Asthma News and Research

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Asthma is a common inflammatory disease affecting the airways that leads to shortness of breath, coughing and wheezing. Symptoms range from mild to severe but are generally manageable with appropriate treatment.

Fraunhofer pharmaceutical agent speeds drug development

It takes a great deal of time and money to develop a new drug. At Biotechnica in Hanover from October 9 to 11, the Fraunhofer Life Sciences Alliance will demonstrate how a pharmaceutical agent can make its way more quickly from the research laboratory to the pharmacy.

8 Oct 2007

Largest study of child health ever conducted in the United States

The UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities has been selected as one of 22 new study centers for the National Children's Study, a nationwide project designed to assess the effects of environmental and genetic factors on children's health in the United States.

4 Oct 2007

Specific immune deficiency pinpointed as likely cause of ulcerative colitis

In a series of mouse experiments, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) have pinpointed a specific immune deficiency as the likely fundamental cause of ulcerative colitis, a chronic, sometimes severe inflammatory disease of the colon or large intestine that afflicts half a million Americans.

4 Oct 2007

Individually tailored herbal concoctions possibly harmful

Scientists in Britain are warning that there is no evidence to suggest herbal medicines "tailored" to the individual do actually work; they also say such concoctions may even be harmful.

4 Oct 2007

What our genes tell us - Identifying biomarkers for key environmental risk factors

Identifying biomarkers for the key environmental risk factors responsible for two diseases that significantly contribute to death and disease of hundreds of thousands annually will be the initial focus of a new center being established at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

4 Oct 2007

Humans appear to have an on-board carbon dioxide sensor

PLoS ONE publishes a study showing that inhalation of carbon dioxide (CO2) triggers emotional distress and a panic response in healthy individuals. The findings of the study posit panic as an inborn survival-oriented response.

3 Oct 2007

Government failed to disclose information about risks of formula-feeding because of political, economic reasons

The decision to halt an HHS public service campaign that promoted breast-feeding "seems to be a matter of politics and economics," Wendy Orent, author of the book "Plague: The Mysterious Past and Terrifying Future of the World's Most Dangerous Disease," writes in a Los Angeles Times opinion piece (Orent, Los Angeles Times, 9/30).

2 Oct 2007

Bad neighborhoods and lack of family support may worsen asthma in children and adolescents

A lack of family support and problems in one's neighborhood are associated with greater asthma symptoms in children and adolescents, according to researchers in Vancouver, Canada.

29 Sep 2007

30 percent of asthma in U.S.can be attributed to cat allergy

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have found that more than 50 percent of the current asthma cases in the country can be attributed to allergies, with approximately 30 percent of those cases attributed to cat allergy.

27 Sep 2007

Watson Pharmaceuticals receives FDA approval for generic Accuneb

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has announced that it has received final approval from the United States (U.S.) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for albuterol sulfate inhalation solution in the 0.021% (base) and 0.042% (base) strengths.

27 Sep 2007

Polyclinics not the answer to improving care in London

Although there is a case for changing how some NHS services are provided in London, Government proposals do not build on the best aspects of the NHS, could result in damaging fragmentation and may not produce the predicted cost savings, or improvements in patient care, that the Government envisages, the BMA warns today (27/9/07) in its response to Lord Ara Darzi’s review of healthcare in London.

27 Sep 2007

Mutation of the COX2 gene can double or treble a woman's risk of ovarian cancer

Researchers in Portugal have discovered that a specific mutation of the COX2 gene seems to play a role in the onset of ovarian cancer, increasing women's susceptibility to developing the disease.

26 Sep 2007

Care by a hospital-based general physician strongly associated with shorter length of hospital stay in patients

Patients at an academic medical center who are cared for by a hospital-based general physician may have a shorter length of hospital stay than those who are not, especially if the patients require close monitoring or complex discharge planning, according to a report in the September 24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

25 Sep 2007

Black patients with asthma have worse control of their symptoms and higher rates of hospitalization

Patients with asthma who are black appear more likely to visit the emergency department or be hospitalized for the condition than those who are white, even in a managed care setting that provides uniform access to care, according to a report in the September 24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

25 Sep 2007

Clostridium difficile could outstrip MRSA in Irish hospitals

Research findings on a bug which is a major threat to hospital patients and particularly elderly patients, which could outstrip MRSA, will be presented to the Irish Society for Immunology (ISI) Annual Conference at Dublin City University.

24 Sep 2007

Top five prescribed drugs

With a total nearly $5 billion, Lipitor, a cholesterol-reducing drug, ranked first in terms of total spending on prescription medicines by adults ages 18 to 64 in 2004, and another cholesterol-fighting drug, Zocor, ranked fourth at $2.3 billion, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

21 Sep 2007

FDA expands use of influenza vaccine FluMist

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved expanding the population for use of the nasal influenza vaccine FluMist to include children between the ages of 2 and 5.

20 Sep 2007

The importance of gene regulation for common human disease

A new study published in Nature Genetics on Sunday 16 September 2007 show that common, complex diseases are more likely to be due to genetic variation in regions that control activity of genes, rather than in the regions that specify the protein code.

17 Sep 2007

Economic development linked to differences in rates of asthma symptoms

Children with allergic sensitizations in economically developed countries are much more likely to develop asthma than similarly sensitized children in poorer countries, according to a team of international researchers.

17 Sep 2007