Human health and medicine

Respiratory distress of newborn

Respiratory distress of newborn (ICD-11 KB23): dyspnea with cyanosis, grunting, nasal flaring, retractions, and rate over 60/min. Common causes are transient tachypnea, RDS from surfactant deficiency, meconium aspiration, pneumonia, and sepsis.

Respiratory examination

Respiratory examination: structured chest assessment by inspection, palpation, percussion, and auscultation; rooted in Auenbrugger's percussion (1760) and Laennec's stethoscope (1816); auscultation is specific but insensitive (pooled 37% sensitivity, 89% specificity).

Respiratory failure

Respiratory failure: life-threatening impairment of oxygenation or carbon dioxide elimination, defined by PaO2 50 mmHg; classified as hypoxemic or hypercapnic and managed with oxygen, NIV, HFNC, or mechanical ventilation.

Respiratory failure of newborn

Respiratory failure of newborn (neonatal respiratory failure, ICD-11 KB2D) is acute or chronic failure of a newborn to oxygenate or clear CO2, requiring respiratory support; causes include RDS, sepsis, and TTN, with in-hospital mortality 0.21–57.3%.

Respiratory gating

Respiratory gating is a medical imaging and radiotherapy technique that delivers imaging or radiation only during a chosen window of the breathing cycle, reducing motion artifacts.

Respiratory management of Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Respiratory management of Duchenne muscular dystrophy is the program of monitoring lung function, assisted coughing, sleep-disordered breathing care, and noninvasive ventilation, which extends survival into the fourth decade.

Respiratory muscle training

Respiratory muscle training (RMT) is a rehabilitation method that strengthens the diaphragm and other breathing muscles by breathing repeatedly against a resistance or pressure-threshold load, usually with a hand-held device.

Respiratory Protective Devices

Respiratory protective devices (respirators, gas masks, air-purifying respirators) protect against airborne dusts, fumes, gases, and vapors; NIOSH-certified under 42 CFR 84, OSHA-regulated, including N95 FFRs, elastomeric, and PAPR types.

Respiratory rate

Respiratory rate (RR), breathing rate, breaths per minute: a core vital sign, normal 12–20 in adults, scored in NEWS2; manual counting is error-prone, capnography is the gold standard.

Respiratory research

Respiratory Research (Respir Res), an open access BioMed Central/Springer Nature journal founded in 2000 by Peter Barnes, publishing translational and clinical respiratory medicine; 2025 impact factor 5.7, ISSN 1465-9921/1465-993X.

Respiratory sounds

Respiratory sounds (lung sounds, breath sounds) are air-movement noises heard on auscultation: normal bronchial, vesicular, and bronchovesicular sounds plus adventitious crackles, wheezes, rhonchi, stridor, and rubs, now analyzed by AI stethoscopes.

Respiratory syncytial virus vaccine

A respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine protects against lower respiratory tract disease caused by RSV. Three vaccines, Arexvy, Abrysvo, and mResvia, are FDA-licensed for adults.

Respiratory syncytial virus vaccine, adjuvanted

Respiratory syncytial virus vaccine, adjuvanted (Arexvy, RSVPreF3/AS01E, GSK) is the first FDA-approved RSV vaccine (May 3, 2023), a recombinant prefusion F protein vaccine for adults 60+, later 18–59 at increased risk, with 82.6% first-season efficacy and a GBS warning.

Respiratory system

Respiratory system: the organ system exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide across the alveolar blood-gas barrier via ventilation and perfusion. Key facts: V/Q matching governs efficiency; COPD caused 3.4 million deaths in 2023.

Respiratory System Diagnostic Techniques

Respiratory system diagnostic techniques: lung function tests (spirometry, pulse oximetry, DLCO), chest imaging (X-ray, CT, MRI), and bronchoscopy with EBUS, used step by step to diagnose and monitor lung disease.

Respiratory therapist

Respiratory therapist (RT), also called respiratory care practitioner: allied health professional treating breathing disorders such as asthma and COPD; US median pay $82,280 (May 2025), 142,000 jobs, CRT/RRT credentials, licensure in all states except Alaska.

Respiratory Therapy

Respiratory therapy (respiratory care) is the health care discipline treating cardiopulmonary dysfunction; respiratory therapists, credentialed CRT/RRT by the NBRC and licensed in 49 states, evolved from 1940s oxygen orderlies, with $82,280 median pay and 9% projected job growth.

Respiratory tract

Respiratory tract: the airways carrying air from nose and mouth to the alveoli. Divided into upper (nose, sinuses, pharynx, larynx) and lower (trachea, bronchi, lungs) tracts, with conducting and gas-exchange zones.

Respiratory tract infection

Respiratory tract infection (RTI): infection of the sinuses, throat, airways, or lungs, divided into upper and lower RTIs. Mostly viral (flu, COVID-19, RSV, common cold); most resolve in 1-2 weeks; antibiotics only for bacterial causes like pneumonia.

Respiratory tuberculosis, not confirmed

Respiratory tuberculosis, not confirmed (ICD-11 1B10.1; ICD-10 A16) is the WHO classification category for respiratory TB presumed on clinical or radiological evidence without bacteriological or histological confirmation, equivalent to clinically diagnosed TB.

Respiratory-Gated Imaging Techniques

Respiratory-gated imaging techniques, also called gated imaging techniques, respiratory, time medical image acquisition to points in the breathing cycle to reduce motion blur in MRI, CT, and PET, and coordinate radiation beam on/off cycles in gated radiotherapy.

Respite care

Respite care (temporary relief care for family caregivers; lifespan respite) is planned or emergency short-term care for people with special needs, dementia, or disabilities, lasting hours to weeks; only 14% of US caregivers receive it, funded via Medicaid waivers, Medicare hospice/GUIDE, and VA programs.

Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors

The Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) are standardized rules for measuring solid tumors on CT and MRI and classifying treatment response, introduced in 2000.

Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012

Republic Act 10354, the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012 (RH Law), is the Philippine national policy guaranteeing access to non-abortifacient contraceptives and reproductive health services; signed December 21, 2012, upheld with modifications by the Supreme Court in Imbong v. Ochoa (2014).

Responsive neurostimulation

Responsive neurostimulation (RNS) is an implanted closed-loop brain device that detects abnormal electrical activity at a patient's seizure focus and delivers stimulation to reduce seizures in drug-resistant focal epilepsy.

Rest tremor

Rest tremor: involuntary rhythmic shaking of a body part not voluntarily activated and supported against gravity; the classic 4-6 Hz pill-rolling tremor of Parkinson's disease, distinguished from action tremor.

Resting potential

Resting potential (resting membrane potential, RMP): the inside-negative voltage across a cell membrane at rest, about -70 mV in neurons, set mainly by K+ leak permeability and maintained by the Na+/K+-ATPase, described by Nernst and GHK equations.

Resting-state fMRI

Resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) is a functional MRI method that maps functional connectivity between brain regions by measuring spontaneous BOLD signal fluctuations while the subject performs no task.

Restless legs syndrome

Restless legs syndrome (Willis-Ekbom disease): neurological disorder causing an urge to move the legs at rest, worse at night. Linked to brain iron deficiency, dopamine dysfunction, BTBD9/MEIS1 genes; treated with iron, gabapentinoids, avoiding dopamine agonist augmentation.