[Air pollution and cardiac and respiratory function in three groups of patients].

The association between exposure to urban air pollution and cardiac or respiratory impairments in susceptible subjects was evaluated in a panel study including 11 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), 7 with ischemic heart disease (IHD), and 11 asthmatics resident in Rome (Italy). Patients underwent repeated 24 h Holter EKG monitoring, 12 h pulse oximetry at night and spirometry examinations during 1999 summer and winter. Multiple linear regression models for repeated individual measures (fixed-effect) were used to analyse the relationship between average daily concentrations of pollutants (PM10-2.

Home telemonitoring for patients with severe respiratory illness: the Italian experience.

We investigated the feasibility of telemonitoring services for patients with severe respiratory illness. In the first phase of the study, patients were observed and treated using face-to-face medical visits for 12 months. In the second phase of the study, the patients were monitored at home for 12 months, during which time determinations of arterial oxygen saturation and heart rate were performed twice a week, and the data were automatically transmitted to the hospital's processing centre via a normal telephone line.

Soft tissue composition in upper leg lipodystrophy: application of dual energy x-ray absorptiometry.

Liposuction is a safe procedure for removal of subcutaneous fat in patients with upper leg lipodystrophy. We present a young woman with lipodystrophy of upper leg who underwent ultrasound-assisted three-dimensional suction lipectomy. The aim of the study was to determine the amount of fat to be removed before liposuction and to evaluate soft tissue composition before and after liposuction.

Neuroadrenergic denervation of the lung in type I diabetes mellitus complicated by autonomic neuropathy.

Study Objective: To verify whether autonomic neuropathy (AN) complicating type I, insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus affected neuroadrenergic bronchopulmonary innervation.

Patients: Twenty nonsmoking diabetic patients without respiratory diseases were studied: 11 patients with AN (group AN) and 9 patients without AN (control; group C) diagnosed by standardized criteria.

Design: Patients underwent respiratory function tests and ventilatory scintigraphies with (123)I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) and with (99m)Tc-diethylenetriaminepenta-acetic acid (DTPA) to assess both bronchopulmonary neuroadrenergic innervation and also permeability of the alveolar-capillary barrier to water-soluble tracers.