Chest
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A 58-year-old woman with COPD, cor pulmonale, diabetes, and hypertension had a productive cough of greenish and purulent sputum, low-grade fever, and shortness of breath. Medications were metformin, losartan, cholecalciferol, folic acid, a multivitamin, fluticasone by inhalation, and, as needed, ipratropium by inhalation. She lived alone and worked as a physician, had received that year's seasonal influenza vaccine, was a heavy smoker, did not drink alcohol or use illicit drugs, and had no personal or family history of allergy and autoimmunity.
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Observational Study
Feasibility, Safety, and Utility of Advanced Critical Care Transesophageal Echocardiography Performed by Pulmonary /Critical Care Fellows in a Medical Intensive Care Unit.
Competence in advanced critical care transesophageal echocardiography allows the intensivist to diagnose and manage cardiopulmonary failure when transthoracic echocardiography is not sufficient to answer the clinical question. This report describes the feasibility, safety, and utility of transesophageal echocardiography performed by pulmonary and critical care fellows in a medical ICU in critically ill patients who were mechanically ventilated. ⋯ Critical care transesophageal echocardiography is feasible, safe, and has clinical utility. It can be safely and effectively performed by fellows within the context of their critical care training with faculty supervision. Pulmonary critical care fellowship training programs should consider introducing critical care transesophageal echocardiography as a useful clinical tool.
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Longitudinal analyses of large, detailed adult critical care datasets provide insights into practice trends and generate useful outcome and process benchmarks. ⋯ Analyses of patients, practices, and outcomes from a large geographically dispersed sample of adult ICUs revealed trends of increasing age and acuity, higher rates of adherence to best practice, use of noninvasive mechanical ventilation, and decreased use of antimicrobials, transfusions, and duration of renal replacement therapies. Acuity-adjusted LOS and in hospital mortality decreased.
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Diffuse airway mucus obstruction is an important feature of severe and fatal asthma. MUC5AC and MUC5B are the principal gel-forming mucins found in airway mucus. The mucin composition of airway mucus likely affects its functional properties. ⋯ Increased MUC5AC and the presence of a low-charge-only MUC5B glycoform significantly altered mucin composition in children with acute asthma. These changes may be important contributory factors to the airway mucus obstruction observed during acute asthma.
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Case Reports
A 63-Year-Old Woman With Neurofibromatosis Type 1 and Pulmonary Hypertension With Worsening Hypoxemia.
A 63-year-old woman with a history of neurofibromatosis type-1 (NF-1) and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) thought to be secondary to the NF-1 presented with a few weeks of worsening dyspnea on exertion. She took no medications other than sildenafil for her pulmonary hypertension (PH). ⋯ She had previously worked as a waitress. Her mother and her brother had NF-1 but no PH or lung disease.