Exposure to high levels of fungus may increase the risk of severe asthma attacks among people with certain chitinase gene variants, according to a study from Harvard Medical School, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Daily use of probiotics reduced ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in critically ill patients by almost half, according to new research from Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Nebraska.
Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health have established the first link between air pollution and sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), a known cause of cardiovascular diseases.
Doctors have long known that snoring is hazardous to health for a number of reasons. In addition to restless nights and increased daytime sleepiness, sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) has a series of associated health problems, including increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD).
A new preclinical model of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) may lead to improved research and ultimately better therapies for this life-threatening problem, according to its developers, researchers at the University of South Alabama.
In non-sleepy patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) can reduce the incidence of cardiovascular events and hypertension, according to researchers from Spain.
Gene therapy has been shown to have positive effects in rat models of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), according to researchers at the University of Adelaide in Australia.
Patients with suspected obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may no longer have to spend an expensive and uncomfortable night at a sleep center to monitor their sleep-disordered breathing. According to new research, those who performed sleep testing in their home with portable monitors showed similar improvements after three months of treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) in daytime function as compared to patients who underwent overnight testing in a sleep center.
Early tracheotomy in ICU patients on mechanical ventilation (MV) did not reduce mortality when compared to later tracheotomy in a study of cardiac surgery patients requiring prolonged ventilation in a Paris study.
Children who undergo brief periods of intense exercise may exhibit lung dysfunction or other symptoms similar to those experienced by asthma patients, even when no history of asthma exists, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of California’s Irvine and Miller Children’s Hospital.
The following are late-breaking abstracts to be presented at the International Conference from May 14-19, 2010. Please click on the links below to view the associated abstract. Please observe embargo times that follow the titles.
A new therapy shows promise for patients with mild idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. According to researchers in Japan, inhaled N-acetylcysteine (NAC) monotherapy preserves more lung function in some idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) patients than no therapy.
Human stem cells administered intravenously can restore alveolar epithelial tissue to a normal function in a novel ex vivo perfused human lung after E. coli endotoxin-induced acute lung injury (ALI), according to research from the University of California San Francisco.
Adult patients without health insurance admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) in Pennsylvania hospitals are at a 21 percent increased risk of death compared to similar patients with private insurance, according to researchers from the University of Pennsylvania. The difference in mortality risk was not explained by patient characteristics or differences in care at the hospital level, suggesting that uninsured patients might receive poorer quality care.
Electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) can prevent critical illness polyneuromyopathy (CIPNM), according to Greek researchers. CIPNM is an acquired limb and respiratory muscle weakness that is a common and serious problem among intensive care unit patients, and can result in prolonged ICU and hospital stay. EMS can also shorten the duration of weaning from mechanical ventilation and the length of ICU stay.
ICU-acquired infection rates are not an indication of patients’ mortality risk, according to researchers the University of Pennsylvania, undermining a central tenet of many pay-for-performance initiatives.
Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) may reduce muscle atrophy in patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to Canadian researchers.
Direct Immunofluorescence Assay (DFA) testing for H1N1 influenza (“swine flu”) is unreliable in ICU patients, according to a new study from Stanford University. Multiple methods exist for diagnosing influenza, but data on the utility and accuracy of these tests for H1N1 are still emerging, given the relatively recent onset of the epidemic.
Sleep apnea may cause metabolic changes that increase insulin resistance, according to researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. The intermittent hypoxia associated with sleep apnea causes a distinct drop in insulin sensitivity in mice, even though chronic hypoxia, such as that associated with high altitude, did not.
Google Flu Trends is not as accurate at estimating rates of laboratory-confirmed influenza as CDC national surveillance programs, according to a new study from the University of Washington.
Patients who encounter serious lung diseases in middle age, despite an absence of family history or other predisposing factors, may still have their genes to blame, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.
High school student will present findings on the use of repeated xrays among children on home mechanical ventilation.
People with asthma may be well-advised to avoid heavy, high-fat meals, according to new research. Individuals with asthma who consumed a high-fat meal showed increased airway inflammation just hours after the binge, according to Australian researchers who conducted the study. The high fat meal also appeared to inhibit the response to the asthma reliever medication Ventolin (albuterol).
Patients with severe asthma who use an internet-supported strategy and daily monitoring of exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) were able to control their asthma with lower overall dosing of oral corticosteroids (OCS) than patients who underwent usual care, according to research from the Netherlands.
Female sex hormones may work with beta-agonists in reducing airway constriction, according to new bench research from the Mayo Clinic.
Children with severe asthma have more than 30 times the risk of developing adult chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD) as adults compared to children without asthma, according to a prospective longitudinal cohort study from the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.
A new possible treatment to treat P. aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients appears to be promising, according to research to be presented at the ATS 2010 International Conference in New Orleans.
HIV-infected patients who are falsely diagnosed as having tuberculosis (TB) have higher rates of mortality than those who are correctly diagnosed with the disease, according to a study conducted by researchers at University of California-San Francisco and Makerere University-Kampala.
