Persistent long-term habitat use by Florida manatees at Fort Pierce, Florida from 1997 to 2020.

To survive cold winters, Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris) depend on artificial (i.e., power plants) and natural warm water sources such as springs and passive thermal basins.

Emergent patterns in the development of young children's object play.

The present study set out to examine developments in object play in a contemporary sample of 289 typically developing children from 8- to 60-months of age. The value of object play centers on developments in object knowledge and mental representation, along with the developmental processes of decentration, substitution, and agency. The early play studies focused on one or another of these aspects of development, and generally for the age group 12-36 months.

False-negative RT-PCR for COVID-19 and a diagnostic risk score: a retrospective cohort study among patients admitted to hospital.

Objective: To describe the characteristics and outcomes of patients with a clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 and false-negative SARS-CoV-2 reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR), and develop and internally validate a diagnostic risk score to predict risk of COVID-19 (including RT-PCR-negative COVID-19) among medical admissions.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Two hospitals within an acute NHS Trust in London, UK.

Preoperative low level laser therapy in dogs undergoing tibial plateau levelling osteotomy: A blinded, prospective, randomized clinical trial.

Objectives: To evaluate the influence of preoperative low-level laser therapy (LLLT) on therapeutic outcomes of dogs undergoing tibial plateau levelling osteotomy (TPLO).

Methods: Healthy dogs undergoing TPLO were randomly assigned to receive either a single preoperative LLLT treatment (800-900 nm dual wavelength, 6 W, 3.5 J/cm, 100 cm area) or a sham treatment.

Management of iatrogenic urinothorax following ultrasound guided percutaneous nephrostomy.

A 64 year-old male with metastatic prostate adenocarcinoma presented with bilateral hydronephrosis and renal impairment. Bilateral percutaneous nephrostomy drainage followed by ante-grade stenting was done. Shortly afterwards, the patient developed an extensive left-sided pleural effusion.

Smoking cessation in COPD causes a transient improvement in spirometry and decreases micronodules on high-resolution CT imaging.

Background: Smoking cessation is of major importance for all smokers; however, in patients with COPD, little information exists on how smoking cessation influences lung function and high-resolution CT (HRCT) scan appearances.

Methods: In this single-center study, we performed screening spirometry in a group of heavy smokers aged 40 to 80 years (N = 358). We then studied the effects of smoking cessation in two groups of selected subjects: smokers with COPD (n = 38) and smokers with normal spirometry (n = 55).

Smoking-related emphysema is associated with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and rheumatoid lung.

Background And Objective: A combined pulmonary fibrosis/emphysema syndrome has been proposed, but the basis for this syndrome is currently uncertain. The aim was to evaluate the prevalence of emphysema in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and rheumatoid lung (rheumatoid arthritis-interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD)), and to compare the morphological features of lung fibrosis between smokers and non-smokers.

Methods: Using high-resolution computed tomography, the prevalence of emphysema and the pack-year smoking histories associated with emphysema were compared between current/ex-smokers with IPF (n = 186) or RA-ILD (n = 46), and non-chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) controls (n = 103) and COPD controls (n = 34).

Using care bundles to reduce in-hospital mortality: quantitative survey.

Problem: To reduce hospital inpatient mortality and thus increase public confidence in the quality of patient care in an urban acute hospital trust after adverse media coverage.

Design: Eight care bundles of treatments known to be effective in reducing in-hospital mortality were used in the intervention year; adjusted mortality (from hospital episode statistics) was compared to the preceding year for the 13 diagnoses targeted by the intervention care bundles, 43 non-targeted diagnoses, and overall mortality for the 56 hospital standardised mortality ratio (HSMR) diagnoses covering 80% of hospital deaths.

Setting: Acute hospital trust in north west London.

Non-specific interstitial pneumonia in cigarette smokers: a CT study.

