients diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, older than six years of age, treated between December 9, 2003 and March 7, 2005.

Low frequency of the deltaAF508 mutation of the CFTR gene in a highly admixed population in Bahia, Brazil.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common autosomal recessive disease in the European (Caucasian) population, with an incidence of 1:2000 to 1:8000. The deltaF508 mutation (66%) is predominant among more than 1300 different mutations of the CFTR gene. The population of the state of Bahia, in northeastern Brazil, is highly admixed (mainly African and Portuguese descendants), and so far, no study has been carried out to assess the molecular basis of CF in this population.

Anti-tuberculosis drug resistance in strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from patients in a tertiary hospital in Bahia.

Anti-tuberculosis drug resistance, particularly multiresistance, is a crucial issue in the control of tuberculosis (TB). This study estimated the prevalence of primary and acquired anti-tuberculosis drug resistance in strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from hospitalized patients, to identify the risk factors for resistance, and to evaluate the its impact on hospital mortality for tuberculosis. Strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from 217 patients hospitalized for TB were analyzed.

Prevalence of HIV infection in patients hospitalized for tuberculosis in Bahia, Brazil.

HIV infection is an important risk factor for the development of tuberculosis (TB), and also affects its morbidity and mortality. This study estimated the prevalence of HIV infection in patients hospitalized for TB in Bahia (in northeastern Brazil) and to evaluate its impact on in-hospital mortality. A total of 375 patients with TB, admitted consecutively to a TB reference hospital in Salvador (Bahia, Brazil), were evaluated between July 2001 and July 2003.

Paragonimiasis: first case reported in Brazil.

The authors present a case from a 59 years old white female Brazilian patient, based in Salvador-Bahia, Brazil's northeastern side area, who experienced irritative cough and progressive dyspnea, and, after 18 months, was admitted to a hospital with respiratory insufficiency. The physical exam showed diffuse rales in both hemithoraces. Initial leukogram showed 14,400 cells/microL with 14% of eosinophils and chest X-ray showed peribronchovascular infiltrate, predominating in the lower half of the lung fields, and small opaque nodules.

Mediastinal histoplasmosis: report of the first two Brazilian cases of mediastinal granuloma.

This report documents the first two Brazilian cases of mediastinal granuloma due to histoplasmosis, presenting selected aspects on the diagnosis. Tissue samples revealing histoplasmosis were obtained from each of the patients by mediastinoscopy and thoracotomy. In the second patient, a subcarinal calcified mass eroded into the bronchial tree, leading to secondary bilateral aspiration pneumonitis one week after thoracotomy.