BACKGROUND The aim here was to study acute effects of hemodialysis among end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. DESIGN AND SETTING Prospective study in tertiary-level care center. METHODS Fifty ESRD patients undergoing hemodialysis were studied. Spirometric pulmonary function tests were performed before and after four-hour hemodialysis sessions. RESULTS The patients' average age was 45....

BACKGROUND Exposure to wood dust can cause a variety of lung problems, including chronic airflow obstruction. METHODS Forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), forced expiratory ratio (FEV1/FVC x 100), forced expiratory flow (FEF), forced mid expiratory flow (FMF), peak expiratory flow (PEF), and respiratory symptoms (cough, phlegm, breathlessness, wheezing, ...

Background: Thoracic gas compression (TGC) exerts a negative effect on forced expiratory flow. Lung resistance, effort during a forced expiratory manoeuvre, and absolute lung volume influence TGC. Lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS) reduces lung resistance and absolute lung volume. LVRS may therefore reduce TGC, and such a reduction might explain in part the improvement in forced expiratory fl...

Asthma is usually diagnosed clinically. This study investigated how methacholine challenge and peak expiratory flow monitoring influenced change from a pretest clinical diagnosis. Records of 132 patients referred with respiratory symptoms, who subsequently had reliable measurements of both airway responsiveness (provocative concentration of methacholine causing a 20% fall in forced expiratory v...

Sharafkhaneh, Amir, Todd M. Officer, Sheila GoodnightWhite, Joseph R. Rodarte, and Aladin M. Boriek. Novel method for measuring effects of gas compression on expiratory flow. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 287: R479–R484, 2004. First published April 29, 2004; 10.1152/ajpregu.00573.2003.—During forced vital capacity maneuvers in subjects with expiratory flow limitation, lung volume decre...

OBJECTIVES Farming as an occupation is considered a risk factor for asthma and reduced lung function. By contrast, living on a farm during infancy has been reported to be associated with lower risk of asthma in adulthood. However, little is known about the association between farming environment during infancy and lung function in adulthood. We aimed to study the prospective longitudinal associ...

RATIONALE Methylarginines are endogenous nitric oxide synthase inhibitors that have been implicated in animal models of lung disease but have not previously been examined for their association with spirometric measures of lung function in humans. OBJECTIVES This study measured serum concentrations of asymmetric and symmetric dimethylarginine in a representative sample of older community-dwell...

formaldehyde is a common indoor pollutant with irritant properties. the present case control study was undertaken among 37 exposed staff with formaldehyde and 19 non exposed (referent) ones to study the acute and chronic effects of it in two educational hospitals. all subjects were tested for respiratory function by a portable alpha vitalograph-uk. in addition using a respiratory questionnaire,...