Narrow Results

A Journey Inside the Human Body

Seward Stomacher Enables Clean and Odour Free Sample Preparation for Faecal Transplants.

SCIEX and QPS Holdings Enter Collaboration to Establish the BioBA Solution for Bioanalysis of Biologics.

Singapore Ranks 4th in How Its National Policies Impact Global Biopharma Innovation, ITIF Finds in New Analysis Marking World Health Day.

Bosch Introduces New Generation of Pure Steam Generators and Distillation Units to the Market.

Clearbridge BioMedics Partners with the ICR and The Royal Marsden to Demonstrate Label-free Approach in Isolating Heterogeneous Circulating Tumour Cells (CTCs) and PD-L1 Positive CTCs.

Treatment Brings New Hope for Patients Suffering From Fatal Lung Disease.

(Infographic): About Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF).

Humabs BioMed and University of California, Berkeley announce publication of data for novel antibody-based assay to detect zika virus infection.

Philips’ Lumify to make ultrasound more accessible and affordable in Singapore.

AdAlta pioneers novel drug for rare lung disease.

Industry’s first cryo-dualbeam system automates preparation of frozen, biological samples.

Kinetica helps GlaxoSmithKline manage its R&D information platform.

Functional fragrances developed to fight mosquito-borne diseases.

Immatics starts phase 1 trial of IMA101 for treatment of solid tumors.

Royal Philips appoints new Country Manager for Singapore.

Innovations driving the Indian dental consumables market.

A breath of hope.

Cybersecurity tips to prevent healthcare organizations from having to swallow a bitter pill.

Nutritional solutions to reduce harmful impact of air pollution on cardiovascular health.

Objective: To study the correlation between diaphragm excursion and both the quality of life and exercise capacity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by ultrasound and to reveal the factors affecting diaphragm excursion. Methods: A total of 42 COPD patients who were treated in our hospital from October 2015 to March 2020 and 42 healthy volunteers (control group) were included in the present study. The participants’ height, weight, and diaphragm excursion (the amplitude of diaphragm movement during deep breathing measured by M-mode ultrasound ($\mathrm{\Delta }M$)), diaphragm movement time, degree of airflow obstruction (the forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) as a percentage of its predicted level, FEV1%pred), and exercise capacity (six-minute walk distance, 6MWD) were measured. The St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) was used to evaluate the patients’ quality of life. The correlation between the amplitude of diaphragm movement and lung function was analyzed. The receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve was used to determine the COPD diagnosis efficacy of M-mode ultrasound, and its influencing factors were further analyzed. Results: During tidal breathing, the movement amplitudes of both hemidiaphragms in the COPD group were greater than those in the control group. During deep breathing, the movement amplitudes of both hemidiaphragms in the control group were greater than those in the COPD group. Moreover, during both tidal and deep breathing, the movement time of the right hemidiaphragm in the control group was longer than that in the COPD group (all P < 0.001). During deep breathing, the amplitude of diaphragm movement was positively correlated with FEV1 and FEV1%pred (both P < 0.001). During both tidal and deep breathing, the area under the ROC curve (AUC) for the diagnosis of COPD according to the diaphragm movement amplitude was 0.833 and 0.887, respectively, and the AUC for the diagnosis of COPD according to the diaphragm movement time was 0.625 and 0.732, respectively. The $\mathrm{\Delta }M$ was correlated with the SGRQ score, symptom score, impact score, activity score, and 6MWD, with correlation coefficients of −0.474, −0.416, −0.432, −0.502, and 0.536, respectively. The factors affecting the $\mathrm{\Delta }M$ were height ($\beta =0.407$, P < 0.001) and FEV1%pred ($\beta =-0.391$, P < 0.001). Conclusion: The diaphragm excursion in COPD was closely related to patients’ quality of life. Height and FEV1%pred had the greatest impact on diaphragm excursion. The lower the diaphragm excursion of the patient, the worse their quality of life and the lower their exercise capacity.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a systemic connective tissue disorder characterized by progressive skin and visceral organ fibrosis, vasculopathy, and immune dysregulation. Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a common manifestation and major contributor to morbidity and mortality. Immunosuppression is usually indicated for extensive or progressive SSc-ILD. Recently, antifibrotic and biological therapies have been shown to be efficacious in treating SSc-ILD in various studies. In this article, we will descriptively review the latest evidence on the treatment of SSc-ILD.