Effects of Pulmonary Rehabilitation on Systemic Inflammation and Exercise Capacity in Bronchiectasis: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Introduction: Bronchiectasis is a chronic condition that is becoming a global health concern.

Objective: To examine the effects of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) on systemic inflammation, exercise capacity, and quality of life in participants with bronchiectasis.

Methods: Participants were randomized to receive PR (outpatient, three weekly sessions for 3 months) or control intervention (usual care + airway clearance therapy + breathing exercises).

Isolation of and risk factors for airway infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa in patients with non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis.

Objective: To identify microorganisms in sputum samples of patients with stable non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis and to determine risk factors related to the isolation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) in those patients.

Methods: Consecutive patients were recruited from a tertiary hospital outpatient clinic in the city of Fortaleza, Brazil. The patients were submitted to spirometry, six-minute walk test, HRCT, and sputum collection.

Trends in morbidity and mortality from COPD in Brazil, 2000 to 2016.

Objective: To examine the trends in overall COPD mortality, as well as trends in in-hospital morbidity and mortality due to COPD, in Brazil, and to validate predictive models.

Methods: This was a population-based study with a time-series analysis of cause-specific morbidity and mortality data for individuals ≥ 40 years of age, obtained from national health information systems for the 2000-2016 period. Morbidity and mortality rates, stratified by gender and age group, were calculated for the same period.

2018 recommendations for the management of community acquired pneumonia.

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is the leading cause of death worldwide. Despite the vast diversity of respiratory microbiota, Streptococcus pneumoniae remains the most prevalent pathogen among etiologic agents. Despite the significant decrease in the mortality rates for lower respiratory tract infections in recent decades, CAP ranks third as a cause of death in Brazil.

The annual prognostic ability of FACED and E-FACED scores to predict mortality in patients with bronchiectasis.

http://ow.ly/albl30i11bv.

Prevalence of alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency and allele frequency in patients with COPD in Brazil.

Objective:: To determine the prevalence of alpha 1-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency (AATD), as well as allele frequency, in COPD patients in Brazil.

Methods:: This was a cross-sectional study involving 926 COPD patients 40 years of age or older, from five Brazilian states. All patients underwent determination of AAT levels in dried blood spot (DBS) samples by nephelometry.

The performance of an in-house nested-PCR technique for pleural tuberculosis diagnoses.

Introduction: This study evaluated the performance of an in-house nested-PCR system for the detection of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex in pleural fluid, blood and urine samples from pleural effusion tuberculosis patients by health services physicians in Pernambuco, Brazil.

Methods: A prospective double-blind study with 37 hospitalized patients of both sexes, aged over 15, was used to investigate the diagnosis of pleural effusion. The criteria used to define the cases included the demonstration of bacillus in biological samples by smear or culture or by a granulomatous finding in the histopathological examination, associated with an evident response to specific treatments to each clinical situation.

Hemoptysis in a referral hospital for pulmonology.

Objective: To determine the main causes of hemoptysis and to classify this symptom, in terms of the amount of blood expectorated, in patients hospitalized at a referral hospital for pulmonology.

Methods: The study included 50 patients with hemoptysis admitted to the pulmonology ward of a general hospital in the city of Recife, Brazil, between July of 2005 and February of 2006. The data of interest were analyzed and compared with those in the literature.

Brazilian guidelines for community-acquired pneumonia in immunocompetent adults - 2009.

Community-acquired pneumonia continues to be the acute infectious disease that has the greatest medical and social impact regarding morbidity and treatment costs. Children and the elderly are more susceptible to severe complications, thereby justifying the fact that the prevention measures adopted have focused on these age brackets. Despite the advances in the knowledge of etiology and physiopathology, as well as the improvement in preliminary clinical and therapeutic methods, various questions merit further investigation.

Intravenous azithromycin plus ceftriaxone followed by oral azithromycin for the treatment of inpatients with community-acquired pneumonia: an open-label, non-comparative multicenter trial.

Community-Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) is a major public health problem. In Brazil it has been estimated that 2,000,000 people are affected by CAP every year. Of those, 780,000 are admitted to hospital, and 30,000 have death as the outcome.

Determination of the efficacy of FEV6 as a surrogate for FVC in the diagnostic screening for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease through the comparison of FEV1/FVC and FEV1/FEV6 ratios.

Objective: To determine the efficacy of using forced expiratory volume in six seconds (FEV6) as a surrogate for forced vital capacity (FVC) in the diagnostic screening for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by comparing FEV1/FVC ratios with FEV1/FEV6 ratios.

Methods: In November of 2003, on World COPD Day, we conducted a campaign of diagnostic screening for COPD. The participants completed the clinical questionnaire of the Global Initiative for Obstructive Lung Disease, and those who responded affirmatively to at least three questions underwent spirometry.

[Parapneumonic effusion and empyema].

The infectious effusion, one of the most frequent causes of pleural effusions in the clinical practice, is a sign of complication of the pneumonic disease. The early recognition of the parapneumonic effusion is crucial to determine the best treatment form and reduce the risk of morbidity and mortality. The evolution in the diagnostic methods and the contribution of several studies published in the literature allowed to establish evidence-based guidelines that are used to guide the treatment of the parapneumonic pleural effusion and empyema.