BACKGROUND Nasal CPAP is widely used in neonatal ICUs. Aerosolized medications such as inhaled steroids and β agonists are commonly administered in-line through nasal CPAP, especially to infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia. We hypothesized that aerosol delivery to the lungs via variable-flow nasal CPAP in an in vitro model would be unreliable, and that the delivery would depend on the posit...

When a water distribution system (WDS) is contaminated, short-term inhalation exposures to airborne contaminants could occur as the result of domestic water use. The most important domestic sources of such exposures are likely to be showering and the use of aerosol-producing humidifiers, i.e., ultrasonic and impeller (cool-mist) units. A framework is presented for assessing the potential effect...

BACKGROUND This study describes 17 families with 38 lung injury patients (14 males, 24 females; 22 preschool-age children less than six years of age and 16 individuals of 13-50 years) who used disinfectant added to humidifiers in the home. METHODS Clinical examination and humidifier disinfectant-use histories were taken, and a thorough home investigation was performed to assess exposure to hu...

In this paper, we describe interactive and offline rendering performed on multiple nodes of an HPC (High Performance Computing) cluster. Compute nodes can be equipped with Intel Xeon processors and also Intel Xeon Phi coprocessors. Rendering is utilized in Blender (open source 3D creation suite). We have modified the kernel of the Blender Cycles rendering engine and then extended its capabiliti...

BACKGROUND The type of aerosol generator and the position in the ventilator circuit are crucial to determine aerosol delivery during mechanical ventilation. We compared lung deposition of albuterol aerosols generated by 4 different nebulizers placed in-line in 4 different positions in a pediatric ventilator model. METHODS Two brands of continuously operated jet nebulizer (6 L/ min, oxygen), a...

INTRODUCTION The helmet may be an effective interface for the delivery of noninvasive positive pressure ventilation. The high internal gas volume of the helmet can act as a 'mixing chamber', in which the humidity of the patient's expired alveolar gases increases the humidity of the dry medical gases, thus avoiding the need for active humidification. We evaluated the temperature and humidity of ...

BACKGROUND Adequate humidification of inspired gas with active or passive humidifiers is a standard of care for tracheotomized patients. In this study, a comparison is made between the tracheal climate after tracheobronchial humidification either with molecular water (via a vaporizing humidifier) or particulate water (via spray) in spontaneously breathing tracheotomized patients. METHODS We p...

Cold passover and heated humidifiers are employed for the prevention of side-effects associated with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment. However, to date, it has not been possible to separately measure the humidity of inspired and expired air. The aim of this study was to compare the relative humidity of the inspired air and the water loss during respiration between cold passo...

We herein report the first documented case of acute hypersensitivity pneumonitis in which Candida guilliermondii was the possible causative organism. A young Japanese woman presented to our hospital with relapsing respiratory symptoms accompanied by high fever. A detailed interview revealed that the onset of the symptoms occurred shortly after using a humidifier in her home. Her symptoms showed...

A 65-yr-old female developed cough, fever and dyspnoea following repeated exposure to a home ultrasonic humidifier. High-resolution computed tomography showed ground-glass opacity in both lung fields. Arterial blood gas analysis gave an oxygen tension of 8.38 kPa (63 Torr). Pulmonary function testing revealed restrictive ventilatory impairment with a reduction in the diffusing capacity. The dia...