Respiratory medicine
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Respiratory medicine · Feb 2016
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyReductions in eosinophil biomarkers by benralizumab in patients with asthma.
Eosinophilic inflammation is frequently associated with increased asthma severity. Benralizumab is a humanized, afucosylated, anti-interleukin-5Rα monoclonal antibody that selectively depletes eosinophils and basophils through enhanced antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity. ⋯ In two independent studies, serum IL-5, EDN, and ECP were modulated following benralizumab. Eosinophil depletion after benralizumab also resulted in significant reductions in EDN and ECP concentrations, suggesting that cytotoxic granule proteins were not released after eosinophil reduction.
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Respiratory medicine · Feb 2016
Multicenter StudyDifferences between absolute and predicted values of forced expiratory volumes to classify ventilatory impairment in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) severity criterion for COPD is used widely in clinical and research settings; however, it requires the use of ethnic- or population-specific reference equations. We propose two alternative severity criteria based on absolute post-bronchodilator FEV1 values (FEV1 and FEV1/height2) that do not depend on reference equations. We compared the accuracy of these classification schemasto those based on % predicted values (GOLD criterion) and Z-scores of post-bronchodilator FEV1 to predict COPD-related functional outcomes or percent emphysema by computerized tomography of the lung. ⋯ Severity criteria based on absolute post-bronchodilator FEV1 or FEV1/height2 yielded similar prediction errors for 6MWD, SGRQ, SF-36 physical health component score, and the MMRC Dyspnea Score when compared to the GOLD criterion (all p > 0.34); and, had similar predictive accuracy when compared with the Z-scores criterion, with the exception for 6MWD where post-bronchodilator FEV1 appeared to perform slightly better than Z-scores (p = 0.01). Subgroup analyses did not identify differences across severity criteria by race, sex, or age between absolute values and the GOLD criterion or one based on Z-scores. Severity criteria for COPD based on absolute values of post-bronchodilator FEV1 performed equally as well as did criteria based on predicted values when benchmarked against COPD-related functional and structural outcomes, are simple to use, and may provide a more accessible and comparable approach to severity classification worldwide, especially in settings where prediction equations are not available.
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Respiratory medicine · Feb 2016
The use of mechanical ventilation in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in the United States: A nationwide retrospective cohort analysis.
To investigate the mortality of patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) who undergo mechanical ventilation (MV) and non-invasive mechanical ventilation (NIMV) in the United States. ⋯ In a large national cohort, the in-hospital mortality of patients with IPF who are mechanically ventilated is approximately 50%.
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Respiratory medicine · Feb 2016
Comparative StudyComparison of latent tuberculosis infection rate between contacts with active tuberculosis and non-contacts.
Latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) rate is usually high in contacts with infectious TB patients. In TB-prevalent country, however, background LTBI rate is already high in general population. ⋯ In a TB-prevalent country, both TST and QFT-GIT were limited in the diagnosis of recent LTBI in adult contacts probably due to the high background LTBI rate. However, QFT-GIT seems to be better than TST in differentiating LTBI status in contacts younger than 30 year old.