Lung Disease News and Research

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India's Kerala State Health Department announces lung health project to address TB, other respiratory diseases

India's Kerala state in November plans to implement the Practical Approach to Lung Health Project, which aims to examine the prevalence of tuberculosis and other lung diseases in the region, a health department official said recently, The Hindu reports.

4 Sep 2008

Low-level exposure cadmium linked to emphysema

New research suggests that cadmium is one of the critical ingredients causing emphysema, and even low-level exposure attained through second-hand smoke and other means may also increase the chance of developing lung disease.

20 Aug 2008

Researchers link the extreme fatigue in pulmonary fibrosis to loss in body-rejuvenating R.E.M. sleep

Family, friends and neighbors remember Lisa Sandler Spaeth as an active mother of two in Potomac, Md., with a lot on the go, juggling her son's baseball games and her daughter's horseback-riding lessons with numerous committee obligations, organizing women's activities at her local synagogue. Add to this Spaeth's thriving home business turned wholesale supplier - making custom hair accessories for children - which she founded with her mother.

29 Jul 2008

Premature babies at risk of lung problems later on

According to Australian researchers some premature babies may have a higher risk of developing emphysema and other lung problems later on.

29 Jul 2008

46 percent of Americans show biologic exposure to the deadly toxins found in cigarettes

A new report issued today by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) exemplifies the need for nonsmoking Americans to be better protected against exposure to secondhand smoke. The report finds that 46 percent of Americans show biologic exposure to the deadly toxins found in cigarettes. Even more startling are the millions of children this statistic includes.

10 Jul 2008

Life expectancy in U.S. reached record high of 78.1 years in 2006

Life expectancy for U.S. residents reached a record high of 78.1 years in 2006, compared with a previous record high of 77.8 years in 2005, according to a preliminary report released on Wednesday by the National Center for Health Statistics at CDC, the Washington Post reports. For the report, Melonie Heron, a NCHS demographer, and colleagues analyzed 95% of the death certificates collected in the 50 states and Washington, D.C., in 2006.

17 Jun 2008

Oxygen-rich lifesaving efforts pose risk for respiratory infections

Each year, thousands of premature infants battle to breathe. Thanks to life-saving interventions developed in the past couple decades - steroids given to their mothers to stall pre-term labor, mechanical ventilation, air enriched with extra oxygen, and surfactant, a crucial wetting agent that makes breathing less work - most of these newborns survive with enough lung function to grow and go home.

11 Jun 2008

New Imperial College centre to tackle respiratory infections

Think that colds and flu are easy to catch, hard to avoid and impossible to treat? That nobody ever dies of a cold? That's all wrong, say the medics and scientists at a new research centre which launches today (Monday 2 June).

1 Jun 2008

Alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency associated with increased risk of lung cancer

Carriers of a common genetic disorder previously linked to lung disease may have a 70-percent to 100-percent increased risk of lung cancer, according to a report in the May 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine

26 May 2008

The emerging role of infection in Alzheimer’s

A number of chronic diseases are in fact caused by one or more infectious agents. For example, stomach ulcers are caused by Helicobacter pylori, chronic lung disease in newborns and chronic asthma in adults are both caused by Mycoplasmas and Chlamydia pneumonia, while some other pathogens have been associated with atherosclerosis. The realization that pathogens can produce slowly progressive chronic diseases has opened new lines of research into Alzheimer's disease.

25 May 2008

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients benefit more from pulmonary rehab in earlier stages

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who are in their final years of survival do not get the same benefits from pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) as patients who have more years left to live-regardless of their age, complicating illnesses or lung function, according to new research funded by the Veteran's Administration, which will be presented at the American Thoracic Society's 2008 International Conference in Toronto on Tuesday, May 20.

20 May 2008

Tuberculosis not the only risk from new immunological drugs

A new survey cautions physicians that drugs commonly prescribed for patients suffering from immunological disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease may carry risks of serious infections other than the known risk of tuberculosis. The survey published is in the June 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, currently available online.

20 May 2008

People with obstructive sleep apnea at risk for cardiac stress on airline flights

People with severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) on commercial airline flights may have a greater risk of adverse events from cardiac stress than healthy people, according to new research to be presented at the American Thoracic Society's 2008 International Conference in Toronto on Sunday, May 18.

19 May 2008

Personalized therapy for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease could soon be here

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have defined a new type of immune response that is activated in patients with severe asthma and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). Their discovery could dramatically improve diagnosis and treatment of patients with chronic inflammatory lung disease.

19 May 2008

AstraZeneca submits sNDA for SYMBICORT in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

AstraZeneca today announced that it submitted a supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval of a new indication for SYMBICORT (budesonide/formoterol fumarate dihydrate) Inhalation Aerosol for the treatment of patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). SYMBICORT is currently approved for the long-term maintenance treatment of asthma in patients 12 years and older.

30 Apr 2008

New less traumatic way of delivering surfactant to help preemies breathe could reduce chronic lung disease

A less traumatic way of delivering surfactant, a lung lubricant that premature babies need to help them breathe, could reduce the incidence of respiratory problems they'll have later, Medical College of Georgia physicians say.

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

Black women less likely to develop urinary incontinence than white women

The good news for black women: They have less than half the chance of developing urinary incontinence as do white women, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Health System.

22 Apr 2008

Flu vaccines can reduce respiratory problems by up to three-quarters

Annual flu vaccinations are highly effective at preventing acute respiratory illness and making sure that existing breathing problems don't get any worse, according to research published in the April issue of IJCP, the UK-based International Journal of Clinical Practice.

17 Apr 2008

New understanding of systemic sclerosis

Systemic sclerosis (SSc), also known as scleroderma, is characterized by the formation of fibrosis, or scar tissue, on internal organs as well as the skin.

15 Apr 2008