Cardiopulmonary

Cardiac disease complicated by respiratory insufficiency comprises the most frequent indication for cardiac intensive care unit (CICU) admission, with nearly one-third patients requiring advanced respiratory support and over 20% patients requiring invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV). IMV among patients with impaired cardiovascular reserve is further compounded by the adverse impact of positive pressure ventilation (PPV) and systemic sedation on intracardiac hemodynamics, pulmonary vascular mechanics and consequently end-organ perfusion. Despite widespread use, evidence guiding optimal ventilatory practices and mode selection in cardiovascular intensive care unit patients remains limited. Pressure-controlled and volume-controlled ventilation may differ in their effects on patient-ventilator synchrony, sedation requirements, and hemodynamic impact, but comparative data among patients with critical cardiac disease remains inconclusive. This pilot study will evaluate the feasibility of implementing a pragmatic cluster-randomized crossover trial comparing ventilatory modes in a contemporary cardiovascular intensive care unit.

The main objective of this study is to develop baseline "normal" reference values of both lung and heart function for healthy adults within the age range relevant to the United States Veteran population who served in the Southwest Asia theater of military operations. This study will involve performing key components of the Department of Veterans Affairs the Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Center of Excellence (AHOBPCE) and a VA network of Post-Deployment Cardiopulmonary Evaluation Network (PDCEN) Core Clinical Evaluation in asymptomatic unexposed healthy controls without known lung or heart disease to serve as a "normal" control comparator group for veterans evaluated by PDCEN.

This study plans to learn more about ways to look at participant's lungs using new machines called Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT). The EIT does not use harmful radiation like CT or x-ray. It is read through electrodes like using EKG reading heartbeats. The investigators want to compare the results of patients who have chronic respiratory disease to patients without chronic respiratory disease to learn more about lung structure and composition.

In this study, the hypothesis being explored is that VO2Max and other CPET parameters can be accurately estimated from biosignals (namely, motion from accelerometers and cardiopulmonary variables from EKG) collected during activities of daily living using wearable biosensors worn by study participants. This study will aim to collect development and validation data for a machine learning algorithm and to evaluate the performance of the algorithm. A total of 1000 participants will be enrolled including: (Normal) 100 participants, self-reported healthy male and female participants aged 18 to 80 and (Standard of Care) 900 participants.

The study will be conducted in a school setting, involving a randomized control trial (RCT) of 178 children aged 6 to 12. The participants will be divided into two groups: a control group engaging in regular physical education (PE) classes and an experimental group practicing rope skipping for 50 minutes, three times a week, over a period of 8 weeks. Cardiopulmonary fitness will be assessed before and after the intervention using the borg rating scale and talk test of perceived exertion.. Data will be analyzed to determine changes in endurance, heart rate recovery, and lung function between the groups. The expected outcome is a significant improvement in cardiopulmonary parameters among the rope-skipping group, highlighting the exercise's effectiveness in promoting heart and lung health in children.