Breathing News and Research

RSS

Scientists explore bacterial immunity to better understand infectious disease

Patients with cystic fibrosis are often infected by pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterium that infects the lungs and prevents breathing, often causing death.

8 Jan 2019

Half of all food allergy sufferers are not actually allergic

A new study has shown that the food allergies that people claim to have may not be true. The study reveals that as many as 20 percent of Americans over the age of 18 years believe that they are allergic to one or more food items. The study finds that the actual number of people who have a food allergy is close to 10 percent of the population. They also show that one in 20 Americans had a diagnosed case of a food allergy.

7 Jan 2019

Study confirms increased pneumonia risk with prescription opioids

A study led by researchers at Yale University has shown that taking prescribed opioids increases the risk of pneumonia, irrespective of HIV status.

7 Jan 2019

New report explores the wide-ranging questions on death

Should death be defined in strictly biological terms — as the body's failure to maintain integrated functioning of respiration, blood circulation, and neurological activity?

6 Jan 2019

Inhalable mRNA offers hope for patients with lung disease

Scientists have reported the success of an inhalable mRNA therapy that can induce the production of a target protein in the lungs of mice.

4 Jan 2019

MUSC researchers uncover a new cause for laryngeal symptoms

While a sudden coughing fit is a protective reflex to clear the airway, chronic cough can be caused by multiple factors that must be investigated to determine treatment. Cough is just one of several laryngeal symptoms including hoarseness and dysphoric breathing that can become debilitating.

4 Jan 2019

Scavenging molecule offers long-lasting protection against toxic nerve agents in rodents

For the first time, scientists have created a scavenging molecule that provides long-lasting preventative protection against toxic nerve agents in rodents.

3 Jan 2019

Insured but still in debt: 5 jobs pulling in $100k a year no match for medical bills

Robert and Tiffany Cano of San Tan Valley, Ariz., have a new marriage, a new house and a 10-month-old son, Brody, who is delighted by his ability to blow raspberries.

28 Dec 2018

Air pollutants trigger allergic cough in urban Indian population

Living in India and inhaling lungful of polluted air every day is like being a chronic smoker according to a recent report by India’s State-Level Disease Burden Initiative. This partly explains why many people in urban India have a persistent dry and hacking cough even if they don’t have asthma or have never smoked.

27 Dec 2018

Formula of 80 and precautions can help prevent heart attack during festive season

According to a new study, Christmas Eve is one of the most dangerous times of the year for the heart. It has indicated that a person’s risk for heart attack reaches its peak around late night a day before Christmas.

27 Dec 2018

Novel lung-inspired design converts water into fuel

Scientists at Stanford University have designed an electrocatalytic mechanism that works like a mammalian lung to convert water into fuel. Their research, published December 20 in the journal Joule, could help existing clean energy technologies run more efficiently.

27 Dec 2018

MUSC researchers identify potential therapeutic target for lung fibrosis

In an article published online by Frontiers in Endocrinology, researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina report that they have identified a potential therapeutic target for lung fibrosis or scarring.

19 Dec 2018

Self-powered bandage generates electricity, reduces healing time for skin wounds in rats

Skin has a remarkable ability to heal itself. But in some cases, wounds heal very slowly or not at all, putting a person at risk for chronic pain, infection and scarring. Now, researchers have developed a self-powered bandage that generates an electric field over an injury, dramatically reducing the healing time for skin wounds in rats.

19 Dec 2018

Mind-body exercises may improve cognition in older adults

Mind-body exercises--especially tai chi and dance mind-body exercise--are beneficial for improving global cognition, cognitive flexibility, working memory, verbal fluency, and learning in older adults. The findings come from a meta-analysis of all relevant published studies.

19 Dec 2018

New compound blocks genetic cause of familial ALS and frontotemporal dementia

Since the ice bucket challenge went viral in 2014, raising awareness and funding for ALS research, scientists have learned much about a disease that disconnects muscles from nerves, leading to muscle atrophy and eventual death. Their ultimate goal is to create medications capable of stopping ALS in its tracks.

18 Dec 2018

New battery-free, implantable device aids weight loss

More than 700 million adults and children worldwide are obese, according to a 2017 study that called the growing number and weight-related health problems a "rising pandemic."

18 Dec 2018

High negative pressure controls dispersal of airborne dust in hospitals, renovation sites

Maintaining a high negative pressure in airborne infection isolation rooms of hospitals (over -10 Pa) and in renovation sites (over -5 Pa) effectively limits the dispersion of airborne contaminants and dust, a new study from the University of Eastern Finland shows.

17 Dec 2018

New ingestible capsule can be controlled using Bluetooth wireless technology

Researchers at MIT, Draper, and Brigham and Women's Hospital have designed an ingestible capsule that can be controlled using Bluetooth wireless technology. The capsule, which can be customized to deliver drugs, sense environmental conditions, or both, can reside in the stomach for at least a month, transmitting information and responding to instructions from a user's smartphone.

13 Dec 2018

Scientists investigate how a painful event is processed in the brain

Pain is a negative feeling that we want to get rid of as soon as possible. In order to protect our bodies, we react for example by withdrawing the hand. This action is usually understood as the consequence of the perception of pain.

13 Dec 2018

Caffeine therapy benefits developing brains of premature babies

For many, starting the day off with caffeine from a cup of coffee is a must. In neonatal intensive care units, or NICUs, premature babies born under 29 weeks are given a daily dose of caffeine to ensure the best possible start to life.

12 Dec 2018