Respiratory System Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Using gross dissections and computed tomography we studied the lungs of juvenile American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis). Our findings indicate that both the external and internal morphology of the lungs is strikingly similar to... more

Using gross dissections and computed tomography we studied the lungs of juvenile American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis). Our findings indicate that both the external and internal morphology of the lungs is strikingly similar to the embryonic avian respiratory system (lungs + air sacs). We identified bronchi that we propose are homologous to the avian ventrobronchi (entobronchi), laterobronchi, dorsobronchi (ectobronchi), as well as regions of the lung hypothesized to be homologous to the cervical, interclavicular, anterior thoracic, posterior thoracic, and abdominal air sacs. Furthermore, we suggest that many of the features that alligators and birds share are homologous and that some of these features are important to the aerodynamic valve mechanism and are likely plesiomorphic for Archosauria.

In 2011, a European Respiratory Society Task Force embarked on a process to determine the position and clinical relevance of the cough hypersensitivity syndrome, a disorder characterised by troublesome coughing often triggered by low... more

In 2011, a European Respiratory Society Task Force embarked on a process to determine the position and clinical relevance of the cough hypersensitivity syndrome, a disorder characterised by troublesome coughing often triggered by low levels of thermal, mechanical or chemical exposure, in the management of patients with chronic cough. A 21-component questionnaire was developed by an iterative process supported by a literature review. 44 key opinion leaders in respiratory medicine were selected and interviewed as to their opinions. There was a high degree of unanimity in the responses obtained, with all opinion leaders supporting the concept of cough hypersensitivity as a clinically useful paradigm. The classic stratification of cough into asthmatic, rhinitic and reflux-related phenotypes was supported. Significant disparity of opinion was seen in the response to two questions concerning the therapy of chronic cough. First, the role of acid suppression in reflux cough was questioned. ...

Respiratory mechanics, chest wall configuration, and lung morphometry were determined in rats before and at 30 (PTX.30) and 60 (PTX.60) min after pneumothorax induction (intrathoracic injection of 8 ml of room air; 50% collapse).... more

Respiratory mechanics, chest wall configuration, and lung morphometry were determined in rats before and at 30 (PTX.30) and 60 (PTX.60) min after pneumothorax induction (intrathoracic injection of 8 ml of room air; 50% collapse). Pneumothorax increased respiratory system and lung elastances and viscoelastic/inhomogeneous pressures in both groups, but respiratory system and lung resistive pressures increased only in PTX.60 group. Antero-posterior diameters at the third intercostal space and xiphoid levels, circumference at xiphoid level, and thoracic cephalo-caudal diameter increased significantly after pneumothorax induction independently of temporal evolution. In both groups lung collapse, hyperinflation, and interstitial and alveolar edema were present. Additionally, in PTX.60 group the central airways calibre diminished in relation to PTX.30. In conclusion pneumothorax yields changes in respiratory system and lung elastic and viscoelastic parameters, which are related to alveolar collapse and edema, respectively. Temporal evolution of pneumothorax also leads to changes in lung resistive pressure, probably because of airway narrowing.

A total of 11 of 15 Streptococcus pneumoniae culture filtrates and all five bacterial autolysates produced by cell death in the stationary phase caused slowed ciliary beating and disruption of the surface integrity of human respiratory... more

A total of 11 of 15 Streptococcus pneumoniae culture filtrates and all five bacterial autolysates produced by cell death in the stationary phase caused slowed ciliary beating and disruption of the surface integrity of human respiratory epithelium in organ culture. This effect was inhibited by cholesterol and was heat labile and reduced by standing at room temperature but was stable at -40 degrees C. The activity was detected at the late stationary phase of culture and was associated with the presence of hemolytic activity. Gel filtration of a concentrated culture filtrate and autolysate both yielded a single fraction of approximately 50 kilodaltons which slowed ciliary beating and were the only fractions with hemolytic activity. Rabbit antiserum to pneumolysin, a sulfhydryl-activated hemolytic cytotoxin released by S. pneumoniae during autolysis, neutralized the effect of the culture filtrate on respiratory epithelium. Both native and recombinant pneumolysin caused ciliary slowing a...

