Respiratory care
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Volume-targeted ventilation is increasingly used in low birthweight infants because of the potential for reducing volutrauma and avoiding hypocapnea. However, it is not known what level of air leak is acceptable during neonatal volume-targeted ventilation when leak compensation is activated concurrently. ⋯ The PB980 and V500 were the only ventilators to acclimate to all leak scenarios and achieve targeted VT. Further clinical investigation is needed to validate the use of leak compensation during neonatal volume-targeted ventilation.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Culturally Specific Evaluation of Inhaler Techniques in Asthma.
Little work has been done on identifying the impact of educational materials developed by immigrant patients themselves, along with their caregivers and health professionals in terms of inhaler use technique. The purpose of this study was to evaluate understanding of physicians' instructions on asthma management and inhaler techniques in Punjabi and Chinese subjects using educational interventions in their native languages. ⋯ The educational interventions developed were successful in behavioral modification and beneficial beyond usual care in terms of improving proper use of inhalers and understanding of physicians' instructions. The findings can be translated to health education practice, promoting the development of short, simple, and culturally linguistically appropriate learning materials for patients. Such interventions that draw on patients' life experiences and socio-cultural context can overcome certain limitations of conventional patient education approaches. (ClinicalTrials.gov registration NCT01474928.).
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Maximum Inspiratory Pressure is a Discriminator of Pneumonia in Individuals With Spinal-Cord Injury.
Respiratory complications remain a major cause of mortality among individuals with spinal-cord injury (SCI). The present study investigated whether respiratory function is a discriminator of pneumonia in individuals with SCI and is aimed to determine the best predictive parameter. ⋯ PImax is the best discriminator between spinal cord-injured individuals with versus those without pneumonia. Individuals with a PImax below threshold values are at risk of pneumonia.