Sniff nasal inspiratory pressure: what is the optimal number of sniffs?

Sniff nasal inspiratory pressure (SNIP) measurement is a volitional noninvasive assessment of inspiratory muscle strength. A maximum of 10 sniffs is generally used. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether the maximum SNIP improved after the tenth sniff. In total, 20 healthy volunteers and 305 patients with various neuromuscular and lung diseases were encouraged to perform 40 and 20 sniffs, respectively. The best SNIP among the first 10 sniffs was lower than the best SNIP among the next 10 sniffs in the healthy volunteers and patients. The SNIP improvement after the twentieth sniff was marginal. In conclusion, a learning effect persists after the tenth sniff. The current authors suggest using 10 additional sniffs when the best result of the first 10 sniffs is slightly below normal, or when sniff nasal inspiratory pressure is used to monitor a progressive decline in inspiratory muscle strength.     

Body weight in patients with Parkinson's disease.

There is some evidence suggesting that Parkinson's disease (PD) patients exhibit lower body weight when compared to age-matched healthy subjects. Low body mass index (BMI) is correlated with low bone mineral density, both of which are major risk factors for hip fractures. Possible determinants of weight loss in PD patients include hyposmia, impaired hand-mouth coordination, difficulty chewing, dysphagia, intestinal hypomotility, depression, decreased reward processing of dopaminergic mesolimbic regions, nausea, and anorexia as the side effects of medication, and increased energy requirements due to muscular rigidity and involuntary movements. It is unclear whether PD patients in general, or only a subgroup of those affected, definitely show lower BMI in the advanced stages of the disease. We therefore recommend that the body weight of PD patients be monitored monthly as the disease progresses, and that a patient's nutrition should be supplemented with sufficient amounts of vitamin D and calcium to reduce the risk of hip fractures and strengthen bone density. Because meal times may coincide with unpredictable off periods associated with akinesia and impaired hand-mouth coordination, PD patients also need flexible food schedules that accommodate the associated symptoms of this disease.     

Women's Evaluations of Their Experience in a Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial of Intrapartum Fetal Pulse Oximetry (The FOREMOST Trial)

Abstract: Background: Fetal pulse oximetry improves the assessment of fetal well‐being during labor. The objective of this study was to evaluate women's satisfaction with their experience with this additional technology. Methods: We surveyed women participating in the FOREMOST trial, a randomized controlled trial comparing the addition of fetal pulse oximetry (FPO) to conventional cardiotocograph (CTG) monitoring (intervention group), versus CTG‐only (control group), in the presence of nonreassuring fetal status during labor. Our survey evaluated 3 aspects of women's experience: labor, fetal monitoring, and participation in the research. The survey was administered within a few days of giving birth and repeated 3 months later. Results: No differences were found between the intervention and control groups for women's evaluations of their labor, fetal monitoring, research, or overall experiences when surveyed on both occasions. Within each study group, a small but statistically significant decline occurred in women's scores for their experience of labor and overall experience from the initial survey close to the time of giving birth, to 3 months later. The magnitude of differences in responses over time was similar for the both groups. Women were more satisfied after a spontaneous or assisted vaginal birth than after cesarean section. Length of time the research midwife was present had a significant positive effect on women's ratings of their experience several days after giving birth (p = 0.006), but no effect at 3 months. Conclusions: The addition of fetal pulse oximetry for the assessment of fetal well‐being during labor did not affect childbearing women's perceptions of fetal monitoring or their labor. Women evaluated their experience in the research process positively overall. Small changes occurred in women's perception of their satisfaction over time. (BIRTH 33:2 June 2006)     

High-resolution optical coherence tomography as a non-destructive monitoring tool for the engineering of skin equivalents

BACKGROUND: Three dimensional skin equivalents are widely used in dermatopharmacological and toxicological studies and as autologous transplants in wound healing. In pharmacology, there is tremendous need for monitoring the response of engineered skin equivalents to external treatment. Transplantation of skin equivalents for wound healing requires careful verification of their quality prior to transplantation. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-contact, non-destructive imaging technique for living tissues offering the potential to fulfill these needs. This work presents an analysis of OCT for high-resolution monitoring of skin equivalents at different stages during the culture process. METHODS: We developed a high-resolution OCT imaging setup based on a commercially available OCT system. A broadband femtosecond laser light source replaces the original superluminescence diode. Tomograms of living skin equivalents were recorded with an axial resolution of 3 mum and correlated with histology and immunofluorescence images. Comparison with standard low-resolution OCT is presented to emphasize the advantages of high-resolution OCT for this application. RESULTS: OCT is particularly able to distinguish between different layers of skin equivalents including stratum corneum, epidermal and dermal layer as well as the basement membrane zone. The high-resolution OCT scans correlate closely with two key benchmarks, histology and immunofluorescence imaging. CONCLUSIONS: This study clearly demonstrates the benefits of high-resolution OCT for identifying living tissue structure and morphology. Compared with the current gold standard histology, OCT offers non-destructive tissue imaging, enabling high-resolution evaluation of living tissue morphology and structure as it evolves.