The goal of this study was to seek indirect evidence that smoking is an aetiological factor in some patients with non-specific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP). Ten current and eight ex-smokers with NSIP were compared to controls including 137 current smokers with no known interstitial lung disease and 11 non-smokers with NSIP. Prevalence and extent of emphysema in 18 smokers with NSIP were compared with subjects meeting GOLD criteria for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD; group A; n = 34) and healthy smokers (normal FEV(1); group B; n = 103), respectively.

Optimized dialysis and protease inhibition of sputum dithiothreitol supernatants.

Rationale: Dithiothreitol (DTT) is commonly used to liquefy induced sputum samples before assessment of cytology, but causes reduction of disulfide bonds and denaturation of proteins.

Objectives: To process sputum supernatants containing DTT to enable quantification of cytokines and chemokines.

Methods: A standard solution of 22 pooled chemokines and cytokines was incubated with DTT at the concentrations used during sputum liquefaction and then dialyzed under 20 different denaturant and redox conditions.

A prospective study of decline in fat free mass and skeletal muscle strength in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: Skeletal muscle depletion is an important complication of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) but little prospective data exists about the rate at which it occurs and the factors that promote its development. We therefore prospectively investigated the impact of disease severity, exacerbation frequency and treatment with corticosteroids on change in body composition and maximum isometric quadriceps strength (QMVC) over one year.

Methods: 64 patients with stable COPD (FEV1 mean (SD) 35.

A novel flow cytometric assay of human whole blood neutrophil and monocyte CD11b levels: upregulation by chemokines is related to receptor expression, comparison with neutrophil shape change, and effects of a chemokine receptor (CXCR2) antagonist.

Rationale: Smokers who develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have amplified inflammation within their lungs, involving selective tissue accumulation of neutrophils, macrophages and CD8+ T cells. CD11b (Mac-1, alphaMbeta(2)-integrin) is both a complement receptor (CR3) and a cell adhesion molecule present on the surface of peripheral blood leukocytes, and undergoes rapid surface upregulation from preformed cytoplasmic stores on activation. Cellular activation can also trigger chemotaxis and shape change, the activation itself being caused by the binding of chemokines to cell surface receptors.

Glycopyrrolate causes prolonged bronchoprotection and bronchodilatation in patients with asthma.

Introduction: Inhaled anticholinergic drugs are effective bronchodilators in the treatment of COPD, and tiotropium bromide has recently been introduced as a once-daily bronchodilator for use as a maintenance treatment. Racemic glycopyrrolate is an anticholinergic drug that has been used orally to control gastric acidity, parenterally as an antisialogogue and to reverse neuromuscular blockade, and has been studied by inhalation for asthma and COPD.

Design And Objective: We investigated the duration of protection against the constrictor effects of inhaled methacholine of a single dose of inhaled nebulized racemic glycopyrrolate (0.

Theophylline: mechanism of action and use in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Despite having been recognized for a long time as a cheap and effective therapy for the treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), theophylline is relegated to third-line therapy in the treatment of airway diseases due to the drug's frequent side effects and relatively low efficacy. However, regardless of the current situation, there are reasons for thinking that the use of theophylline, in addition to inhaled steroids, may come back into fashion for the treatment of chronic asthma, as it may have an anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effect when given in low doses. At these low doses, the drug is easier to use, side effects are uncommon and the problems of drug interaction are less of an issue, thus making the clinical use of theophylline less complicated.

Long-acting beta 2-adrenoceptor agonists or tiotropium bromide for patients with COPD: is combination therapy justified?

Bronchodilators are the mainstay of therapy for patients with established chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) but, at present, the majority of patients use short-acting agents. There is increasing evidence that long-acting agents, such as the beta(2)-adrenoceptor agonists salmeterol and formeterol, and the new anticholinergic tiotropium bromide provide a better therapeutic option. In the treatment of COPD, long-acting beta(2)-adrenoceptor agonists (LABAs) given twice daily cause the same degree of bronchodilation as tiotropium bromide given once daily.