Peak expiratory flow (PEF) monitoring is recommended in the management of moderate to severe asthma, and PEF outcome variables are used in many clinical trials. However, adherence with PEF monitoring is poor, and this is often attributed to the burden of measurement and recording. This analysis examined whether adherence with symptom monitoring was impaired by asking patients also to record PEF...

BACKGROUND The CoughAssist is a mechanical insufflator-exsufflator designed to assist airway secretion clearance in patients with ineffective cough. The device may benefit intubated and tracheotomized patients. We assessed the impact of various artificial airways on peak expiratory flow (PEF) with the CoughAssist. METHODS We measured PEF and pressure at the airway opening in a lung model duri...

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the resistance of the peak flow meter influences its recordings. One hundred and twelve subjects, (healthy nonsmokers and smokers and subjects with lung diseases) performed three or more peak expiratory flow (PEF) manoeuvres through a Fleisch pneumotachograph with and without a mini-Wright peak flow meter added in random order as a resistance in ...

By using indirect immunofluorescence we demonstrated the localisation of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins (laminin--LAM, collagen IV--COL IV, fibronectin--FN) and the basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) in rabbit and mouse primary embryonic fibroblasts (PEF). Proliferating mitotically arrested PEF (by mitomycin C) were compared in both species. The stability of protein expression was ascer...

STUDY OBJECTIVES To evaluate the effect of heliox on airflow obstruction and dyspnea in patients with acute severe asthma. DESIGN A prospective, randomized, controlled study. SETTING A university hospital. PATIENTS Twenty-three patients presenting to the emergency department with acute severe asthma were randomized to receive 70%/30% heliox or 30% oxygen. MEASUREMENTS Peak expiratory fl...

This study evaluated structural modification and thermal properties of whey protein isolate (WPI) treated by pulsed electric fields (PEF). Structural modification and thermal properties of WPI were evaluated by using fluorescence spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques. The effect of PEF treatments (electric field intensity ranging from 12, 16 and 20 kV cm and pulses...

We have investigated probing breast tumor in a lumpectomy sample using a newly developed piezoelectric finger (PEF). PEF is a piezoelectric cantilever that consists of a top driving piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) layer and a bottom sensing PZT layer sandwiched to a middle stainless steel layer. A PEF can both apply a force and detect the corresponding displacement in one single dev...

The dorsomedial hypothalamus (DMH) and the perifornical area (DMH/PeF) is one of the key regions of central autonomic processing. Previous studies have established that this region contains neurons that may be involved in respiratory processing; however, this has never been tested in conscious animals. The aim of our study was to investigate the involvement of the DMH/PeF area in mediating resp...

In real-world extraction of signal from data we are not given the needed signal prediction-error filter (PEF). Claerbout has taken S, the PEF of the signal, to be that of the data, S ≈ D. Spitz takes it to be S ≈ D/N . Where noises are highly predictable in time or space, Spitz gets significantly better results. Theoretically, a reason is that the essential character of a PEF is contained where...