Objective: In this study the authors review this subject, and call attention for the late hemorrhagic disease of the newborn, due to the severity and higher risk of mortality and neurological sequelae. Methods: In this article, four cases... more

Objective: In this study the authors review this subject, and call attention for the late hemorrhagic disease of the newborn, due to the severity and higher risk of mortality and neurological sequelae. Methods: In this article, four cases of children, age raging from 12 to 21 days, with late hemorrhagic disease associated with vitamin K deficiency were reported. Results: All

All the risks concerning the long lasting exposition to the asbestos, for instance diseases affecting the respiratory system, are known very well. In particular, it’s the friable asbestos the most dangerous element, above all as for the... more

All the risks concerning the long lasting exposition to the asbestos, for instance diseases affecting the respiratory system, are known very well. In particular, it’s the friable asbestos the most dangerous element, above all as for the easily dispersing fibres. Despite the above mentioned risks, the number of asbestos covered block is still high in many nations, in particular they are buildings characterized by eternit coverings (a mixture of cement and asbestos), certainly due to the features of materials and their low cost.Various legislations implement reclamation works on the asbestos roofs, but in several countries building farms keep on using such material, despite it’s forbidden to them. The present work has as objective one to supply a cheap tool for the automatic identifying with the buildings which do use for its covering of this very dangerous technology; they are taken back three alternative methodologies of development of the tool, everyone working on remote sensed images and of a procedure of specific classification for the problems in exam, skilled actually turned out to offer useful on the applicatory plan. In the specific one the three configurations melt their work on the comparison between the spectrum of a building, spatially considered well known, characterized by covering in cement-asbestos with the spectrum of the pure material obtained from laboratory measures.From such comparison it is generated, in the first two cases, the building and the implementation of a suitable operator that through the estimate of an opportune equalization coefficient (built respectively using the neural nets and the ionized plasma (electromagnetic fields)), it allows to identify in automatic way the present coverings on the territory and therefore proceed to the next phase of pixel-oriented classification of the whole image.The last methodology is responsible for making a comparison between the classifications obtained with the methodologies preceding (pixel-oriented) and that coming from the use of an object-oriented method consisting in a Nearest Neighbor classification tool following a multi-resolution segmentation worked on the whole scene.

Very recently, some attempts have been made to start a systematic collection of foreign bodies (FB) in view of using them to characterize the risk of chocking in terms of size, shape and consistency of the FB. However, most of the... more

Very recently, some attempts have been made to start a systematic collection of foreign bodies (FB) in view of using them to characterize the risk of chocking in terms of size, shape and consistency of the FB. However, most of the epidemiologic evidence on foreign bodies in children comes from single-center retrospective studies, without any systematic geographical and temporal coverage. This paper is aimed at providing an estimate of the distribution of foreign body's injuries in children according to gender, age, type of FB, site of obstruction, clinical presentation, diagnostic/therapeutic procedures, complications, as emerging from a meta-analytic review of published papers.

The human microbiome refers to the community of microorganisms, including prokaryotes, viruses, and microbial eukaryotes, that populate the human body. The National Institutes of Health launched an initiative that focuses on describing... more

The human microbiome refers to the community of microorganisms, including prokaryotes, viruses, and microbial eukaryotes, that populate the human body. The National Institutes of Health launched an initiative that focuses on describing the diversity of microbial species that are associated with health and disease. The first phase of this initiative includes the sequencing of hundreds of microbial reference genomes, coupled to metagenomic sequencing from multiple body sites. Here we present results from an initial reference genome sequencing of 178 microbial genomes. From 547,968 predicted polypeptides that correspond to the gene complement of these strains, previously unidentified…

Bleach is widely used for household cleaning. Although it is recognized that occupational use of bleach may have adverse respiratory health effects, it is unknown whether common domestic use of bleach may be a risk factor for asthma. To... more

Bleach is widely used for household cleaning. Although it is recognized that occupational use of bleach may have adverse respiratory health effects, it is unknown whether common domestic use of bleach may be a risk factor for asthma. To assess whether the domestic use of bleach for home cleaning is associated with asthma and other respiratory outcomes. Questionnaire-based information on respiratory symptoms and cleaning habits and data from skin prick-tests, bronchial responsiveness challenge and white blood cells were analyzed in 607 women participating in the follow-up of the Epidemiological Study on the Genetics and Environment of Asthma (EGEA). Bleach use was evaluated in 3 categories (<1 day/week; 1-3 days/week; 4-7 days/week "frequent"). Overall, 37% of the women reported using bleach weekly. Women using bleach frequently (11%) were more likely to have current asthma as compared to non-users (adjusted Odds-Ratio (aOR) = 1.7; 95% Confidence Interval (95%CI) 1.0-3.0...

