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Background: Strategies to predict delayed airway obstruction in patients with inhalation injury have not been extensively studied. This study aimed to develop a novel scale, predicting the need for Delayed Intubation after inhalation injury (PDI) score.Methods: We retrospectively identified patients with inhalation injury at four tertiary care centers in Japan between 2012 and 2018. We included patients aged 15 or older and excluded those intubated within 30 min after hospital arrival. Predictors for delayed intubation were identified with univariate analyses and scored on the basis of odds ratios. The PDI score was evaluated with the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve and compared with other scaling systems for burn injuries.Results: Data from 158 patients were analyzed; of these patients, 18 (11.4%) were intubated during the delayed phase. Signs of respiratory distress, facial burn, and pharyngolaryngeal swelling observed on laryngoscopy, were identified as predictors for delayed intubation. The discriminatory power of the PDI (AUROC curve = 0.90; 95% confidence interval, 0.83 to 0.97; p < 0.01) was higher than that of the other scaling systems.Conclusions: We developed a novel scale for predicting delayed intubation in inhalation injury. The score should be further validated with other population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among all of the requirements for carbon materials used in electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs), specific surface area (SSA) and electrical conductivity is a pair of mutual competing demands. In this paper, a series of frame-filling structural nanoporous carbons were prepared using an amphiphilic mixture of graphite oxide and a coal tar pitch-based carbonaceous material as precursor ensuring a high carbon yield. In the final porous composites, the few-layer graphene microsheets derived from graphite oxide contribute to the conductive frame construction by randomly cross-stacking during exfoliation and thermal reduction, while nanoparticles derived from coal tar pitch-based carbonaceous material fill into the frame and chemically bind on the surface of graphene microsheets of about 2 nm in thickness. The SSA is up to 2441 m 2 g −1 and the electrical conductivity is 179 S/m. It has energy storage superiorities over an ordinary nanoporous carbon, rendering a shortened relaxation time constant (5.34 s), improved gravimetric capacitance (115.4 F/g) as well as cyclic stability in 10,000 cycles with 87.8% capacity retention in 1 M TEABF 4 /PC electrolyte. The frame-filling structural nanoporous carbon shows great potential for blocks or high-capacity energy storage system by complex serial-parallel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The pulmonary function test (PFT) has played an essential role in diagnosing and managing interstitial lung disease (ILD) but has its contraindications and difficult conditions to perform. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate dynamic chest radiography (DCR) ability to predict forced vital capacity (FVC) and other PFT parameters of ILD patients.Method: The prospective observational study included 97 patients who underwent DCR at Tenri Hospital (Tenri, Japan) between June 2019 and April 2020. Twenty-five patients with stable disease status underwent DCR twice to evaluate test-retest reliability using the intraclass correlation coefficient. From the lung field areas measured by DCR, lung volumes at maximum inspiration (V.ins) and expiration (V.exp) were estimated. Correlation coefficients between the measured values of DCR and PFT parameters were calculated. Multilinear models for predicting FVC and other PFT parameters were developed.Results: Intraclass correlation coefficients between first and second measurements of V.ins and V.exp were 0.94 (95% CI: 0.89-0.97, p < 0.001) and 0.88 (95% CI: 0.78-0.94, p < 0.001), respectively. The correlation coefficient between V.ins and FVC was 0.86 (95% CI: 0.79-0.90, p < 0.001). A multilinear model for predicting FVC was developed using V.ins, V.exp, age, sex, and body mass index as predictor variables, wherein the adjusted coefficient of determination was 0.814.Conclusions: Lung volumes measured by DCR correlated with the lung function of ILD patients. Prediction models with high predictive power and internal validity were developed, suggesting that DCR can predict FVC and other PFT parameters of ILD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]