Postural balance, mobility, and handgrip strength one year after hospitalization due to COVID-19.

Background: Symptoms such as impairment of postural balance, mobility and muscle strength can last up to 12 months post COVID-19 hospitalization, need to be better understood, as they can have repercussions in activities of daily living.

Research Question: What happens to postural balance, mobility, and handgrip strength of COVID-19 patients after hospitalization?

Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted with patients of both sexes, aged ≥18, admitted to hospital diagnosed with COVID-19. Outcomes were assessed at 1, 4, 6, and 12 months post-discharge, including: postural balance - Brief-Balance Evaluation Systems Test, mobility - Timed "Up & Go" Test, and handgrip strength - dynamometry.

Physical training in adults with asthma: An integrative approach on strategies, mechanisms, and benefits.

Asthma is a chronic airway disease characterized by airflow limitation and respiratory symptoms associated with chronic airway and systemic inflammation, bronchial hyperreactivity (BHR), and exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB). Asthma is a heterogeneous disease classified according to distinct airway and systemic inflammation. Patients commonly present with several comorbidities, including anxiety, depression, poor sleep quality, and reduced physical activity levels.

Functional impact on adults and older people after hospitalization by Covid-19.

Background And Objectives: Hospitalization by Covid-19 can cause persistent functional consequences after hospital discharge due to direct and indirect effects of SARS-COV-2 in several organs and systems of the body added to post-intensive care syndrome and prolonged bed rest. These impacts can lead to dependency in activities of daily living, mainly in older people due to aging process and functional decline. This study aimed to compare the effects of hospitalization by Covid-19 on functional capacity of adults and older people and to identify its associated factors.

Fat mass to fat-free mass ratio and its associations with clinical characteristics in asthma.

Background: Fat mass to fat-free mass ratio (FM/FFM) assesses the combined effect of the balance between fat mass and fat-free mass.

Aims: to evaluate the associations beetween FM/FFM and clinical outcomes in asthma and to compare clinical characteristics between individuals with higher and lower FM/FFM.

Methods: 128 participants with asthma underwent anthropometric, spirometry and bioelectrical impedance assessments.

Constant-Load Exercise Versus High-Intensity Interval Training on Aerobic Fitness in Moderate-to-Severe Asthma: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: The effects of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on dyspnea and aerobic fitness in adults with asthma are poorly understood.

Objective: To compare constant-load exercise (CLE) versus HIIT for improvements in dyspnea symptoms and clinical control in adults with moderate-to-severe asthma.

Methods: Participants were randomized into 2 groups: CLE (n = 27; started with 70% of maximal watts [Wmax] obtained during cardiopulmonary exercise testing [CPET]) and HIIT (n = 28; started with 80% and increased until 140% Wmax).

Age-associated phenotypic imbalance in TCD4 and TCD8 cell subsets: comparison between healthy aged, smokers, COPD patients and young adults.

Background: COPD is associated with an abnormal lung immune response that leads to tissue damage and remodeling of the lung, but also to systemic effects that compromise immune responses. Cigarette smoking also impacts on innate and adaptative immune responses, exerting dual, pro- and anti-inflammatory effects. Previously, we showed that COPD patients presented accelerated telomere shortening and decreased telomerase activity, while, paradoxically, cigarette-smokers exhibited preserved telomerase activity and slower rate of telomere shortening.

Identification of asthma phenotypes based on extrapulmonary treatable traits.

Asthma is a heterogeneous and complex disease, and a description of asthma phenotypes based on extrapulmonary treatable traits has not been previously reported.The objective of this study was to identify and characterise clusters based on clinical, functional, anthropometrical and psychological characteristics in participants with moderate-to-severe asthma.This was a cross-sectional multicentre study involving centres from Brazil and Australia.

Immune and Inflammatory Response in Atopic Elite Endurance Athletes.

The present study aimed to compare the immune and inflammatory responses between atopic (n=20) and non-atopic (n=39) elite endurance athletes. Fifty-nine elite runners and triathletes were assessed for the following measurements: Th, Th and lymphocyte phenotyping and plasma levels of cortisol, chemokines, inflammatory cytokines and specific immunoglobulin E (IgE). Levels of salivary IgA, allergic symptoms and training data were also evaluated.

Comparison of the effects of aerobic conditioning before and after pulmonary allergic inflammation.

The aim of this study is to compare the effects of aerobic conditioning (AC) before (ACBS) and after (ACAS) allergic sensitization. BALB/c mice were divided into two main groups: ACBS and ACAS. Each groups was divided into subgroups: control (nonsensitized/nontrained), AC (nonsensitized/trained), ovalbumin (OVA) (sensitized/nontrained), AC+OVA (trained/sensitized), and OVA+AC (sensitized/trained).

Barriers associated with reduced physical activity in COPD patients.

Objective: To evaluate the ability of COPD patients to perform activities of daily living (ADL); to identify barriers that prevent these individuals from performing ADL; and to correlate those barriers with dyspnea severity, six-minute walk test (6MWT), and an ADL limitation score.

Methods: In COPD patients and healthy, age-matched controls, the number of steps, the distance walked, and walking time were recorded with a triaxial accelerometer, for seven consecutive days. A questionnaire regarding perceived barriers and the London Chest Activity of Daily Living (LCADL) scale were used in order to identify the factors that prevent the performance of ADL.

Post-walking exercise hypotension in patients with intermittent claudication.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the acute effect of intermittent walking exercise (WE) on blood pressure (BP) responses in patients with intermittent claudication (IC). Secondly, this study aimed to gain improved insight into the physiological mechanisms controlling BP regulation after intermittent WE in this patient group.

Methods: Twenty patients with IC participated in two experimental sessions in a random order, as follows: WE (15 × 2-min bouts of WE interpolated with 2-min rest intervals) and control (standing rest on a treadmill for 60 min).

