Are Predictors for Overall Mortality in COPD Patients Robust over Time?

(1) Background: Mortality is a major outcome in research on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with various predictors described. However, the dynamic courses of important predictors over time are disregarded. This study evaluates if longitudinal assessment of predictors provides additional information on the mortality risk in COPD when compared with a cross-sectional analysis.

Functional Predictors Discriminating Asthma-COPD Overlap (ACO) from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

Background: A significant proportion of patients with obstructive lung disease have clinical and functional features of both asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), referred to as the asthma-COPD overlap (ACO). The distinction of these phenotypes, however, is not yet well-established due to the lack of defining clinical and/or functional criteria. The aim of our investigations was to assess the discriminating power of various lung function parameters on the assessment of ACO.

Contemporary mass balance on a cold Eastern Alpine ice cap as a potential link to the Holocene climate.

Alpine cold ice caps are sensitive indicators of local climate. The adequate interpretation of this information in an ice core requires detailed in situ glaciological and meteorological records, of which there are few. The Weißseespitze summit ice cap (3499 m) presents an ideal case to compare past and present climate and mass balance, with limited ice flow, but close to 6000 years locked into about 10 m of ice.

Compliance of Pharmacotherapy with GOLD Guidelines: A Longitudinal Study in Patients with COPD.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical implementation of pharmacotherapy recommendations for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) based on the Global Initiative for chronic obstructive lung disease (GOLD) guidelines, in a longitudinal setting.

Methods: This is a sub-analysis of a prospective, non-interventional cohort study including patients with confirmed mild-to-very-severe COPD from seven pulmonary outpatient clinics in Switzerland. Follow-up visits took place annually for up to 7 years, from October 2010 until December 2016.

Handgrip Strength Seems Not to Be Affected by COPD Disease Progression: A Longitudinal Cohort Study.

Skeletal muscle dysfunction, functional exercise capacity impairment and reduced physical activity are characteristic features in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Assessments addressing muscle strength of the upper limb, such as measurement of handgrip strength (HGS), are rarely performed and reported. We aimed to analyze the course of HGS and possible predictors of changes in HGS over time in COPD.

"Can do, don't do" are not the lazy ones: a longitudinal study on physical functioning in patients with COPD.

Background And Objective: Reduced physical capacity (PC) and physical activity (PA) are common in COPD patients and associated with poor outcome. However, they represent different aspects of physical functioning and interventions do not affect them in the same manner. To address this, a new PC-PA quadrant concept was recently generated to identify clinical characteristics of sub-groups of physical functioning.

[Pulmonary Rehabilitation].

Pulmonary Rehabilitation Pulmonary rehabilitation is a comprehensive therapeutic approach for patients with advanced chronic lung diseases which leads to a decline of dyspnea, an increase of exercise capacity and an increase of quality of life. Further effects are a reduction of frequency of hospitalisations and an increase of physical activity, if a self management education program is integrated. Pulmonary rehabilitation incorporates an individualised training program with focus on endurance, strength and mobility, further a disease specific education with the goal to improve self efficacy and self management of the patients, specially with the goal to improve their daily physical activity.

No impact of exacerbation frequency and severity on the physical activity decline in COPD: a long-term observation.

Introduction: COPD exacerbations are associated with a concomitant profound reduction in daily physical activity (PA). Thereby, exacerbation frequency and severity may have an amplifying effect. Whether the reduced level of PA returns to the level prior to exacerbation or has a sustained negative impact on activity behavior over time is unclear.

Influence of morphology of monolithic sulfur-poly(acrylonitrile) composites used as cathode materials in lithium-sulfur batteries on electrochemical performance.

Solvent-induced phase separation (SIPS) and thermally-induced phase separation (TIPS) derived poly(acrylonitrile) (PAN) based monoliths with different morphology and specific surface area were prepared and thermally converted into monolithic sulfur-poly(acrylonitrile) (SPAN) materials for use as active cathode materials in lithium-sulfur batteries. During thermal processing, the macroscopic monolithic structure fully prevailed while significant changes in porosity were observed. Both the monomer content in the precursor PAN-based monoliths and the tortuosity of the final monolithic SPAN materials correlate with the electrochemical performance of the SPAN-based cathodes.

The association between daily exacerbation symptoms and physical activity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: Evidence from longitudinal studies on the impact of exacerbation symptoms on physical activity in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is lacking. The aim of this first exploratory study was to assess the association between exacerbation symptoms and physical activity, and to quantify the relative influence of specific symptoms.

Methods: We recruited COPD patients at high risk for exacerbations from 2 pulmonary rehabilitation clinics and 1 acute care clinic in Switzerland.

Diagnosis, Prevention and Treatment of Stable COPD and Acute Exacerbations of COPD: The Swiss Recommendations 2018.

The Swiss National Guidelines 2013 for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease have been revised in order to acknowledge recent progress in diagnosis and management of this disease. The resulting new Swiss recommendations are based on best evidence from the literature, the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) 2018 report and other published national guidelines. Misdiagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is common and means that patients do not always receive optimal treatment.

Physical activity declines in COPD while exercise capacity remains stable: A longitudinal study over 5 years.

Background And Objective: Daily physical activity (PA) and exercise capacity are reduced in patients with COPD. Whether the natural longitudinal course of both appears synchronically or one precedes the other is currently unclear. The aim was to assess the longitudinal relationship between exercise capacity and physical activity and their changes over time in patients with COPD.

