Top Stories 5-11-2016
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When It Comes to Spring Allergies, Oak Pollen More Potent Than Pine; Food Allergies of Low-Income Kids Are Poorly Managed; Flowers Not to Blame for Allergies, and More in the Allergies Channel
According to new research led by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) pulmonologist and critical care physician Mary B. Rice, MD, MPH, improved air quality in U.S. cities since the 1990s may not be enough to ensure normal lung function in children. The findings were recently published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care, a journal of the American Thoracic Society.
Doctors and scientists at the University of Southampton have used advanced 3D X-ray imaging technology to give new insight into the way an aggressive form of lung disease develops in the body.
Scientists have identified a biological pathway that potentially explains why current asthma therapies don’t work well in many cases—and might be targeted to help those patients.
Lung ultrasound has been shown to be highly effective and safe for diagnosing pneumonia in children.
Researchers have found antibodies to the newly discovered influenza D virus in pigs, cattle, horses, goats and sheep, but not poultry. South Dakota State University doctoral student Chithra Sreenivasan has proven that the guinea pig can be used as an animal model and is developing a way to study the virus in living cells—trachea and lung epithelial cells from swine and cattle.
Firefighters who responded in the first two days of the World Trade Center disaster and those who worked at the site for six months or longer are more likely to need sinus surgery than firefighters whose exposure to the site’s caustic dust was less intense or shorter term, according to new research published in the American Thoracic Society journal Annals of the American Thoracic Society.
Xbox Kinects could be used in the future to assess the health of patients with conditions such as cystic fibrosis. Normally found in the hands of gamers rather than medics the Microsoft sensors could be used to assess the respiratory function of patients.
A rescue inhaler can be a lifesaver during an asthma or COPD flareup, but using a rescue inhaler is complicated and misuse is common, putting patients’ lives at risk. An education strategy, called teach-to-goal, may help patients use their inhalers properly during these critical times, according to research published online ahead of print in the American Thoracic Society journal Annals of the American Thoracic Society.
The State of Cancer Care in America: 2016 report, to be released on March 15 by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), chronicles the current realities of the cancer care delivery system in the United States and examines trends in the oncology workforce and practice environment that are affecting patient care and access.
The LEAP-ON study, an extension of the landmark LEAP Study that showed peanut consumption reduced the rate of peanut allergy, followed LEAP children for a year of peanut avoidance and found only 4.8% of the peanut consumers were allergic, compared to 18.6% of the peanut avoiders, a significant difference demonstrating that peanut allergy prevention persists.
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and LifeMap Solutions, a company developing innovative digital health solutions, announce international expansion of the free Asthma Health app to the United Kingdom and Ireland
Investigators at The Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles have created a novel model for studying a lung disorder of newborn babies.
The 1,000 people in New Mexico fighting lung cancer may soon be able to breathe easier. The first of more than 10 new lung cancer clinical trials has just opened under the direction of Yanis Boumber, MD. The phase 3 clinical trial, called “Neptune,” opened January 28. It compares a combination of two immune drugs with standard chemotherapy.
Most clinical studies have shown that renal denervation—a procedure that disrupts the nerves in the kidneys and prevents them from relaying signals—can treat drug-resistant hypertension, although a number have shown the procedure to be ineffective. A new study in American Journal of Physiology—Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology supports that renal denervation can treat hypertension and suggests that failures may be due to incomplete procedure. This research is highlighted as one of this month’s “best of the best” as part of the American Physiological Society’s APSselect program.
A new UCLA-Stanford study has pinpointed two tiny clusters of neurons in the brain stem that are responsible for transforming normal breaths into sighs. The discovery may one day allow physicians to treat patients with breathing disorders.
Researchers from Columbia University Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian have found that using corticosteroids in mothers at risk for late preterm delivery reduced the incidence of severe respiratory complications in their babies.
Expiratory central airway collapse may have a stronger connection to underlying lung disease than previously believed. CT scans may make it a valuable biomarker for impending or worsening lung disease.
An analysis of 145 different electronic-cigarette flavoring products reveals that many e-cigarette users may be exposed to a potentially harmful chemical, benzaldehyde. The highest concentrations were detected in vapor from cherry-flavored products.
A diet rich in fiber may not only protect against diabetes and heart disease, it may reduce the risk of developing lung disease, according to new research published online, ahead of print in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.
Adults with long-term exposure to ozone (O3) face an increased risk of dying from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, according to the study “Long-Term Ozone Exposure and Mortality in a Large Prospective Study” published online ahead of print in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Pediatric researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified a key component of the pathogenesis of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), a devastating and sometimes fatal lung disease that affects premature infants.
Electronic cigarettes are widely promoted and used to help smokers quit traditional cigarettes, but a new analysis from UC San Francisco found that adult smokers who use e-cigarettes are actually 28 percent less likely to stop smoking cigarettes.
An uncommon and little-studied type of cell in the lungs has been found to act like a sensor, linking the pulmonary and central nervous systems to regulate immune response in reaction to environmental cues. The cells, known as pulmonary neuroendocrine cells or PNECs, are implicated in a wide range of human lung diseases, including asthma, pulmonary hypertension, cystic fibrosis and sudden infant death syndrome, among others.
