Search results for "Cough"
showing 10 items of 101 documents
Alteration of Smell and Taste in Asymptomatic and Symptomatic COVID-19 Patients in Sicily, Italy
2020
Objectives: Alteration of smell and taste has been reported in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The incidence and clinical-symptomatic manifestation of COVID-19 is different between northern and southern Italy. This study aims to evaluate the onset of alteration of smell and taste in asymptomatic and symptomatic patients in Sicily (extreme south of Italy). Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study was performed on asymptomatic and symptomatic COVID-19 patients tested for severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) from May 1 to May 15, 2020. A questionnaire was used for evaluating the prevalence of smell and taste disorders in COVID-19 patients befor…
Alternatives to Endotracheal Intubation for Patients with Neuromuscular Diseases
2005
To evaluate the usefulness of continuous noninvasive mechanical ventilation and mechanical coughing aids to avoid endotracheal intubation and tracheostomy during episodes of acute respiratory failure in patients with neuromuscular disease.We conducted a prospective cohort study at the respiratory medicine ward of a university hospital to study the success rate of the use of continuous noninvasive mechanical ventilation and manually and mechanically (CoughAssist) assisted coughing to avert endotracheal intubation in 24 consecutive episodes of acute respiratory failure for 17 patients with neuromuscular disease. The noninvasive mechanical ventilation and coughing aids were used to reverse dec…
Comparison of Peak Cough Flows Measured by Pneumotachograph and a Portable Peak Flow Meter
2004
To compare peak cough flows (PCF) obtained with a pneumotachograph (PCFp) with those measured using a portable peak flow meter (PCFm) in a population of healthy subjects and patients with neuromuscular disease.A total of 30 healthy subjects and 32 medically stable patients with neuromuscular diseases were studied. Using an oronasal mask connected, in a randomized order, to a pneumotachograph and to a portable peak flow meter, PCFp and PCFm were measured as every subject performed maximal cough efforts from total lung capacity.PCFp measurements were 377.70 +/-179.28 liters/min and PCFm measurements were 377.50 +/- 172.98 liters/min (not significant). The two measurements were correlated (r =…
How increased pertussis vaccination coverage is changing the epidemiology of pertussis in Italy.
2005
Abstract The epidemiology of pertussis in Italy is described by using data from the statutory notification system and from seroepidemiology studies. Starting from the 1990s, the incidence of pertussis in Italy has shown a sharp decline and is now at the lowest level ever reached. During this time period vaccination coverage has increased from 88% in 1998 to 95% in 2003. In 1996–97, the prevalence of subjects with levels of IgG antibodies against PT greater than 2 EU/ml was 77.6%. The increase in vaccination coverage will probably change the pattern of disease transmission and increase the number of susceptible adults, unless administration of booster doses to adolescents and adults is consi…
Whooping cough, twenty years from acellular vaccines introduction
2015
Clinical pertussis resulting from infection with B. pertussis is a significant medical and public health problem, despite the huge success of vaccination that has greatly reduced its incidence. The whole cell vaccine had an undeniable success over the last 50 years, but its acceptance was strongly inhibited by fear, only partially justified, of severe side effects, but also, in the Western world, by the difficulty to enter in combination with other vaccines: today multi-vaccine formulations are essential to maintain a high vaccination coverage. The advent of acellular vaccines was greeted with enthusiasm by the public health world: in the Nineties, several controlled vaccine trials were car…
Experts’ Opinion for Improving Pertussis Vaccination Rates in Adolescents and Adults: A Call to Action
2022
This article highlights the importance of diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (with reduced antigen content, dTap) vaccination in preventing pertussis, a respiratory infection that is still widespread and easily transmitted. In particular, it highlights the need to receive a booster vaccination throughout life to maintain high antibody levels, which decrease through time. This document collects the opinions that emerged from the comparison between major Italian experts in the field of vaccination. This working group was created to promote a “call to action”, aimed at raising awareness among all institutions, public health authorities, and health workers involved in the vaccination proces…
Sympathetic Vasomotor Response of the Radial Artery in Patients With Diabetic Foot Syndrome
2003
OBJECTIVE—Neurophysiological assessment of the peripheral autonomic system is characterized by various limitations. An alternative approach to laser Doppler and venous plethymography is the assessment of the sympathetic vasomotor response of the radial artery obtained by continuous wave Doppler sonography. Nomogram data have been established and demonstrate the temporary disappearance of diastolic flow after coughing or deep inspiration. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—We assessed the sympathetic vasomotor response in 25 patients (mean age 64 years, range 43–76) with diabetic foot syndrome. The Doppler data were correlated with nerve conduction studies of the median and peroneal nerve, the exte…
Sensory neuropathy with bone destruction due to a mutation in the membrane-shaping atlastin GTPase 3.
2014
Many neurodegenerative disorders present with sensory loss. In the group of hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathies loss of nociception is one of the disease hallmarks. To determine underlying factors of sensory neurodegeneration we performed whole-exome sequencing in affected individuals with the disorder. In a family with sensory neuropathy with loss of pain perception and destruction of the pedal skeleton we report a missense mutation in a highly conserved amino acid residue of atlastin GTPase 3 (ATL3), an endoplasmic reticulum-shaping GTPase. The same mutation (p.Tyr192Cys) was identified in a second family with similar clinical outcome by screening a large cohort of 115 patients …
Acute Laryngitis in the Rat Induced by Moraxella catarrhalis and Bordetella pertussis: Number of Neutrophils, Dendritic Cells, and T and B Lymphocyte…
1999
Infectious laryngotracheitis results in fulminant respiratory distress. During the disease, the subglottic mucosa is selectively infected and swollen, the reason for this preference being unknown. Therefore, in the present study the immunoreaction of the laryngeal mucosa was studied in the rat after inhalation of either heat-killed Moraxella catarrhalis (PVG rats) or application of viable Bordetella pertussis (BN rats). The number of neutrophils, macrophages, dendritic cells, and T and B lymphocytes was determined in the mucosa of the supraglottic, glottic, and subglottic area of the larynx as well as in the trachea. After application of the pathogens, the mucosa of the subglottic area was …
Persistence of protection through 33 months of age provided by immunization in infancy with two three-component acellular pertussis vaccines
1998
Abstract A large, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial in Italy on two three-component pertussis vaccines, given as DTaP in infancy, one manufactured by SmithKline and Beecham (SB) and one by Chiron Biocine (CB), found each vaccine to be 84% efficacious through the average age of 24 months. The cohort of children envolled in the trial was followed with unmodified case ascertainment procedures for nine additional calendar months, during which partial unblinding occurred, for the unvaccinated randomized group. For the DTaP groups, the specific vaccine assignment remained double-blinded throughout the entire additional observation period. Pertussis was defined as paroxysmal cough last…