Impact of Rhinitis on Work Productivity: A Systematic Review.

Background: Allergic rhinitis (AR) is increasingly acknowledged as having a substantial socioeconomic impact associated with impaired work productivity, although available information remains fragmented.

Objective: This systematic review summarizes recently available information to provide a quantitative estimate of the burden of AR on work productivity including lost work time (ie, absenteeism) and reduced performance while working (ie, presenteeism).

Methods: A Medline search retrieved original studies from 2005 to 2015 pertaining to the impact of AR on work productivity.

A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial of Zephyr Endobronchial Valve Treatment in Heterogeneous Emphysema (TRANSFORM).

Rationale: Single-center randomized controlled trials of the Zephyr endobronchial valve (EBV) treatment have demonstrated benefit in severe heterogeneous emphysema. This is the first multicenter study evaluating this treatment approach.

Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Zephyr EBVs in patients with heterogeneous emphysema and absence of collateral ventilation.

Ivabradine in Children With Dilated Cardiomyopathy and Symptomatic Chronic Heart Failure.

Background: Heart rate reduction as a therapeutic target has been investigated in adults with heart failure (HF). Ivabradine has shown promising efficacy, but has not been evaluated in children. Currently, treatment recommendations for chronic pediatric HF are based mainly on chronic HF guidelines for adults.

Metal worker's lung: spatial association with .

Background: Outbreaks of hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) are not uncommon in workplaces where metal working fluid (MWF) is used to facilitate metal turning. Inhalation of microbe-contaminated MWF has been assumed to be the cause, but previous investigations have failed to establish a spatial relationship between a contaminated source and an outbreak.

Objectives: After an outbreak of five cases of HP in a UK factory, we carried out blinded, molecular-based microbiological investigation of MWF samples in order to identify potential links between specific microbial taxa and machines in the outbreak zone.

Incidental finding of a double orifice mitral valve in an elderly patient: value of 3D imaging.

Unlabelled: A rare isolated double orifice mitral valve (DOMV) was diagnosed in a 77-year-old male patient, being assessed for surgical repair of the ascending aorta. This is a rare congenital abnormality, usually discovered as an incidental finding during investigation of other congenital heart defects. This case shows that a detailed assessment of all cardiac structures is necessary, not only in young patients, but also in the elderly population, to minimise the under-diagnosis of such rare anomalies.

Improved Liver R2* Mapping by Averaging Decay Curves.

Liver R2* mapping is often degraded by the low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) especially in the presence of severe iron. This study aims to improve liver R2* mapping at low SNRs by averaging decay curves before the process of curve-fitting. Independently filtering echo images by nonlocal means (NLM) demonstrated improved quality of R2* mapping, but may introduce new errors due to the nonlinear nature of the NLM filter, during which the averaging weights may vary with different image contents at multiple echo times.

Towards accurate and precise T and extracellular volume mapping in the myocardium: a guide to current pitfalls and their solutions.

Mapping of the longitudinal relaxation time (T ) and extracellular volume (ECV) offers a means of identifying pathological changes in myocardial tissue, including diffuse changes that may be invisible to existing T -weighted methods. This technique has recently shown strong clinical utility for pathologies such as Anderson-Fabry disease and amyloidosis and has generated clinical interest as a possible means of detecting small changes in diffuse fibrosis; however, scatter in T and ECV estimates offers challenges for detecting these changes, and bias limits comparisons between sites and vendors. There are several technical and physiological pitfalls that influence the accuracy (bias) and precision (repeatability) of T and ECV mapping methods.

Scientific Advances in Thoracic Oncology 2016.

Lung cancer care is rapidly changing with advances in genomic testing, the development of next-generation targeted kinase inhibitors, and the continued broad study of immunotherapy in new settings and potential combinations. The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer and the Journal of Thoracic Oncology publish this annual update to help readers keep pace with these important developments. Experts in thoracic cancer and care provide focused updates across multiple areas, including prevention and early detection, molecular diagnostics, pathology and staging, surgery, adjuvant therapy, radiotherapy, molecular targeted therapy, and immunotherapy for NSCLC, SCLC, and mesothelioma.

