Longitudinal assessment of interstitial lung abnormalities on CT in patients with COPD using artificial intelligence-based segmentation: a prospective observational study.

Background: Interstitial lung abnormalities (ILAs) on CT may affect the clinical outcomes in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but their quantification remains unestablished. This study examined whether artificial intelligence (AI)-based segmentation could be applied to identify ILAs using two COPD cohorts.

Methods: ILAs were diagnosed visually based on the Fleischner Society definition.

Quantification of Airway Structures by Persistent Homology.

We propose two types of novel morphological metrics for quantifying the geometry of tubular structures on computed tomography (CT) images. We apply our metrics to identify irregularities in the airway of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and demonstrate that they provide complementary information to the conventional metrics used to assess COPD, such as the tissue density distribution in lung parenchyma and the wall area ratio of the segmented airway. The three-dimensional shape of the airway and its abstraction as a rooted tree with the root at the trachea carina are automatically extracted from a lung CT volume, and the two metrics are computed based on a mathematical tool called persistent homology; treeH0 quantifies the distribution of branch lengths to assess the complexity of the tree-like structure and radialH0 quantifies the irregularities in the luminal radius along the airway.

A reference equation for lung volume on computed tomography in Japanese middle-aged and elderly adults.

Background: Effective use of lung volume data measured on computed tomography (CT) requires reference values for specific populations. This study examined whether an equation previously generated for multiple ethnic groups in the United States, including Asians predominantly composed of Chinese people, in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) could be used for Japanese people and, if necessary, to optimize this equation. Moreover, the equation was used to characterize patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung hyperexpansion.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease features in patients visiting primary respiratory clinic and tertiary hospital in Japan.

Pulmonologists in primary care clinics are positioned between those in tertiary hospitals and general practitioners in clinics and are anticipated to promote hospital-clinic collaboration for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, the clinical features of patients in primary respiratory clinics are unclear. This multicenter study cross-sectionally compared the characteristics of patients with COPD in a respiratory clinic (n = 69) with those in a university hospital (n = 124).

Subtyping emphysematous COPD by respiratory volume change distributions on CT.

Background: There is considerable heterogeneity among patients with emphysematous chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We hypothesised that in addition to emphysema severity, ventilation distribution in emphysematous regions would be associated with clinical-physiological impairments in these patients.

Objective: To evaluate whether the discordance between respiratory volume change distributions (from expiration to inspiration) in emphysematous and non-emphysematous regions affects COPD outcomes using two cohorts.

Genetic Homology between Bacteria Isolated from Pulmonary Abscesses or Pyothorax and Bacteria from the Oral Cavity.

Pulmonary abscesses and pyothorax are bacterial infections believed to be caused primarily by oral microbes. However, past reports addressing such infections have not provided genetic evidence and lack accuracy, as they used samples that had passed through the oral cavity. The aim of this study was to determine whether genetically identical bacterial strains exist in both the oral microbiota and pus specimens that were obtained percutaneously from pulmonary abscesses and pyothorax, without oral contamination.

Linguistic Validation of the Japanese Version of the Multidimensional Dyspnea Profile and Relation to Physical Activity in Patients with COPD.

Purpose: This study aimed to develop a linguistically validated Japanese translation of the multidimensional dyspnea profile (MDP) and assess whether worsening of dyspnea's sensory and affective domains during exercise had detrimental effects on physical activity in stable outpatients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Materials And Methods: The Japanese version of the MDP was prepared in collaboration with Mapi Research Trust (Lyon, France) after the approval of the developer. Physical activity was assessed using a 3-axis accelerometer.

l-Menthol - a new treatment for breathlessness?

Purpose Of Review: In patients with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), it is challenging to treat breathlessness. In addition, novel palliative interventions are required for multiple perspectives of breathlessness that may still be present after disease-specific therapies. This review provides an overview of the mechanisms and effects of l-menthol on breathlessness by covering the latest relevant papers.

Exertional multidimensional dyspnoea predicts exacerbation in stable outpatients with COPD.

https://bit.ly/3l2oA4A.

Expiratory central airway collapse and symptoms in smokers.

Background: The prevalence and clinical impacts of expiratory central airway collapse (ECAC) in smokers remain controversial. Although studies have shown associations of ECAC with airflow limitation and symptoms, others have shown that higher tracheal collapsibility is associated with lower expiratory-to-inspiratory ratio of lung volume (E/I-LV), but not airflow limitation. This study tested whether ECAC of the trachea and main bronchi could occur exclusively in smokers with lower E/I-LV and affect their symptoms independent of emphysema and intrapulmonary airway disease.

Central airway and peripheral lung structures in airway disease-dominant COPD.

