In newborns and infants a variety of respiratory disorders lead to ventilatory failure. In early life the ventilatory response to loaded breathing is limited. The risk factors of ventilatory failure are related to the developing respiratory pump because of the immaturity of the chest wall, respiratory muscles and coupling between thoracic and abdominal movements. Assessment of respiratory muscl...

In 1948 Ellman and Ball drew attention to the pulmonary manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis.' Nevertheless, until recently little attention has been paid to the possibility of pulmonary dysfunction in an appreciable proportion of patients, despite a normal chest x-ray result.2 The reported incidence of pulmonary involvement in rheumatoid arthritis shows considerable variation, ranging from 1...

OBJECTIVE Pesticide aerosols are frequently toxic irritants associated with respiratory symptoms and lung function impairment. METHODS A cross-sectional study examined the prevalence of acute and chronic respiratory symptoms and lung function abnormalities in 82 workers employed in processing pesticides and in 60 control workers not exposed to irritants and employed in a soft drink bottling p...

The clinical features of 14 neonates with congenital myotonic dystrophy were retrospectively reviewed. These babies represent all the new cases of congenital myotonic dystrophy seen in this department since 1982. Twelve babies were referred because of either difficulties in diagnosis or difficulties in the management of their respiratory problems. Of the 14 babies, 13 had birth asphyxia, 11 wer...

The effects of electronic-cigarette use (vaping), marketed as a healthier alternative to cigarette smoking (CS), on lung function remain equivocal. Therefore, this study assessed and compared the vaping CS maximum respiratory pressures (MRP), carboxyhaemoglobin levels. Forty-four young healthy participants were recruited: vapers (n = 12), smokers 14), people who had never vaped nor smoked (cont...