Respiratory Disease News and Research

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New atlas maps geographical pattern of mortality in Great Britain

Researchers from the Universities of Bristol and Sheffield have created an 'atlas of death' which charts the geographical pattern of mortality in Great Britain. The full-colour atlas shows the wide variation in death rates from a variety of different causes, from heart attacks and cancer to suicide and murder, for over 1,000 neighbourhoods.

20 Oct 2008

Prolonging the withdrawal of life support in the ICU affects family satisfaction with care

Clinicians in the intensive care unit (ICU) often care for patients who are on several life support measures at once. When such a patient is dying and the decision is reached to withdraw life support, these clinicians may make an imperfect compromise in seeking to balance the complex needs of the patient and the patient's family - they may remove the life support measures one at a time over a period of days, rather than withdrawing all at once.

15 Oct 2008

Breast feeding lowers breast cancer risk

Experts say women who breastfeed for a year over the course of their lifetime are less likely to develop breast cancer.

29 Sep 2008

New pig model of cystic fibrosis provides better understanding of human disease

For the first time, researchers have developed a genetically altered animal model for cystic fibrosis (CF) that closely matches the characteristics of the disease in humans. By studying the complex and multi-organ disease process in the pig model, researchers can now better understand how the complications of CF develop, an advancement that may lead to new avenues for research in prevention and treatment.

25 Sep 2008

Review of drug delivery market

Combating losses due to patent expiries has become a high priority for pharmaceutical companies. Investing in new drug delivery technologies is becoming a critical strategy for them to maintain a strong presence in this cut-throat market as they offer the potential to enhance the life cycle of established drugs.

18 Sep 2008

Health effects of 9/11 still evident seven years later

A report on the health of New Yorkers after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 has revealed that more than 400,000 people in New York City were significantly affected.

11 Sep 2008

New drug promises once-a-day treatment for asthma and hay fever

The drug RPL554 apparently has the potential to effectively treat the respiratory diseases but without many of the side-effects most currently available drugs produce.

10 Sep 2008

Pharmacists reduce hospital visits for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) experience 55% fewer hospital admissions and 50% less visits to accident and emergency departments when clinical pharmacists intervene in their care, research launched at the British Pharmaceutical Conference (BPC) in Manchester has shown.

8 Sep 2008

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

Hendra horse virus scare puts another vet in hospital

The Australian Hendra horse virus is still causing concern since the initial outbreak in July as a female veterinarian who euthanised a racehorse infected with the potentially deadly virus is now being monitored in hospital after an accidental needle stick injury.

20 Aug 2008

World Allergy report calls for urgent worldwide collaboration to tackle global increase in allergies

The World Allergy Organization (WAO) will publish its first Report on the extent of allergy and chronic respiratory diseases worldwide on the 18 June 2008 and has called for immediate collaboration to tackle the current escalation in allergy cases.

17 Jun 2008

Nuclear medicine imaging test could aid children suffering from reflux disease

A nuclear medicine imaging test was used to confirm that children with respiratory problems may be more likely to develop gastroesophageal reflux disease, according to researchers at Society of Nuclear Medicine's 55th Annual Meeting.

16 Jun 2008

Age-adjusted death rates in U.S. down sharply in 2006

Age-adjusted death rates in the United States dropped significantly between 2005 and 2006 and life expectancy hit another record high, according to preliminary death statistics released today by CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

11 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

Computed tomography lung cancer screening no cure-all for smokers

Screening for lung cancer with computed tomography (CT) may help reduce lung cancer deaths in current and former smokers, but it won't protect them from other causes of death associated with smoking, according to a new study published in the July issue of the journal Radiology.

11 Jun 2008

Role of breastfeeding in preventing infant death, HIV infection in developing countries

In many poor countries, mothers with HIV face a stark choice: to nurse their infants, and risk passing on HIV through their breast milk - or to formula feed, and deprive their infants of much of the natural immunity needed to protect against fatal diseases of early infancy. Now, two studies supported by the National Institutes of Health offer insights into preventing early death and HIV infection among breastfeeding infants of mothers with HIV in these countries.

5 Jun 2008

Protective effects of breast milk are higher in girls than in boys

Challenging the long-standing belief that breast-feeding equally protects all babies against disease, research led by Johns Hopkins Children's Center investigators suggests that when it comes to respiratory infections, the protective effects of breast milk are higher in girls than in boys.

2 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

New treatments for viral and other diseases by blocking genes

The elusive goal of developing effective treatments for viral diseases such as AIDS and influenza has been brought closer by dramatic progress in the ability to interfere with viral genetic machinery. The stage was set for a coordinated European effort to accelerate research and stimulate development of new treatments against viral diseases at a recent research conference organised by the European Science Foundation (ESF).

26 May 2008