According to the given case scenario Ms. Jones is a 67-year-old female and currently experiencing cardiovascular issues such as elevated heart rate and excessive coughing. She has history of hypertension, COPD, hyperlipidemia and vitamin D deficiency. Considering current symptoms of Ms. Jones, she has been recommended for a diagnosis of pneumonia.  

Answer 1

X-ray study is considered a conventional laboratory method for diagnosing pneumonia. In this very specific aspect, radiologists usually look for white spots in the lungs, also known as infiltrates (Wootton & Feldman, 2014). Acording to current evidence, a pulmonary infiltrate is considered a substance denser than air for example, protein, pus or blood which significantly lingets within lungs’ parenchyma Kelly et al., (2016).  Pulmonary infiltrates are commonly associated with some transmissible diseases like tuberculosis and pneumonia. This radiological laboratory findings also help in determining pneumonia associated complications.

Answer 2

According to current evidences, pneumonia can be of two different types including community acquired pneumonia (CAP) and hospital acquired pneumonia (HAP)
(Tschernig, 2016). In this specific aspect CAP is usually defined as an acute infection of the pulmonary parenchyma in an individual who has specifically acquired the infection in the community, as differentiated from hospital-acquired (nosocomial) pneumonia (HAP). On the other hand, HAP is defined pneumonia that specifically takes place a minimum of 48 hours or more following hospital admission and not present at admission time (Tschernig, 2016). In case of Ms Jones, there is no evidence, that she has acquired the infection following her hospital admission.  Apart from that, considering the severity of the condition and the clinical signs and symptoms, Ms. Jones is currently experiencing, it can be stated that, she has been acquired the infection from her community setting.  

According to current evidence, it can be stated that both patients of CAP and HAP did not vary greatly in aspects of chronic comorbidities and age with exception of CAP (Tschernig, 2016). However, COPD is comparatively more common in patients with CAP.  According to relevant score assessment, it has been elicited that severity of both CAP and HAP is almost same.  In term of expression of plasma biomarkers, both CAP and HAP display activation of coagulation and systematic inflammation (Tschernig, 2016).  Apart from that, patients of both HAP and CAP elicited alterations that specifically indicated disturbance of vascular integration.  Differences, in this specific aspect can be defined as comparatively lower levels of MMP-8 and soluble E selection in HAP in comparison with CAP (Tschernig, 2016).  However, expression of protein C is found comparatively higher in case of HAP than CAP (Tschernig, 2016).