Chest
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Working in the ICU during the first COVID-19 wave was associated with high levels of mental health disorders. ⋯ The prevalence of symptoms of mental health disorders is high in ICU HCPs managing the second COVID-19 surge. The highest tiers of hospital management urgently need to provide psychological support, peer-support groups, and a communication structure that ensure the well-being of HCPs.
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Hypoxemia is a cardinal feature of fibrotic interstitial lung disease (ILD). The incidence, progression, and prognostic significance of hypoxemia in patients with fibrotic ILD currently is unknown. ⋯ Patients with IPF have higher cumulative incidence of exertional and resting hypoxemia than patients without IPF. The extended ILD-GAP-O2 model provides additional risk stratification for 1-year prognosis in fibrotic ILD.
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Understanding how health outcomes differ for patients with advanced cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease living in the United States compared with Canada has health policy implications. ⋯ There are lower rates of LTx and an increased risk of death without LTx for US patients with CF with FEV1 < 40% predicted compared with Canadian patients. Findings are more striking among US patients with CF with Medicaid/Medicare health insurance, and nonwhite patients in both countries, raising concerns about underuse of LTx among vulnerable populations.
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The usefulness of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in detecting mutations and monitoring treatment response has not been well studied beyond a few actionable biomarkers in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). ⋯ Although ctDNA analysis exhibited similar usefulness to tissue biopsy analysis, more mutations in targetable genes were missed in tissue biopsy analyses. Therefore, the evaluation of ctDNA in conjunction with tissue biopsy samples may help to detect additional targetable mutations to improve clinical outcomes in advanced NSCLC.
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Limited convincing evidence is available of the relationship between habitual snoring and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). ⋯ Habitual snoring was associated with increased risks of total CVD, ischemic heart disease, ischemic stroke, but not hemorrhagic stroke in Chinese, and these associations were mainly limited to those aged <50 years. Clinicians in China are encouraged to identify snoring, particularly in younger adults.