Feature Channels: Respiratory Diseases and Disorders

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If you don’t have COVID-19, you probably want to stay as far away from a hospital as possible right now. However, the fact is that some people still need emergency surgery. If you or a loved one are in this situation – for any reason – you should know that experts say regional anesthesia may be better than general anesthesia to keep everyone in the operating room safe.asr

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World-leading air quality and health expert QUT Professor Lidia Morawska and Professor Junji Cao from Chinese Academy of Sciences in an article in Environment International published this week called on health bodies to initiate research into the airborne transmission of COVID-19 as it is happening

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A new study from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai suggests that blood clots, especially in the lungs, may play a role in severe cases of COVID-19.

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins Medicine Media Relations is focused on disseminating current, accurate and useful information to the public via the media. As part of that effort, we are distributing our “COVID-19 Tip Sheet: Story Ideas from Johns Hopkins” every Tuesday throughout the duration of the outbreak.

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Rapidly escalating numbers of COVID-19 patients suffering from respiratory failure threaten to overwhelm hospital capacity and force healthcare providers into making challenging decisions about the care they provide. Of particular interest is the role of ECMO – extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, a form of life support for patients with advanced lung disease – to support critically ill patients in the current pandemic.

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It is well known that smoking results in worse outcomes in people with pneumonia or influenza, and we are learning that smoking can pose significant risks in those with COVID-19.

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People with conditions such as spinal cord injury, Lou Gehrig's disease and multiple sclerosis are at risk of developing severe respiratory problems related to COVID-19 because the muscles that help them breathe already may not function normally.

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Scientists at the University of Alberta have shown that the drug remdesivir is highly effective in stopping the replication mechanism of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, according to new research published today in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

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Clinicians grappling with the pharmacologic management of COPD in patients complaining of exercise intolerance or dyspnea now have new guidance. The American Thoracic Society has published an official clinical practice guideline in which a panel of experts strongly recommended LABA/LAMA combination therapy over LABA or LAMA alone. The complete guideline detailing all the recommendations was posted online ahead of print in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

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Spring allergies are in full force. So how do you know if your symptoms are due to allergies or the COVID-19 virus? In a new video, “How allergy symptoms differ from COVID-19,” Loyola Medicine allergist Rachna Shah, MD, outlines the different symptoms for each, and why it's important to keep your spring allergy and asthma symptoms under control during this pandemic.

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As the COVID crisis continues to test the capacity of the healthcare system, what interventions are necessary to turn the tide of new infections, will the relief package have an impact, and how will a prolonged shutdown affect our economy?

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A Rutgers researcher is testing modified sleep apnea machines intended to help relieve the shortage of mechanical ventilators for COVID-19 patients and is testing a prototype for a second system called the NYU Tandon AirVENT. It is a portable, personal, negative pressure hood that sucks virus particles exhaled by the wearer into a filter and traps them.

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Mount Sinai Health System is the first in the country to use an innovative allogeneic stem cell therapy in COVID-19 patients and will play a central role in developing and conducting a rigorous clinical trial for patients with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome, the breathing illness that afflicts people who have severe cases of COVID-19.

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Improved pulmonary outcomes in surgical patients who receive the drug sugammadex could be due to a more complete reversal of the effects of muscle relaxants used during surgery.

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E-cigarette use during pregnancy could be harmful to the respiratory systems of both mothers and fetuses, according to a new study in the American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology.

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iNO has been used for the treatment of failing lungs, but it was also found to have antiviral properties against coronaviruses.The University of Alabama at Birmingham has been selected to begin enrolling patients in an international study assessing the use of inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) to improve outcomes for COVID-19 patients with severely damaged lungs.

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Researchers have identified the most common clinical characteristics of 109 patients with COVID-19 related pneumonia who died in Wuhan, China in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new study published online in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

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With support from Amazon Web Services, UC San Diego Health physicians are using AI in a clinical research study aimed at speeding the detection of pneumonia, a condition associated with severe COVID-19.

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A team of physician-scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center are now enrolling patients in a clinical trial to evaluate a common anti-clotting drug for the treatment of COVID-19-positive patients with ARDS. The newly launched trial follows a special report the team published in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery that suggested the use of a drug called tPA could reduce deaths among patients with ARDS as a complication of COVID-19.