Feature Channels: Respiratory Diseases and Disorders

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at Penn Medicine have discovered that the tumor suppressor gene folliculin (FLCN) is essential to normal lung function in patients with the rare disease Birt-Hogg-Dube (BHD) syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects the lungs, skin and kidneys. Folliculin’s absence or mutated state has a cascading effect that leads to deteriorated lung integrity and an impairment of lung function, as reported in their findings in the current issue of Cell Reports.

• share
• favorite_border

Severe and sometimes fatal lung disease caused by a group of bacteria in the same family as those that cause tuberculosis is much more common than previously thought, with Caucasians 55 and older at greatest risk, report researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine.

• share
• favorite_border

The American Thoracic Society has developed clinical practice guidelines to help clinicians identify and manage patients with sickle cell disease who are at increased risk for mortality from pulmonary hypertension.

• share
• favorite_border

A simple questionnaire that rates breathing difficulties on a scale of 0 to 3 predicts survival in chronic graft-vs.-host disease, according to a study published in the March issue of Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation.

• share
• favorite_border

Leftover cigarette smoke that clings to walls and furniture is a smelly nuisance, but now research suggests that it could pose a far more serious threat, especially to young children who put toys and other smoke-affected items into their mouths. Scientists reported today at the 247th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society that one of the tobacco-specific nitrosamines newly formed in “third-hand smoke” damages DNA and could potentially cause cancer.

• share
• favorite_border

Broadly suppressing the immune system after lung transplantation may inadvertently encourage organ rejection, according to a new study in mice.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have invented a new method for designing artificial proteins and have used it to make key ingredients for a candidate vaccine against a dangerous virus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a significant cause of infant mortality.

• share
• favorite_border

A team of researchers, led by physicians and scientists at Intermountain Medical Center and ARUP Laboratories in Salt Lake City, has made a medical breakthrough by discovering genetic mutations that cause a rare and deadly lung disease.

• share
• favorite_border

Study: patients taking crizotinib for ALK+ non-small cell lung cancer may safely and durably use up to three courses of targeted radiation therapy to eradicate pockets of drug-resistant disease.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

Specific compounds found in exhaled breath may help diagnose lung cancer in its early stages

• share
• favorite_border

More than 25 million people in the United States have asthma, a chronic lung disease that inflames and narrows the airways causing recurring periods of wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath and coughing. Although several types of drugs are available to treat asthma, long-acting beta agonists (LABAs) are among the most commonly used and work well for most people. However, for a small subgroup of people with asthma, LABAs can cause severe, life-threatening side effects and carry a boxed safety warning from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine finds that rural residents have experienced smaller gains in life expectancy than their urban counterparts and the gap continues to grow.

• share
• favorite_border

Promising results from a Phase III study published in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine finds upper airway electronic stimulation to be effective in reducing obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) symptoms.

• share
• favorite_border

Your nose is not the only organ in your body that can sense cigarette smoke wafting through the air. Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have shown that your lungs have odor receptors as well. The odor receptors in your lungs are in the membranes of flask-shaped neuroendocrine cells that dump neurotransmitters and neuropeptides when the receptors are stimulated, perhaps triggering you to cough to rid your body of the offending substance.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers have found evidence that some chronic sinus issues may be the result of inflammation.

• share
• favorite_border

A recent Mayo Clinic study found that people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are about twice as likely to develop mild cognitive impairment (MCI) -- and chances are that it will include memory loss. The study was recently published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

• share
• favorite_border

The lifesaving benefit of CT lung cancer screening significantly outweighs the comparatively modest overdiagnosis rate noted in a Dec. 9 JAMA Internal Medicine article. The ACR will continue guideline and appropriateness criteria creation to support such screening programs across the country.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study review authored by the University of Kentucky's Dr. David Mannino examines the gender differences in the prevalence, pathophysiology, and clinical presentation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and how this information may ultimately be used to identify areas for future work.

• share
• favorite_border

Experts from the world’s leading lung organisations have come together for the first time to call for a worldwide effort to improve healthcare policies, systems and care delivery to make a positive difference to the lung health of the world.

• share
• favorite_border

An international scientific team has discovered a gene associated with a high risk of severe childhood asthma. The specific gene variant may be an actual cause of this form of asthma, a leading cause of hospitalization in young children.

• share
• favorite_border

New findings show IV infusions of vitamin C can improve skeletal muscle fatigue in COPD patients, further implicating the role of oxidative stress in the skeletal muscle problems that accompany the disease.

• share
• favorite_border

A list released today identified five commonly performed tests and procedures in pulmonary medicine that may not always be necessary. The list, part of the ABIM Foundation’s Choosing Wisely® campaign, was produced by a collaborative task force assembled by the American Thoracic Society (ATS) and the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP).

• share
• favorite_border

Treating aggressive lung cancer with the diabetes drug metformin along with radiation and chemotherapy may slow tumor growth and recurrence, suggests new preliminary findings from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania being presented during an oral abstract session October 28 at the 15th World Conference on Lung Cancer.

• share
• favorite_border

To address the global phenomenon of disparities in respiratory health, the American Thoracic Society and the European Respiratory Society have released an official policy statement in which each pledges its commitment to reducing health disparities between the lowest and highest socioeconomic groups by continuing or initiating work with leaders from governments, academia, and other organizations to promote scientific inquiry and training, disseminate medical information and best practices, and monitor and advocate for public respiratory health.

