BMC research notes
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Long term oxygen therapy improves survival in hypoxemic patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Because pressure support ventilation with a home care ventilator is largely unsupervised, there is considerable risk of leakage occurring, which could affect delivered FiO2. We have therefore conducted a bench study in order to measure the effect of different levels of O2 supply and degrees of leakage on delivered FiO2. Ventilator tested: Legendair® (Airox™, Pau, France). Thirty-six measures were performed in each four ventilators with zero, 5 and 10 l.min-1 leakage and 1,2,4 and 8 l O2 flow. ⋯ During application of NIV on home ventilators, leakage can dramatically decrease inspired FiO2 making it less effective. It is important to know the FiO2 dispensed when NIV is used for COPD at home. We would encourage industry to develop methods for FiO2 regulation Chronic use of NIV for COPD with controlled FiO2 or SpO2 requires further studys.
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Japanese nurses are increasingly required to read published international research in clinical, educational, and research settings. Language barriers are a significant obstacle, and online machine translation (MT) is a tool that can be used to address this issue. We examined the quality of Google Translate® (English to Japanese and Korean to Japanese), which is a representative online MT, using a previously verified evaluation method. We also examined the perceived usability and current use of online MT among Japanese nurses. ⋯ Nursing articles translated from Korean into Japanese by an online MT system could be read at an acceptable level of comprehension, but the same could not be said for English-Japanese translations. Respondents with experience using online MT used it largely to grasp the overall meanings of the original text. Enrichment in technical terms appeared to be the key to better usability. Users will be better able to use MT outputs if they improve their foreign language proficiency as much as possible. Further research is being conducted with a larger sample size and detailed analysis.
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Transcription of the cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide (CAMP) gene is induced by binding of the bioactive form of vitamin D, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, to the vitamin D receptor. Significant levels of the protein hCAP18/LL-37 are found in the blood and may protect against infection and/or sepsis. We hypothesized that serum vitamin D levels may modulate the circulating levels of hCAP18. Only three studies have shown a positive correlation between circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D and hCAP18 levels. Here we provide additional evidence for such a correlation in healthy, middle-aged adults. ⋯ We conclude that plasma hCAP18 levels correlate with serum 25(OH)D levels in subjects with concentrations of 25(OH)D ≤ 32 ng/ml as opposed to those with concentrations > 32 ng/ml and that vitamin D status may regulate systemic levels of hCAP18/LL-37.
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Due to ergonomic exposure musicians are at risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in the neck, back, and upper extremities. The literature confirms musculoskeletal problems in these anatomic regions among orchestra musicians. ⋯ In compliance with the purpose, perceived symptoms within the previous week and present clinical findings were assessed. Although both symptoms and findings were most frequent in the neck, back, and shoulders the co-existence of anatomically localized symptoms and findings was generally quite poor in this study.Discrepancy between symptoms and findings might be caused by the participants currently attending work and therefore being relatively healthy, and the fluctuating nature of musculoskeletal problems. Furthermore from a comparison of different measuring units - self-reported symptoms being period prevalence rates and clinical findings point prevalence rates; a bias which may also be inherent in similar studies combining self-reported questionnaire data and clinical findings.
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Multicenter Study
Characteristics and in-hospital outcomes of patients with acute coronary syndromes and heart failure in the United Arab Emirates.
Heart failure (HF) is a serious complication of acute coronary syndromes (ACS), and is associated with high in-hospital mortality and poor long-term survival. The aims of this study were to describe the clinical characteristics, management and in-hospital outcomes of coronary syndrome (ACS) patients with HF in the United Arab Emirates. ⋯ HF is observed in about 1 in 5 patients with ACS in the UAE and is associated with a significant increase in in-hospital mortality and other adverse outcomes.