Respiratory News and Research

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Besides helping infants’ lungs mature, sighs may “reset” breathing regulation mechanism

As if new parents don’t have enough to worry about getting in synch with their infants, many of them wonder “what’s with these sighs?”

25 Aug 2004

Cleaning products and solvents increase risk of asthma

Exposure to the fumes emitted from solvents and cleaning products at home may increase the risk of childhood asthma, suggests a study by Australian researchers from Curtin University and the University of Sydney.

25 Aug 2004

Exposure to simian virus 40 (SV40) is not associated with cancer in humans

Two upcoming studies by scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), provide further evidence that exposure to simian virus 40 (SV40) is not associated with cancer in humans.

23 Aug 2004

Rooms where people smoke contain higher air concentrations of endotoxins

A room where people smoke contains dozens or hundreds of times higher air concentrations of endotoxins than smoke-free indoor air. This has been shown by a research team from Lund University.

23 Aug 2004

Low levels of contamination also influence mortality rate

Navarre doctor Rosa María Alás Brun has shown, in her PhD thesis defended at the Public University of Navarre, that, despite contamination rates in Pamplona being very low, these still have an influence on death rates.

23 Aug 2004

Genetic mutation link to sudden infant death syndrome

Researchers at Rush University Medical Center, and colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh have identified mutations in genes pertinent to the autonomic nervous system among babies who died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) that might explain why they died.

21 Aug 2004

Large percentage of child deaths related to malaria are attributable to undernutrition and deficiencies

A large percentage of child deaths related to malaria are attributable to undernutrition and deficiencies of vitamin A, zinc, iron and folate, according to a new report by researchers with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

20 Aug 2004

Vitamin E has potential benefit in fighting colds in the elderly

Vitamin E supplementation has potential benefit in fighting upper respiratory tract infections such as colds in the elderly, says a study published in the Aug. 18 issue of JAMA.

18 Aug 2004

Exposure to natural and man-made substances in the environment accounts for at least two-thirds of all the cases of cancer in the U.S.

These environmental factors include lifestyle choices like cigarette smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, poor diet, lack of exercise and excessive sunlight exposure. Other factors include exposure to certain medical drugs, hormones, radiation, viruses, bacteria, and chemicals that may be present in the air, water, food and workplace.

18 Aug 2004

Mixed effects for vitamin E against respiratory infections

Vitamin E does not appear to have a beneficial effect on lower respiratory tract infections in elderly nursing home residents, but it may help them ward off upper respiratory tract infections, according to a study in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

18 Aug 2004

Large-scale computer simulations help understand SARS

A Mayo Clinic researcher is the first to develop a series of three-dimensional (3D) models of an enzyme responsible for the replication of the deadly SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory syndrome) virus.

17 Aug 2004

Softening agents in their home linked to asthma and allergies

There is a clear co-variation between allergic symptoms in children and the concentration of softening agents in their homes. This is a finding made by a Swedish-Danish research team in a recently published study financed by Formas

16 Aug 2004

Suctioning babies to prevent a potentially fatal respiratory disease is probably ineffective

The widely practised procedure of suctioning babies to prevent a potentially fatal respiratory disease is probably ineffective, conclude authors of a study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET. Suctioning is used to remove mucus from baby’s airway or breathing passages.

15 Aug 2004