• share
• favorite_border

After a decade of rapidly growing industrial use, unimaginably tiny particles surround us everywhere, every day, in everything we do. Used in the manufacturing of cosmetics, clothing, paints, food, drug delivery systems and many other familiar products we all use daily, little is known about the effects these materials have on health. A research team led by Timothy R. Nurkiewicz, Ph.D., associate professor in the WVU School of Medicine Department of Physiology and Pharmacology and researcher in the Center for Cardiovascular and Respiratory Sciences, is finding inhalation of engineered nanomaterials negatively impacts gestational development in animal models.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine from researchers at the University of Oviedo in Spain, St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Canada, and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University Pennsylvania found a molecular mechanism that may explain the connection between mechanical ventilation and hippocampal damage in ICU patients.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study confirms the lasting legacy of smoking. In the study, researchers exposed animal mothers to nicotine during pregnancy—a proxy for smoking—and found the grandchildren were also at an increased risk for asthma, despite the grandchildren never having been exposed to nicotine themselves.

• share
• favorite_border

An international study led by a Johns Hopkins pulmonary expert finds that the drug tiotropium (marketed as the Spiriva brand), can be delivered safely and effectively to people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in both “mist” and traditional “dry powder” inhalers.

• share
• favorite_border

The highest lung function was found in individuals from North America and Europe. This was followed by South America, Middle East, China, sub-Saharan Africa, Malaysia and South Asia. South Asians had the lowest lung function, by 30% compared to North Americans and Europeans.

• share
• favorite_border

New research shows that pregnant women who smoke as well as having asthma are greatly increasing the risk of complications for themselves and their unborn children.

• share
• favorite_border

The American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS), a professional organization of surgeons dedicated to the diagnosis, treatment, and cure of diseases of the chest, strongly supports the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) draft recommendation for lung cancer screening of asymptomatic smokers.

• share
• favorite_border

Investigators at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have described another link in the chain of events that connect acute viral infections to the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

• share
• favorite_border

A University of Iowa study has found that bigger lungs appear to improve the survival for patients receiving double-lung transplants. The UI team used a new formula based on height and gender to match lung donors and recipients and to calculate optimnal lung sizes for transplant patients. Results published in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

• share
• favorite_border

The American Thoracic Society has released new clinical practice guidelines on the classification, evaluation and management of childhood interstitial lung disease (chILD) in infants.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists seeking to harness the healing power of a miniscule signaling molecule that plays a critical role in certain acute and chronic diseases have been awarded a Program Project Grant (PPG) of nearly $10 million by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health.

• share
• favorite_border

The deadly condition known as pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), which afflicts up to 150,000 Americans each year, may be reversible by using an inhalable gene therapy, report an international team of researchers led by investigators at the Cardiovascular Research Center at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

• share
• favorite_border

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is today releasing a draft recommendation for using low-dose computed tomography (CT) to screen those at high risk for lung cancer. The recommendations will be posted on the USPSTF website at 5 p.m. ET today.

• share
• favorite_border

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with an increased risk of developing cerebral microbleeds, according to a new study from researchers in the Netherlands.

• share
• favorite_border

Simultaneously elevated levels of the biomarkers C-reactive protein, fibrinogen and leukocyte count in individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were associated with increased risk of having exacerbations, even in those with milder COPD and in those without previous exacerbations, according to a study in the June 12 issue of JAMA.

• share
• favorite_border

An Indiana U. study found that an omega-3 supplement derived from the New Zealand green-lipped mussel improved lung function and reduced airway inflammation in asthmatics with exercise-induced asthma.

• share
• favorite_border

Bioresorbable splint created, used for first time at University of Michigan, successfully stopped life-threatening tracheobronchomalacia, case featured in New England Journal of Medicine.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study from researchers in Japan indicates that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is independently associated with visceral (abdominal) fat accumulation only in men, perhaps explaining gender differences in the impact of OSA on cardiovascular disease and mortality.

• share
• favorite_border

More than 40 percent of patients being treated for COPD at a federally funded clinic did not have the disease, researchers found after evaluating the patients with spirometry, the diagnostic “gold standard” for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

• share
• favorite_border

African-Americans are less likely than whites and women are more likely than men to have had a prior diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) regardless of their current disease severity, according to a new study.

• share
• favorite_border

Among patients with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) requiring hospital admission, a 5-day glucocorticoid treatment course was non-inferior (not worse than) to a 14-day course with regard to re-exacerbation during 6 months of follow-up, according to a study published online by JAMA.

• share
• favorite_border

Variation in the gene MUC5B among patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis was associated with improved survival, according to a study published online by JAMA. The study is being released early online to coincide with its presentation at the American Thoracic Society international conference.

• share
• favorite_border

Children with obstructive sleep apnea who had a common surgery to remove their adenoids and tonsils had notable improvements in behavior, quality of life and other symptoms compared to those treated with “watchful waiting.”

• share
• favorite_border

ATS 2013, PHILADELPHIA – Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is primarily associated with the respiratory symptoms that are its hallmark, but in fact, patients who struggle with the disease also experience significant amounts of chronic pain. A new study conducted by researchers in Pennsylvania and New Mexico estimates the degree of pain suffered by these patients to be close to that experienced by patients with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis

• share
• favorite_border

Depression is common in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and has been linked with disease severity and impaired quality of life. Now, for the first time, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have linked the systemic inflammation associated with COPD with depression in these patients.