See article, Volume 18 Number 6 page 957

See article, page 47

CPAP treatment in severe congestive heart failure (CHF) with concomitant SDB has been causally linked to CO impairment. We show that CPAP does not acutely change haemodynamic measures in most CHF patients with SDB, indicating that CPAP does not cause haemodynamic compromise in the vast majority of normotensive CHF patients with SDB.

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While lung function is inversely associated with inflammation, questions arise as to whether this is due to confounding by factors such as smoking, adiposity or early growth. We found evidence of confounding by percentage body fat, which appears to be a stronger confounder than body mass index.

This study is the first to use community sampled geogenic particles to assess their impact on lung inflammation. We show that geogenic dusts invoke a potent inflammatory response in the lung that depends on the physicochemical characteristics of the particles. This in turn has implications for community based air quality standards.

We hypothesized that (i) stretching may modify the mechanisms of innate immunity; and (ii) activation of innate immunity may affect stretch-induced apoptosis. We show that activation of TLR4-mediated innate immunity increased stretched induced cell damage, but stretching does not modify TLR4-mediated innate immunity.

Malondialdehyde, an established by-product of lipid peroxidation, can be precisely measured in the sputum and is a useful marker to monitor exacerbation-associated oxidative stress in patients with COPD.

NIV serves as a means of avoiding tracheostomy in patients with NMD. We studied the efficacy of nocturnal NIV in improving respiratory function in NMD patients by PSG and found that NIV was effective in improving respiratory parameters at night in patients with respiratory muscular weakness.

This study is the first to survey the range and quality of CPAP-related services provided in Australian pharmacies. This report provides an overview of a potentially useful venue for the supply of CPAP devices and ongoing treatment support, and highlights areas of clinical practice improvement.

Mesenteric fat thickness has a positive association with the presence of moderate and severe OSA, with odds ratios of 7.18 and 7.45 for every 1 cm increase in thickness. Sonographic measurement is potentially a useful tool for evaluating the complex association of visceral fat, metabolic syndrome and OSA.

We investigated the feasibility of detecting COPD using a community-based lung cancer screening programme. Approximately 30% of residents 60 years or older with smoking history and respiratory symptoms were diagnosed with COPD. Half of them had moderate or severe COPD.

We provide preliminary evidence illustrating considerable variability in an objective measure of physical performance status (VO_2peak) in comparison with a clinically established subjective measure (ECOG performance status).

The particular receptor by which M. tuberculosis infects monocytes may have a distinct influence on its survival. CD13 appears to participate in the internalization of M. tuberculosis into human monocytes and modulate intracellular survival.

On a population basis, influenza activity is associated with asthma hospitalizations in the United States, and this association can be exploited to more accurately forecast asthma admissions. Our results suggest that improvements in influenza surveillance, prevention and treatment may help predict and decrease hospitalizations of asthma patients.

This study shows that in a mouse model of asthma, Der p2 recombinant BCG is more effective in suppressing asthmatic airway inflammation than BCG alone. This effect is related to Th17 regulation during differentiation, which is associated with the regulation of IL-6 secretion and Notch ligand expression by dendritic cells.

The performance of MODS assay to detect M. tuberculosis in pleural fluid and CSF samples was evaluated comparing standard diagnostic methods. The findings suggest that the MODS assay enables accurate detection of M. tuberculosis.

This study demonstrates that quadriceps strength and endurance are significantly reduced in patients with fibrotic idiopathic interstitial pneumonia compared with healthy controls.