Feature Channels: Respiratory Diseases and Disorders

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A Roundup of the Latest Medical Discoveries and Faculty News at Cedars-Sinai

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Infants from minoritized racial and ethnic backgrounds who have positive newborn screening tests for cystic fibrosis received their diagnostic follow-up for the disease later than recommended and later than white, non-Hispanic infants, according to a study published in the Journal of Cystic Fibrosis. The study also found that this delay in diagnosis and treatment was associated with worse early nutritional outcomes and may contribute to previously documented, considerable health disparities in people with cystic fibrosis.

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Penn State College of Medicine, in partnership with the American Academy of Family Physicians and DARTNet Institute, will receive a nearly $31 million funding award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to conduct a large-scale, comparative study on asthma therapies for patients 12 and older.

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Attending daycare in the first three years of life is linked with an increase in lung complications in children who were born prematurely and diagnosed with a form of chronic lung disease, according to new research led by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

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Findings provide the foundation for future therapeutic strategies by promoting repair of the pulmonary vascular system.

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UC San Diego researchers provide first insights into the fundamental cellular pathologies that drive interstitial lung disease in patients post-COVID.

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The latest research news in Climate Science on Newswise.

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Antisense oligonucleotides, or ASOs, are molecules that can be used to control protein levels in cells.

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A Phase II clinical trial of poziotinib for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) exon 20 mutations, led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, found the drug had significant antitumor activity and the efficacy was highly dependent on the location of the exon 20 loop insertion, which may impact future clinical trials for EGFR exon 20 targeted therapies.

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A monoclonal antibody treatment taken by patients hospitalized with COVID-19 did not improve recovery time but did reduce deaths, according to a study published July 8 in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

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Mayo Clinic's Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, the academic testing arm for Mayo Clinic Laboratories, has been accredited as a diagnostic site by the PCD Foundation. Mayo Clinic is the first and only center of excellence to receive PCD Foundation accreditation for the diagnosis of primary ciliary dyskinesia, a rare and debilitating lung disease.

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A new study published in BMJ using data from more than 100 hospitals in the United States Veterans Health Administration finds significantly more missed instances of low oxygen levels in Black patients than White patients due to inaccurate pulse oximeters.

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Users of fourth-generation nicotine-salt-containing devices, such as Juul and disposable devices, display a unique mix of cellular biomarkers indicative of immune suppression.

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Interstitial pneumonia with autoimmune features (IPAF) is a disease with many possible causes and no standard of care, making it particularly difficult to treat. While immunosuppressant drugs are primarily prescribed, they don’t work for all patients.

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The July issue of The American Journal of Gastroenterology highlights new clinical science including using a smartphone app to assess stool form, rural-urban disparities in cirrhosis mortality, and lung infection risk in severe alcohol-related hepatitis. This issue also includes articles on pediatric IBD, therapy options for Crohn’s disease, a novel endoscopic suturing device, proton pump inhibitors, and more.

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PhD in Public Health student examined disease trends and potential impacts of COVID-19 in northern Syria, underscores the need for enhanced infectious disease surveillance in areas facing humanitarian crisis to reduce the global spread of disease. Parts of the world facing conflict and humanitarian disaster tend to experience a high burden of disease, but their disease monitoring systems remain largely understudied.

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In support of the first World Bronchiectasis Day, July 1, the Forum of International Respiratory Societies – of which the American Thoracic Society is a founding member – is joining the COPD Foundation and several global organizations in raising awareness and sharing information about this lesser-known lung disease.

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A large multicenter, randomized clinical trial revealed no difference in the risk of endotracheal intubation requirement at 30 days between awake prone positioning and standard positioning for patients with COVID-19 who suffered from acute hypoxemic respiratory failure, according to research published in JAMA by researchers at UTHealth Houston.

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Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are leading a national study aimed at identifying patients with early-stage lung cancer who are at high risk of having the cancer return, even after surgery and chemotherapy appear to have eliminated their tumors. The research is supported by a $5.3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

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A group of researchers have identified potential novel drug candidates for the treatment of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma (MPM).

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There is a growing awareness that the design of clinical trials can be misleading and provide evidence that does not end up actually benefiting patients in the clinical setting.

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The American Thoracic Society applauds the FDA’s decision to remove Juul products from the U.S. marketplace. This decision is long overdue.

