30
votes
Accepted
Is "smokers lungs" a lie?
So my question is: Are smokers' lungs visibly and routinely blackened and/or discolored in the absence of lung disease?
That last phrase is tricky, because smokers who have heavy pigmentation are ...
- 9,334
7
votes
Accepted
How far away from a highway should I live to avoid negative health effects?
To answer this question you would need to find the source of the information. I found the study mentioned in the article in the Toronto Star (Chen, et al. 2017); and while studying risks of dementia, ...
- 6,154
6
votes
What study materials can a layperson use to gain a deeper understanding of lung cancer?
Cancer can be one of the most complicated concepts in medicine, not only because of the pathophysiology of cancer, but the complicated statistics involved in the epidemiology of the diseases and ...
- 5,754
5
votes
What is the significance of 1 second in calculations of PFTs
In the case of spirometry, after taking the deepest possible breath, there are two values used most often:
FVC (forced vital capacity) is the total volume of air that the person can exhale. There ...
- 5,754
5
votes
Is it possible for the lungs and heart to work independently of one another?
The above answer is correct: no they can't function independently. I want to build on that answer with a couple additional points.
Consider that your heart beats while you hold your breath - but it ...
- 5,754
5
votes
Accepted
Is it possible for the lungs and heart to work independently of one another?
You're overlooking one important point: Both the heart and lungs are living tissue too, and without both circulating blood and oxygen they will die just like all the other tissues in the body. So no, ...
- 9,674
5
votes
Is asthma a disease?
This is very dependent on what one defines as a disease. There are people who only count acute conditions and/or infections as "diseases" though I wouldn't have expected a doctor to make this ...
- 6,982
4
votes
Accepted
What safety precautions should I take after spilling isopropyl alcohol?
About all you can do is ventilate the room and wait for it to evaporate, which shouldn't take long. It's hard to say exactly how long without knowing the type of carpet, ambient temperature, relative ...
- 9,674
4
votes
Avoiding acute mountain sickness, high altitude pulmonary & cerebral edema
I checked literature on this and found that following general measures are helpful to prevent acute mountain sickness, high altitude cerebral edema (HACE) and high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE):
...
- 1,770
4
votes
How far away from a highway should I live to avoid negative health effects?
There are many factors to consider. The pollution level (and risk) depends on at least the following:
typical wind direction during rush hour
density of trees between you and the road
elevation ...
- 41
4
votes
Accepted
What is 'Rising of the lights' as a death?
According to the Glossary of Old Medical Terms by Craig Thornber:
Rising of the Lights: croup - any obstructive condition of the larynx or trachea (windpipe), characterised by a hoarse, barking ...
- 1,513
4
votes
What is the cause of the vaping-related outbreak of lung injuries?
There are some data about possible causes of vaping-related lung damage, the type of the damage and symptoms, but not about the changes in medical history questionnaires, vaping habits or e-cigarette ...
- 15.8k
4
votes
Acute symptoms from radon gas exposure
Answer
Overview
To summarise, even when radon gas accumulates at what we consider high levels, it is still a relatively low amount of ionising radiation compared to other events, partly because of the ...
- 2,974
3
votes
Inspiratory and Expiratory Muscle Training
The Powerbreathe is an inspiratory muscle trainer promoted as improving inspiratory muscle strength (and consequently exercise performance) in athletes and patients with respiratory disease. No ...
- 706
3
votes
Accepted
Is it possible to spread cough even if I'm not coughing?
No, it just happens and you're overthinking about it. It means absolutely nothing.
Cough is a protective reflex, which helps to clear the large breathing passages from fluids, irritants, foreign ...
- 424
3
votes
Accepted
Too much sitting as bad as smoking?
If we compare the average increase in all-cause mortality due to sitting (approximately 50% according to meta-study published on NHS) and the average all-cause mortality due to smoking (aproximately ...
- 46
3
votes
Accepted
Is it dangerous to inhale agar-agar jelly
You can't.
Considering that agar melting temperature is approximately 85-95C / 176-185F and coals burns at around 200C / 392F at rest, providing temperature of at least 100C / 212F inside the bowl, ...
- 81
3
votes
how to clean ex smokers lungs
The cited article offers no mechanisms of action, no data to corroborate the claims, and no research (not even observational). It merely makes unsubstantiated claims and offers them as fact. As I ...
- 1,390
3
votes
Accepted
What kind of doctor or physician do I need to consult for continuous coughing?
Dry cough is most often non-inflammatory. If you had a flu or influenza prior to the beginning of the symptoms, then you might suffer from something post-viral. It is usually self-limiting. (Wikipedia)...
- 2,312
3
votes
Why is leg length associated with respiratory function?
Your link doesn't say that. They say that they found no relationship between asthma and final height in the study population.
But height is used to produce predicted lung volumes, and the explanation ...
- 13.2k
3
votes
Is or could lung lavage be used to treat or at least reduce the time required on a respirator for COVID19 patients?
The current guidelines for treatment of Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome do not recommend such treatment.
In SARDS associated with covid-19 disease there is alveolar collapse due to infection and ...
- 13.2k
3
votes
Bike pump as a ventilator?
Even a cursory reading of the spec indicates that this will not work.
Specification
Must: Defines the minimum viable product clinically acceptable by clinicians [...]
RMCPAP must ...
- 131
3
votes
Is there a nonchronic disease with similar effects to lungs like those of emphysema?
Yes, damage to the alveolar walls or the reduction in surface area for gaseous exchange can be reversible. Additionally, acute (non-chronic) conditions can cause these circumstances. For example, in ...
- 301
2
votes
Bleomycin and Cannabis
If you are concerned about your lungs you could try to use edibles. They will not have any effect on your lungs.
However you should be careful because the onset of edibles takes longer (generally ...
2
votes
By how much does former smoking reduce one's lifespan?
This has to be a speculative answer. Putting a Number on Smoking’s Toll?
Important is this:
People who quit between 25 and 34 years of age gained about 10 years of life compared to those who ...
- 6,867
2
votes
Accepted
How to breath better when you live in a big city?
Leave open the window of my room all day is dangerous for me ?
No. There are even more particles in a confined room that there is outside.
Should I avoid walking or running along traffic queues ?
...
- 241
2
votes
Accepted
What is the cause of the vaping-related outbreak of lung injuries?
While it could still be a mixture of acute reasons: metals, dust, plainly unknown toxins; the underlying reason seems not to be that plant matter is vaped, nor that liquids are vaped.
It also seems ...
- 6,867
2
votes
Can tumor size (T) and presence of cancer in the lymph nodes (N) in patients with lung cancer be identified on the first visit?
It is not likely that at the first visit, a doctor will even know if there is a cancer or not. One likely scenario is:
During the first visit, a doctor (a primary doctor or lung specialist) usually ...
- 15.8k
2
votes
Does oxygen supplementation in case of pneumonia cause effects other than possibly preventing hypoxemia?
Hyperoxygenation causes vasoconstriction and increased systemic vascular resistance. This can be good in some circumstances and bad in others.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3672526/
...
- 61
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible