Effectiveness of Energy Conservation Techniques in Patients with COPD.

Background: Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) might suffer from severe dyspnea, which importantly impacts on the performance of activities of daily living (ADL). Patient training of energy conservation techniques (ECTs) might be useful to improve the tolerance and execution of these ADL, but objective studies evaluating the effect of teaching ECTs on the metabolic equivalent of task (MET) in patients with COPD are sparse.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that practicing ECTs after a 2-week ECT teaching period would reduce the energy expenditure (MET) in performing an activity in patients with severe COPD.

Correlations between Spectra and Resistivity in Transition Metal Oxides.

A comparison between photoconductivity spectra and resistivity in two transition metal oxides, LaSrCuO and LaSrVO, is presented. The resistivities ρ() for < 0.05 in the cuprate and < 0.

Emplacement and 3D geometry of crustal-scale saucer-shaped intrusions in the Fennoscandian Shield.

Saucer-shaped intrusions of tens of meters to tens of kilometres across have been observed both from surface geological mapping and geophysical observations. However, there is only one location where they have been reported to extend c. 100 km laterally, and emplaced both in a sedimentary basin and the crystalline basement down to 12 km depth.

Follow-up chest radiographic findings in patients with MERS-CoV after recovery.

Purpose: To evaluate the follow-up chest radiographic findings in patients with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) who were discharged from the hospital following improved clinical symptoms.

Materials And Methods: Thirty-six consecutive patients (9 men, 27 women; age range 21-73 years, mean ± SD 42.5 ± 14.

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus: What Does a Radiologist Need to Know?

Objective: The overarching goal of this article is to provide radiologists with the most up-to-date information regarding the underlying epidemiology, pathophysiology, clinical features, and imaging findings related to Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), a potentially deadly new infection.

Conclusion: An increased awareness of MERS-CoV and an understanding of the radiologic features of MERS-CoV can improve the early assessment and monitoring of this new infection. Radiologists can provide information based on chest radiographic and CT scores that can be helpful for patient management and predicting prognosis.

Surfactant Protein A in Exhaled Endogenous Particles Is Decreased in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Patients: A Pilot Study.

Background: Exhaled, endogenous particles are formed from the epithelial lining fluid in small airways, where surfactant protein A (SP-A) plays an important role in pulmonary host defense. Based on the knowledge that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) starts in the small airway epithelium, we hypothesized that chronic inflammation modulates peripheral exhaled particle SP-A and albumin levels. The main objective of this explorative study was to compare the SP-A and albumin contents in exhaled particles from patients with COPD and healthy subjects and to determine exhaled particle number concentrations.

Acute Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus: Temporal Lung Changes Observed on the Chest Radiographs of 55 Patients.

Objective: The objective of our study was to describe lung changes on serial chest radiographs from patients infected with the acute Middle East respiratory syndrome corona-virus (MERS-CoV) and to compare the chest radiographic findings and final outcomes with those of health care workers (HCWs) infected with the same virus. Chest radiographic scores and comorbidities were also examined as indicators of a fatal outcome to determine their potential prognostic value.

Materials And Methods: Chest radiographs of 33 patients and 22 HCWs infected with MERS-CoV were examined for radiologic features indicative of disease and for evidence of radiographic deterioration and progression.

CT correlation with outcomes in 15 patients with acute Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus.

Objective: The purpose of this article is to retrospectively analyze chest CT findings for 15 patients with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus and to identify features associated with survival.

Materials And Methods: Patients were assigned to group 1 if they died (n=9) and to group 2 if they made a full recovery (n=6). Two reviewers scored chest radiographs and CT examinations for segmental involvement, ground-glass opacities, consolidation, and interstitial thickening.

Williams-Beuren syndrome: computed tomography imaging review.

Williams-Beuren syndrome (WBS) affects young infants and children. The underlying etiopathogenesis of this rare disease is due to the mutation of the elastin gene that is responsible for the elasticity of the arterial wall. As a result of inadequate elastin production, the major systemic arteries become abnormally rigid and can be manifested by an impediment to the blood flow.

Computed tomography virtual bronchoscopy: normal variants, pitfalls, and spectrum of common and rare pathology.

A broad spectrum of pathologies that involve the laryngotracheobronchial airway and imaging plays a crucial role in evaluating these abnormalities. Computed tomography with virtual bronchoscopy has been found to be very helpful in defining the location, extent, and nature of these lesions, and is increasingly being used even in patients with contraindications for fiberoptic bronchoscopy and laryngoscopy. Ionizing radiation, associated with virtual bronchoscopy, can be minimized by using low-dose multidetector computed tomography and hybrid iterative reconstruction techniques.

Normative MDCT cross-sectional data estimation of superior vena cava and innominate vein in growing children using age as a predictor.

This retrospective study aimed to determine the superior vena cava (SVC) and left innominate vein (INV) normative cross-sectional area in children noninvasively using age as a predictor and also to compare the correlation of the area measured with the diameter on multidetector computed tomography (MDCT). Analysis of the SVC-INV cross-sectional area was performed for 73 consecutive patients. The cross-sectional area of the SVC-INV was manually estimated.

