Dysphagia symptoms in obstructive sleep apnea: prevalence and clinical correlates.

Background: Epidemiology of dysphagia and its drivers in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are poorly understood. The study aims to investigate the prevalence of dysphagia symptoms and their association with demographic and clinical factors in patients with OSA.

Methods: Patients with OSA referring to an Academic Sleep Outpatient Clinic were enrolled in a prospective study.

Characteristics and outcomes in hospitalized COVID-19 patients during the first 28 days of the spring and autumn pandemic waves in Milan: An observational prospective study.

Background: The therapeutic approach to COVID-19 and healthcare system preparedness improved during 2020. We compared characteristics and outcomes of hospitalized COVID-19 patients during the first 28 days of the March and October pandemic waves in Milan, Italy.

Material And Methods: A prospective, observational study enrolling adult patients hospitalized with COVID-19 pneumonia during March 7-April 4 (1st period) and October 15-November 12 (2nd period).

Changes in quality of life and dyspnoea after hospitalization in COVID-19 patients discharged at home.

Background: To date, the effects of COVID-19 pneumonia on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and dyspnoea are unknown.

Methods: In a real-life observational study, 20 patients with COVID-19-related pneumonia received usual care plus erdosteine (300 mg twice daily) for 15 days after hospital discharge following local standard operating procedures. At discharge (T0) and on Day 15 (T1), participants completed the St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), the modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) scale of dyspnoea during daily activity, the BORG scale for dyspnoea during exertion, and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for dyspnoea at rest.

Acute particulate matter affects cardiovascular autonomic modulation and IFN-γ methylation in healthy volunteers.

Aims: Air particulate matter (PM) is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Altered autonomic functions play a key role in PM-induced cardiovascular disease. However, previous studies have not address the impact of PM on sympathetic and parasympathetic control of heart function, independently, and using controlled conditions, i.

Oropharyngeal Dysphagia in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

Although previous studies demonstrated that patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) may present subclinical manifestations of dysphagia, in not one were different textures and volumes systematically studied. The aim of this study was to analyze the signs and symptoms of oropharyngeal dysphagia using fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) with boluses of different textures and volumes in a large cohort of patients with OSAS. A total of 72 OSAS patients without symptoms of dysphagia were enrolled.

A specific home care program improves the survival of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease receiving long term oxygen therapy.

Objectives: To analyze the influence of a home care (HC) program on outcomes of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) receiving long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) in comparison with outcomes of patients receiving standard care (SC).

Design: A 10-year follow-up study with 2 parallel cohorts (HC vs SC).

Setting: University hospital.

Increased complexity of short-term heart rate variability in hyperthyroid patients during orthostatic challenge.

Hyperthyroidism is a pathological condition characterized by an altered autonomic cardiovascular control, resulting in an increase of the sympathetic and a decrease of the parasympathetic modulation of heart rate variability. Recently, the entropy-based indices derived from short-term heart period variability have been proved to be helpful in evaluating the autonomic cardiovascular modulation. The aim of our study was to evaluate the autonomic cardiovascular modulation of hyperthyroid subjects at rest and during standing using spectral parameters and corrected conditional entropy indices derived from short-term heart period variability in 12 hyperthyroid (HYPTH) and 9 normal healthy (N) females.

Effective nocturnal oxygen therapy increases circulating level of tumor necrosis factor-alpha in heart failure.

Objectives: Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha is elevated in chronic heart failure (CHF). The cause of this increase is not well known. Several hypotheses have been investigated.

Prevalence of normal tension glaucoma in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome patients.

Purpose: To explore the prevalence of normal tension glaucoma (NTG) among patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) and to examine OSAS as a risk factor of NTG.

Patients And Methods: Fifty-one consecutive white patients with OSAS were compared with 40 healthy subjects. All the study subjects underwent blood gas analysis, polysomnography, oxyhemoglobin saturation, and an ophthalmologic examination including visual field, visually evoked potential (VEP), and pattern electroretinography (PERG) and disc analysis with the Heidelberg Retina Tomograph II.

Cyclic alternating pattern: a new marker of sleep alteration in patients with fibromyalgia?

Objective: In the dynamic organization of sleep, cyclic alternating pattern (CAP) expresses a condition of instability of the level of vigilance that manifests the brain's fatigue in preserving and regulating the macrostructure of sleep. We evaluated the presence of CAP in patients with fibromyalgia (FM) compared to healthy controls.

Methods: Forty-five patients with FM (42 women) were studied and compared with 38 healthy subjects (36 women) matched for age, sex, and body mass index.

Environmental tobacco smoke may induce early lung damage in healthy male adolescents.

Study Objective: Childhood exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) adversely affects dynamic spirometric indexes as a result of combined early life (including in utero) and current exposure to parental smoking. The aim of our study was to investigate the effect of ETS on lung function and to identify the most sensitive functional parameter for evaluating lung damage.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Nasal resistances are useful in identifying children with severe obstructive sleep apnea before polysomnography.

Objective: In this study, we would like to show that anterior rhinometry measurement of nasal resistance would be a simple and useful test to identify severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in a population of children affected by adenotonsillar hypertrophy.

Methods: Seventy-three consecutive children (44 males; mean age 5.4+/-1.

Are COPD patients with nocturnal REM sleep-related desaturations more prone to developing chronic respiratory failure requiring long-term oxygen therapy?

Background: Nocturnal oxygen desaturations (NOD), especially during REM sleep, have been described in patients with COPD. However, the role of NOD in the evolution of COPD to chronic respiratory failure has not been well studied.

Objective: The aim of our study was to evaluate whether NOD is a risk factor for the development of chronic respiratory failure in COPD patients.