Critical Care News and Research

RSS

Smoking belies milder disease but worse prognosis for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients

Smokers and ex-smokers with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), an untreatable progressive lung disease that usually leads to death within a few years of diagnosis, have a worse prognosis than non-smokers, according to research from London.

16 Jan 2008

Maternal stress may increase child asthma

Children whose mothers are chronically stressed during their early years have a higher asthma rate than their peers, regardless of their income, gender or other known asthma risk factors.

16 Jan 2008

British Prime Minister in favour of presumed consent for organ transplants

British Prime Minister Gordan Brown is calling for a debate on organ donation and says he is in favour of a policy known as "presumed consent" ; this would allow for organs to be transplanted without consent.

14 Jan 2008

Two different neural pathways regulate loss and regain of consciousness during general anesthesia

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers have answered long-running questions about the way that anesthetics act on the body, by showing that the cellular pathway for emerging from anesthesia is different from the one that drugs take to put patients to sleep during operations.

14 Jan 2008

Lymphangioleiomyomatosis - potential clues into the treatment and diagnosis

Studies published in the Jan. 10 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) are providing clues into the treatment and diagnosis of LAM, or lymphangioleiomyomatosis, a progressive and deadly lung disease that affects women in their childbearing years.

11 Jan 2008

New Sleep and Breathing Disorders Center at UT Southwestern

UT Southwestern Medical Center has assembled a comprehensive team of experts in pulmonary medicine, neurology, psychiatry, pediatrics, otolaryngology, surgery and rehabilitation medicine to work together in a new Sleep and Breathing Disorders Center.

10 Jan 2008

Patient care: Intelligent Clinical Decision Support System

European and Turkish doctors and technicians are perfecting a medical support system that can track patients' real-time vital signs, link those to patient medical history, and, crucially, provide the latest clinical guidelines for patient care. Better yet, it can alert doctors when necessary.

8 Jan 2008

Short periods of stress help condition heart to survive major attack

People who experience brief periods of blocked blood flow may be better conditioned to survive a full-blown heart attack later, according to new research from the University of Cincinnati (UC).

8 Jan 2008

Treating children with severe pneumonia at home is just as effective as treating them in hospitals

The study results could significantly change the way the illness is managed in developing countries, saving a significant number of lives every year and taking pressure off health systems.

7 Jan 2008

Highlights of pulmonary and critical care symposium

New perspectives on lung cancer screening, complications of sleep apnea, cystic fibrosis, and other key topics in pulmonary and critical care medicine are presented in the special January issue of The American Journal of Medical Sciences, published by the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation and Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, provider of leading healthcare content, context and consulting.

3 Jan 2008

New therapy reduces mortality in patients with severe COPD

Patients with severe COPD may benefit more from therapy that combines salmeterol and fluticasone [SFC] than treatment with tiotropium, according to results from a long-term, multi-center study, "Investigating New Standards for Prophylaxis in Reducing Exacerbations" (INSPIRE) that directly compared the two therapies.

2 Jan 2008

Contact with commonly used pesticides associated with greater asthma risk in farm women

New research on farm women has shown that contact with some commonly used pesticides in farm work may increase their risk of allergic asthma.

2 Jan 2008

Pain treatment in the field: Good for soldiers' comfort and better for rebuilding troop strength

Noncombat-related acute and recurrent chronic pain are the leading causes of soldier attrition in modern war, with the return-to-duty rate as low as 2 percent when these soldiers are treated outside the theaters of operation.

18 Dec 2007

Commonly available antibiotic targets difficult asthma

Hunter researchers have shown that a commonly available antibiotic can improve the quality of life of patients with difficult asthma, and may also generate significant health care savings.

18 Dec 2007

Women and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Women have made a good deal of welcome progress in the last several decades, but at least one advance is unwanted: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is on the rise in women in prevalence, morbidity and mortality.

17 Dec 2007

Exposure to traffic pollution can lead to chronic effects in the respiratory health of children with asthma

Exposure to traffic pollution may increase respiratory problems and reduce lung volumes in children with asthma, according to researchers who studied the effects of road and traffic density on children's lung function and respiratory symptoms in the border town of Ciudad Juarez in Mexico.

17 Dec 2007