New spirometry recommendations from the Brazilian Thoracic Association - 2024 update.

The latest pulmonary function guideline from the Brazilian Thoracic Association was published in 2002, since which there have been updates to international guidelines (mainly those from the European Respiratory Society and the American Thoracic Society), as well as new national and international publications on various aspects of the performance, interpretation, and clinical implications of spirometry. Despite those updates, a careful analysis of what applies to the reality in Brazil is essential, because there have been studies that evaluated individuals who are representative of our population and who could show responses different from those of individuals in other regions of the world. This document is the result of the work of a group of specialists in pulmonary function who evaluated relevant scientific articles that could be applicable to the population of Brazil.

A comparative study of two data-driven modeling approaches to predict drug release from ER matrix tablets.

The pharmaceutical industry is striving to develop innovative and promising tools, increasingly embracing new data-driven approaches, to understand, improve and accelerate the drug product development process. While extended release (ER) oral formulations offer a number of advantages, including maintenance of therapeutic drug levels, a reduction in dosing frequency, and minimization of side effects, achieving consistent drug release profiles remains a significant challenge. As a critical attribute for drug absorption into systemic circulation, in vitro dissolution testing represents a time-consuming and complex method for the evaluation of such formulations.

Updated document on the management of functional dyspepsia by the Asociación Española de Neurogastroenterologia y Motilidad (ASENEM) and Sociedad Española de Medicina Familiar y Comunitaria (semFYC).

Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a gut-brain axis disorder characterized by postprandial fullness, early satiety, bloating and/or epigastric pain, which are presumed to originate in the gastroduodenal tract. While the international recommendations in the Rome IV consensus require endoscopy to rule out an organic condition before establishing a diagnosis of FD, international guidelines recommend that, in the absence of risk factors, patient management be initiated at the primary care level by establishing Helicobacter pylori infection status, with eradication when positive, followed by empiric therapy with proton pump inhibitors and/or prokinetics, and that endoscopy be reserved for patients refractory to said measures. Second-line therapy includes neuromodulating agents, among which tricyclic antidepressants and atypical antipsychotics such as levosulpiride stand out.

Prospective evaluation of opioid cessation in patients with suspected Opioid-induced esophageal dysfunction (OIED).

Introduction: The causal relationship between chronic opioid use and esophageal motor dysfunction in symptomatic patients has not been established.

Methods: A prospective before-and-after multicenter study, including chronic active opioid patients referred for esophageal motility tests due to non-obstructive dysphagia.

Results: 37 patients were evaluated, 27 (73%) had criteria of opioid-induced esophageal dysfunction (OIED).

Maternal touch in object- and nonobject-oriented play interactions: A longitudinal study at 7 and 12 months.

Social touch is a crucial part of how mothers interact with their infants, with different touch types serving distinct purposes in these exchanges. However, there is still a limited understanding of how mothers' touch behavior adapts to specific interactive tasks, particularly throughout infancy. To address this gap, we observed mother-infant dyads at 7 and 12 months during three structured social play tasks: (a) play with objects, (b) play without objects, and (c) play with a difficult object.