Effects of yoga breathing exercises on pulmonary function in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy: an exploratory analysis.

Objective: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the most common form of muscular dystrophy in children, and children with DMD die prematurely because of respiratory failure. We sought to determine the efficacy and safety of yoga breathing exercises, as well as the effects of those exercises on respiratory function, in such children.

Methods: This was a prospective open-label study of patients with a confirmed diagnosis of DMD, recruited from among those followed at the neurology outpatient clinic of a university hospital in the city of São Paulo, Brazil.

Impact of laparoscopic surgery on thoracoabdominal mechanics and inspiratory muscular activity.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of laparoscopic surgery on pulmonary volume distributions and inspiratory muscles activity. Respiratory consequences associated with postoperative pain were also evaluated.

Methods: This study enrolled 20 patients without lung disease performed spirometry and chest wall kinematic analyses (i.

Volume rather than flow incentive spirometry is effective in improving chest wall expansion and abdominal displacement using optoelectronic plethysmography.

Background: Incentive spirometers are widely used in clinical practice and classified as flow-oriented (FIS) and volume-oriented (VIS). Until recently the respiratory inductive plethysmography used to evaluate the effects of incentive spirometry on chest wall mechanics presented limitations, which may explain why the impact of VIS and FIS remains poorly known.

Objective: To compare the effects of VIS and FIS on thoracoabdominal mechanics and respiratory muscle activity in healthy volunteers.

Physical activity in daily life in Brazilian COPD patients during and after exacerbation.

Background: Although hospitalization is recognized as an important cause of reduction in physical activity in daily life (PADL) in COPD, there is only one study evaluating this effect, and it was performed in European COPD patients who have a lower PADL than that of South American COPD patients.

Objectives: To investigate the effect of hospitalization due to acute exacerbation of PADL in Brazilian COPD patients and to evaluate the factors that determines the physical activity levels during hospitalization and after discharge.

Methods: PADL was quantified using a 3-axis accelerometer on the 3rd day of hospitalization and 1 month after discharge in Brazilian COPD patients who were hospitalized due to disease exacerbation.

Exercise-induced bronchoconstriction in elite long-distance runners in Brazil.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of exercise-induced bronchoconstriction among elite long-distance runners in Brazil and whether there is a difference in the training loads among athletes with and without exercise-induced bronchoconstriction.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving elite long-distance runners with neither current asthma symptoms nor a diagnosis of exercise-induced bronchoconstriction. All of the participants underwent eucapnic voluntary hyperpnea challenge and maximal cardiopulmonary exercise tests, as well as completing questionnaires regarding asthma symptoms and physical activity, in order to monitor their weekly training load.

Effects of aerobic exercise on chronic allergic airway inflammation and remodeling in guinea pigs.

We evaluated the effects of aerobic exercise (AE) on airway inflammation, exhaled nitric oxide levels (ENO), airway remodeling, and the expression of Th1, Th2 and regulatory cytokines in a guinea pig asthma model. Animals were divided into 4 groups: non-trained and non-sensitized (C), non-sensitized and AE (AE), ovalbumin-sensitized and non-trained (OVA), and OVA-sensitized and AE (OVA+AE). OVA inhalation was performed for 8 weeks, and AE was conducted for 6 weeks beginning in the 3rd week of OVA sensitization.

Musculoskeletal dysfunction and pain in adults with asthma.

Background: The mechanical alterations related to the overload of respiratory muscles observed in adults with persistent asthma might lead to the development of chronic alterations in posture, musculoskeletal dysfunction and pain; however, these changes remain poorly understood.

Objective: This study aimed to assess postural alignment, muscle shortening and chronic pain in adults with persistent asthma.

Methods: This cross-sectional and controlled study enrolled 30 patients with mild (n = 17) and severe (n = 13) persistent asthma.

Effects of aerobic training on airway inflammation in asthmatic patients.

Purpose: there is evidence suggesting that physical activity has anti-inflammatory effects in many chronic diseases; however, the role of exercise in airway inflammation in asthma is poorly understood. We aimed to evaluate the effects of an aerobic training program on eosinophil inflammation (primary aim) and nitric oxide (secondary aim) in patients with moderate or severe persistent asthma.

Methods: sixty-eight patients randomly assigned to either control (CG) or aerobic training (TG) groups were studied during the period between medical consultations.

Role of nitric oxide in hyperpnea-induced bronchoconstriction and airway microvascular permeability in guinea pigs.

The present study aimed to evaluate the role of nitric oxide (NO) on hyperpnea-induced bronchoconstriction (HIB) and airway microvascular hyperpermeability (AMP). Sixty-four guinea pigs were anesthetized, tracheotomized, cannulated, and connected to animal ventilator to obtain pulmonary baseline respiratory system resistance (Rrs). Animals were then submitted to 5 minutes hyperpnea and Rrs was evaluated during 15 minutes after hyperpnea.

Strength training increases walking tolerance in intermittent claudication patients: randomized trial.

Objective: To analyze the effects of strength training (ST) in walking capacity in patients with intermittent claudication (IC) compared with walking training (WT) effects.

Methods: Thirty patients with IC were randomized into ST and WT. Both groups trained twice a week for 12 weeks at the same rate of perceived exertion.

Translation and validation of the walking impairment questionnaire in Brazilian subjects with intermittent claudication.

Background: The Walking Impairment Questionnaire (WIQ) has been used to evaluate walking impairment in subjects with intermittent claudication (IC). However, this questionnaire has yet to be translated to Brazilian Portuguese, which limits its use in Brazilian subjects.

Objective: To translate and analyze the validity and reliability of WIQ in Brazilian subjects with IC.