Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Domestic Endotoxin (CODE)
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary DiseaseThis project aims to characterize the independent effect of domestic endotoxin exposure on health status, as well as pulmonary and systemic inflammation, in former smokers with COPD. Positive findings from this study would be clinically relevant, as they would provide evidence to support aggressive reduction of ongoing endotoxin exposure in patients with COPD. The investigators also hope to make a methodological advance in the field of endotoxin exposure assessment by elucidating whether settled dust and/or airborne endotoxin measurements are the more relevant exposure of interest in epidemiological studies of respiratory disease. To fulfill the specific aims, the investigators will conduct a longitudinal study, including 75 former smokers with COPD. All subjects will have indoor air monitoring, in-home settled dust collections, home inspections as well as assessments of health status, quality of life (QOL), lung function and pulmonary and systemic inflammation.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Osteoporosis
Pulmonary DiseaseChronic Obstructive1 moreThe main objective is to study important factors in the patho-physiology of osteoporosis in patients with COPD. Therefore, the investigators will study biological markers in plasma and urine and correlate them to markers of bone turnover and clinical data.
Safety and Effectiveness of Spiriva in COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) Patients Under...
Pulmonary DiseaseChronic ObstructiveThe purpose of this study is to monitor the change in the health status of severe COPD patients after the initiation of Tiotropium therapy. This will be assessed by the physician's global evaluation of the patient's health status on a 8-point scale. This measure has been shown to correlate with a established standard measure of the patients health related quality of life. The primary analysis in this trial will only include patients not pre-treated with a long-acting beta-agonist to establish a clear efficacy signal in this patient population. As the reality of COPD treatment nowadays is poly-pharmacy, a secondary analysis will analyse patients who are pretreated with long-acting bronchodilators to put the changes in the health status in a likely real world context. In parallel to these evaluations of the health status, the lung function response of the patients will be assessed to gain an established objective measure of treatment response.
Genetic Mechanisms of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
Chronic Obstructive Lung DiseaseThe purpose of this study is to determine whether genetic factors contribute to an individuals risk of developing obstructive lung disease from smoking cigarettes.
Effects of Chronic Ozone Exposure on Lung Function
Lung DiseasesLung Diseases2 moreTo determine the effects of chronic ozone exposure on lung function in young men and women.
Alpha1-antitrypsin Deficiency Registry
Lung DiseasesEmphysema2 moreTo collect data from the 37 participating clinical centers on patients with alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency, including those who received replacement therapy with an intravenous preparation of alpha1-proteinase inhibitor (A1Pi) concentrate.
Bioelectrical Impedance in Monitoring Hyperhydration and Polyneuromyopathy in Critically Ill Patients...
Respiratory Distress SyndromeAcute6 moreThis prospective, blinded observational clinical study was aimed to determine the effect of hyperhydration and muscle loss measured by Bioelectrical impedance vector analysis (BIVA) on mortality. The aim was to compare hydratation parameters measured by BIVA: OHY, Extracellular Water (ECW) / Total Body Wate (TBW) and quadrant, vector length, phase angle (PA) with cumulative fluid balance (CFB) recording (input-output) in their ability in predicting mortality as the abilities of the prognostic markers PA (BIVA), Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II - score) and presepsin (serum Cluster of Differentiation (CD) 14-ST). The investigators also compared BIVA nutritional indicators (SMM, fat) with BMI and laboratory parameters (albumin, prealbumin and C-reactive protein (CRP) inflammation parameters) in the prediction of mortality. An important goal was to evaluate the usability of the BIVA method in critically ill patients on extracorporeal circulation, to compare the impedance data of the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and non-ECMO groups.
Comparative Effectiveness of Telemedicine in Primary Care
AsthmaChronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD3 moreLeveraging a natural experiment approach, the investigators will examine rapidly changing telemedicine and in-person models of care during and after the COVID-19 crisis to determine whether certain patients could safely choose to continue telemedicine or telemedicine-supplemented care, rather than return to in-person care.
Activation of Apoptosis-related Receptors on Alveolar Macrophages
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary DiseaseThe aim is to understand whether activation of receptors involved in clearance of apoptotic cells will improve efferocytosis in COPD patients in vitro and whether generation of pro-inflammatory cytokines can be decreased in COPD patients.
Determinants of COVID-19 Pneumonia (MC-19)
PneumoniaViral4 moreMolecular testing (e.g PCR) of respiratory tract samples is the recommended method for the identification and laboratory confirmation of COVID-19 cases. Recent evidence reported that the diagnostic accuracy of many of the available RT-PCR tests for detecting SARS-CoV2 may be lower than optimal. Of course, the economical and clinical implications of diagnostic errors are of foremost significance and in case of infectious outbreaks, namely pandemics, the repercussions are amplified. False positives and false-negative results may jeopardize the health of a single patient and may affect the efficacy of containment of the outbreak and of public health policies. In particular, false-negative results contribute to the ongoing of the infection causing further spread of the virus within the community, masking also other potentially infected people.