ORCID Profile
0000-0001-9003-3188
Current Organisation
UNSW Sydney
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Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-2022
DOI: 10.14814/PHY2.15519
Publisher: European Respiratory Society (ERS)
Date: 06-05-2021
DOI: 10.1183/23120541.00192-2021
Abstract: Swallowing disorders occur in COPD, but little is known about tongue strength and mastication. This is the first assessment in COPD of tongue strength and a test of mastication and swallowing solids (TOMASS). Anterior tongue strength measures were obtained in 18 people with COPD, aged 73±11 years (mean± sd ), and 19 healthy age-matched controls, aged 72±6 years. Swallowing dynamics were assessed using an eating assessment tool (EAT-10), timed water swallow test (TWST), and TOMASS. Swallowing measures were compared to an inhibitory reflex (IR) in the inspiratory muscles to airway occlusion (recorded previously in the same participants). Tongue strength was similar between COPD and controls (p=0.715). Self-assessed scores of dysphagia EAT-10 were higher (p=0.024) and swallowing times were prolonged for liquids (p=0.022) and solids (p=0.003) in the COPD group. During TWST, ∼30% of COPD group showed clinical signs of airway invasion (cough and wet voice), but none in the control group. For solids, the COPD group had ∼40% greater number of chews (p=0.004), and twofold-higher number of swallows (p=0.0496). Respiratory rate was 50% higher in COPD group than controls (p .001). The presence of an IR was not related to better swallowing outcomes, but signs of airway invasion were associated with a delayed IR. Dysphagia in stable COPD is not due to impaired anterior tongue strength, but rather swallowing–breathing discoordination. To address dysphagia, aspiration and acute exacerbations in COPD, therapeutic targets to improve swallowing dynamics could be investigated further.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 24-09-2018
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 17-11-2017
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2018
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-2015
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 2017
DOI: 10.1213/ANE.0000000000001690
Abstract: The United Nations 2015 Millennium Development Goals targeted a 75% reduction in maternal mortality. However, in spite of this goal, the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births remains unacceptably high across Sub-Saharan Africa. Because many of these deaths could likely be averted with access to safe surgery, including cesarean delivery, we set out to assess the capacity to provide safe anesthetic care for mothers in the main referral hospitals in East Africa. A cross-sectional survey was conducted at 5 main referral hospitals in East Africa: Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi. Using a questionnaire based on the World Federation of the Societies of Anesthesiologists (WFSA) international guidelines for safe anesthesia, we interviewed anesthetists in these hospitals, key informants from the Ministry of Health and National Anesthesia Society of each country (Supplemental Digital Content, links.lww.com/AA/B561). Using the WFSA checklist as a guide, none of respondents had all the necessary requirements available to provide safe obstetric anesthesia, and only 7% reported adequate anesthesia staffing. Availability of monitors was limited, and those that were available were often nonfunctional. The paucity of local protocols, and lack of intensive care unit services, also contributed significantly to poor maternal outcomes. For a population of 142.9 million in the East African community, there were only 237 anesthesiologists, with a workforce density of 0.08 in Uganda, 0.39 in Kenya, 0.05 in Tanzania, 0.13 in Rwanda, and 0.02 anesthesiologists in Burundi per 100,000 population in each country. We identified significant shortages of both the personnel and equipment needed to provide safe anesthetic care for obstetric surgical cases across East Africa. There is a need to increase the number of physician anesthetists, to improve the training of nonphysician anesthesia providers, and to develop management protocols for obstetric patients requiring anesthesia. This will strengthen health systems and improve surgical outcomes in developing countries. More funding is required for training physician anesthetists if developing countries are to reach the targeted specialist workforce density of the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery of 20 surgical, anesthetic, and obstetric physicians per 100,000 population by 2030.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-10-2018
Publisher: American Physiological Society
Date: 07-2021
DOI: 10.1152/JAPPLPHYSIOL.00017.2021
Abstract: A potent short-latency reflex inhibition of inspiratory muscles produced by airway occlusion was tested in people with COPD and age-matched controls. The reflex was more prevalent in COPD, presumably due to an increased neural drive to breathe. When present, the reflex was similar in duration in the two groups, longer than historical data for younger control groups. The work reveals novel differences in reflex control of inspiratory muscles due to aging as well as COPD.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2015
No related grants have been discovered for Isabella Epiu.