Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, commonly referred to as COPD, is a group of progressive lung diseases. The most common of these diseases are emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Many people with COPD have both of these conditions. Emphysema slowly destroys air sacs in your lungs, which interferes with outward air flow. Bronchitis causes inflammation and narrowing of the bronchial tubes, which allows mucus to build up. It’s estimated that about 30 million people in the United States have COPD. As many as half are unaware that they have it. Untreated, COPD can lead to a faster progression of disease, heart problems, and worsening respiratory infections

Near-drowning is a term typically used to describe almost dying from suffocating under water. It is the last stage before fatal drowning, which results in death. Near-drowning victims still require medical attention to prevent related health complications. Most people who nearly drown are young children, but drowning accidents can happen to anyone of any age.

Hypertension is another name for high blood pressure. It can lead to severe health complications and increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, and sometimes death. Blood pressure is the force that a person’s blood exerts against the walls of their blood vessels. This pressure depends on the resistance of the blood vessels and how hard the heart has to work. Almost half of all adults in the United States have high blood pressure, but many are not aware of this fact. Hypertension is a primary risk factor for cardiovascular disease, including stroke, heart attack, heart failure, and aneurysm. Keeping blood pressure under control is vital for preserving health and reducing the risk of these dangerous conditions. In this article, we explain why blood pressure can increase, how to monitor it, and ways to keep it within a normal range.

A burn occurs when heat, chemicals, sunlight, electricity or radiation damages skin tissue. Most burns happen accidentally. There are different degrees of burns. Your healthcare provider determines the seriousness (degree) of a burn based on the depth of the burn and the amount of affected skin. Burns can be painful. Left untreated, a burn can lead to infection.

Noninvasive ventilation (NIV) refers to the administration of ventilatory support without using an invasive artificial airway (endotracheal tube or tracheostomy tube). The use of noninvasive ventilation (see the video below) has markedly increased over the past two decades, and noninvasive ventilation has now become an integral tool in the management of both acute and chronic respiratory failure, in both the home setting and in the critical care unit. Noninvasive ventilation has been used as a replacement for invasive ventilation, and its flexibility also allows it to be a valuable complement in patient management. Its use in acute respiratory failure is well accepted and widespread. It is the focus of this review. The role of noninvasive ventilation in those with chronic respiratory failure is not as clear and remains to be defined.

Biphasic Positive Airway Pressure (BIPAP) can be described as pressure controlled ventilation in a system allowing unrestricted spontaneous breathing at any moment of the ventilatory cycle. It can also be described as a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) system with a time-cycled change of the applied CPAP level. As with a pressure controlled, time-cycled mode, the duration of each phase (T(high), T(low)) as well as the corresponding pressure levels (P(high), P(low)) can be adjusted independently. Depending on the spontaneous breathing activity, BIPAP can be subdivided into: no spontaneous breathing: CMV-BIPAP; spontaneous breathing at the lower pressure level: IMV-BIPAP; spontaneous breathing at the upper pressure level: APRV-BIPAP; spontaneous breathing at both CPAP levels: genuine BIPAP. Since it enables progressive transition from controlled to all levels of augmented mechanical ventilation, BIPAP appears to be a suitable mode for the entire period of mechanical ventilation of the patient. There are difficulties neither in choosing the correct moment for switching nor the further respiratory management of the ventilated patient under BIPAP. The necessary adaptation (ventilation, oxygenation) can be individualized on the basis of blood gas analyses. An increase or reduction of the invasivity of ventilation can be attained without any problems with BIPAP. Furthermore, spontaneous breathing of the patient does not necessitate any switching of the mode of ventilation. The transition from controlled to augmented ventilation is smooth. BIPAP enables the therapist to let the patient breathe freely even under the most invasive ventilation conditions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)