The healthy lung has previously been considered to be a sterile organ because standard
microbiological culture techniques consistently yield negative results. However, culture …

We describe the adaptation into Spanish of the St George's Respiratory Questionnaire
(SGRQ), a self-administered questionnaire developed by Jones et al.(1991) covering three …

To assess whether generic and specific health-related quality of life (HRQL) are
independently associated with total and specific mortality in patients with chronic obstructive …

Background Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is increasingly considered a
heterogeneous condition. It was hypothesised that COPD, as currently defined, includes …

INTRODUCTION: Although asthma and COPD are different pathologies, many patients
share characteristics from both entities. These cases can have different evolutions and …

Background The culture of bronchial secretions from the lower airway has been reported to
be positive for potentially pathogenic microorganisms (PPMs) in patients with stable chronic …

Culture of bacteria from bronchial secretions in respiratory patients has low sensitivity and
does not allow for complete assessment of microbial diversity across different bronchial …

Bronchial colonization by potentially pathogenic microorganisms (PPMs) is often
demonstrated in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but culture-based …

The bronchial microbiome in severe COPD during stability and exacerbation in patients
chronically colonised by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA), has not been defined. Our …

The introduction of culture-independent techniques for the microbiological analysis of
respiratory samples has confirmed that the respiratory system hosts a large number of …