BACKGROUND Hypoxia associated with bronchiolitis is not always easy to assess on clinical grounds alone. The aim of this study was to determine the value of food intake during the previous 24 hours (bottle and spoon feeding), as a percentage of usual intake (24h FI), as a marker of hypoxia, and to compare its diagnostic value with that of usual clinical signs. METHODS In this observational, p...

INTRODUCTION Physiological and emotional stressors increase symptoms of concussion in recently injured individuals and both forms of stress-induced symptoms in people recovering from mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), but who are asymptomatic when not stressed or are at rest. METHODS Healthy asymptomatic adults (25.0 ± 5.1 years) with a history of mTBI (n = 36) and matched healthy controls (...

Cardiac related pulsatile signals can be detected in different parts of the human body, including the finger, ear lobe and forehead [1] by using near infrared (NIR) monitoring. These pulsatile signals are due to attenuation of light by the increase of arterial blood volume during systole in the cardiac cycle. Pulse oximetry exploits these pulsatile signals to calculate oxygen saturation (SpO2) ...

INTRODUCTION Insufficient pre-oxygenation before emergency intubation, and hyperventilation after intubation are mistakes that are frequently observed in and outside the operating room, in clinical practice and in simulation exercises. Physiological parameters, as appearing on standard patient monitors, do not alert to the deleterious effects of low oxygen saturation on coronary perfusion, or t...

PURPOSE Chest physiotherapy (CPT) is commonly used for mechanically ventilated patients, but little is known about its physiological effects, particularly in patients with acute lung injury (ALI). The aim of the study was to determine the benefits and risks of delivering multimodal respiratory physiotherapy to mechanically ventilated patients with ALI receiving paralytic agents. METHODS A rep...

BACKGROUND Fatigue in COPD impairs functional status; however there are few studies examining mechanistic pathways of this symptom. The aims of this study are to compare fatigue between COPD patients and healthy age-matched subjects, and to identify predictors of fatigue in COPD. METHODS Seventy four COPD patients, mean age 69.9 (49-87) yrs, mean (SD) % predicted FEV1 46.5 (20.0) % and FEV1/F...

OBJECTIVE To identify risk factors for respiratory complications after adenotonsillectomy in children ≤ 12 years of age with obstructive sleep apnea who were referred to the pediatric ICU (PICU). METHODS A cross-sectional historical cohort study analyzing 53 children after adenotonsillectomy who met predetermined criteria for PICU referral in a tertiary level teaching hospital. The Student's ...

OBJECTIVE To compare the effects on transcutaneous carbon dioxide tension (Ptco2) of high concentration and titrated oxygen therapy in medical inpatients with morbid obesity who were not selected for a pre-existing diagnosis of obesity hypoventilation syndrome. DESIGN A randomised, crossover trial undertaken between February and September 2015. SETTING Internal medicine service, Wellington ...

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of pulmonary hypertension (PH) in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), to compare clinical characteristics, radiographic scores, pulmonary function, and echocardiographic parameters in patients with and without PH, and to correlate echocardiographic findings with clinical characteristics, radiographic scores, and pulmonary function. METHODS This was a pros...