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"Our results show that close proximity to vehicular
traffic-related emissions, either at home or at school,
can lead to chronic effects in the respiratory health
of children with asthma," said Fernando Holguin,
M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of pulmonary medicine
at Emory University School of Medicine, and lead author
of the study, which appeared in the second issue for
December of the American Journal of Respiratory and
Critical Care Medicine.
A Sydney study involving over 500 children has found
HDM allergen levels to be at their minimum in summer
and increasing approximately 2-3 fold during late autumn.
The new study looked at the effects on 60 people with
mild and moderate asthma of walking along the western
end of busy Oxford Street in London, where only diesel-powered
taxis and buses are permitted.
Though they are different diseases, asthma and COPD
affect the human body in a similar way. In asthma,
allergens irritate the lungs, in COPD, this is done
by cigarette smoke. This irritation inflames the sufferer's
airways, which the muscles then close, creating a narrowing
effect.
The research team used MassTag PCR to investigate
97 samples, collected over a three-year period, from
children with hospital-admitted, acute respiratory
illness wherein no pathogen was identified through
routine laboratory testing. Human rhinoviruses were
the most frequent viruses detected in the sample set
representing 75% of the identified viruses.
The guidelines, a result of a two-year review of original
research and systematic review literature from 1983
to 2006, were published in the second issue for November
of the American Thoracic Society's American Journal
of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
The study included 3,065 male twin pairs, who had
lived together in childhood, and who had both served
on active military duty during the Vietnam War. The
study found that among all twins, those who suffered
from the most PTSD symptoms were 2.3 times as likely
to have asthma compared with those who suffered from
the least PTSD symptoms.
Identifying this new biomarker, YKL-40, brings investigators
one step closer to a treatment for the nation's 2.5
million asthmatics with a severe form of the disease
that is difficult to treat, the researchers say.
"A severe respiratory infection in infancy greatly
increases the risk of developing asthma," says
the study's lead author Mitchell Grayson, M.D., assistant
professor of medicine in the Division of Allergy and
Immunology. "Less than one in 30 people who don't
suffer a severe respiratory infection as a baby develop
asthma, but of those who do get these infections, one
in five goes on to have asthma."
The finding is included in a study of chronic medication
use in children 5 to 19 reported Wednesday, Nov. 7
at the annual meeting of the American Public Health
Association by researchers from the Saint Louis University
School of Medicine and School of Public Health and
pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts. In addition
to diabetes, utilization patterns for blood pressure,
cholesterol, asthma and depression medications were
also examined.
"Longer breastfeeding in infancy is associated
with improved lung function in later childhood, with
minimal effects on airflow in children of non-asthmatic
mothers," wrote Theresa W. Guilbert, M.D., of
the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Arizona
Respiratory Center at the University of Arizona in
Tucson. "However, longer breastfeeding in children
of mother with asthma demonstrates no improved lung
growth and significant decrease in airflows later in
life."
Hopkins Children's researchers studied 150 Baltimore
City asthmatic children 2 to 6 years of age and were "surprised" to
find that nearly half of those with the mildest asthma
at their first visit had worsening symptoms as early
as three months later. The changes were so serious
that they required either new drugs or new doses.
COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) causes
around 30,000 deaths a year in the UK and many patients
who have COPD attacks can benefit from assisted ventilation,
but they have to be admitted to an intensive care unit
(ICU) to be intubated.
The new chart, which is now available for free from
the National Asthma Council Australia and Woolcock
Institute of Medical Research websites, has been designed
to enable easy identification of changes in lung function
and to overcome the confusion caused by the disparity
of charts in circulation.
According to Creighton researchers, noninhaled, intranasal
carbon dioxide (CO2) may offer a new, effective and
safe treatment for many SAR sufferers. The study will
be reported in an upcoming issue of the Journal of
Allergy & Clinical Immunology.
"Respiratory protection is often needed during
disasters, but it is difficult to get it instantly,
and many responders, without EMS or fire experience,
have not been trained or fit-tested to wear equipment
properly. Couple this with a disaster environment that
is difficult in which to function, and it leads to
exposures that could result in lung damage," said
study author David Prezant, MD, FCCP, Chief Medical
Officer, Office of Medical Affairs and Co-Director
WTC Medical Monitoring and Treatment Programs, New
York City Fire Department. "However, our preliminary
data suggest that combining prophylactic inhaled corticosteroids
with our best attempts to provide proper respiratory
protection could reduce declines in lung function."
DPIs rely on the force of patients' inhalation to
activate, deliver, and manage the flow of medication
to the lungs, compared with pressurized metered-dose
inhalers (pMDIs), that use propellants to deliver a
measured dose of medication to the patient. Although
MDIs are more commonly used in the United States, the
use of DPIs has grown substantially in the last 5 years.
Janet Rothers, MS, and colleagues examined the relationship
between the age at which day care attendance begins
and the amount of immunoglobulin E (IgE) in a child’s
blood. IgE is an antibody produced by the immune system
and an indicator of allergic sensitivity.
"Inhaled corticosteroids are considered the cornerstone
treatment for inflammatory respiratory diseases, especially
asthma, even in mild or moderate cases," the authors
write as background information in the article. "However,
they are not free of adverse effects, and concerns
have been raised about long-term treatment courses
in milder cases of disease or in young children." Their
use has been associated with potentially harmful decreases
in the stress hormone cortisol, decreases in bone mineral
density and growth suppression.
This disorder is defined as reversible airflow obstruction
caused by inhaling allergens, chemicals, fumes, gases,
dusts or other potentially harmful substances while "on
the job," according to the American Academy of
Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI). |
