Risk prediction for Obstructive Sleep Apnea prognostic in Obese patients referred for bariatric surgery.

Objectives: (i) To assess the anthropometric measurements, along with the clinical characteristics and quality of life profiles of the studied patients; (ii) To determine the occurrence and severity of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), using polysomnography; and (iii) To identify the best anthropometric and clinical indicators to predict OSA in obese patients who are candidates for bariatric surgery.

Methods: a prospective observational study conducted in a private clinic, using consecutive sampling of patients eligible for bariatric surgery with a BMI ≥ 40, or with a BMI of ≥ 35 kg/m² accompanied by comorbidities associated with obesity.

Results: Sixty patients were initially selected, of whom 46 agreed to take part in the preoperative evaluation.

Screening of miners and millers at decreasing levels of asbestos exposure: comparison of chest radiography and thin-section computed tomography.

Background: Chest radiography (CXR) is inferior to Thin-section computed tomography in the detection of asbestos related interstitial and pleural abnormalities. It remains unclear, however, whether these limitations are large enough to impair CXR´s ability in detecting the expected reduction in the frequency of these asbestos-related abnormalities (ARA) as exposure decreases.

Methods: Clinical evaluation, CXR, Thin-section CT and spirometry were obtained in 1418 miners and millers who were exposed to progressively lower airborne concentrations of asbestos.

Neuromuscular electrical stimulation improves exercise tolerance in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients with better preserved fat-free mass.

Background: High-frequency neuromuscular electrical stimulation increases exercise tolerance in patients with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD patients). However, it is conceivable that its benefits are more prominent in patients with better-preserved peripheral muscle function and structure.

Objective: To investigate the effects of high-frequency neuromuscular electrical stimulation in COPD patients with better-preserved peripheral muscle function.

Relationship between peripheral muscle structure and function in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with different nutritional status.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between peripheral muscle structure (mass) and function (strength, endurance, and maximal aerobic capacity) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with different nutritional states. Thirty-nine patients (31 male) with moderate-severe COPD (63.5 ± 7.

Lung diffusing capacity relates better to short-term progression on HRCT abnormalities than spirometry in mild asbestosis.

Background: Pulmonary function tests (PFT), particularly spirometry and lung diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DL(CO) ), have been considered useful methods for the detection of the progression of interstitial asbestos abnormalities as indicated by high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT). However, it is currently unknown which of these two tests correlates best with anatomical changes over time.

Methods: In this study, we contrasted longitudinal changes (3-9 years follow-up) in PFTs at rest and during exercise with interstitial abnormalities evaluated by HRCT in 63 ex-workers with mild-to-moderate asbestosis.

Asbestos-related disease: progression of parenchymal abnormalities on high-resolution CT.

Purpose: To evaluate the changes over time in the pattern and extent of parenchymal abnormalities in asbestos-exposed workers after cessation of exposure and to compare 3 proposed semiquantitative methods with a careful side-by-side comparison of the initial and the follow-up computed tomography (CT) images.

Materials And Methods: The study included 52 male asbestos workers (mean age+/-SD, 62.2 y+/-8.

Relationship between induced sputum cytology and inflammatory status with lung structural and functional abnormalities in asbestosis.

Background: Asbestosis is associated with lung cellular and immunological abnormalities. Induced sputum cytology and local and systemic markers of inflammation may be helpful to characterize disease status and progression in these patients.

Methods: Thirty-nine ex-workers with asbestosis on high-resolution CT (HRCT) and 21 non-exposed controls were evaluated.

Clinical value of anthropometric estimates of leg lean volume in nutritionally depleted and non-depleted patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

This study aimed to investigate the clinical usefulness of an anthropometrically based method for estimating leg lean volume (LLV) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who presented or not with nutritional depletion. We prospectively evaluated a group of forty-eight patients (thirty-eight males) with moderate to severe COPD (Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung disease stages II-IV) who underwent a 6 min walking test and knee isokinetic dynamometry. Leg lean mass (muscle mass plus bone) was determined by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) with derivation of its respective volume: these values were compared with those obtained by the truncated cones method first described by Jones and Pearson in 1969.

Availability and use of noninvasive ventilation in the intensive care units of public, private and teaching hospitals in the greater metropolitan area of São Paulo, Brazil.

Objective: To determine the availability of noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation equipment, as well as the level of expertise and familiarity of physicians, nurses and physiotherapists with noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation in the intensive care units of public, private and teaching hospitals in the greater metropolitan area of São Paulo, Brazil.

Methods: On-site administration of questionnaires.

Results: Noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation equipment was widely available and was more commonly found in private hospitals than in teaching hospitals.

Skeletal muscle structure and function in response to electrical stimulation in moderately impaired COPD patients.

Study Objective: To determine the structural and functional consequences of high-frequency neuromuscular electrical stimulation (hf-NMES) in a group of moderately impaired outpatients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Design: A prospective, cross-over randomized trial.

Setting: An university-based, tertiary center.

Clinical, anthropometric and upper airway anatomic characteristics of obese patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

Background: Obese subjects are at increased risk of developing obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). However, the individual role of local (i.e.

Scaling skeletal muscle function to mass in patients with moderate-to-severe COPD.

Skeletal muscle performance and muscle mass are commonly reduced in patients with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It is currently unclear, however, whether negative changes in muscle structure and function are proportionately related to each other in these patients. In a cross-sectional study, 39 patients (post-bronchodilator FEV1=49.

Pleural plaques in asbestos-exposed workers: reproducibility of a new high-resolution CT visual semiquantitative measurement method.

Objective: To assess the reproducibility of a new high-resolution computed tomography (CT) visual semiquantitative method for pleural plaques in asbestos-exposed workers.

Material And Methods: We performed thin-section CT in 752 chrysotile asbestos mining workers and ex-workers. Institutional review board approval and signed written informed consent from subjects were obtained.