Background and Purpose: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has been recognized as a risk factor for invasive aspergillosis. Airway colonization by Aspergillus species is a common feature of chronic pulmonary diseases. Nowadays, the incidence of COPD has increased in critically ill patients. The aim of the present study was to isolate and identify Aspergillus colonies in the respirator...

The lungs are continuously exposed to inhaled particles and irritants. Tobacco smoking is the leading cause of several airway diseases, including lung cancer, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In COPD, repeated exposure to cigarette smoke induces chronic inflammation and structural remodelling of the airways, with peribronchial fibrosis and epitheli...

Biological or biochemical markers (so-called biomarkers) are of potential interest for clinical application to monitor chronic diseases. Although biomarkers are frequently used in toxicology and oncology, their application in monitoring nonmalignant pulmonary disease has been confined to basic research. With the appearance of new noninvasive and less invasive markers it is tempting to speculate...

cialist in the medical critical care/pulmonary unit at Christiana Care Health System in Newark, Delaware. history of smoking along with chronic respiratory diseases such as cystic fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, and bronchiectasis. Other patient-related factors that may contribute include smoking, immobility, sedation, muscle weakness, and dehydration. A mucous plug occ...

BACKGROUND Questionnaire and spirometry were applied to post-tuberculosis indigenous and non-indigenous individuals from Dourados, Brazil, to investigate the prevalence of chronic respiratory symptoms and pulmonary dysfunction. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study in cured tuberculosis individuals as reported in the National System on Reportable Diseases (SINAN) from 2002 to 2012. RESUL...

BACKGROUND An important prerequisite for the Chronic Care Model is to be able to identify, in a valid, simple and inexpensive way, the population with a chronic condition that needs proactive and planned care. We investigated if a set of administrative data could be used to identify patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in a Danish population. METHODS Seven general practices wer...

two main forms of copd (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) refer to a group of lung diseases that block airflow and cause a huge degree of human suffering. a new method for identifying and estimating the severity of copd from three-dimensional (3-d) pulmonary x-ray ct images would be helpful for evaluation of treatment effects and early diagnosing is presented in this paper. this method has...

Macrophages are among the most abundant cells in the respiratory tract, and they can have strikingly different phenotypes within this environment. Our knowledge of the different phenotypes and their functions in the lung is sketchy at best, but they appear to be linked to the protection of gas exchange against microbial threats and excessive tissue responses. Phenotypical changes of macrophages...