Water content of delivered gases during Helmet Continuous Positive Airway Pressure in healthy subjects.

Introduction: During Continuous Positive Pressure Ventilation delivered through helmet, the patient inhales high flows of gas without adequate conditioning. However, the need to humidify the inspired gas during Helmet-CPAP, has not been sufficiently explored.

Methods: Experimental design study.

Noninvasive and invasive ventilation and enteral nutrition for ALS in Italy.

Introduction: We performed a population-based study to assess amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) survival after noninvasive ventilation (NIV), invasive ventilation (IV), and enteral nutrition (EN).

Methods: We included patients diagnosed from 2000 to 2009 in Modena, where a prospective registry and a Motor Neuron Diseases Centre have been active since 2000.

Results: Of the 193 incident cases, 47.

Exclusive intrapulmonary lepidic growth of a malignant pleural mesothelioma presenting with pneumothorax and involving the peritoneum.

We report a rare case of malignant pleural mesothelioma presenting clinically with pneumothorax and histologically with an exclusive intrapulmonary lepidic growth. Neither intrathoracic nodules nor pleural thickening were found. The patient subsequently experienced acute abdominal pain with peritonitis and intestinal occlusion by peritoneal mesothelioma.

Poor control increases the economic cost of asthma. A multicentre population-based study.

Background/aims: Up to now, few cost-of-illness (COI) studies have estimated the cost of adult asthma at an individual level on general population samples. We sought to evaluate the cost of current asthma from the societal perspective in young Italian adults and the determinants of cost variation.

Methods: In 2000, a COI study was carried out in the frame of the Italian Study on Asthma in Young Adults on 527 current asthmatics (20-44 years) screened out of 15,591 subjects from the general population in seven centres.

Time trends in smoking habits among Italian young adults.

Background: In most developed countries the prevalence of smoking habits is decreasing in men, while in women the prevalence seems to decline in Northern Europe but to increase in the Mediterranean area. The present research aims at assessing time trends in smoking habits in Italy.

Methods: In the frame of the Italian Study on Asthma in Young Adults (ISAYA) a random sample of the Italian population aged 20-45 years was administered a mailed questionnaire in 9 Italian centers between 1998 and 2000.

Are the asthma guideline goals achieved in daily practice? A population-based study on treatment adequacy and the control of asthma.

Background: The guidelines for asthma recommend that the use of anti-inflammatory therapy should be adapted to the severity of the disease. However, few data are available to assess the adequacy of the use of drugs and its influence on the control of asthma in 'real life'.

Methods: The adequacy of the current use of anti-asthmatic medication according to the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) guidelines was assessed in a random sample of 400 asthmatics identified in the frame of the Italian Study on Asthma in Young Adults.

The effect of long-term treatment with erdosteine on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: the EQUALIFE Study.

Erdosteine is a new thiol compound with effects on bacterial adhesiveness as well as antioxidant and mucoactive properties. The EQUALIFE study, a fully randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, multicenter study, was designed to assets the effectiveness of long-term treatment with erdosteine in patients with moderate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). One hundred and fifty-five patients received oral erdosteine, 300 mg b.

The role of climate on the geographic variability of asthma, allergic rhinitis and respiratory symptoms: results from the Italian study of asthma in young adults.

Background: Variations in the prevalence of respiratory symptoms according to geo-climatic factors could provide important clues to the knowledge of the aetiology of asthma.

Methods: Geo-climatic variations in the prevalence of current asthma, allergic rhinitis and chronic cough, and phlegm were assessed on a random sample of 18 873 subjects (response rate = 72.7%) from different climatic regions of Italy.

Fungus colonisation of pulmonary rheumatoid nodule.

This report describes a 69 year old woman, suffering from active rheumatoid arthritis since the age of 60 and presenting with severe dyspnoea and cough. A computed tomography scan of the chest showed multiple bilateral pulmonary nodules, sometimes cavitated, associated with reticular opacities and pleural effusion. A videothoracoscopic excision of a cavitated nodule was performed.

The control of asthma in Italy. A multicentre descriptive study on young adults with doctor diagnosed current asthma.

Background: Few data are available on the management of asthma in the general population. The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of asthma control in Italian patients, a decade after the publication of the international guidelines.

Materials And Methods: Within the framework of a multicentre, population-based study on people aged 20-44 years, 18 873 subjects replied to a postal screening questionnaire (response rate = 72.

The impact of climate and traffic-related NO2 on the prevalence of asthma and allergic rhinitis in Italy.

Background: Environmental factors are likely to be involved in explaining the wide geographical variation in asthma and atopic diseases that has been documented in many recent epidemiological studies.

Aim: To evaluate to what extent climate and outdoor NO2 pollution can explain the geographical variation in the prevalence of asthma and allergic rhinitis, and to estimate the relative risk for exposure to different levels of these two factors.

Methods: The impact of climate and long-term exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution on asthma and allergic rhinitis was assessed in a cross-sectional study, carried out during 1998 to 2000 on young adults aged 20 to 44 years (n = 18 873), living in 13 areas from two different Italian climatic regions (subcontinental and Mediterranean).

Ultrasound-guided percutaneous needle aspiration biopsy of peripheral pulmonary lesions.

Percutaneous needle aspiration (PCNA) biopsy of pulmonary lesions is usually performed under fluoroscopic or computed tomographic guidance. In subpleural lesions, PCNA may be performed under ultrasonographic guidance. In this study, the diagnostic results of ultrasound-guided PCNA in 45 patients with peripheral pulmonary lesions of unknown aetiology are evaluated.

Predictors of survival in subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease treated with long-term oxygen therapy.

We examined 166 patients with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) treated with long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) in order to evaluate the prognostic factors of such patients. The mean observation period was 24 months (range 2-50 months) and the following variables were considered: age, forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), arterial oxygen tension (PaO2), arterial carbon dioxide tension (PaCO2), hematocrit, right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP; evaluated by Doppler echocardiography), number of hospitalizations in the 2 years prior to prescription of LTOT and body mass index. The overall survival rate was 78.

[Iproniazid-induced acute hepatitis].

Many drugs can cause an acute liver damage. The patient history is the guideline for diagnosis. Iproniazid, a monoamine-oxidase inhibitor not for sale in Italy, can frequently cause severe acute hepatitis.

[Possibility of evaluation of chest pain at the time of hospitalization].

A series of 140 patients admitted to an Internal Medicine or a Cardiology Department for an acute chest pain is examined in order to evaluate the possibility of reaching a quick diagnosis, particularly for coronaric heart diseases, according with history, physical examination, electrocardiogram. In most of cases it was possible an immediate, correct evaluation of the patients, but in some cases a right diagnosis was achieved only after a period of observation and different investigations.

[Bone metastasis as a sign of the existence of latent neoplasia].

A series of 65 patients in whom bone metastasis was the earliest sign of tumour is examined. The diagnostic aspects of the bone metastasis from laboratory examination to radiology, from scintigraphy to bone marrow biopsy are analysed as is the problem of locating the primary tumours that remain of unknown site. The prognosis is poor for all such patients.