Perception of circadian variation of symptoms in Chinese patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: Although, the variable pattern of asthmatic symptoms is well recognized, little is known about the respiratory symptoms variability in patients of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The present study evaluated the variability of the respiratory symptoms in a day and their influence on the daily activities in a cohort of Chinese COPD patients.

Methods: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted in 11 medical centers of China.

Potential Diagnostic Power of Blood Circular RNA Expression in Active Pulmonary Tuberculosis.

Background: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a class of novel RNAs with important biological functions, and aberrant expression of circRNAs has been implicated in human diseases. However, the feasibility of using blood circRNAs as disease biomarkers is largely unknown.

Methods: We explored the potential of using human peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) circRNAs as marker molecules to diagnose active pulmonary tuberculosis (TB).

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.

Chinese guidelines for childhood asthma 2016: Major updates, recommendations and key regional data.

Objective: With increased industrialization and urbanization in China, pediatric asthma is becoming more prevalent. Despite a growing body of evidence, there remains a significant unmet need for adequate management of childhood asthma. The Subspecialty Group of Respiratory Diseases of the Society of Pediatrics, the Chinese Medical Association, and the editorial board of the Chinese Journal of Pediatrics have recently updated the "Guidelines for diagnosis and optimal management of asthma in children," first published in 2008.

Recent advances in the management of pulmonary tuberculoma with focus on the use of tubeless video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery.

Pulmonary tuberculoma are benign solitary pulmonary nodules representing up to 25% of all resected solitary pulmonary nodules. However, the differentiation between pulmonary tuberculoma and lung cancer, as well as between active tuberculoma and inactive tuberculoma remains a clinical challenge. The present review summarizes the recent advances in the management of pulmonary tuberculoma, including radiological findings, the response to anti-tuberculosis treatment and surgical treatments.

The Society for Translational Medicine: clinical practice guidelines for mechanical ventilation management for patients undergoing lobectomy.

Patients undergoing lobectomy are at significantly increased risk of lung injury. One-lung ventilation is the most commonly used technique to maintain ventilation and oxygenation during the operation. It is a challenge to choose an appropriate mechanical ventilation strategy to minimize the lung injury and other adverse clinical outcomes.

Novel direct AMPK activator suppresses non-small cell lung cancer through inhibition of lipid metabolism.

Drug resistance is becoming an obstacle in anti-cancer therapies. For target-based therapy of lung cancer, gefitinib, as the first generation of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), demonstrated good initial response to the non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients whom harbors epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation. However, within one year, additional EGFR mutation occurred, leading to eventual gefitinib-resistance.

PD-1/PD-L1 Pathway Mediates the Alleviation of Pulmonary Fibrosis by Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Humanized Mice.

Pulmonary fibrosis is a chronic progressive lung disease with few treatments. Human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been shown to be beneficial in pulmonary fibrosis because they have immunomodulatory capacity. However, there is no reliable model to test the therapeutic effect of human MSCs in vivo.

Detection of Rare Mutations in EGFR-ARMS-PCR-Negative Lung Adenocarcinoma by Sanger Sequencing.

Purpose: This study aimed to identify potential epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutations in non-small cell lung cancer that went undetected by amplification refractory mutation system-Scorpion real-time PCR (ARMS-PCR).

Materials And Methods: A total of 200 specimens were obtained from the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University from August 2014 to August 2015. In total, 100 ARMS-negative and 100 ARMS-positive specimens were evaluated for EGFR gene mutations by Sanger sequencing.

The pleural fluid lactate dehydrogenase/adenosine deaminase ratio differentiates between tuberculous and parapneumonic pleural effusions.

Background: Although pleural fluid lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and adenosine deaminase (ADA) levels are often used to distinguish between tuberculous pleural effusion (TPE) and parapneumonic pleural effusion (PPE), this can be challenging as the LDH level may vary from normal to severely increased in PPE and a significantly elevated ADA is frequently measured in both conditions. In this study, we evaluated use of the pleural fluid LDH/ADA ratio as a new parameter to discriminate TPE from PPE.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in patients with pathologically-confirmed TPE (n = 72) and PPE (n = 47) to compare pleural fluid LDH and ADA levels and LDH/ADA ratios between the 2 groups.

High-pressure versus low-pressure home non-invasive positive pressure ventilation with built-in software in patients with stable hypercapnic COPD: a pilot study.

High-pressure non-invasive positive pressure ventilation (NPPV) is a new strategy targeted at maximally reducing arterial carbon dioxide. However, high inspiratory positive airway pressure (IPAP) might cause respiratory adverse events likely to diminish the benefit of NPPV. In the setting of ventilatory support, monitoring NPPV efficacy and resolving problems promptly are critical.

Clinical Significance of Plasma Epstein-Barr Virus DNA in Pulmonary Lymphoepithelioma-like Carcinoma (LELC) Patients.

Introduction: Primary pulmonary lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (LELC) is a histologically distinctive subtype of NSCLC and an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated epithelial neoplasm. We investigated the clinical significance of plasma concentrations of EBV DNA in patients with pulmonary LELC.

Methods: Two independent sets of plasma samples from a total of 429 patients with patients with pulmonary LELC (287 initial and 142 confirmatory) were available for EBV DNA determination.

Orai1, 2, 3 and STIM1 promote store-operated calcium entry in pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells.

