Flow interruption compared to forced oscillatory maneuvers and esophageal balloon-pneumotachography for measurement of respiratory resistance in the horse.

Pulmonary function testing is critical to the diagnosis of equine asthma (EA), an important cause of respiratory disease in the horse, but its clinical use has remained elusive, unfortunately, due to the complexity of reference methods, esophageal balloon/pneumotachography (EBP) and forced oscillatory mechanics (FOM), so we sought a non-invasive, portable method for use in horses through rapid interruption of airflow for equilibration of alveolar pressure with proximal airway pressure, termed flow interruption (FI). Resistance (RINT) was computed as the relationship between the change in pressure at the nose before and immediately after interruption and flow immediately before interruption. A pilot study in 5 healthy university-owned animals using EBP and FI showed good correspondence between the two methods: RINT (0.33 +/- 0.05 cm H2O/l/s) and RL (0.31 +/- 0.06 cm H2O/l/s). In 2 separate populations of client-owned horses, with random assignment of methods to FI v EBP (n = 8), RINT showed good correlation with RL in horses, (rs =.995, p = .0002) and accords with RL, with no significant difference between RINT and RL. Using FOM (n = 12), RINT (0.67 +/- 0.31 cmH2O/l/s) has good correlation with RRS measured with FOM (r =.834, p = .0001), but is consistently smaller than RRS (0.74 +/- 0.33 cmH2O/l/s) . Histamine bronchoprovocation (HBP) was performed in a subset of these horses: FI classified one horse in 6 as less reactive than did EBP, and FI classified one horse in 7 as less reactive than did FOM.

Health-related quality of life in Hodgkin lymphoma: a systematic review.

PURPOSE: Hodgkin Lymphoma (HL) is highly curable with well-established treatment regimens; however, the impact on patient's health-related quality of life (HRQL) from diagnosis through survivorship is unclear. This systematic review aimed to describe the available literature on HRQL in HL, assess the quality of these studies, identify gaps in the literature and recommend further areas of research. METHODS: Following PRISMA guidelines, we performed a systematic review to include studies assessing the HRQL in HL patients. Articles identified through database searches were screened and data extracted. Quality was evaluated using a 6-point scale, adapted from published HRQL systematic reviews. RESULTS: Sixty five articles published between 1986 and 2015 met inclusion criteria. These included 53 (82 %) cross-sectional studies; 12 (18 %) longitudinal studies, including three embedded in randomized trials; and three additional longitudinal studies that began assessment at diagnosis. Study sample sizes of HL patients varied considerably with only five (42 %) longitudinal studies including more than 50 patients. Multidimensional HRQL was assessed in 45 studies, single HRQL domains in 22 studies, and symptoms, including fatigue, in 28 studies. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of studies employed a cross-sectional design, enrolling HL survivors at least 10 years after the completion of therapy. Emphasis on HRQL following therapy may inform initial treatment decisions and long-term survivorship goals. We recommend that future research include prospective, longitudinal randomized designs across both treatment and time.

Evaluation of Clonidine and Prazosin for the Treatment of Nighttime Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms.

Both clonidine and prazosin can be effective treatments for nighttime symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, but their long-term use may be limited.