The T - T interval as an electrocardiographic risk marker of arrhythmic and mortality outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The T - T interval (the interval from the peak to the end of the T wave), an electrocardiographic marker reflecting transmural dispersion of repolarization, has been used to predict ventricular tachycardia/fibrillation (VT/VF) and sudden cardiac death in different clinical settings.

Objective: This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the significance of the T - T interval in predicting arrhythmic and/or mortality end points.

Methods: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and CINAHL Plus databases were searched through November 30, 2016.

Ambulatory oxygen in fibrotic lung disease (AmbOx): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Fibrotic interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) are chronic and often progressive conditions resulting in substantial morbidity and mortality. Shortness of breath, a symptom often linked to oxygen desaturation on exertion, is tightly linked to worsening quality of life in these patients. Although ambulatory oxygen is used empirically in their treatment, there are no ILD-specific guidelines on its use.

Effects of renal denervation on vascular remodelling in patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction: A randomised control trial.

Objective: To assess the effect of renal denervation (RDT) on micro- and macro-vascular function in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).

Design: A prospective, randomised, open-controlled trial with blinded end-point analysis.

Setting: A single-centre London teaching hospital.

Gut microbial degradation of organophosphate insecticides-induces glucose intolerance via gluconeogenesis.

Background: Organophosphates are the most frequently and largely applied insecticide in the world due to their biodegradable nature. Gut microbes were shown to degrade organophosphates and cause intestinal dysfunction. The diabetogenic nature of organophosphates was recently reported but the underlying molecular mechanism is unclear.

Histological evidence of inflammatory reaction associated with fibrosis in the atrial and ventricular walls in a case-control study of patients with history of atrial fibrillation.

Aims: Chronic inflammation in the atrial myocardium was shown to play an important role in the development of atrial fibrosis in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). However, it is not clear to what extent atrial inflammatory reaction associated with AF extends on the ventricular myocardium. Our aim was to assess the extent of fibrosis and lymphomononuclear infiltration in human ventricular myocardium and explore its association with AF.

Body Surface Area and Baseline Blood Pressure Predict Subclinical Anthracycline Cardiotoxicity in Women Treated for Early Breast Cancer.

Background And Aims: Anthracyclines are highly effective chemotherapeutic agents which may cause long-term cardiac damage (chronic anthracycline cardiotoxicity) and heart failure. The pathogenesis of anthracycline cardiotoxicity remains incompletely understood and individual susceptibility difficult to predict. We sought clinical features which might contribute to improved risk assessment.

Diagnosing occupational asthma.

Making an accurate diagnosis of occupational asthma (OA) is, generally, important. The condition has not only significant health consequences for affected workers, but also substantial socio-economic impacts for workers, their employers and wider society. Missing a diagnosis of OA may lead to continued exposure to a causative agent and progressive worsening of disease; conversely, diagnosing OA when it is not present may lead to inappropriate removal from exposure and unnecessary financial and social consequences.

Incidence and risk of hypertension in patients newly treated for multiple myeloma: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Hypertension is commonly reported in multiple myeloma (MM) patients and may be associated with older age, disease-related complications and consequences of MM treatments. This study evaluated the incidence rates of and risk factors for hypertension and malignant hypertension in newly-treated MM patients in the United States.

Methods: Newly-treated adult MM patients were identified from Truven MarketScan claims database from 1/1/05 to 3/31/14.

Vitamin D modulation of innate immune responses to respiratory viral infections.

Vitamin D, in addition to its classical functions in bone homeostasis, has a modulatory and regulatory role in multiple processes, including host defense, inflammation, immunity, and epithelial repair. Patients with respiratory disease are frequently deficient in vitamin D, implying that supplementation might provide significant benefit to these patients. Respiratory viral infections are common and are the main trigger of acute exacerbations and hospitalization in children and adults with asthma and other airways diseases.

Principles of cardiovascular magnetic resonance feature tracking and echocardiographic speckle tracking for informed clinical use.

Tissue tracking technology of routinely acquired cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) cine acquisitions has increased the apparent ease and availability of non-invasive assessments of myocardial deformation in clinical research and practice. Its widespread availability thanks to the fact that this technology can in principle be applied on images that are part of every CMR or echocardiographic protocol. However, the two modalities are based on very different methods of image acquisition and reconstruction, each with their respective strengths and limitations.