Figure 2
From: Rheological analysis of sputum from patients with chronic bronchial diseases
Temporal stability of sputum rheology. Evolution of the linear storage modulus, \(G'_{5\%}\), and critical stress, \(\sigma _c\), between consecutive replicates and between consecutive visits, for individual COPD (top) and CF patients (bottom). Each connected group of symbols corresponds to a single sputum sample; symbols are associated to individual patients. The horizontal bar in each replicate is the geometric mean. The variation factors are the ratios of replicates \(n+1\) and n taken individually, and of replicated values in each visit (bar: mean variation factor). The shaded area delimits variations (increase or reduction) by a factor smaller than two.