Vitamin D status and dietary intake in a Swedish COPD population.

Introduction: Emerging evidence indicates that patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have a poorer vitamin D status than the general population, possibly affecting several comorbidities. In northern latitudes, these problems could be even more accentuated in wintertime because of the low ultraviolet B radiation.

Objectives: To examine the dietary intake of vitamin D and the levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OH-D) in a COPD population compared with a reference group in Swedish settings.

Capsaicin sensitivity in patients with chronic cough- results from a cross-sectional study.

Background: A subgroup of patients with chronic cough is recognised as having airway symptoms resulting exposure to chemicals and scents related to enhanced cough sensitivity to inhaled capsaicin. Sensory hyperreactivity, which has an estimated prevalence of more than 6%, is one possible explanation for the symptoms experienced by these patients. We hypothesized that a number of patients diagnosed with chronic unexplained cough also have coughing provoked by chemical irritants associated with augmented capsaicin cough reaction, but the extent of such a relation is not known.

Sensitivity to environmental irritants and quality of life in COPD.

It is a common clinical experience that patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) complain of airway symptoms provoked by environmental irritants like chemicals and scents, although few studies can confirm such connections. The aim was to study the prevalence of airway symptoms induced by chemicals and scents in a group of patients with newly diagnosed CPOD and to analyze any relation to illness severity and quality of life. Eighty-one patients with COPD were recruited to the study.

Symptoms induced by environmental irritants and health-related quality of life in patients with chronic cough - A cross-sectional study.

Background: Chronic cough is a common condition, but some patients have no evident medical explanation for their symptoms. A group of patients has been identified, characterized by upper and lower airway symptoms triggered by chemicals and scents, and heightened cough sensitivity to inhaled capsaicin. Chronic cough is usually a prominent symptom in these patients, and it has been suggested that they suffer from sensory hyperreactivity.

A gender difference in circulating neutrophils in malnourished patients with COPD.

Background: Circulating markers of inflammation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may correlate to disease progression and extrapulmonary complications such as malnourishment. However, surprisingly little is known about gender-related differences for circulating inflammatory markers in COPD.

Purpose: To characterize differences in circulating markers of inflammation in malnourished female and male patients with COPD.

Impact of prophylactic percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy on malnutrition and quality of life in patients with head and neck cancer: a randomized study.

Background: The purpose of this randomized study was to examine if a prophylactic percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) for enteral nutrition could prevent malnutrition, reduce hospital stay, and improve health-related quality of life (HRQOL).

Methods: One hundred thirty-four patients with advanced head and neck cancer were randomized to either prophylactic PEG (study group) or clinical praxis (control group). Patients' weight, body mass index (BMI), need for hospitalization, and HRQOL were noted at 7 occasions during 2 years.

A validated disease specific prediction equation for resting metabolic rate in underweight patients with COPD.

Malnutrition is a serious condition in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Successful dietary intervention calls for calculations of resting metabolic rate (RMR). One disease-specific prediction equation for RMR exists based on mainly male patients.

Energy cost in children assessed by multisensor activity monitors.

Purpose: The SenseWear Pro2 Armband (SWA; BodyMedia, Inc., Pittsburg, PA), the Intelligent Device for Energy Expenditure and Activity (IDEEA; Minisun LLC, Fresno, CA), and the ActiReg (AR; PreMed AS, Oslo, Norway) were compared with indirect calorimetry to determine the ability of these devices to assess energy cost in children during resting and different physical activities.

Methods: Fourteen children, 11-13 yr old, wore the SWA, the IDEEA, and the AR during resting, sitting, stationary bicycling, jumping on a trampoline, playing basketball, stair walking, and walking/running along a 50-m track.

Trapped water molecule in the charge separation of a bacterial reaction center.

Low-frequency oscillations in the absorption spectrum at 1020 nm, connected to the primary charge separation process in Rhodobacter sphaeroides, have been shown by Yakovlev et al. to be caused by rotational motion of an interstitial water molecule called "water-A". The same water molecule was shown by Potter et al.

Energy cost of physical activities in children: validation of SenseWear Armband.

Purpose: To examine the validity of SenseWear Pro2 Armband in assessing energy cost of physical activities in children, and to contribute with values of energy costs in an overview of physical activities in children.

Methods: Energy cost was assessed by SenseWear Pro2 Armband in 20 healthy children, 11-13 yr, while lying down resting, sitting playing games on mobile phone, stepping up and down on a step board, bicycling on a stationary bike, jumping on a trampoline, playing basketball, and walking/running on a treadmill at the speeds 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10 km x h(-1). During these activities, energy cost was also assessed from VO2 and VCO2 measured by Oxycon Mobile portable metabolic system, which was used as criterion method.

Mixed valence and superconductivity.

Mixed-valence (MV) systems are referred to here as MV-2 and MV-3 depending on whether two or three consecutive valence states are involved. MV-3 systems range from systems with Hubbard U>>0, corresponding to a single stable, intermediate valence state, and U<<0, corresponding to stable alternating valences differing by two units. Experiments using inelastic neutron scattering or inelastic X-ray scattering show softening of breathing phonon modes in MV systems compared with related systems with a single valence.