Showing papers by "Federico Lavorini published in 2007"
TL;DR: Children with CCHS have normal cough threshold and motor responses to fog inhalation, however, the lack of respiratory sensations and the likely related ventilatory changes typically elicited by tussigenic fog concentrations suggest a neural sensory deficit that may increase the risk of respiratory disease in these patients.
Abstract: Rationale: Congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS) is a genetic disorder mainly characterized by failure of automatic control of breathing, causing alveolar hypoventilation. Little is known regarding cough in CCHS. Parental reports indicate that patients cough normally during airway infections; however, previous studies have demonstrated no cough response to fog inhalation.Objectives: To evaluate the sensory and motor components of cough, respiratory sensations, and changes in ventilation evoked by fog inhalation in children with CCHS and in sex- and age-matched control subjects.Methods: Cough threshold was measured and cough intensity was indexed in terms of cough peak expiratory flow and integrated abdominal electromyographic activity. The pattern of breathing was recorded by inductive plethysmography. Respiratory sensations were also investigated.Measurements and Main Results: All control subjects and six of seven patients coughed in response to fog inhalation. The seventh coughed with citri...
31 citations
TL;DR: The stronger sensations evoked by Capsaicin may contribute to the higher cough frequency observed with this agent, and the lack of correlation between fog and capsaicin cough threshold values suggests differences in the neural mechanisms activated.
17 citations
TL;DR: A post-hoc analysis of a previous study performed to investigate the relationship between computerized tomography and lung function in 51 outpatients with mild-to-moderate COPD points out that chronic effort dyspnea variance may account for up to 58% by lung function tests and radiographic patterns.
Abstract: This paper is a post-hoc analysis of a previous study performed to investigate the relationship between computerized tomography (CT) and lung function in 51 outpatients with mild-to-moderate COPD. We studied whether changes in lung function and radiographic patterns may help to explain dyspnea, the most disturbing symptom in patients with COPD. The Medical Research Council (MRC) dyspnea scale shows, by univariate analysis, a similar strength of association to CT expiratory lung density and to DLCO, a functional index of lung parenchymal loss. The MRC dyspnea scale shows a somewhat less strength of association with a small vertical heart on plain chest films. In multivariate analysis, the model with the strongest association to the MRC dyspnea scale (r = 0.76, p < 0.0001) contains 4 explanatory variables (DLCO, FRC, PaCO2, and radiographic pattern of pulmonary hypertension). We suggest that diffusing capacity reflects the emphysematous component of hyperinflation, associated by definition with destruction ...
8 citations