The ability of immune cells to migrate within narrow and crowded spaces is a critical feature involved in various physiological processes from immune response to metastasis. Several in-vitro techniques have been developed so far to study the behaviour of migrating cells, the most recent being based on the fabrication of microchannels within which cells move. To address the question of the mecha...

BACKGROUND The use of prophylactic antibiotics for severe burns in general settings remains controversial and is not suggested by recent guidelines owing to lack of evidence for efficacy. We examined the hypothesis that prophylactic systemic antibiotic therapy may reduce mortality in patients with severe burns. METHODS We identified 2893 severe burns patients (burn index ≥ 10) treated at 583 ...

Background. Acupressure has been shown to improve respiratory parameters. We investigated the effects of acupressure on weaning indices in stable coma patients receiving mechanical ventilation. Methods. Patients were randomly allocated to one of three treatments: standard care with adjunctive acupressure on one (n = 32) or two days (n = 31) and standard care (n = 31). Acupressure in the form of...

The overarching goal of positive pressure mechanical ventilation is to provide adequate gas exchange support while not causing harm. Indeed, positive pressure mechanical ventilators are only support technologies, not therapeutic technologies. As such they cannot be expected to "cure" disease; they can only "buy time" for other therapies (including the patient's own defenses) to work.Conventiona...

This review addresses how the combination of physiology, medicine and engineering principles contributed to the development and advancement of mechanical ventilation, emphasising the most urgent needs for improvement and the most promising directions of future development. Several aspects of mechanical ventilation are introduced, highlighting on one side the importance of interdisciplinary rese...

BACKGROUD AND OBJECTIVES The high frequency oral oscillation therapy (HFOO) is carried through a plastic device which promotes the clearance of pulmonary sputum. This possesses a metallic sphere which, oscillates during the expiration, generating oscillatory positive expiratory pressure. The aim of this study was to verify the performance of the national device of HFOO (Shaker, NCS, São Paulo) ...

Although the number of users of home mechanical ventilation (HMV) is increasing, information regarding the users' perceptions of the impact of HMV on their lives is incomplete. We administered an open-ended questionnaire to 98 (48 male, 50 female) HMV users aged (mean +/- SD) 47.4 +/- 19.5 years with COPD (9%), thoracic restrictive disease (43%), and neuromuscular disease (48%). At the time of ...

INTRODUCTION — Conventional mechanical ventilation refers to the delivery of full or partial ventilatory support by a volume-cycled mechanical ventilator or by pressure support. It also can include the maintenance of positive airway pressure at the end of exhalation, ie, positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) [1]. (See "Physiologic and pathophysiologic consequences of positive pressure ventila...

October 2006 | Volume 3 | Issue 10 | e439 Over the past decade, several scholars have advocated for international standards in medical ethics and human rights [1–3]. Others have countered that such standards risk ignoring important cultural differences in the way people conceptualize medical decision-making [4–8]. Within this debate hangs a question for international bioethics: as developing co...

Mechanical ventilation is a therapeutic intervention involving the temporary replacement of ventilatory function with the purpose of improving symptoms in patients with acute respiratory failure. Technological advances have facilitated the development of sophisticated ventilators for viewing and recording the respiratory waveforms, which are a valuable source of information for the clinician. T...