INTRODUCTION Lung function impairment may be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) events. OBJECTIVE To determine the relationship between the severity of airflow obstruction based on modified Global Initiative on Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) criteria and the prevalence and incidence or recurrence of CVD in a cohort of US adults, aged 45-64 years, from 1987 to 2001. METHODS We a...

BACKGROUND Hospitalisations and their sequelae comprise key morbidities in the natural history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A study was undertaken to examine the associations between lung function impairment and COPD hospitalisation, and COPD hospitalisation and mortality. METHODS The analysis included a population-based sample of 20,571 participants with complete demograp...

AIMS (1) To determine the pattern of respiratory impairment in children with thalassaemia major (TM); (2) to assess the relation between the degree of respiratory impairment and total body iron content. METHODS Twenty nine TM patients were recruited. All underwent physical examination, standardised pulmonary function tests (spirometry, lung volume, and single breath diffusion capacity for car...

We prospectively studied the lung function of 106 consecutive young patients with pneumonia. At the time of hospital admission we observed impaired spirometric function in 48% of the patients. During and following treatment, the frequency of abnormalities in pulmonary function tests decreased rapidly. However, at the 15th day of hospitalization, abnormal ventilatory function was still demonstra...

BACKGROUND Pompe disease is a progressive metabolic myopathy. Involvement of respiratory muscles leads to progressive pulmonary dysfunction, particularly in supine position. Diaphragmatic weakness is considered to be the most important component. Standard spirometry is to some extent indicative but provides too little insight into diaphragmatic dynamics. We used lung MRI to study diaphragmatic ...

introduction toxoplasma gondii is one of the most important pathogen that has adverse effect on reproductive function. evidence acquisition recent studies revealed that infection with t. gondii not only affect female reproduction, also cause male reproductive impairment. in clinical studies, high prevalence of toxoplasmosis in sterile men has been reported. in animal models, toxoplasmosis is as...