The clinical respiratory journal
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Severe community-acquired pneumonia (sCAP) have been as defined pneumonia requiring admission to the intensive care unit or carrying a high risk of death. Currently, the treatment of sCAP consists of antibiotic therapy and ventilator support. The use of invasive ventilation causes several complications as does admission to ICU. For this reason, non-invasive ventilation (NIV) has been used for acute respiratory failure to avoid endotracheal intubation. However, few studies have currently assessed the usefulness of NIV in sCAP. ⋯ Successful treatment is strongly related to less severe illness as well as to a good initial and sustained response to medical therapy and NIV treatment. Constant monitoring of these patients is mandatory.
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Soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) is a newly discovered inflammatory biomarker. suPAR has not been previously studied in differentiating noncardiac pleural effusion (PF) from cardiac PF. The aim of our study was to assess the diagnostic value of suPAR in PF. ⋯ suPAR is a potential new marker for the discrimination between cardiac and noncardiac PF.
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Sarcoidosis is a multisystemic disorder of unknown cause that is characterized pathologically by noncaseating granulomas and predominantly affects the lungs and the lymphatic system, especially intrathoracically. Diagnosis is based on the association of a compatible clinical and radiological presentation, the presence of characteristic histopathological lesions and the exclusion of other potential causes of granuloma. Although the lungs and mediastinal lymph nodes are almost involved, endobronchial nodular lesions of sarcoidosis with lung involvements are rare. We report a case of sarcoidosis with lung involvements and endobronchial nodules as confirmed by bronchial biopsy.