AbstractMorbid obesity adversely affects respiratory physiology, leading to reduced lung volumes, decreased lung compliance, ventilation perfusion mismatch, sleep‐disordered breathing and the impairment of ventilatory control and neurohormonal and neuromodulators of breathing. Therefore, morbidly obese subjects are at increased risk of various pulmonary complications that can present either acutely or chronically. Respiratory failure is one of the most common pulmonary complications related to morbid obesity. Both acute hypoxaemic and hypercapnic respiratory failure are more common among obese patients. The management pathway of respiratory failure depends to a large extent on the underlying cause, primarily due to the diversity of the underlying triggering diseases, the pathophysiology ...

Conclusion: The current practices of establishing pulmonary tuberculosis diagnosis are not sensitive and specific enough to establish the diagnosis of Acid Fast Bacilli smear negative pulmonary tuberculosis and over treat people with no pulmonary tuberculosis. (Source: BMC Research Notes)

According to a report in the Oct. 28 issue of the journal Cell, investigators at Weill Cornell Medical College have made an important discovery in their mission to "turn on" lung regeneration. This finding could effectively treat millions of individuals who suffer with respiratory disorders. The team has discovered the biochemical signals in mice that activate production of new lung alveoli - tiny, balloon-like sacs within the lung that inflate and deflate with inhalation and exhalation... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an underdiagnosed cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Prevalence of COPD has been shown to be highly associated with positive smoking history and increasing age. Spirometry is the method used for diagnosing COPD. However, identifying patients at risk of COPD to undergo spirometry tests has been challenging. Therefore, there is a need for new cost-effective and feasible diagnostic screening procedures for use in primary care centers. Our aim was to describe the prevalence and severity of undiagnosed COPD in a group of patients with respiratory infections attending urgent primary care, and to identify those variables in patients' history that could be used to detect the disease. Methods: Patients of 40-75 years (n=138) atten...