BACKGROUND We aimed to investigate the effects of spinal immobilization devices on pulmonary functions. METHODS This study was a cross-over trial in healthy volunteer subjects; 60 volunteers were included. We performed a full spirometry in the supine position, and forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and FEV1/FVC were recorded in all subjects. Then, Phila...

Gastroesophageal reflux disease plays a role in the etiology of asthma, chronic bronchitis, aspiration pneumonia, bronchiectasis and interstitial lung fibrosis by affecting the upper respiratory system. To investigate the changes in pulmonary function tests in patients who underwent cruroraphy and laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication for gastroesophageal reflux disease. Between January and Octobe...

The effects of an inspiratory manoeuvre preceding forced expiration on functional tests performed under routine conditions before and after inhalation of a bronchodilator drug (salbutamol) were assessed on 150 consecutive chronic obstructive pulmonary disease outpatients. The patients performed forced vital capacity manoeuvres either immediately after a rapid inspiration (manoeuvre no. 1) or af...

In normal subjects and patients with airway obstruction, flows during a forced vital capacity (FVC) manoeuvre are higher after a fast inspiration without an end-inspiratory pause (manoeuvre 1) as compared to a slow inspiration with an end-expiratory pause of approximately 5 s (manoeuvre 2). In this study, we investigated the influence of these manoeuvres on maximal expiratory volume-time and fl...

The aim of the study was to test the efficacy of a one month in-patient naturopathy and yoga programme for patients with asthma. Retrospective data of 159 bronchial asthma patients, undergoing the naturopathy and yoga programme, was analyzed for Forced Vital Capacity, Forced Expiratory Volume at the end of 1 second, Maximum Voluntary Ventilation and Peak Expiratory Flow Rate on admission, 11th ...

Using data obtained during the first four complete surveys of a general population sample (2,435 spirometric studies on 916 different asymptomatic nonsmoking subjects), we have derived mathematically continuous equations designed to describe the stages of growth, maturation, and subsequent decline in the forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and the forced vital capacity (FVC). With thi...

The authors investigated the relation between children's pulmonary function and intake of fruits, vegetables, juices, and vitamins A, C, and E by examining cross-sectional data from 2,566 children in the Children's Health Study collected during 1997-1998. Low total vitamin C intake (< or =10th percentile) was associated with deficits in forced vital capacity for both boys and girls and with def...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate associations between poultry processing work and respiratory health among working Latino men and women in North Carolina. METHODS Between May 2009 and November 2010, 402 poultry processing workers and 339 workers in a comparison population completed interviewer-administered questionnaires. Of these participants, 279 poultry processing workers and 222 workers in the compa...

So what constitutes disease in COPD? Combinations of the forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC) and the slow vital capacity (SVC) are used to help classify lung disease. What is normal? What reference equations does one use? Is the lower limit of normal (LLN) for the FEV1/FVC more accurate than the fixed ratio of 0.70? Does lung function have to be measured a...

The aim of this study was to investigate whether measurements of vital capacity (VC) are affected by the direction of the manoeuvre (inspiratory vs expiratory) and by the rate of expiratory flow. The study was performed on 25 individuals with chronic airway obstruction (CAO) and a forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) (expressed in standardized residuals (SR)) of -2.0+/-1.4 SD (CAO grou...