Validity and reliability of the Dutch version of the S3-NIV questionnaire to evaluate long-term noninvasive ventilation.

Objectives: Noninvasive ventilation (NIV) is an effective treatment for chronic respiratory failure (CRF). Patient-centered outcomes need to be evaluated regularly and the S-NIV questionnaire seems an applicable tool. We translated this short, self-administered questionnaire into a Dutch version and tested its construct validity and reliability.

Visually guided inspiration breath-hold facilitated with nasal high flow therapy in locally advanced lung cancer.

Background And Purpose: Reducing breathing motion in radiotherapy (RT) is an attractive strategy to reduce margins and better spare normal tissues. The objective of this prospective study (NCT03729661) was to investigate the feasibility of irradiation of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with visually guided moderate deep inspiration breath-hold (IBH) using nasal high-flow therapy (NHFT).

Material And Methods: Locally advanced NSCLC patients undergoing photon RT were given NHFT with heated humidified air (flow: 40 L/min with 80% oxygen) through a nasal cannula.

Hypoxia differentially regulates muscle oxidative fiber type and metabolism in a HIF-1α-dependent manner.

Loss of skeletal muscle oxidative fiber types and mitochondrial capacity is a hallmark of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and chronic heart failure. Based on in vivo human and animal studies, tissue hypoxia has been hypothesized as determinant, but the direct effect of hypoxia on muscle oxidative phenotype remains to be established. Hence, we determined the effect of hypoxia on in vitro cultured muscle cells, including gene and protein expression levels of mitochondrial components, myosin isoforms (reflecting slow-oxidative versus fast-glycolytic fibers), and the involvement of the regulatory PPAR/PGC-1α pathway.

Loss of quadriceps muscle oxidative phenotype and decreased endurance in patients with mild-to-moderate COPD.

Being well-established in advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), skeletal muscle dysfunction and its underlying pathology have been scarcely investigated in patients with mild-to-moderate airflow obstruction. We hypothesized that a loss of oxidative phenotype (oxphen) associated with decreased endurance is present in the skeletal muscle of patients with mild-to-moderate COPD. In quadriceps muscle biopsies from 29 patients with COPD (forced expiratory volume in 1 s [FEV1] 58 ± 16%pred, body mass index [BMI] 26 ± 4 kg/m(2)) and 15 controls (BMI 25 ± 3 kg/m(2)) we assessed fiber type distribution, fiber cross-sectional areas (CSA), oxidative and glycolytic gene expression, OXPHOS protein levels, metabolic enzyme activity, and levels of oxidative stress markers.

Integrin expression profiling identifies integrin alpha5 and beta1 as prognostic factors in early stage non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: Selection of early stage non-small cell lung cancer patients with a high risk of recurrence is warranted in order to select patients who will benefit from adjuvant treatment strategies. We evaluated the prognostic value of integrin expression profiles in a retrospective study on frozen primary tumors of 68 patients with early stage non-small cell lung cancer.

Methods: A retrospective study was performed on frozen primary tumors of 68 early stage non-small cell lung cancer patients with a follow up of at least 10 years.

Background staining of visualization systems in immunohistochemistry: comparison of the Avidin-Biotin Complex system and the EnVision+ system.

The aim of this study was to evaluate specific immunostaining and background staining in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded human tissues with the 2 most frequently used immunohistochemical detection systems, Avidin-Biotin-Peroxidase (ABC) and EnVision+. A series of fixed tissues, including breast, colon, kidney, larynx, liver, lung, ovary, pancreas, prostate, stomach, and tonsil, was used in the study. Three monoclonal antibodies, 1 against a nuclear antigen (Ki-67), 1 against a cytoplasmic antigen (cytokeratin), and 1 against a cytoplasmic and membrane-associated antigen and a polyclonal antibody against a nuclear and cytoplasmic antigen (S-100) were selected for these studies.