Estimating hospital costs attributable to prolonged air leak in pulmonary lobectomy.

Objective: Prolonged air leak (PAL) after pulmonary surgery is a frequent occurrence and is reported to cause increased length of stay (LOS) and hospital costs although the costs directly attributable to PAL have never been published. The present study aims to compare the prevalence of pulmonary complications (atelectasis, pneumonia and pleural empyema) in patients with or without PAL and to quantify economic costs directly incurred by PAL in a series of pulmonary lobectomies.

Methods: A series of 238 patients scheduled for pulmonary lobectomy (January 2001-December 2003) have been reviewed.

Emergency hospital readmission after major lung resection: prevalence and related variables.

Objective: To evaluate the rate, causes and variables related to emergency hospital readmission after scheduled major lung resection.

Setting: An university general hospital in a managed care health system.

Methods: Databases of 727 patients undergoing scheduled major lung resection between 1994 and 2003 have been reviewed, excluding hospital mortality from the analysis.

Prediction of postoperative morbidity after lung resection using an artificial neural network ensemble.

Objective: To propose an ensemble model of artificial neural networks (ANNs) to predict cardio-respiratory morbidity after pulmonary resection for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: Prospective clinical study was based on 489 NSCLC operated cases. An artificial neural network ensemble was developed using a training set of 348 patients undergoing lung resection between 1994 and 1999.

The microbiology of moxifloxacin.

Moxifloxacin is a new group IV 8-methoxyquinolone. It is slightly less active than ciprofloxacin against enterobacteria and much less effective against P. aeruginosa.

Montelukast versus fluticasone: effects on lung function, airway responsiveness and inflammation in moderate asthma.

Whether leukotriene receptor antagonists exhibit adequate anti-inflammatory effects in the treatment of asthma is still a controversial issue. The aim of the present study was to perform a direct comparison of the effects of a 4-week treatment with either montelukast (10 mg, once a day) or low-dose inhaled fluticasone (100 microg b.i.

Morbidity after surgery for non-small cell lung carcinoma is not related to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Objectives: To compare postoperative morbidity and mortality rates in two groups of operated non-small cell lung carcinoma patients (NSCLC) with or without induction chemotherapy.

Methods: This is a case-control study on 42 cases and 42 controls. Cases (Group A) underwent induction chemotherapy.

Prospective study on video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery in the resection of pulmonary nodules: 209 cases from the Spanish Video-Assisted Thoracic Surgery Study Group.

Objective: The diagnosis of pulmonary nodules has become one of the main indications of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS), especially for small nodules not accessible by bronchoscopy or by percutaneous transthoracic needle aspiration. In this study we evaluate the indications, diagnostic safety, complications, and technical difficulty of VATS in the diagnosis of pulmonary nodules in Spain.

Materials And Methods: We conducted a prospective study of 209 patients with one or more pulmonary nodules from a group of Spanish thoracic surgery divisions (The Spanish Video-assisted Thoracic Surgery Study Group).

Utility of standardized exercise oximetry to predict cardiopulmonary morbidity after lung resection.

Objectives: To evaluate if desaturation, measured by finger oximetry on standardized exercise, accurately predicts cardiopulmonary morbidity after pulmonary resection.

Methods: A prospective observational clinical study was carried out on 81 consecutive lung carcinoma patients scheduled for pulmonary resection from February 1998 to March 1999. Finger oximetry was monitored during an incremental to exhaustion cycle exercise test.

Influence of age and predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 s on prognosis following complete resection for non-small cell lung carcinoma.

Objective: To evaluate age of the patient at the time of surgery and estimated postoperative forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1%) as predictors of long-term survival following complete resection of non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC).

Methods: Retrospective, observational study. Records of patients operated on for NSCLC between January 1994 and December 1997 were reviewed.

Dichotic listening CV lateralization and developmental dyslexia.

The present study was carried out on a sample of 125 right-handed boys who are described as follows: 50 boys with dyslexia, 50 controls of a similar age, and 25 controls according to reading level. Using an objective procedure based on regression, we selected three subgroups from among the poor readers: children with difficulties in the lexical pathway (surface dyslexics), children with difficulties in the sublexical pathway (phonological dyslexics), and children with problems in both pathways (mixed dyslexics). When the performances of these children on a dichotic listening task with CV syllables as stimuli were compared, it was found that although the children with dyslexia obtained lower lateralization indices than did the controls, the differences were only clearly significant when the most severe cases of phonological dyslexia were selected.

Multicriteria decision analysis for determining drug therapy for intermittent claudication.

Drugs of various classes are prescribed for intermittent claudication. However, there is some discrepancy between medical practice and the scientific basis for drug selection. We have developed a quantitative criteria-based decision analysis to evaluate all implications of drug treatment choices for intermittent claudication.

A study of the vaccinal value of various extracts of concealed antigens and salivary gland extracts against Ornithodoros erraticus and Ornithodoros moubata.

On pig farms, elimination of the argasid ticks acting as reservoirs and vectors for African swine fever greatly favours the eradication of this disease. The elimination of Ornithodoros erraticus involves many problems, most of which could be easily solved by the development of an anti-O. erraticus vaccine.

Relationship between the persistence of African swine fever and the distribution of Ornithodoros erraticus in the province of Salamanca, Spain.

For some time it has been known that the tick Ornithodoros erraticus might be one of the causes of the persistence of African swine fever in the Iberian Peninsula since its introduction in 1960. In the province of Salamanca serological methods have been used to study the relationship between the presence of the tick in different townships and the outbreaks of African swine fever in these townships between 1987 and 1992. The results showed that there was a statistically significant association between the presence of the parasite and the persistence of African swine fever.

Analysis of the specificity of the salivary antigens of Ornithodoros erraticus for the purpose of serological detection of swine farms harbouring the parasite.

In Spain, considerable efforts are currently being devoted to the eradication of Ornithodoros erraticus from the swine farms harbouring this parasite, the European vector of African swine fever (ASF). However, to do so, a preliminary requirement is to determine on which farms it is present. Of all possible methods for discovering this, the only one feasible for large scale application is the serological detection of swine bearing anti-O.

Guaianolides and eudesmanolides from Centaurea ornata.

Four sesquiterpene lactones and three other compounds have been isolated from the EtOH-H2O-soluble fraction of a CHCl3 extract of Centaurea ornata. A new grosshemin derivative 3 is described, and the stereochemistry of natural 11-epi-dihydroreynosin [2] is revised.

Review of pulmonary brucellosis: a case report on brucellar pulmonary empyema.

In certain geographic areas, among which most South European countries are included, brucellosis continues to be an important health problem. Despite the disease's continued high prevalence, the advances made in its diagnosis and treatment have contributed to the rarity of different focal locations, such as the lung. Formerly, these occurrences were much more frequent.

Flavonoids from Chenopodium botrys.

From Chenopodium botrys, five flavonoids have been isolated: hispidulin, 1, salvigenin 2, 5-methylsalvigenin, 3, 7-methyleupatulin, 4 and sinensetin, 5. None of them have been previously reported from Ch. botrys.