Clinical applications of forced oscillation technique (FOT) for diagnosis and management of obstructive lung diseases in children.

Obstructive lung diseases such as bronchial asthma, COPD, and cystic fibrosis are a burden on many patients across the globe. Spirometry is considered the gold standard for diagnosing airflow obstruction, but it can be difficult for pediatric patients to do and requires a lot of effort. As a result, healthcare providers need new, effortless methods to diagnose airway obstructions, particularly in young children and individuals unable to perform the spirometry maneuver.

Factors affecting prediction accuracy of postoperative FEV1 and D in patients undergoing lung resection.

Despite significant development in systemic therapy and radiotherapy, surgery is still the cornerstone for curative lung cancer treatment. Although predicted postoperative function (ppo) somewhat exactly correlates with actual postoperative function bigger differences may be a cause of serious clinical outcome.

The six-minute walk test - a reliable test for detection of exercise-related desaturation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Exercise-induced desaturation is common in patients with moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It provides additional information about physical capacity and disease evolution, and it is an important predictor of mortality.

Intraoperative ultrasound for nonpalpable breast lesions - experience and operative time.

Introduction: The essential tools doctors need to diagnose breast cancer tumors at the early stages and with no clinical presentation are screening mammography and ultrasonography. Nonpalpable breast lesions are a current problem nowadays and there are various types of navigation techniques that are utilized in order to achieve cancer cell-free resection margins in the first place. Intraoperative ultrasound has been proven to be a safe and effective way to excise this type of breast tumors.

Effect of video games playing on surgical simulation training: a systematic review.

Introduction: Video games have a positive impact on the skills required for laparoscopic surgery. Several studies have assessed the impact of video games on laparoscopic skills.

Aim: This study aims to systematically review the existing evidence.

5G in Healthcare: From COVID-19 to Future Challenges.

Worldwide up to May 2022 there have been 515 million cases of COVID-19 infection and over 6 million deaths. The World Health Organization estimated that 115,000 healthcare workers died from COVID-19 from January 2020 to May 2021. This toll on human lives prompted this review on 5G based networking primarily on major components of healthcare delivery: diagnosis, patient monitoring, contact tracing, diagnostic imaging tests, vaccines distribution, emergency medical services, telesurgery and robot-assisted tele-ultrasound.

Gut Microbiota in Lung Cancer: Where Do We Stand?

The gut microbiota (GM) is considered to constitute a powerful "organ" capable of influencing the majority of the metabolic, nutritional, physiological, and immunological processes of the human body. To date, five microbial-mediated mechanisms have been revealed that either endorse or inhibit tumorigenesis. Although the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts are distant physically, they have common embryonic origin and similarity in structure.

Use of saliva stress biomarkers to estimate novice male endoscopist's stress during training in a high-end simulator.

Objective: Simulated endoscopic training can be challenging and stressful for the novice trainee. The absence of a reliable stress detection method during simulated endoscopic training makes estimating trainees' mental stress difficult to quantify. This study concomitantly measures the responses of four saliva stress biomarkers and compares them to the video score (VS) achieved by novice endoscopists in a reproducibly stressful simulation environment.

Physics and Engineering - Unlocking Doors in Medicine Together.

Invited Talks 7 - Biomedical Engineering 11 - Biophysics in Biology and Medicine 12 - Education Training and Professional Development 16 - Information Systems and Databases in Healthcare and Medicine 17 - Medical Physics 18 - Modelling and Simulation 21 - New Technologies in Medicine and Safety 24 - Physical Factors 26 - Qaulity Assurance and Quality Control 28 - Radiation Protection and Safety 30 - Radiation Therapy 35.

Jubilee Scientific Conference "Medicine of the Future" - 29-31 October 2020 on the occasion of the 75th Anniversary of Medical University of Plovdiv.

Plenary lectures 7 Oral presentations 32 - Biomedicine 32 - Biopharmacy 46 - Contemporary surgical techniques 51 - Innovative methods of diagnosis and treatment 58 - Dental medicine 61 - Public Health/Healthcare 67 Poster sessions 74 - Poster session I 74 • Biomedicine 74 • Biopharmacy 90 • Contemporary surgical techniques 94 • Innovative methods of diagnosis and treatment 96 • Dental medicine 99 • Public Health-Healthcare 103 - Poster session II 116 • Projects with national/international funding 116 Intra-university project session 120 - Intra-university projects 2016-2018 120 - Doctoral projects 2015-2017 142 - Post-doctoral projects 2018 150.

Desaturation during Physical Exercise in COPD Patients - a Stable-over-time Phenomenon.

Introduction: Exercise-induced desaturation is a common finding in patients with moderate and severe COPD. It is an important marker in the course of disease that has a prognostic value for mortality risk.

Aim: To monitor over time COPD patients with and without desaturation during 6-minute walking test (6MWT) and to assess the stability of that phenomenon.

Feasibility of a New Wearable Device to Estimate Acute Stress in Novices During High-fidelity Surgical Simulation.

