Red Blood Cell Distribution Width/Hematocrit Ratio: A New Predictor of 28 Days All-Cause Mortality of AECOPD Patients in ICU.

Purpose: Elevated red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and decreased hematocrit (HCT) levels are associated with poor prognosis in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients, but their significance in intensive care unit (ICU) patients with acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD) remains uncertain. The RDW/HCT ratio may offer a more comprehensive assessment compared to individual markers, potentially enhancing prognostic accuracy. Furthermore, the utility of RDW/HCT in improving traditional ICU scoring systems remains unexplored.

Sequential changes of serum KL-6 predict the progression of interstitial lung disease.

Background: Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a slowly progressing fatal fibrotic lung disease with a widely variable clinical course and a poor prognosis. Clinicians and patients would benefit from a highly efficient and accurate predictor for ILD. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether blood biomarkers can predict ILD progression.

Methacholine induces extracellular matrix production by human airway smooth muscle cells through β-catenin signaling.

Altered extracellular matrix (ECM) production by airway smooth muscle cells (ASMCs) is an important feature of airway remodeling. Muscarinic receptor agonists contribute to ECM production in vivo, but the mechanisms involved remain unclear. This study attempted to investigate the role of methacholine in promoting ECM production by human ASMCs (HASMCs) and the underlying mechanism.

Effects of two types of equal-intensity inspiratory muscle training in stable patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A randomised controlled trial.

Purpose: We conducted a randomised controlled trial to assess the effects of daily breathing pattern changes to stable patients with COPD excluding the confounding factors of inspiratory muscle mobilization, by ensuring the load intensities of two inspiratory training devices were equal.

Patients And Methods: Sixty patients with COPD were randomised to three groups: resistive-IMT group (T-IMT, 21 patients), threshold-IMT (R-IMT, 19 patients), and a control group (20 patients). Inspiratory load intensity for both methods was set at 60% of maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP), a measure of inspiratory muscle strength, which, along with health-related quality of life (HRQoL), degree of dyspnoea, and exercise capacity, were conducted before and after 8 weeks of daily IMT.

Transdiaphragmatic pressure and neural respiratory drive measured during inspiratory muscle training in stable patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Purpose: Inspiratory muscle training (IMT) is a rehabilitation therapy for stable patients with COPD. However, its therapeutic effect remains undefined due to the unclear nature of diaphragmatic mobilization during IMT. Diaphragmatic mobilization, represented by transdiaphragmatic pressure (Pdi), and neural respiratory drive, expressed as the corrected root mean square (RMS) of the diaphragmatic electromyogram (EMGdi), both provide vital information to select the proper IMT device and loads in COPD, therefore contributing to the curative effect of IMT.

Evaluation of carbon dioxide rebreathing during exercise assisted by noninvasive ventilation with plateau exhalation valve.

Noninvasive ventilation with a plateau exhalation valve (PEV) is often used as an adjunct to exercise to achieve a physiologic training effect in severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. However, during exercise, with the increase of exhalation flow and respiratory rate and limited capability of PEV to exhale gases out of the circuit, it is still unknown whether CO rebreathing occurs in COPD patients ventilated during exercise assisted by single-limb circuit with a PEV. A maximal symptom-limited cycle exercise test was performed while ventilated on pressure support (inspiratory:expiratory pressure 14:4 cmHO) in 18 male patients with stable severe COPD (mean ± standard deviation, forced expiratory volume in 1 s: 29.

Efficacy of non-invasive ventilation as a rescue therapy for relieving dyspnea in patients with stable severe COPD.

Exertional Dyspnea is a troublesome symptom in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) even after optimal therapy, which is a physiological and perceptional burden to limit their activities. Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) might provide rescue therapy for this population to relieve exertional dyspnea. This was a randomized crossover study in 18 patients with stable severe COPD.