The concept that the small airway is a primary pathological site for all COPD phenotypes has been challenged by recent findings that the disease starts from the central airways in COPD subgroups and that a smaller central airway tree increases COPD risk. This study aimed to examine whether the computed tomography (CT)-based airway disease-dominant (AD) subtype, defined using the central airway dimension, was less associated with small airway dysfunction (SAD) on CT, compared to the emphysema-dominant (ED) subtype COPD patients were categorised into mild, AD, ED and mixed groups based on wall area per cent (WA%) of the segmental airways and low attenuation volume per cent in the Kyoto-Himeji (n=189) and Hokkaido COPD cohorts (n=93). The volume per cent of SAD regions (SAD%) was obtained by nonrigidly registering inspiratory and expiratory CT.

Effects of Sarcopenia on Ventilatory Behavior and the Multidimensional Nature of Dyspnea in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Objectives: This study tested the hypothesis that sarcopenia, a common extrapulmonary feature of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), can affect ventilatory behavior, and worsen the multidimensional nature of dyspnea in patients with COPD.

Design: Cross-sectional survey study.

Setting: and Participants: Stable outpatients with COPD encountered in general practice and respiratory clinic.

Effect of Olfactory Stimulation by L-Menthol on Laboratory-Induced Dyspnea in COPD.

Background: Inhalation of L-menthol as a transient receptor potential melastatin 8 agonist induces a cooling sensation in the airway. This cooling sensation induced through olfactory stimulation by L-menthol (OSM) alleviates dyspnea in healthy humans. Therefore, we investigated effects of OSM on the neural respiratory drive (NRD) and multidimensional aspects of dyspnea induced by inspiratory resistive loaded breathing in COPD.

Association between chemical components of PM and children's primary care night-time visits due to asthma attacks: A case-crossover study.

Background: Few papers have examined the association between the chemical components of PM and health effects. The existence of an association is now under discussion.

Methods: This case-crossover study aimed to examine the association between the chemical components of PM and night-time primary care visits (PCVs) due to asthma attacks.

Relationship between periodontitis-related antibody and frequent exacerbations in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: To identify patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who are susceptible to frequent exacerbations is important. Although periodontitis aggravated by poor oral hygiene might increase the risk of lower respiratory tract infection, the relationship between periodontitis and COPD exacerbations remains unknown. This prospective cohort study investigates the relationship between periodontitis-related antibody and exacerbation frequency over a one-year period.

Sputum YKL-40 levels and pathophysiology of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: Recent evidence suggests that YKL-40, also called chitinase-3-like-1 protein, is involved in the pathogenesis of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Details of sputum YKL-40 in asthma and COPD, however, remain unknown.

Objectives: To clarify associations of sputum YKL-40 levels with clinical indices in asthma and COPD.

Copper incorporation into ceruloplasmin is regulated by Niemann-Pick C1 protein.

Aim:   Wilson disease is a genetic disorder of copper metabolism characterized by impaired biliary copper excretion. Wilson disease gene product (ATP7B) functions in copper incorporation to ceruloplasmin (Cp) and biliary copper excretion. Our previous study showed the late endosome localization of ATP7B and described the copper transport pathway from the late endosome to trans-Golgi network (TGN).

Impact of exacerbations on emphysema progression in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Rationale: Low-attenuation areas assessed by computed tomography reflect the extent of pathological emphysema and correlate with airflow limitation and mortality in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The cumulative size distribution of low-attenuation area clusters follows a power law characterized by an exponent, D. The values of D reflect the complexity of the terminal airspace geometry and sensitively detect alveolar structural changes.

Massive eosinophilic pleural effusion preceding vasculitic symptoms in Churg-Strauss syndrome.

We report a case of Churg-Strauss syndrome (CSS) presenting as a massive pleural effusion. A 52-year-old asthmatic Japanese woman presented with progressive dyspnea caused by an eosinophilic pleural effusion (EPE). She also had chronic sinusitis, skin lesions and blood eosinophilia, but no antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies.

Relationship between peripheral airway function and patient-reported outcomes in COPD: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Health status, dyspnea and psychological status are important clinical outcomes in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) measured by spirometry, the standard measurement of airflow limitation, has only a weak relationship with these outcomes in COPD. Recently, in addition to spirometry, impulse oscillometry (IOS) measuring lung resistance (R) and reactance (X) is increasingly being used to assess pulmonary functional impairment.

Abnormal swallowing reflex and COPD exacerbations.

Background: It is unclear whether an abnormal swallowing reflex affects COPD exacerbations. This study investigated the prevalence of abnormal swallowing reflexes and its relationship with COPD exacerbation prospectively. We also clarified its association with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and airway bacterial colonization.