Many doctors will ask about quality of sleep when children have problems at school, but new research shows it’s just as important to pay attention to how high achievers are sleeping.
One in ten patients is at risk of having new post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to their ICU experience up to a year post-discharge. This was the finding from a multicenter, prospective cohort research study of veterans and civilians. The research was published online ahead of print in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Critically ill patients who are exposed to higher daily levels of ozone are more likely to develop acute respiratory disease syndrome (ARDS), according to a new study published online ahead of print in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. ARDS is a life-threatening inflammatory lung illness in which patients fail to obtain enough oxygen to the lungs. While previous research has shown a clear association between cigarette smoke and ARDS, the study “Long-Term Ozone Exposure Increases the Risk of Developing the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome” by Lorraine Ware, MD, of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and colleagues is the first to demonstrate a risk related to ozone.
A UA researcher and clinician team has discovered that genetic mutations in a protein associated with asthma can affect a person’s susceptibility to a variety of lung diseases — and could lead to new treatments.
A new study has revealed that cholsterol-lowering statins may help reverse the mechanisms that increase the risk of heart disease in people with sleep apnea.
A recent study of elderly men found no evidence that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) increased in severity (or prevalence) as a result of vitamin D deficiency.
A group of people with fatal H1N1 flu died after their viral infections triggered a deadly hyperinflammatory disorder in susceptible individuals with gene mutations linked to the overactive immune response, according to a study in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.
Vitamin D supplements do not reduce the number or severity of colds in asthma patients, according to a new study published online ahead of print publication in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
Most cases of small cell lung cancer are only diagnosed after the tumour has already formed metastases. Until now it has not been possible to investigate the reasons for this rapid metastasis, because of a lack of sufficient tumour material from patients. Now, the group of researchers led by Gerhard Hamilton, University Department of Surgery at Medical University of Vienna has succeeded in creating infinitely reproducing tissue cultures. The findings have been published in the leading journal "OncoImmunology".
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) announced tthat it has been recognized as a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures® for 2015 (based on 2014 data) for its childhood asthma care by the Joint Commission, the leading accreditor of health care organizations in the United States.
Among young children with histories of recurrent severe lower respiratory tract illness (LRTI), the use of azithromycin early during an apparent RTI compared with placebo significantly reduced the risk of experiencing progression to severe LRTI, according to a study in the November 17 issue of JAMA.
Cunlin Wang, M.D., Ph.D., of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, Md., and colleagues studied recipients of intravenous (IV) iron (n = 688,183) enrolled in the fee-for-service Medicare program from January 2003 to December 2013. The study appears in the November 17 issue of JAMA.
In children whose colds tend to progress and lead to severe wheezing and difficulty breathing — such that they are given oral corticosteroids as rescue therapy — researchers have shown that giving a common antibiotic at the first sign of cold symptoms can reduce the risk of the episode developing into a severe lower respiratory tract illness. The new study, led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, appears online Nov. 17 in JAMA.
Short people have several health advantages over tall people, including lower risk for cancer and heart disease, and longer life expectancy. But there’s at least one health-related downside to being small: the odds of getting a lung transplant are considerably lower.
Johns Hopkins Children’s Center specialists report they have successfully treated and put in remission a 2-year-old, now age 5, with a highly virulent form of tuberculosis known as XDR TB, or extensively drug-resistant TB.
A simple taste test can identify patients who will have highly successful sinus surgery, researchers from Penn Medicine and the Monell Chemical Senses Center report in this week’s International Forum of Allergy & Rhinology.
New research from the Monell Center and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania suggests that physicians may someday be able to use a simple taste test to predict which surgical intervention is best suited to help a subset of chronic rhinosinusitis patients.
New research from the University of Southampton has found that copper can effectively help to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses, which are linked to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).
Henry Ford Hospital pulmonologist Daniel Ouellette, M.D., who during his 31-year career in medicine has seen the harmful effects of smoking on his patients, advocates for raising the smoking age to 21. He says the move would help curb access to tobacco products at an early age and lead to reductions in smoking prevalence.
Nearly 7 million children in the United States have been diagnosed with asthma and thousands more are living undiagnosed, struggling to breathe each day. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri School of Medicine have found that a commonly used pulmonary lung function test can provide early detection of asthma before a child shows any symptoms of breathing problems. This early diagnosis could reduce the number of people who have serious complications of the disease later in life.
Researchers at the Center for Nanomedicine at the Wilmer Eye Institute has been studying mucus in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients, and their primary goal was to design inhalable therapeutic nanoparticles that cross the cystic fibrosis mucus barrier in the lung. But the work recently led the researchers to the unexpected discovery that mucus appears to change as the disease progresses; the mobility of these nanoparticles could vary widely in mucus from different patients. They will describe their findings this week during the Society of Rheology’s 87th Annual Meeting, being held Oct. 11-15, 2015.
A life-sized artificial human lung is the first diagnostic tool for understanding in real time how tiny particles behave in the deepest part of the human lungs. It could shed light on airborne pollution risks, and be used for the evaluation/design respiratory system drugs.
If you have two faulty copies of the CFTR gene, you will have cystic fibrosis. But the severity of your disease will depend partly on many other genes. Now, researchers report that five regions of the human genome are home to the genetic variations that play major roles in disease severity.