Abused kids may be more prone to asthma

jerry submitted, created time 2 months 3 weeks (www.newscientist.com)

Physical or sexual abuse doubles the odds that a child – from Puerto Rico, at least – will suffer from asthma...

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Female physicians most effective at treating childhood asthma

kavin submitted, created time 3 months 5 days (www.biomedcentral.com)

Female physicians have a better perception of asthma symptoms in children than their male counterparts, according to Turkish researchers.

The finding could indicate significant contribution of gender-related factors in clinical attitudes and beliefs,Bulent Sekerel (Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey) and colleagues explain in the journal BMC Health Services Research.

Understanding the level of management ability of physicians may guide interventions to improve quality of care and patient outcomes,?the authors write

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Adult asthma tied to heart disease in women

kavin submitted, created time 5 months 2 weeks (www.msnbc.msn.com)

Asthma that begins in adulthood appears to increase the risk of heart disease and stroke in women but not in men. And compared with their counterparts without asthma, women with adult-onset asthma had a 2.10-fold increase in the rate of heart disease and a 2.36-fold increase in the rate of stroke.

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FDA: Asthma Inhalers Going Green

jerry submitted, created time 5 months 3 weeks (www.time.com)

Old-fashioned asthma inhalers that contain environment-harming chemicals will quit selling at year's end—and the government is urging patients not to wait until the last minute to switch to newer alternatives.

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Obesity and asthma: Possible mechanisms

jerry submitted, created time 5 months 3 weeks (www.jacionline.org)

Obesity and asthma may share a common etiology, such as common genetics, common in utero conditions, or common predisposing dietary factors. Novel therapeutic strategies for treatment of the obese patient with asthma may result from an increased understanding of the mechanisms underlying this relationship

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Gene for asthma discovered

Effect of Variation in CHI3L1 on Serum YKL-40 Level, Risk of Asthma, and Lung Function

davidd submitted, created time 7 months 1 week (content.nejm.org)

This study shows an association between markers in the gene encoding YKL-40 and asthma, indicating that YKL-40 levels not only serve as a biomarker but also contribute to disease susceptibility.

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Sniffling mice raise therapy hope

Sue Wu submitted, created time 9 months 2 weeks (24hnews.net)

Scientists have created a mouse that can catch a cold - raising hopes of new ways to treat serious respiratory conditions and asthma.

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Of Attraction and Rejection — Asthma and the Microbial World

biosunny submitted, created time 1 year 1 month (content.nejm.org)

In the first half of the past century, it was thought that asthma was precipitated or prolonged by infection and that infection with several bacteria, including Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae, had a role in asthma.Some investigators had suggested that bacterial allergy or chronic focal infection could be a cause of asthma

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New national study links asthma to allergies

richard submitted, created time 1 year 1 month (www.eurekalert.org)

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health 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.

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Genome-wide profiling identifies epithelial cell genes associated with asthma and with treatment response to corticosteroids

jimmy submitted, created time 1 year 1 month (www.pnas.org)

Airway inflammation and epithelial remodeling are two key features of asthma. IL-13 and other cytokines produced during T helper type 2 cell-driven allergic inflammation contribute to airway epithelial goblet cell metaplasia and may alter epithelial–mesenchymal signaling, leading to increased subepithelial fibrosis or hyperplasia of smooth muscle.

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Crystal structure enables tailoring of pharmaceuticals against asthma

bianjie submitted, created time 1 year 4 months (www.eurekalert.org)

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have managed to elucidate the crystal structure of a human membrane protein -- LTC4 synthase -- which has a major influence on the development of asthma. LTC4 synthase is extremely difficult to analyze, and previously only low resolution information has been available on two membrane protein structures from human. The scientists now believe that their work will enable the development of new and better therapeutics against inflammations in the pulmonary tract.

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Keep an apple a day may keep asthma away

saury submitted, created time 1 year 4 months (www.hindu.com)

Teenagers who forego a healthy and balanced diet may have a harder time catching their breath. A new study, published in the July issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), shows that a low dietary intake of certain nutrients increases the likelihood of respiratory symptoms such as asthma, especially in teens who smoke.

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Can an apple a day keep asthma away?

bianjie submitted, created time 1 year 4 months (www.eurekalert.org)

Teenagers who forego a healthy and balanced diet may have a harder time catching their breath.

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New 'asthma gene' could lead to new therapies

bianjie submitted, created time 1 year 4 months (www.eurekalert.org)

A gene that is strongly associated with a risk of developing childhood onset asthma was identified by an international team of scientists, whose findings are published today in the journal Nature.

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