Optimal duration of whole-body cryostimulation exposure to achieve target skin temperature: influence of body mass index-a randomized cross-over controlled trial.

Background: The efficacy of whole-body cryostimulation (WBC) may be influenced by individual characteristics. The aim of this study is to determine the optimal exposure time required to reach the analgesic threshold of 13.6 °C, which has been proposed to be a target temperature to be reached at skin level.

The effects of cold exposure (cold water immersion, whole- and partial- body cryostimulation) on cardiovascular and cardiac autonomic control responses in healthy individuals: A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression.

Background: Cryostimulation and cold-water immersion (CWI) have recently gained widespread attention due to their association with changes in cardiovascular and cardiac autonomic control responses. Therefore, the aim of the present systematic review and meta-analysis was to identify the global impact of such cold exposures on cardiovascular and cardiac autonomic activity.

Methods: Three databases (PubMed, Embase, Web-of-Science) were used.

Intercostal muscle oxygenation and expiratory loaded breathing at rest: Respiratory pattern effect.

In patients with airway obstruction, an increase in breathing frequency at rest is commonly associated with a dynamic hyperinflation (DH). In such a situation, intercostal muscle oxygenation may be disturbed. This hypothesis was examined in a context of simulated airway obstruction in healthy subjects.

Does branched-chain amino acid supplementation improve pulmonary rehabilitation effect in COPD?

Background: Muscle wasting is frequent in chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD) and associated with low branched-chain amino acids (BCAA). We hypothesized that BCAA supplementation could potentiate the effect of a pulmonary rehabilitation program (PRP) by inducing muscular change.

Materials And Methods: Sixty COPD patients (GOLD 2-3) were involved in an ambulatory 4-week PRP either with BCAA oral daily supplementation or placebo daily supplementation in a randomized double-blind design.

Effect of expiratory loaded breathing during moderate exercise on intercostal muscle oxygenation.

Background: In patients with obstructive lung disease, maintaining adequate ventilation during exercise may require greater contraction of the respiratory muscles, which may lead to a compression of muscle capillaries. Furthermore, dynamic hyperinflation (DH) is frequent during exercise in these patients, as it allows to reach higher expiratory flows and to satisfy respiratory demand. However, in such situation, intercostal muscles are likely to be stretched, which could affect the diameter of their capillaries.

Rational use of F-FDG PET/CT in patients with advanced cutaneous melanoma: A systematic review.

F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (F-FDG PET/CT) is increasingly used in patients with advanced melanoma. Immune checkpoint inhibitors and BRAF/MEK-targeted therapy have transformed the therapeutic landscape of metastatic melanoma. Consequently, a need for markers predicting (early) response to treatment and for monitoring treatment (toxicity) has arisen.

Translation and Cultural Adaptation of PROactive Instruments for COPD in French and Influence of Weather and Pollution on Its Difficulty Score.

Introduction: The recently developed daily and clinical visit PROactive physical activity in COPD (PPAC) instruments are hybrid tools to objectively quantify the level of physical activity and the difficulties experienced in everyday life. Our aim was to translate these instruments for the French-speaking chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) community worldwide and evaluate the influence of weather and pollution on difficulty score.

Methods: The translation procedure was conducted following the guidelines for cross-cultural adaptation process.

Association Between Pembrolizumab-related Adverse Events and Treatment Outcome in Advanced Melanoma: Results From the Dutch Expanded Access Program.

Toxicity of immune checkpoint inhibitors such as ipilimumab and nivolumab is likely associated with clinical efficacy. In this study, we aim to evaluate this association for pembrolizumab. To this end, data of 147 patients included in the Dutch cohort of the Pembrolizumab Expanded Access Program were collected.

Intercostal muscle oxygenation during expiratory load breathing at rest.

Background: During acute bronchial obstruction, despite a higher work of breathing, blood supply and oxygen availability may be reduced in intercostal muscles because of mechanical constraints. This hypothesis was assessed in healthy subjects breathing with and without expiratory load (ETL).

Methods: Eleven men (24 ± 2 years) breathed at rest for 5 min in unloaded condition and for 20 min through a 20-cmHO ETL.

Determining the minimally important difference in quadriceps strength in individuals with COPD using a fixed dynamometer.

Background: Measurement of quadriceps muscular force is recommended in individuals with COPD, notably during a pulmonary rehabilitation program (PRP). However, the tools used to measure quadriceps maximal voluntary contraction (QMVC) and the clinical relevance of the results, as well as their interpretation for a given patient, remain a matter of debate. The objective of this study was to estimate the minimally important difference (MID) of QMVC using a fixed dynamometer in individuals with COPD undergoing a PRP.

No compensatory lung growth after resection in a one-year follow-up cohort of patients with lung cancer.

Background: As compensatory lung growth after lung resection has been studied in animals of various ages and in one case report in a young adult, it has not been studied in a cohort of adults operated for lung cancer.

Methods: A prospective study including patients with lung cancer was conducted over two years. Parenchymal mass was calculated using computed tomography before (M0) and at 3 and 12 months (M3 and M12) after surgery.

Rapid BRAF mutation tests in patients with advanced melanoma: comparison of immunohistochemistry, Droplet Digital PCR, and the Idylla Mutation Platform.

BRAF mutational testing has become a common practice in the diagnostic process of patients with advanced melanoma. Although time-consuming, DNA sequencing techniques are the current gold standard for mutational testing. However, in certain clinical situations, a rapid test result is required.

