Respirology : official journal of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology
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Factors influencing time to smear conversion in patients with smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis.
Persistent smear-positivity in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis has been shown to predict an unfavourable outcome. This study was conducted to identify the factors influencing time to sputum smear conversion. ⋯ This analysis revealed that 11.1% of tuberculosis patients remained smear-positive after 2 months of treatment. Patients with cavitation, higher smear grading and those who had not used isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol and pyrazinamide continuously in the initial treatment phase had a longer time to sputum smear conversion.
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The BODE index, based on BMI, obstructive ventilatory impairment, dyspnoea scale and exercise capacity, has been used to evaluate the severity of patients with COPD. However, the correlations between serum biomarkers and the BODE index in patients with stable COPD are not widely studied. This study evaluated potential serum biomarkers for their ability to identify smokers with COPD and reflect disease severity. ⋯ No single specific serum inflammatory mediator was completely correlated with BODE variable parameters in patients with stable COPD. Serum MCP-1 may be an important biomarker for identifying COPD subjects from healthy smokers and classifying COPD severity.
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Currently there are few data available regarding the use of impulse oscillometry parameters to assess airflow obstruction during standardized methacholine challenge testing. ⋯ Measuring resistance at 5 Hz using impulse oscillometry facilitates significant differentiation of baseline lung function between asthmatic and healthy children. Additionally, X may be a suitable replacement for PC20 in methacholine challenge testing.
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Human research ethics committees provide essential review of research projects to ensure the ethical conduct of human research. Several recent reports have highlighted a complex process for successful application for human research ethics committee approval, particularly for multi-centre studies. Limited resources are available for the execution of human clinical research in Australia and around the world. ⋯ Obstacles to timely human research ethics committee approval are reviewed, including recent, planned and potential initiatives that could improve the ethics approval of multi-centre research.
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Case Reports
Bronchial anthracostenosis with mediastinal fibrosis associated with long-term wood-smoke exposure.
Bronchial anthracostenosis describes a disease entity consisting of bronchial destruction, deformity and stenosis related to dark pigmentation on bronchoscopy in patients with a history of coal workers' pneumoconiosis or chronic exposure to biomass smoke. The combined occurrence of bronchial anthracostenosis and mediastinal fibrosis in association with wood-smoke exposure has not been previously reported. ⋯ Clinical and radiological improvements were achieved after treatment with corticosteroid and tamoxifen. Awareness of this unusual entity will help to avoid misdiagnosis of malignancy or unnecessary thoracotomy.