Unravelling Contaminants in the Anthropocene Using Statistical Analysis of Liquid Chromatography-High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry Nontarget Screening Data Recorded in Lake Sediments.

The significant increase in traces of human activity in the environment worldwide provides evidence of the beginning of a new geological era, informally named the Anthropocene. The rate and variability of these human modifications at the local and global scale remain largely unknown, but new analytical methods such as high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) can help to characterize chemical contamination. We therefore applied HRMS to investigate the contamination history of two lakes in Central Europe over the preceding 100 years.

Factors associated with cessation of smoking among Swiss adults between 1991 and 2011: results from the SAPALDIA cohort.

Introduction: Smoking is still the most preventable cause of disease and premature death in Switzerland, as elsewhere. We aimed to assess the main determinants of smoking cessation in the population-based cohort of SAPALDIA (Swiss Cohort Study on Air Pollution and Lung and Heart Diseases in Adults).

Methods: The SAPALDIA study was initiated in 1991 with 9651 participants aged 18 to 60 years from eight areas (S1).

Accelerometer- versus questionnaire-based assessment of physical activity and their changes over time in patients with COPD.

Background And Objective: Physical activity (PA) is an important outcome parameter in patients with COPD regarding hospitalizations and mortality. Both objective assessment by accelerometers and self-evaluation by questionnaires were used in studies investigating PA in COPD. Whether self-reported questionnaires can adequately reflect PA and its changes over time compared to objective assessments has not been thoroughly investigated in COPD.

Determinants of annual change in physical activity in COPD.

Background And Objective: Daily physical activity (PA) is reduced in patients with COPD. Previous cross-sectional analyses indicate various predictors for a low level of PA including airway obstruction, exacerbations and co-morbidities. However, information from longitudinal studies evaluating PA in the context of disease progression, survival and co-morbidities is scant.

A multicentre validation of the 1-min sit-to-stand test in patients with COPD.

Our aim was to comprehensively validate the 1-min sit-to-stand (STS) test in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients and explore the physiological response to the test.We used data from two longitudinal studies of COPD patients who completed inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation programmes. We collected 1-min STS test, 6-min walk test (6MWT), health-related quality of life, dyspnoea and exercise cardiorespiratory data at admission and discharge.

Diagnostic accuracy of methacholine challenge tests assessing airway hyperreactivity in asthmatic patients - a multifunctional approach.

Background: There are few studies comparing diagnostic accuracy of different lung function parameters evaluating dose-response characteristics of methacholine (MCH) challenge tests (MCT) as quantitative outcome of airway hyperreactivity (AHR) in asthmatic patients. The aim of this retrospectively analysis of our database (Clinic Barmelweid, Switzerland) was, to assess diagnostic accuracy of several lung function parameters quantitating AHR by dose-response characteristics.

Methods: Changes in effective specific airway conductance (sG) as estimate of the degree of bronchial obstruction were compared with concomitantly measured forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV) and forced expiratory flows at 50% forced vital capacity (FEF).

Sedation during bronchoscopy: data from a nationwide sedation and monitoring survey.

Background: There is limited knowledge on practice patterns in procedural sedation and analgesia (PSA), the use of propofol, and monitoring during flexible bronchoscopy (FB). The purpose of this study was to assess the current practice patterns of FBs and to focus on the use of propofol, the education of the proceduralist, and the involvement of anaesthesiologists during FB.

Methods: An anonymous questionnaire was sent to 299 pulmonologists.

Impact of comorbidities on physical activity in COPD.

Background And Objective: Both comorbidities and physical inactivity have been shown to impair quality of life and contribute to hospital admissions and mortality in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. We hypothesized that the comorbid status predicts the level of daily physical activity (PA) in COPD.

Methods: In 228 patients with COPD (76% men; median (quartiles) age: 64 (59/69) years; percentage of predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1 % pred): 44 (31/63)), comorbidities were assessed by medical history, clinical interviews, examination and blood analysis.

Accuracy of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale for identifying depression in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients.

Psychological morbidity is common in chronic respiratory diseases. The diagnostic accuracy of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and risk factors for comorbid depression in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are addressed. Consecutive COPD patients (GOLD stage I-IV, 40-75 years old) were enrolled in a multicentre, cross-sectional cohort study.

A mixture of environmental organic contaminants in lake sediments affects hatching from Daphnia resting eggs.

Despite the relevance of resting eggs for ecology and evolution of many aquatic organisms and their exposure to contaminants accumulating in sediments, ecotoxicological studies using resting eggs are vastly underrepresented. The authors established a method to perform exposure assays with resting eggs produced by the Daphnia longispina species complex, key species in large lake ecosystems. A mixture of organic contaminants previously detected in sediments of Lake Greifensee was selected to test the potential effect of organic contaminants present in sediments on the hatching process.

Comparing the hub-and-spoke model practices of the LifeLines Study in the Netherlands and the H3Africa Initiative.

Biobank sample storage is critical in population health and epidemiology studies. Biobanks bridge two very different worlds: they connect to the participants and patients at an individual level, but they also aggregate information and represent the cutting edge of scientific discovery. In this brief report, we describe how the LifeLines study in the Netherlands manages its resources for communication and services, and how it can serve as a model for the Human Heredity and Health in Africa Initiative (H3Africa Initiative).