Prevalence of Chronic Bronchitis and Respiratory Health Profile of a Population Exposed to Wood Smoke in Nicaragua.

Background: Household air pollution (HAP) is one of the most important environmental risk factors worldwide associated with chronic respiratory diseases.

Objectives: The present study focused on respiratory health in a population with high wood smoke exposure in Nicaragua.

Methods: We employed a cross-sectional study with 213 participants.

Positive impact of improved cookstove usage on respiratory health in Congolese refugees: a prospective cohort study.

Around 3 billion people worldwide use solid biomass fuels for cooking. Exposure to indoor biomass smoke is an important cause of COPD and therefore a target of many public health interventions, such as usage of improved cookstoves. The aim of our study was to show whether usage of improved cookstoves can lead to relevant improvement in lung function and CAT-score in a well characterized population including a subgroup of this population with preexisting airway obstruction.

Outcome of community-acquired pneumonia: influence of age, residence status and antimicrobial treatment.

Community-acquired pneumonia remains a major cause of mortality in developed countries. There is much discrepancy in the literature regarding factors influencing the outcome in the elderly population. Data were derived from a multicentre prospective study initiated by the German Competence Network for Community-Acquired Pneumonia.

Central sleep apnea is associated with blunted baroreflex sensitivity in patients with myocardial infarction.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of central sleep apnea (CSA) and baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) after acute myocardial infarction.

Background: Both, CSA and blunted BRS have been shown to be independent predictors for cardiovascular mortality in patients with heart failure. But in contrast to BRS, which has been extensively studied in the setting of AMI, the incidence of CSA in patients recovering from AMI is thus far unknown.

Ventricular repolarization dynamics during different sleep stages in the subacute phase of myocardial infarction.

Background: Ventricular arrhythmias after myocardial infarction (MI) are often nocturnal. However, the arrhythmogenic effects of sleep after MI are unknown. We examined the effects of sleep stages on QT dynamicity and tested the hypothesis of a differential effect of sleep stage on the QT/RR relationship after recent MI, versus in healthy controls (HC).