An ability to extract oxygen directly from the atmosphere enables air-breathing fish to survive otherwise debilitating hypoxic environments. Addition of accessory respiratory organs (ARO) necessitates changes in both the general... more

An ability to extract oxygen directly from the atmosphere enables air-breathing fish to survive otherwise debilitating hypoxic environments. Addition of accessory respiratory organs (ARO) necessitates changes in both the general circulatory system and the microcirculation of the respiratory epithelia. Understanding these modifications provides information on the efficiency of gas exchange organs as well as an indication of the evolutionary processes associated with adaptation to terrestrial habitats. Vascular organization and structure of gills and ARO of the facultative air-breathing walking catfish Clarias batrachus were examined by scanning electron microscopy of vascular replicas and fixed tissue. Well-developed filaments are present on all four pairs of gill arches and they possess three vascular pathways: respiratory (arterioarterial), nutrient (arteriovenous), and interlamellar (arteriovenous), typical of teleosts. ARO, consisting of gill fans, dendritic organs on the second ...

Aging causes many changes in biological processes characterized by progressive and widespread changes associated with increased susceptibility to various diseases. Aging is not a homogeneous process. In contrast, human organs aging at... more

Aging causes many changes in biological processes characterized by progressive and widespread changes associated with increased susceptibility to various diseases. Aging is not a homogeneous process. In contrast, human organs aging at different rates are affected by several factors, including genetic factors, lifestyle, and environmental exposure. Healthy aging remains accompanied by some morphological and functional changes in the respiratory system. During the first two decades of life, the lungs undergo a phase of growth and maturation. Respiratory system achieves maximum function at the age of 20 years for women and 25 years for men. Throughout the rest of life, aging is associated with a progressive decline in pulmonary performance and function. The normal aging of the respiratory system is associated with structural and functional decline in the respiratory system, resulting in increased respiratory work compared to younger subjects and is associated with reduced reserves in cases of acute illness, such as heart failure, infection, or airway obstruction. Pulmonary function decreases slowly throughout life even in healthy people. Disabilities and diseases related to aging are a global problem due to the longevity of life expectancy. An increased proportion of the elderly population is a challenge for doctors because of the clinical complexity of the elderly. A better understanding of change can help diagnose and treat lung disease in the elderly population.

In 2 experiments, high– and low–spatial ability students viwed a computer-generated animation and listened simultaneously (concurrent group) or successively (successive group) to a narration that explained the workings either of a bicycle... more

In 2 experiments, high– and low–spatial ability students viwed a computer-generated animation and listened simultaneously (concurrent group) or successively (successive group) to a narration that explained the workings either of a bicycle tire pump (Experiment 1) or of the human respiratory system (Experiment 2). The concurrent group generated more creative solutions to subsequent transfer problems than did the successive group;

To (1) develop and validate the Dyspnea Index (DI); (2) quantify severity of symptoms in upper airway dyspnea; and (3) validate the DI as an outcome measure. Survey development and validation. Three hundred sixty-nine participants were... more

To (1) develop and validate the Dyspnea Index (DI); (2) quantify severity of symptoms in upper airway dyspnea; and (3) validate the DI as an outcome measure. Survey development and validation. Three hundred sixty-nine participants were recruited for different phases of the study. Two hundred participants with chief complaints of dyspnea were given a 41-item questionnaire addressing common symptoms of dyspnea related to the upper airway. The questions were then reduced based on principal component analysis (PCA) and internal consistency resulting in a 10-item questionnaire. Cognitive interviews were conducted with 15 participants. Test-retest reliability and discriminant validity were measured from 51 participants. The DI was further validated by administering the index to 57 healthy controls (HC). Validation of the DI as a treatment outcome tool occurred with 46 participants' pre- and post-treatment scores. PCA revealed that only a single factor was being measured in both the or...

This study aimed to develop and use teacher-made instructional materials otherwise known as Strategic Intervention Materials (SIMs), and investigated the impact of these intervention materials in teaching the identified least learned... more

This study aimed to develop and use teacher-made instructional materials otherwise known as Strategic Intervention Materials (SIMs), and investigated the impact of these intervention materials in teaching the identified least learned concepts in Science VI namely: Circulatory System, Nervous System and Respiratory System. The study was a mixed method research which utilized an explanatory sequential design where quantitative data collection and analysis occurs first, followed by a qualitative data collection and analysis. It was revealed that there was a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test performance of the students. The utilization of the SIMs is an effective intervention that made students obtained better scores in the posttest.

Since it was first described, the pressure-volume (P–V) curve has been used as a physiological method to describe the mechanical properties of the respiratory system in health and disease [1]. In mechanically ventilated patients, the P–V... more

Since it was first described, the pressure-volume (P–V) curve has been used as a physiological method to describe the mechanical properties of the respiratory system in health and disease [1]. In mechanically ventilated patients, the P–V curve is an interesting tool that can be used at the bedside to help in the diagnosis, follow-up and prognosis of lung disease, and also in the setting of ventilatory parameters to help in determination of the optimal positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) level and quantification of the alveolar recruitment [2]. However, after decades of research on P–V curves, there is still wide-ranging discussion on how to interpret it.