Singap Med J
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The breathing patterns in the supine posture during inspiration from functional residual capacity (simulating the "liver palpation" manoeuvre) were studied in two groups of young adult male Chinese and Indians with each group comprising 30 subjects. Both groups were matched for age, height and weight. ⋯ The two groups behaved similarly when they breathed with increasing amplitude from their resting tidal volume to full inspiratory capacity. There was also no difference between the two groups when they performed the total lung capacity manoeuvre.
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A cross sectional nationally representative survey of 33,110 school-going children in Singapore aged between 9 and 20 years was carried out to obtain, for the first time, baseline information on smoking among the school-going population in Singapore. The survey was carried out among students attending vocational institutes and public sector schools in Singapore in 1987. The overall smoking prevalence was found to be 2% (3% among boys and 0.2% among girls). ⋯ Analyses of the data showed that cigarette smoking was more prevalent among Malays, among boys, among older children, and among the less academically inclined. On average, boys smoked a median of 20 cigarettes a week and girls, 12 cigarettes a week. On an international basis, the smoking prevalence among the school-going population in Singapore is significantly lower than that of developed countries like Australia, England and Wales and neighbouring countries such as Malaysia.
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Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD] breath at large lung volumes because of dynamic hyperinflation. Their end-tidal lung volumes will then be much above the equilibrium position of the respiratory system and the elastic recoil pressure would be above zero at end-tidal exhalation. This auto or intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure [auto-PEEP] contributes to the elastic work of inspiration and the sensation of dyspnoea. ⋯ These 9 patients had significantly more severe hyperinflation than the 5 patients who did not respond positively to nasal-CPAP. While there is a complex relationship between intrinsic and extrinsically applied PEEP in patients with COPD, the result of this study is consistent with the notion that CPAP may alleviate dyspnoea by reducing auto-PEEP, improving lung mechanics and unloading the inspiratory muscles. Nasal-CPAP may have a potential therapeutic role in exacerbations of COPD.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Preoxygenation in parturients: a comparison of 4, 6 and 8 vital capacity breaths to 5 minutes of tidal volume breathing.
We compared the difference in denitrogenation (by intermittent measurement of arterial tension, PaO2) in 45 parturients at term when preoxygenated with 4, 6 or 8 rapid vital capacity breaths and 5 minutes of tidal volume breathing. Oxygen, at 8 litres min-1, was delivered through a facemask via a circle absorber with a 2 litre reservoir bag. Higher PaO2 was produced with 5 minutes of tidal volume breathing. This differed significantly from the PaO2 produced by 4, 6 or 8 rapid vital capacity breaths (p less than 0.01).