Respiratory

A genome-wide association study (GWAS) found that childhood-onset asthma was associated with nearly 3 times as many genes as asthma that develops in adults, in which environmental factors play a much bigger role.

Using a form of artificial intelligence called natural language processing (NLP) to mine information in electronic health records (EHRs) can uncover early cases of childhood asthma more quickly, reducing the long-term morbidity of this chronic disease, improve current care, and streamline and advance new therapeutic discoveries.

In a proof-of-concept study recently published in Science Translational Medicine, researchers from Penn Medicine and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia were able to edit out a lethal lung disease using CRISPR in utero mice models.

Two Democratic members of Congress introduced a bill this week aimed at reversing the increase in vaping among children and teenagers by raising the minimum purchasing age for all tobacco products to 21 years old, among other things.

During the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Disease (ECCMID), being held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, April 13-16, researchers are presenting findings that suggests the mode of delivery influences the development of gut microbiota in infants, regardless of a mother’s use of antibiotics, which could then affect infants’ respiratory health during his or her first year.

The United States ranks highly in a global study examining traffic-related pollution and new cases of childhood asthma, and the authors suggest that pollution guidelines may need to be re-evaluated, since most affected children live in areas where pollution falls within current limits.

A recent study conducted in mice found that the ability of cells to use glucose can actually help to regulate the immune system during lung inflammation.

There may be a difference between controlled burns and wildfires on one’s immune system.

Two abstracts presented Saturday at The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology 2019 Annual Meeting, held February 22-25 in San Francisco, California, discussed how formulary switching can affect outcomes for patients with severe persistent asthma, as well as how improving outcomes may be associated with increased quality measures.

There is not enough evidence that manual therapy—a clinical approach of using skilled, physical, hands-on procedures to improve function, lessen pain, and facilitate movement—can successfully be used to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Patients with allergies to birch pollen who took drops of birch pollen extract under the tongue for 3 to 6 months were able to reduce their symptoms and improve their quality of life.

CDC noted a rise in black lung disease, a potentially lethal disease, with a new report of a cluster of 60 cases identified in former and current coal miners at a single eastern Kentucky radiologist’s practice from January 2015 to August 2016.

Focusing on patients with latent tuberculosis (TB) infection who are at high risk of developing active TB may be key to eliminating the disease in the United States; however, a study found that physicians are not systematically identifying risk levels for patients with latent TB.

Researchers found no evidence that initiation of inhaled corticosteroids or leukotriene receptor antagonist therapy is associated with fewer wheezing/asthma attacks than therapy with a short-acting ß-agonist alone in preschool children with recurrent wheezing/asthma.

While there is widespread acceptance of the coexistent asthma–AR and the associated burden among physicians, a new study highlighted the need for increased healthcare practitioner communication and awareness to improve the appropriate treatment and management of these 2 coexistent conditions.

A new study examining the public health burden of nontuberculous mycobacterial lung disease in the United States has found that all-cause mortality, adjusted for other factors, more than doubled with NTMLD compared with an age- and sex-matched control group.

How long a person with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) stops breathing may be a better predictor of mortality risk from OSA in both women and men than the number of times they stop breathing, a new study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine concludes.

A next generation DNA sequencing study offers a streamlined protocol that integrates the genomic portrait of pathogen, microbiome, and host transcriptome for a more accurate diagnosis of lower respiratory tract infections.

A study published in the European Respiratory Journal suggests that in addition to elevated blood eosinophil counts, baseline clinical factors can help identify patients who would potentially be responsive to benralizumab (Fasenra), among patients with severe, uncontrolled asthma with eosinophilic inflammation.

A new study in Pediatrics concludes that 23%-27% of new asthma cases in children with obesity is directly attributable to obesity, and without overweight and obesity as a factor there would be 10% fewer cases of pediatric asthma in the United States.

Cognitive behavioral therapy delivered by respiratory nurses can reduce anxiety and is cost-effective in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

There are 5 FDA-approved monoclonal antibody treatments that affect the pathways involved in either the allergic or type 2 inflammatory phenotypes of asthma, and these 5 drugs are the focus of a new report from the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER).

A new study, published in the International Journal of COPD, concludes that the increase in endothelial microparticles and various microparticles in the systemic circulation that accompanies chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can lead to disease exacerbation and could be used as early biomarkers on disease progression.

The FDA today announced new actions aimed at reversing the increasing trend of youth nicotine use and combating youth access to e-cigarettes. Though the agency stopped short of an expected ban on flavored e-cigarettes, it will move to outlaw menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, 2 products that disproportionately harm African Americans.

A new study by Children’s National Health System researchers suggests that the majority of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) may not achieve blood concentrations of antibiotics sufficiently high enough to effectively fight bacteria causing pulmonary exacerbations.