Previous studies have demonstrated that besides the classic canonical transient receptor potential channel family, Orai family and stromal interaction molecule 1 (STIM1) might also be involved in the regulation of store-operated calcium channels (SOCCs). An increase in cytosolic free Ca concentration promoted by store-operated Ca entry (SOCE) in pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) is a major trigger for pulmonary vasoconstriction and proliferation and migration of PASMCs. In this study, our data revealed the following: (1) in both rat distal pulmonary arteries and PASMCs, chronic hypoxia exposure upregulated the expression of Orai1 and Orai2, without affecting Orai3 and STIM1; (2) either heterozygous knockout of HIF-1 in mice or knockdown of HIF-1 in PASMCs abolished the hypoxic upregulation of Orai2, but not Orai1, suggesting the hypoxic upregulation of Orai2 depends on HIF-1; and (3) using small interference RNA knockdown strategies, Orai1, 2, 3 and STIM1 were all shown to mediate SOCE in hypoxic PASMCs.

Prognostic Effect of Albumin-to-Globulin Ratio in Patients with solid tumors: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Albumin and globulin are main components of serum protein. The level of albumin and globulin partially represents the nutrition status and immune system. Albumin-to-globulin ratio (AGR) has been reported as a prognostic factor in various cancers.

Correlation and compatibility between surface respiratory electromyography and transesophageal diaphragmatic electromyography measurements during treadmill exercise in stable patients with COPD.

Purpose: To evaluate the compatibility and correlation between noninvasive surface respiratory electromyography and invasive transesophageal diaphragmatic electromyography measurements as facilitating indicators of neural respiratory drive (NRD) evaluation during treadmill exercise.

Patients And Methods: Transesophageal diaphragmatic electromyogram activity (EMGdi,es) and surface inspiratory electromyogram (EMG) activity, including surface diaphragmatic EMG activity (EMGdi,sur), surface parasternal intercostal muscle EMG activity (EMGpara), and surface sternocleidomastoid EMG activity (EMGsc), were detected simultaneously during increasing exercise capacity in 20 stable patients with COPD. EMGdi,es, EMGdi,sur, EMGpara, and EMGsc were quantified using the root mean square (RMS) and were represented as RMSdi,es, RMSdi,sur, RMSpara, and RMSsc, respectively.

Evaluation of the simplified therapeutic intervention scoring system: Chinese version.

Objective: To prepare the Simplified Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System (TISS-28) to measure nursing workload in Intensive Care Units in Guangdong Province of China.

Methods: A non-experimental descriptive study was conducted in the intensive care units in the Province. TISS-28, TISS-76, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE II) were all measured.

Limax extract ameliorates cigarette smoke-induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in mice.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic, progressive and lethal lung disease with few treatments. Limax, a mollusk with lung, has been widely used to control phlegm and cough in China, yet whether Limax has a positive effect on COPD is unknown. This study investigated the effects of water-soluble extract from Limax on COPD development and the underlying mechanisms.

The Prognostic Significance of Notch1 and Fatty Acid Binding Protein 7 (FABP7) Expression in Resected Tracheobronchial Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma: A Multicenter Retrospective Study.

Purpose: Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) of the trachea and bronchus is a rare tumor. Although MYB-NFIB oncogene fusion and Notch1 mutation have been identified in ACC, little is known about the expression and clinical significance of Notch1 and its target gene fatty acid binding protein 7 (FABP7) in tracheobronchial ACC.

Materials And Methods: Primary tracheobronchial ACC that were resected between 1998 and 2014 were identified through the pathology and oncology database from five thoracic oncology centers in China.

Comparison and evaluation of two different methods to establish the cigarette smoke exposure mouse model of COPD.

Animal model of cigarette smoke (CS) -induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the primary testing methodology for drug therapies and studies on pathogenic mechanisms of disease. However, researchers have rarely run simultaneous or side-by-side tests of whole-body and nose-only CS exposure in building their mouse models of COPD. We compared and evaluated these two different methods of CS exposure, plus airway Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) inhalation, in building our COPD mouse model.

Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of novel 7-deazapurine nucleoside derivatives as potential anti-dengue virus agents.

Dengue fever, caused by four distinct serotypes of dengue virus (DENV-1 to -4), has become the fastest spreading human infectious disease in recent years. Despite extensive efforts, there is no specific antiviral treatment approved for dengue until now. Nucleoside inhibitors represent an actively pursued area to develop small-molecule anti-dengue virus agents.

Reduced expression of BMP3 contributes to the development of pulmonary fibrosis and predicts the unfavorable prognosis in IIP patients.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and idiopathic nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (INSIP) are two related diseases involving varying degrees of pulmonary fibrosis with no effective cure. Bone morphogenetic protein 3 (BMP3) is a member of the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) super-family, which has not been implicated in pulmonary fibrosis previously. In this study, we aimed to investigate the potential role of BMP3 playing in pulmonary fibrosis from clinical diagnosis to molecular signaling regulation.

The impact of spontaneous ventilation on non-operative lung injury in thoracic surgery: a randomized controlled rabbit model study.

Objectives: One-lung ventilation (OLV) with general anaesthesia may increase adverse effects after thoracic surgery, specifically ventilator-induced lung injury. Spontaneous ventilation (SV) has no mechanical ventilation process, thus, we established a rabbit model to assess non-operative lung injury between OLV and SV.

Methods: Thirty-six rabbits were randomly divided into 6 groups: OLV and SV (0, 2 and 4 h).