Long-term, regular use of vitamin E in women 45 years of age and older may help decrease the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by about 10 percent in both smokers and non-smokers, according to a study conducted by researchers at Cornell University and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
There is no magic bullet to help patients with COPD improve their ability to function in daily life. In fact, the best advice they might get is “do by doing,” according to research to be presented at the ATS conference in New Orleans.
People who live in urban areas where particulate air pollution is high tend to have higher blood pressure than those who live in less polluted areas, according to researchers from the University of Dusiburg-Essen in Germany.
Obese patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) stand to gain as much from pulmonary rehabilitation as their slimmer counterparts, even though as a group they have a lower exercise capacity, according to new research from the University Hospitals of Leicester in the UK.
Individuals at risk for clot-related diseases may benefit from taking common cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Connecticut.
An emerging technique designed to quickly distinguish between people with active and dormant tuberculosis may help health professionals diagnose the disease sooner, thereby potentially limiting early exposure to the disease, according to a study conducted by researchers at Duke University Medical Center.
Despite the fact that recent medical advances have allowed healthcare professionals to stabilize patients who would have otherwise died, many stabilized patients later develop organ system failure. In fact, acute renal failure is one of the biggest threats to critically ill patients: forty percent of patients with this condition die. And yet, there is an acute lack of clinical information—and even consensus on the definition of renal failure in critical care settings—that experts cannot even agree upon its name.
Schedule of Press Conferences for ATS 2010 in New Orleans May 14-19, Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.
The American Thoracic Society (ATS) will hold its fourth annual patient-focused forum “Breathing Better with the ATS,” at the ATS International Conference in New Orleans this coming May. This event is free and open to the public. It organized and hosted by the ATS Public Advisory Roundtable (ATS PAR) and will be held on Saturday, May 15th from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the Hilton Riverside Hotel in New Orleans, LA.
The ATS 2010 International Conference will feature two President's events with a focus on comparative effectiveness research adn patient quality.
Among the general U.S. population, people who are uninsured are about half as likely to receive critical care services as those with insurance, according to systematic review of the literature by the American Thoracic Society’s Health Disparities Group. They also found that once admitted to the hospital intensive care unit, uninsured patients are less likely to have invasive procedures or pulmonary artery catheterizations and more likely to have life support withdrawn.
Both ozone and primary pollutants from traffic substantially increase asthma-related emergency department visits in children, especially during the warm season, according to researchers from the Department of Environmental Health at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta.
More than half of children who were born very early—at 25 weeks or less (normal gestation is around 40 weeks)— have abnormal lung function and are twice as likely as their full-term peers to have a diagnosis of asthma, according to U.K. researchers, who followed a national cohort of extremely preterm infants to age 11.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with an increased risk of stroke in middle-aged and older adults, especially men, according to new results from new research supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health. Overall, sleep apnea more than doubles the risk of stroke in men.
The ATS has released an official policy statement of pay-for-performance (P4P) in pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine. In the statement, the Society encourages clinicians in these fields to participate in P4P programs and views them as an opportunity to partner with healthcare payers, accrediting organizations, governmental oversight groups and others to improve quality, rather than as a threat to autonomy and independence.
March 24, 2010, will mark World TB Day. On this day around the world, the public health and scientific community will raise public awareness about tuberculosis and the challenges that remain in controlling it globally, such controlling drug resistant TB and as the urgent need to develop new TB diagnostic, treatment and prevention tools.
Stress during pregnancy may raise the risk of asthma in offspring, according to researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston. The researchers investigated differences in immune function markers in cord blood between infants born to mothers in high stress environments and those born to mothers with lower stress and found marked differences in patterns that may be associated with asthma risk later in life.
Researchers in Australia have demonstrated that blocking a certain protein can reduce or prevent cigarette smoke-induced lung inflammation in mice. Inflammation underlies the disease process of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and many other smoking-related ailments.
During the 2010: The Year of the Lung campaign, the ATS and other members of the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS) are honoring World Sleep Day, March 19, by raising awareness of sleep-disordered breathing, an underdiagnosed and potentially dangerous condition if left untreated. Treatment of sleep-disordered breathing can improve symptoms and may reduce health risks related to the condition.
The American Thoracic Society has released a new official clinical policy statement on congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS), a disorder of respiratory and autonomic nervous system (ANS) regulation. The ANS regulates reflexive acts, including heart rate and blood pressure, digestion, body temperature and pain perception.
Researchers at the University of Cincinnati have found that using high-resolution CT-scans to screen for lymphangioleiomyomatosis, or LAM, is cost-effective in non-smoking women between 25 and 54 who come to the emergency room for the first time with a collapsed lung.
Researchers have demonstrated the safety of a potential vaccine against mesothelioma, a rare cancer associated primarily with asbestos exposure. The vaccine, which infuses uses a patient’s own dendritic cells (DC) with antigen from the patient’s tumor, was able to induce a T-cell response against mesothelioma tumors.
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