Publications by authors named "Erick S MacLean"
Background: Leadless pacemakers represent a paradigm-changing advancement. However, they required innovative and novel device design, including the use of nitinol tines for fixation.
Objective: We aimed to understand the potential for fracture in the novel tine-based fixation mechanism.
Background And Objective: Late-onset non-allergic asthma in obesity is characterized by an abnormally compliant, collapsible lung periphery; it is not known whether this abnormality exists in proximal airways. We sought to compare collapsibility of central airways between lean and obese individuals with and without asthma.
Methods: A cross-sectional study comparing luminal area and shape (circularity) of the trachea, left mainstem bronchus, right bronchus intermedius and right inferior lobar bronchus at RV and TLC by CT was conducted.
Article Synopsis
- Researchers found that being very overweight can make people more likely to get asthma, especially a type called LONA asthma that happens later in life.
- They studied how being overweight affects breathing and found that all overweight people had more trouble with their lungs, but those with LONA asthma had even bigger breathing problems.
- The study also showed that overweight people with LONA asthma breathe faster and take in less air after challenging their lungs, and it’s still a mystery why only some overweight people develop this specific type of asthma.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates whether late-onset nonallergic asthma (LONA) in obese individuals has distinct physiological features compared to other groups, including lean controls and lean asthmatics.
- Researchers conducted various lung function tests on four groups: Lean Control, Lean Asthma, Obese Control, and LONA Obese Asthma, to measure lung capacities and responses.
- Results showed that LONA Obese Asthma had significantly lower forced vital capacity and reduced functional residual capacity, indicating unique challenges in lung function linked to obesity, while chronic lung compression affected all obese subjects equally.
There are few studies looking at the pulmonary circulation in subjects with bronchiectasis. We aimed to evaluate the intraparenchymal pulmonary vascular structure, using noncontrast chest computed tomography (CT), and its clinical implications in smokers with radiographic bronchiectasis. Visual bronchiectasis scoring and quantitative assessment of the intraparenchymal pulmonary vasculature were performed on CT scans from 486 smokers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrior studies have demonstrated that U.S. Hispanic smokers have a lower risk of decline in lung function and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) compared with non-Hispanic whites (NHW).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objective: Bronchiectasis manifests as recurrent respiratory infections and reduced lung function. Airway dilation, which is measured as the ratio of the diameters of the bronchial lumen (B) and adjacent pulmonary artery (A), is a defining radiological feature of bronchiectasis. A challenge to equating the bronchoarterial (BA) ratio to disease severity is that the diameters of airway and vessel in health are not established.
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