All variable distributions were assessed for violation of the assumption of normality based on skewness, the Shapiro-Wilk statistic (a = 0.01), and visualization. Variables having a significant deviation from normal via the Shapiro-Wilk statistic were submitted to the following three linear transformations: square root; natural logarithm; and inverse. The linear transformation that improved the distribution […]
Continuous BP measurements were obtained noninvasively with a wrist mounted arterial tonometer (NCAT; Nellcor; Pleasanton, CA). The analog output of this device was digitized via an eight-bit analog-to-digital converter (DAQ-500; National Instruments; Austin, TX) [Fig 1]. The sampling rate was 200 Hz. A peak-seeking periodic amplitude analysis algorithm was designed (LabVIEW; National Instruments) that would […]
Patients and Protocol: Adult patients who were 18 to 70 years of age, had a documented history of asthma, and were presenting with shortness of breath and probable asthma exacerbation were approached for study enrollment by trained clinical research assistants. Informed consent was obtained during the ED triage process or shortly thereafter, before ED treatment […]
Pulsus paradoxus (PP) is a pathophysiologic vital sign that historically has been a cornerstone in the evaluation of patients with acute asthma.2, However, the measurement of PP is rarely performed, and the accuracy of its measurement via sphygmo-manometry is questionable. Despite this, PP has been used in a number of asthma studies and continues to […]
In our study, we did not evaluate other possible methods available for obtaining samples from the mediastinal lymph nodes such as TBNA, EUS-FNA, and mediastinoscopy. However, it is hard to compare these techniques because of the difference of potential to assess different portions of the mediastinum (Fig 4). Conventional TBNA can be performed during bronchoscopy, […]
The result of our study for the diagnostic accuracy of thoracic CT was consistent with results from previous reports. However, the specificity of PET was lower than previously report-ed. This may be due to the fact that the study group consisted of operable lung cancer patients who usually have only small lymph nodes on CT. […]
EBUS-TBNA showed normal lymphocytes and therefore evaluated as N0 disease prior to surgery. However histology showed metastasis in half of the resected lymph node (Fig 3, bottom, C). In 76 patients, aspirates of mediastinal lymph nodes were negative for malignancy with normal lymphocytes without tumor cells, which were shown to be benign by surgery as […]