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It is very important to decrease pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in order to prevent progression to right heart failure. We showed an acute improvement of PAP by non-invasive positive pressure ventilation (NPPV) treatment in patients with hypercapnic respiratory failure. In 26 patients with COPD (18 males and 8 females), physical examination, Doppler echocardiographic evaluation and arterial blood gases analysis were performed on admission and at discharge. PAP was measured by Doppler echocardiography. NPPV was used when 2 of the following were present without contraindications: 1. Respiratory distress with moderate to severe dyspnea, 2. Arterial pH less than 7.35 with PaCO2 above 45 mmHg, 3. Respiratory rate of 25/minute or greater. Mean age of the patients was 62.6 ± 10.8 year, and mean usage of the NPPV was 12.6 ± 5.5 day. Mean and systolic PAPs of the patients (43.8 ± 16.9 mmHg and 66.7 ± 23.3 mmHg) were significantly decreased with NPPV treatment (26.6 ± 8.4 mmHg, p< 0.0001 and 41.8 ± 14.6 mmHg, p< 0.0001). Also, each parameter of the arterial blood gases was improved significantly with NPPV usage. An echocardiographic assessment in the COPD patients having NPPV treatment due to acute respiratory failure, might be a useful and easy method to show an improvement of PAP as a supportive measure in the management of those patients, in addition to beneficial effects of that treatment on respiratory acidosis, hypercapnia and hypoxemia.

Purpose: This study was planned in order to analyze the effects of aerobic training in institutionalized elderly people who lead a sedentary life style. Materials and methods: A total of 25 residents volunteered in this study, but 12 were excluded, as they did not meet the inclusion criteria. The study was completed with 13 male (71.6±5.0 years). All of the subjects were evaluated for flexibility, balance ability, walking cadence by four physical therapists. In addition, Barach index, Dispne Scale and Borg Scale were used to determine fatigue level and energy expenditure at the beginning of every week. 13 subjects attended a 6-week walking program, which consisted of a warm-up, a circuit of walking and, cool-down period for 3 days in a week. Heart rate, blood pressure and respiratory rate were recorded for each session before and after the daily walking program. Both Dispne and Borg Scales were used at the beginning of each week. Barach index was used to calculate the energy consumption. Results: At the end of the 6-week walking program, all the subjects showed a significant improvement in flexibility (p

The aim of the this study was to observe possible changes in coagulation profiles in dogs with septic shock. A total of 30 dogs (control group n=10, test group n=20) were used as materials in this study. Although different diseases leading to septic shock were diagnosed in dogs in the test group, dogs were selected on the basis of septic shock criteria such as fever or hypothermia, hypotension. leukopenia or leukocytosis and thrombocytopenia. In addition to the results of rutine clinical and laboratory examination, prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), antithrombin III (AT III), fibrinogen and fibrin split products (FSP), as well as factors (F-VIII and F-IX) playing role in the coagulation mechanism,were evaluated. In the test group, clinical findings included fever (p