Background: Stress associated with learning of a psychomotor task can influence the trainees learning ability. Surgical simulation is a validated training milieu designed to replicate real-life situations, prevent biases and provide objective metrics. However, the complexity of stress mechanisms and the absence of a reliable detection method make stress estimation difficult to quantify and to interpret.

Effects of acute hypoxic provocation on the autonomic nervous system in 'healthy' young smokers, measured by heart rate variability.

Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the activity of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) using heart rate variability (HRV) in 'healthy' young smokers and non-smokers before, during and after exogenous hypoxic provocation.

Methods: Twenty-one healthy non-smoking males aged 28.0 ± 7.

Striving for Better Medical Education: the Simulation Approach.

Medical simulation is a rapidly expanding area within medical education due to advances in technology, significant reduction in training hours and increased procedural complexity. Simulation training aims to enhance patient safety through improved technical competency and eliminating human factors in a risk free environment. It is particularly applicable to a practical, procedure-orientated specialties.

Evaluation of Acute Exogenous Hypoxia Impact on the Fraction of Exhaled Nitric Oxide in Healthy Males.

Introduction: Exogenous hypoxia increases ventilation and contracts the pulmonary vessels. Whether those factors change the values of nitric oxide in exhaled air has not yet been evaluated.

Objective: To examine the effect of exogenous normobaric hypoxia on the values of the fraction of nitric oxide in exhaled breath (FeNO).

Practical recommendations for exercise training in patients with COPD.

The aim of this article was to provide practical recommendations to healthcare professionals interested in offering a pulmonary rehabilitation programme for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The latest research findings were brought together and translated into clinical practice. These recommendations focus on the description of useful assessment tests and of the most common exercise modalities for patients with COPD.

Reference values for forced expiration parameters in Bulgarian children and adolescents aged 7 to 18 years.

Introduction: A diagnosis of lung function impairment in childhood is highly dependent on the respective reference values. Population differences in the pulmonary function of children have been frequently reported. The AIM of this study was to derive normal spirometric reference values for Bulgarian children and adolescents and to compare these results with other data set including our own reference equations developed 20 years ago.

Oxygen uptake efficiency slope and chronotropic incompetence in chronic heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Introduction: Oxygen uptake efficiency slope (OUES) and chronotropic index (CRI) are measures of cardiorespiratory reserve and chronotropic incompetence, but no direct comparison of OUES and CRI in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and chronic heart failure (CHF) has been done.

Aim: To compare OUES and CRI in CHF and COPD patients.

Patients: Fifty-one subjects divided in three groups--CHF group (n=17) (NYHA II and III functional class), COPD group (n=17) (FEV1% = 49.

Standardized peak exercise perception score: validation of a new index of effort perception.

Purpose: Standardized peak exercise perception score (SPEPS) is an index representing patient effort perception defined as SPEPS = Borg/METs, where Borg is the Borg CR-10 at maximal exercise intensity and METs is maximal metabolic equivalents. The purpose of the study was to assess the validity of SPEPS in different patient groups and to examine its applicability for evaluation of exercise training outcomes.

Methods: Patients (n = 17) with chronic heart failure (CHF, New York Heart Association [NYHA] II and III functional class; ejection fraction= 31 +/- 14%), 16 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, forced expiratory volume in 1 second - FEV(1)%= 51 +/- 14%), and 16 age- and body mass index-matched controls formed the primary study group.

Intima-media thickness and flow-mediated vasodilation in asymptomatic subjects with newly detected severe hypercholesterolemia.

Background: The aim was to establish the predictors of early functional and structural vascular alterations (using intima-media thickness (IMT)) and flow-mediated vasodilation (%FMD) as well as to investigate the interrelationship between IMT and %FMD in asymptomatic, never-treated, severe hypercholesterolemia (HH).

Methods: One hundred and twenty patients with asymptomatic, severe, untreated HH and 100 controls were included. ELISA was used for asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and cellular adhesion molecules, and fluid chromatography for total homocysteine (tHcy).

Assessment of respiratory compensation phase during graded exercise in patients with chronic heart failure.

Background: The VE-VO2 relationship during graded exercise has an inflection point beyond the ventilatory anaerobic threshold (VAT) termed the respiratory compensation point (RCP). Metabolic variables analyzed at the level of VAT and RCP may contribute to the better understanding of such limiting symptoms in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients as dyspnea and early fatigue. The AIM of the present study was to analyze the RCP during symptom limited ramp exercise testing in CHF patients.

Oxygen-uptake efficiency slope in healthy 7- to 18-year-old children.

The aim of this article was to assess the oxygen-uptake efficiency slope (OUES) throughout the age span of 7 to 18 years. One hundred fourteen healthy children (58 boys and 56 girls) exercised on a treadmill by means of a modified Balke protocol. The OUES grew in a nonlinear pattern with age, and it appeared to be significantly higher in boys than in girls.

Correlation of frequency of exacerbations with the BODE index in COPD patients.

Background: In recent research B. Celli et al. (N Engl J Med 2004;350:1005-12) proposed a complex grading system (which they designated by BODE) for predicting the mortality risk in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).