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Obesity can worsen the impact of asthma

Obesity can worsen the impact of asthma and may also mask its severity in standard tests, according to researchers in New Zealand, who studied lung function in asthmatic women with a range of body mass indexes (BMIs).

1 May 2008

Progesterone could prevent brain damage after head injury

A common component of the contraceptive pill (progesterone) could improve the neurologic outcome for patients with severe head injuries, according to a study published in BioMed Central's open access journal Critical Care.

30 Apr 2008

New research suggests hypertonic, hyperviscous fluids may be better treatment for severe blood loss

Intravenous administration of isotonic fluids is the standard emergency treatment in the U.S. for patients with severe blood loss, but UC San Diego bioengineering researchers have reported improved resuscitation with a radically different approach. Building on earlier studies in humans that have shown benefits of intravenous fluids that are eight times saltier than normal saline, the researchers combined hypertonic saline with viscosity enhancers that thicken blood.

29 Apr 2008

Biomarkers identified for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

The first evidence of a distinctive protein signature that could help to transform the diagnosis and improve the monitoring of the devastating lung disease idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is being reported by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers in this month's edition of PLoS Medicine, an open-access journal of the Public Library of Science.

28 Apr 2008

Computer game helps chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients breathe better

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may gain better control over their breathing and breathe more efficiently by using their breath to play a computer game, according to new research.

16 Apr 2008

New guidelines for palliative care for children and adults

Palliative care was once reserved for patients when all curative options had been exhausted and death was imminent, but now it is considered an integral part of the care that should be available to patients with serious respiratory disorders and critical illnesses.

16 Apr 2008

Acute kidney injury with sepsis

ICU patients with septic acute kidney injury (AKI) are generally sicker, have a higher burden of illness, a greater risk of mortality and longer stays in hospital than patients with non-septic AKI.

10 Apr 2008

Burn care skills shortage to be treated by UK's first specialist professional qualification

The University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust has launched the UK’s first programme specifically for practitioners in burns care - with backing from Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU).

10 Apr 2008

Asthma and smoker's lung: dry airways play a key role

Dry airways may not only play a central role in the development of the inherited lung disease cystic fibrosis, but also in much more common acquired chronic lung diseases such as asthma and smoker's lung, the cigarette smoke-induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

8 Apr 2008

Smokers with lung disease require more than brief smoking cessation interventions

Although effective treatments for smoking cessation exist, and research has shown that patients who receive smoking cessation treatment are twice as likely to quit -- limited insurance coverage, poor adherence to practice guidelines, lack of clinician training in smoking cessation, time constraints and inadequate clinic systems to easily identify and treat smokers have limited the availability and quality of smoking cessation treatment.

2 Apr 2008

Distinguishing non-TB pulmonary disease from TB

A diagnostic kit shows new promise for distinguishing between tuberculosis (TB) and its infections from disease caused by related mycobacteria family, which mimic TB and other lung disease in symptoms but require distinctly different clinical treatments.

2 Apr 2008

Methamphetamine use and pulmonary arterial hypertension

The Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA), in conjunction with leading pulmonary hypertension specialists, has announced the launch of an educational campaign to raise awareness of the association between pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and stimulant use, particularly methamphetamine use.

24 Mar 2008

Where nurses are bullied, the quality of patient care declines

In workplaces where nurses are bullied, the quality of patient care declines, the health of nurses suffers, and the retention of quality nurses becomes difficult.

24 Mar 2008

Obese ICU patients have lower mortality but longer ICU stays

Obese intensive care patients do not have a higher ICU death rate than non-obese ICU patients, but they remain in the ICU significantly longer and are intubated significantly longer than non-obese patients, a new study has found.

18 Mar 2008

Review of adenotonsillectomy surgery in children

Children who gain weight rapidly after having their tonsils and adenoids removed to treat sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) may improve in the short-term, but over time they may relapse or even worsen.

17 Mar 2008

Workers exposed to low levels of an asbestos-like mineral from Montana vermiculite may up lung disease risk

Workers exposed to low levels of an asbestos-like mineral from Montana more than two decades ago are at an increased risk for lung disease today, according to research from the University of Cincinnati (UC).

17 Mar 2008

A road map to safer pain control, cost savings during colonoscopies

At a time when several U.S. health insurers have discontinued payment for use of the sedative propofol during most screening colonoscopies, physicians at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that an alternative way to administer the drug could both save millions of health care dollars and provide a safer way to deliver optimal pain relief.

12 Mar 2008

FDA approves Aloxi injection for prevention of postoperative nausea and vomiting

Eisai Corporation of North America, its U.S. subsidiary, MGI PHARMA, INC., and Helsinn Healthcare SA today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Aloxi (palonosetron hydrochloride) injection for the prevention of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) for up to 24 hours following surgery.

4 Mar 2008

Intensive insulin therapy may be harmful to the critically ill

Doubt has been cast over the current practice of administering intensive insulin therapy to all critically ill patients, according to a study published this week in the open access journal Critical Care. In certain groups of patients it could even be harmful.

1 Mar 2008

Genetic factors in smoking also increase risk of chronic bronchitis

Smoking is a known risk factor for respiratory diseases like chronic bronchitis, but genes also play a significant role in its development, according to researchers in Sweden, who studied more than 40,000 Swedish twins to determine the extent to which behavior, environment and genes each play a role ion the development of chronic bronchitis.

1 Mar 2008