Laboratory evaluation of pulmonary function

Nesta revisão, é nosso propósito prover informações acerca de alguns testes de função pulmonar, que podem ser úteis para acadêmicos e clínicos que utilizam seus resultados para estudo das disfunções do sistema respiratório. Apesar de múltiplos e diversos, os resultados dos testes funcionais pulmonares devem ser entendidos como uma visão setorial de um processo complexo e ainda não totalmente compreendido, que é o sistema respiratório. Dentro deste processo, abordaremos topicamente alguns assuntos de interesse clínico, representados pelo estudo da espirometria forçada, da medida dos volumes pulmonares, da gasometria arterial e da capacidade de difusão pulmonar.In this review, it was our intention to provide information about pulmonary function testing that would be useful by the physician that uses the results of laboratory to study disordered respiratory physiology for clinical purposes. Despite of multiplicity and diversity, the results of pulmonary function testing would be understood like a sectorial and restricted vision of an complex process not entirely comprehended. Inside this process we boarded specifically some themes of interest represented by the study of: forced spirometry, lung volumes, arterial blood gases and pulmonary diffusion capacity

Pulmonary thromboembolism: diagnosis and therapy

O tromboembolismo pulmonar é uma doença freqüente, porém pouco diagnosticada, fato justificado, em primeiro lugar, por ser doença que apresenta sinais e sintomas pouco específicos, causando demora na suspeita clínica, além disso, apesar de haver vários exames complementares, que podem auxiliar no seu diagnóstico, muitos não estão disponíveis na maioria dos serviços médicos. A demora, no diagnóstico, tem repercussões muito sérias, culminando no aumento da mortalidade de pessoas com tromboembolismo pulmonar. Dessa forma, é fundamental empenhar todo esforço no diagnóstico e no tratamento precoce dessa doença. Assim, esta revisão tem como objetivos principais estimular a suspeita diagnóstica e orientar a investigação e o tratamento da referida doença.Pulmonary embolism is a frequent disease, but it is of low-occurrence diagnosis. This may be justified primarily by the fact that it features low specific symptoms and signs, leading to a delay in clinical suspicion. Furthermore, in spite of the existence of many complementary exams that can help diagnosis, many of them are unavailable in the majority of the medical institutions. This delayed diagnosis has severe repercussions, heading to increasing mortality rates. The main objectives of this revision is to awake about the diagnostic impression, to guide its investigation and its treatment

Dyspnea

Dispnéia é o termo usado para designar a sensação de dificuldade respiratória, experimentada por pacientes acometidos por diversas moléstias, e indivíduos sadios, em condições de exercício extremo. Ela é um sintoma muito comum na prática médica, sendo particularmente referida por indivíduos com moléstias dos aparelhos respiratório e cardiovascular. Esse sintoma é o principal fator limitante da qualidade de vida relacionada à saúde de pacientes pneumopatas crônicos. Apesar de sua importância, os mecanismos envolvidos com seu surgimento ainda não são completamente conhecidos. Neste artigo, os autores fazem uma pequena revisão de aspectos clínicos e fisiopatológicos desse sintoma.Dyspnea is a word used to define a sensation of breathing difficulty experimented by patients with different diseases, and healthy individuals during extreme exercise. It is a very common symptom in medical practice, and a particularly frequent complain among subjects with respiratory and cardiac conditions. Dyspnea is the most important symptom affecting health related quality of life of patients with chronic respiratory disorders. The mechanisms responsible for the development of dyspnea are still greatly unknown, despite of its importance. In the present article the authors do a brief review of clinical and physiopathological aspects related to the symptom

Bronchial asthma clinical approach

A asma é caracterizada por inflamação, obstrução reversível e hiperreatividade brônquica. Esta revisão objetiva oferecer aos estudantes de Medicina e médicos, recomendações para o atendimento do paciente asmático, de forma a mostrar as abordagens terapêuticas e sugerir uma proposta, reunindo opiniões de diferentes consensos.Asthma is characterized by inflammation, reversible bronchial obstruction and bronchial hyperresponsiveness. This review aimed to medical student and doctors offers guidelines for the asthmatic patient approach, in order to show therapeutic options and to suggest a therapeutic proposal involving different consensus reports

Abordagem terapêutica na exacerbação da doença pulmonar obstrutiva crônica (DPOC)

Exacerbações de DPOC causam aumento da morbimortalidade, internação, piora da qualidade de vida e custos para o paciente e para o sistema de saúde. O paciente com DPOC apresenta, aproximadamente,duas a três exacerbações ao ano, principalmente no inverno, causando progressiva deterioração fisiológica e aumento da inflamação das vias aéreas. O tratamento se faz com broncodilatadores, corticosteróides, oxigenoterapia, ventilação mecânica e antibióticos, em alguns casos.Exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) cause increase in morbidity and mortality, hospital admissions, influence health-related quality of life and costs to the patient and health system. COPD patient experience 2 to 3 exacerbations per year, specially during winter, causing a progressive physiologic deterioration and increase in the airway inflammation. Treatment is based on bronchodilators, corticosteroids, oxygen therapy, mechanical ventilation and antibiotics

ATLANTIC-PRIMATES: a dataset of communities and occurrences of primates in the Atlantic Forests of South America

Primates play an important role in ecosystem functioning and offer critical insights into human evolution, biology, behavior, and emerging infectious diseases. There are 26 primate species in the Atlantic Forests of South America, 19 of them endemic. We compiled a dataset of 5,472 georeferenced locations of 26 native and 1 introduced primate species, as hybrids in the genera Callithrix and Alouatta. The dataset includes 700 primate communities, 8,121 single species occurrences and 714 estimates of primate population sizes, covering most natural forest types of the tropical and subtropical Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina and some other biomes. On average, primate communities of the Atlantic Forest harbor 2 ± 1 species (range = 1–6). However, about 40% of primate communities contain only one species. Alouatta guariba (N = 2,188 records) and Sapajus nigritus (N = 1,127) were the species with the most records. Callicebus barbarabrownae (N = 35), Leontopithecus caissara (N = 38), and Sapajus libidinosus (N = 41) were the species with the least records. Recorded primate densities varied from 0.004 individuals/km 2 (Alouatta guariba at Fragmento do Bugre, Paraná, Brazil) to 400 individuals/km 2 (Alouatta caraya in Santiago, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil). Our dataset reflects disparity between the numerous primate census conducted in the Atlantic Forest, in contrast to the scarcity of estimates of population sizes and densities. With these data, researchers can develop different macroecological and regional level studies, focusing on communities, populations, species co-occurrence and distribution patterns. Moreover, the data can also be used to assess the consequences of fragmentation, defaunation, and disease outbreaks on different ecological processes, such as trophic cascades, species invasion or extinction, and community dynamics. There are no copyright restrictions. Please cite this Data Paper when the data are used in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us of how they are using the data. © 2018 by the The Authors. Ecology © 2018 The Ecological Society of Americ