Sit-to-stand tests for COPD: A literature review.

Background: Sit-to-stand tests (STST) have recently been developed as easy-to-use field tests to evaluate exercise tolerance in COPD patients. As several modalities of the test exist, this review presents a synthesis of the advantages and limitations of these tools with the objective of helping health professionals to identify the STST modality most appropriate for their patients.

Method: Seventeen original articles dealing with STST in COPD patients have been identified and analysed including eleven on 1min-STST and four other versions of the test (ranging from 5 to 10 repetitions and from 30 s to 3 min).

Short-Course Radiotherapy Followed by Neoadjuvant Bevacizumab, Capecitabine, and Oxaliplatin and Subsequent Radical Treatment in Primary Stage IV Rectal Cancer: Long-Term Results of a Phase II Study.

Background: In a Dutch phase II trial conducted between 2006 and 2010, short-course radiotherapy followed by systemic therapy with capecitabine, oxaliplatin, and bevacizumab as neoadjuvant treatment and subsequent radical surgical treatment of primary tumor and metastatic sites was evaluated. In this study, we report the long-term results after a minimum follow-up of 6 years.

Methods: Patients with histologically confirmed rectal adenocarcinoma with potentially resectable or ablatable metastases in liver or lungs were eligible.

Is the 1-minute sit-to-stand test a good tool for the evaluation of the impact of pulmonary rehabilitation? Determination of the minimal important difference in COPD.

Background: The 1-minute sit-to-stand (STS) test could be valuable to assess the level of exercise tolerance in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). There is a need to provide the minimal important difference (MID) of this test in pulmonary rehabilitation (PR).

Methods: COPD patients undergoing the 1-minute STS test before PR were included.

Foreign body reaction triggered by cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated protein 4 blockade 25 years after dermal filler injection.

Foreign body reactions are regularly seen as a late complication of cosmetic treatment with synthetic dermal fillers. Often this foreign body reaction is triggered by a systemic infection, but other systemic triggers are also reported. In this case report, we present a woman in her 60s who was treated with ipilimumab for metastatic melanoma.

Feasibility of intercostal blood flow measurement by echo-Doppler technique in healthy subjects.

Intercostal artery blood flow supplies the external and internal intercostal muscles, which are inspiratory and expiratory muscles. Intercostal blood flow measured by the echo-Doppler (ED) technique has not previously been reported in humans. This study describes the feasibility of this measurement during free and loaded breathing in healthy subjects.

Compression Effects on the Phase Behaviour of Miconazole-Poly (1-Vinylpyrrolidone-Co-Vinyl Acetate) Solid Dispersions-Role of Pressure, Dwell Time, and Preparation Method.

Compression of miconazole-poly (1-vinylpyrrolidone-co-vinyl acetate) (PVPVA64) solid dispersions prepared by spray drying and hot-melt extrusion was performed to gain insights into effect of compression pressure, dwell time, and preparation method on compression-dependent phase behavior. The solid dispersions prepared by spray drying were initially phase-separated showing two glass transition temperature (Tg), whereas the extruded samples showed one single Tg indicating better mixing. Compression caused mixing of spray-dried solid dispersions at high compression pressures and especially high dwell times.

Consequence of restaging after neoadjuvant treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer.

Background: Locally advanced rectal cancer is customarily treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) followed by a total mesorectal excision. During the course of CRT, previously non-detectable distant metastases can appear. Therefore, a restaging CT scan of the chest and abdomen was performed prior to surgery.

Weight change in middle adulthood and breast cancer risk in the EPIC-PANACEA study.

Long-term weight gain (i.e., weight gain since age 20) has been related to higher risk of postmenopausal breast cancer, but a lower risk of premenopausal breast cancer.

Is there a competition for oxygen availability between respiratory and limb muscles?

If a competition between the oxygen demands of limb and respiratory muscles happens, hypoxia may favor redistribution of blood flow from peripheral to respiratory muscles during heavy exercise. This hypothesis was tested in eighteen lowlanders and 27 highlanders at 4350m altitude. During an incremental exercise, the regional tissue oxygen saturation (rSO2) and tissue hemoglobin concentration ([Hbt]) of the intercostal muscles and vastus medialis were monitored simultaneously by NIRS.

Associations of visceral fat, physical activity and muscle strength with the metabolic syndrome.

Objective: We investigated the association of visceral fat with the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its separate components; the associations of both physical activity and muscle strength with the MetS and its separate components independent of visceral fat. Furthermore, we studied these associations within participants with low and high amounts of visceral fat.

Study Design: 400 men (aged 40-80 years) were recruited into a cross-sectional study.

Pulmonary circulation and gas exchange at exercise in Sherpas at high altitude.

Tibetans have been reported to present with a unique phenotypic adaptation to high altitude characterized by higher resting ventilation and arterial oxygen saturation, no excessive polycythemia, and lower pulmonary arterial pressures (Ppa) compared with other high-altitude populations. How this affects exercise capacity is not exactly known. We measured aerobic exercise capacity during an incremental cardiopulmonary exercise test, lung diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DL(CO)) and nitric oxide (DL(NO)) at rest, and mean Ppa (mPpa) and cardiac output by echocardiography at rest and at exercise in 13 Sherpas and in 13 acclimatized lowlander controls at the altitude of 5,050 m in Nepal.