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Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Professor Christopher Vakoc’s team discovered in 2018 a new type of small-cell lung cancer. The cancer originates from cells known as tuft cells.

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A University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) student says his examination of the combined influence of dust and smoke on surface atmosphere temperatures in sub-Saharan Africa likely applies to conditions in the American West, now in its worst drought in over 1,200 years.

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Prescott Woodruff, MD, MPH, a renowned leader in the pathogenesis and treatment of airway disease, has been appointed chief of UC San Francisco’s Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy and Sleep Medicine. Prescott will assume the role of chief on July 1.

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A collaborative study from UT Southwestern scientists has identified a new function for a protein called TAO2 that appears to be key to inhibiting replication of the influenza virus, which sickens millions of individuals worldwide each year and kills hundreds of thousands. The findings were published in PNAS.

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A síndrome da COVID longa, também conhecida como pós-COVID, é mais que cansaço e falta de ar. Sintomas como dores de cabeça, confusão mental e zumbido nos ouvidos foram relatados e, recentemente, os médicos estão atendendo mais pacientes com problemas gastrointestinais.

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El síndrome de COVID prolongada, también conocido como síndrome poscovid, es más que sentir cansancio y falta de aire. Se ha informado también sobre síntomas como dolores de cabeza, bruma mental, tintineo en los oídos y, últimamente, los médicos ven más pacientes con problemas gastrointestinales.

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A decade after the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, some veterans find themselves with mysterious lung issues, seemingly attributable to exposure to burn pits.

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Cancer screening guidelines published last year expand eligibility for those at high risk for lung cancer, and new research shows that they also improve representation among African American patients.

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Here are some of the latest articles that have been added to the Aging channel on Newswise, a free source for journalists.

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A study led by the University of California, Irvine  shows a strong relationship between prolonged exposure to low levels of radon and lung cancer, indicating a need for enhanced protection measures.  Radon gas in the air decays into tiny radioactive particles which can damage lung cells and lead to cancer.

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McMaster University scientists who compared respiratory vaccine-delivery systems have confirmed that inhaled aerosol vaccines provide far better protection and stronger immunity than nasal sprays.

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In a new paper published today in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, a team led by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and the University of California San Diego report 20 new case studies on the use of the experimental treatment, showing the therapy’s success in more than half of the patients.

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A new project from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to develop a predictive model for how tiny virus particles behave in the lungs holds the potential to significantly impact COVID research. The fluid dynamics proposal was recently awarded a three-year National Science Foundation grant for $298,000.

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Investigators from the Women’s Guild Lung Institute at Cedars-Sinai have discovered that zinc, a common mineral, may reverse lung damage and improve survival for patients with a deadly age-related condition known as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

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Nearly 43% of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose lung cancers harbored a specific KRAS mutation responded to the experimental drug adagrasib, and the targeted agent also showed activity against lesions in the brain that metastasized from the lung tumors, according to results of a study led by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators.

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Blocking an immune response-related enzyme holds promise in preventing or treating severe COVID-19 symptoms by reducing inflammation, tissue injury and blood clots in the lungs, new research in mice suggests.

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New UCLA research published in The Journal of Physiology points to a novel treatment for respiratory depression associated with opioid use that administers electrical pulses to the back of the neck, helping patients regain respiratory control following high dosage opioid use. This could offer an alternative to pharmacological treatments, which can cause withdrawal symptoms, heart problems and can negatively affect the central nervous system.

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On World No Tobacco Day, May 31, the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS), of which the American Thoracic Society is a member, is voicing concerns over the tobacco industry’s impact on environmental health and ultimately lung health.

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Each year, nearly 4,000 children undergo a tracheostomy, the surgical placement of a breathing tube, and many experience bacterial respiratory infections. Despite the frequency of infections, there are no guidelines for how to prevent, diagnose or treat patients.

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At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, prone positioning was believed to be a potentially useful intervention – one that warranted further investigation. While some studies suggested awake prone positioning was safe, there was insufficient evidence to recommend using this strategy in clinical guidelines. COVI-PRONE, designed to provide robust evidence, included 21 hospitals in Canada, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United States. Researchers aimed to use prone positioning in hypoxemic COVID-19 patients for 8 to 10 hours per day, with 2 to 3 breaks, as needed. Participants in the control group were not proned and were asked not to position themselves in the prone position.