Chest
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The 2023 International Pediatric Ventilator Liberation Clinical Practice Guidelines provided evidence-based recommendations to guide pediatric critical care providers on how to perform daily aspects of ventilator liberation. However, because of the lack of high-quality pediatric studies, most recommendations were conditional based on very low to low certainty of evidence. ⋯ Although pediatric ventilator liberation guidelines have been created, the certainty of evidence remains low and multiple research gaps exist that should be bridged through high-quality RCTs, multicenter observational studies, and quality improvement initiatives.
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Although evidence has documented the associations of ambient air pollution with chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) and lung function, the underlying metabolic mechanisms remain largely unclear. ⋯ Our study identifies metabolomic signatures for air pollution exposure. The metabolomic signatures showed significant associations with CRD risk, and inflammatory- and erythrocyte-related markers partly mediated the metabolomic signatures-CRD links.
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Airway mucus plugs are frequently identified on CT scans of patients with COPD with a smoking history without mucus-related symptoms (ie, cough, phlegm [silent mucus plugs]). ⋯ Mucus plugs are common in patients with COPD without mucus-related symptoms. Silent mucus plugs are associated with worse functional, structural, and clinical measures of disease. CT scan-identified mucus plugs can complement the evaluation of patients with COPD.
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Sarcoidosis staging primarily has relied on the Scadding chest radiographic system, although chest CT imaging is finding increased clinical use. ⋯ In this study, CT scan features explained additional variability in lung function beyond Scadding stage, with some CT scan features obviating the associations between lung function and Scadding stage. Whether CT scan features, phenotypes, or endotypes could be useful for treating patients with sarcoidosis needs more study.
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An autoimmune component in the cause of sarcoidosis has long been debated, but population-based data on the clustering of immune-mediated diseases (IMDs) and sarcoidosis in individuals and families suggestive of shared cause are limited. ⋯ This study showed that IMDs confer a higher risk of sarcoidosis and they aggregate in families with sarcoidosis, signaling a shared cause between IMDs and sarcoidosis. Our findings warrant further evaluation of shared genetic mechanisms.