http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have discovered a possible way to protect the fragile lungs of premature babies by using stem cells harvested from bone marrow. In experiments on laboratory mice, they found that bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs), a type of stem cell with the potential to form lung cells, were able to reduce inflammation in lung tissue. Inflammation is the key factor that leads to chronic lung disease in premature babies. Surprisingly, even the fluid in which the cells were grown was able to protect the lungs - in fact, better than the stem cells themselves. http://www.physorg.com/news178914016.html Medicine & Health Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:40:02 EST news178914016 New research presents strong evidence that the "synergistic" effect of early-life exposure to both outdoor traffic-related pollution and indoor endotoxin causes more harm to developing lungs than one or the other exposure alone. http://www.physorg.com/news178266956.html Medicine & Health Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:40:01 EST news178266956 Exposure shortly after birth to ambient metals from residential heating oil combustion and particles from diesel emissions are associated with respiratory symptoms in young inner city children, according to a new study by researchers at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. The study is the first to analyze the effects of exposure to airborne metals in this very young population and the findings could have important public health implications. http://www.physorg.com/news178204336.html Medicine & Health Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:50:02 EST news178204336 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have revealed how environmental irritants such as air pollution and cigarette smoke cause people to cough, in research published today in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. The authors of the study, from Imperial College London and the University of Hull, have identified the reaction inside the lungs that can trigger coughing when a person is exposed to particular irritants in the air. They suggest that their findings may ultimately lead to the development of new treatments for chronic coughing. http://www.physorg.com/news178200419.html Medicine & Health Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:07:45 EST news178200419 Infants who are exposed to higher levels of air pollution are at increased risk for bronchiolitis, according to a new study. http://www.physorg.com/news176702980.html Medicine & Health Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:40:01 EST news176702980 Difficult-to-treat asthma often may have more to do with patients who do not take their medication as instructed than ineffective medication, according to researchers in Northern Ireland. http://www.physorg.com/news175500957.html Medicine & Health Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:30:02 EST news175500957 Patients who die in the hospital in the United States are almost five times as likely to have spent part of their last hospital stay in the ICU than patients in England. What's more, over the age of 85, ICU usage among terminal patients is eight times higher in the U.S. than in England, according to new research from Columbia University that compared the two countries' use of intensive care services during final hospitalizations. http://www.physorg.com/news175500904.html Medicine & Health Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:15:40 EST news175500904 Overweight individuals are not just at greater risk of having sleep-disordered-breathing (SDB), they are also likely to suffer greater consequences, according to new research. http://www.physorg.com/news174197302.html Medicine & Health Thu, 08 Oct 2009 05:30:01 EST news174197302 Active tuberculosis can be rapidly identified in patients with negative sputum tests by a new method, according to European researchers. Active tuberculosis (TB) is the seventh-leading cause of death worldwide, and while the diagnosis of active TB can be rapidly established when the bacteria can be identified on sputum microscopy, in about half of all cases, the TB bacterium cannot be detected, making another diagnostic option critical in efforts to control the spread of TB. http://www.physorg.com/news172909167.html Medicine & Health Wed, 23 Sep 2009 09:50:03 EST news172909167 Women in Central Mexico who used a vented stove instead of the traditional indoor open fire, experienced improved respiratory health on par with a pack-a-day smoker kicking the habit, according to a recent study. http://www.physorg.com/news172909071.html Medicine & Health Wed, 23 Sep 2009 07:40:01 EST news172909071 New research hints that the common belief that kids who go to daycare have lower rates of asthma and allergy later in life might be nothing more than wishful thinking. While young children in daycare definitely do get more illnesses and experience more respiratory symptoms as a result, any perceived protection these exposures afford against asthma and allergy seem to disappear by the time the child hits the age of eight. http://www.physorg.com/news171607564.html Medicine & Health Tue, 08 Sep 2009 05:49:33 EST news171607564 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new test can significantly improve diagnosis of the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma, a joint team from the University of Oxford and the Oxford Centre for Respiratory Medicine at the John Radcliffe Hospital has shown. http://www.physorg.com/news170520424.html Medicine & Health Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:47:39 EST news170520424 A new study by researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) has found that the life-long effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy may occur through specific changes in DNA patterns. http://www.physorg.com/news170351632.html Medicine & Health Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:10:02 EST news170351632 Mortality remains high among patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension awaiting lung transplant, despite changes to the allocation system that were designed to reduce mortality and increase the equitable distribution of donor organs, according to new research out of University of California San Francisco. http://www.physorg.com/news170306977.html Medicine & Health Mon, 24 Aug 2009 05:00:03 EST news170306977 Smoking is a risk factor for active tuberculosis (TB) disease, according to a new study on TB incidence in Taiwan. http://www.physorg.com/news170307353.html Medicine & Health Mon, 24 Aug 2009 04:50:01 EST news170307353 A new technique may help clinicians hone in on a diagnosis in patients presenting with a pleural effusion of unknown cause. http://www.physorg.com/news170306819.html Medicine & Health Mon, 24 Aug 2009 04:29:18 EST news170306819 Taking dexamathasone prophlyactically may improve exercise capacity in some mountaineers, according to Swiss researchers. Dexamathasone, known popularly to climbers as "dex," has been used for years to treat altitude-related symptoms in mountaineers, but has never been tested for its ability to improve exercise capacity at high altitude. http://www.physorg.com/news169212677.html Medicine & Health Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:50:04 EST news169212677 Some caregivers of critical care patients prefer doctors to keep their opinions on life support decisions to themselves, according to new research that challenges long-held beliefs in the critical care community. http://www.physorg.com/news169120074.html Medicine & Health Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:50:02 EST news169120074 Use of a common antibiotic may be undercutting its utility as a first-line defense against drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB). Fluoroquinolones are the most commonly prescribed class of antibiotics in the U.S. and are used to fight a number of different infections such as sinusitis and pneumonia. They are also an effective first line of defense against TB infections that show drug resistance. New research shows, however, that widespread general use of fluoroquinolones may be creating a strain of fluoroquinolone-resistant TB. http://www.physorg.com/news169121029.html Medicine & Health Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:30:01 EST news169121029 Coal dust exposure is directly linked to severity of emphysema in smokers and nonsmokers alike, according to new research from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). http://www.physorg.com/news167589643.html Medicine & Health Fri, 24 Jul 2009 04:40:02 EST news167589643 Lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS) can have a significantly beneficial effect in patients with severe emphysema, according to the first ever study to randomize emphysema patients to receive either LVRS or non-surgical medical care. http://www.physorg.com/news167589562.html Medicine & Health Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:20:01 EST news167589562 Ozone exposure, even at levels deemed safe by current clean air standards, can have a significant and negative effect on lung function, according to researchers at the University of California Davis. http://www.physorg.com/news167588868.html Medicine & Health Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:00:01 EST news167588868 Severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with lower cognitive function in older adults, according to research from Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Researchers compared cognitive performance in over 4,150 adults with and without COPD and found that individuals with severe COPD had significantly lower cognitive function than those without, even after controlling for confounding factors such as comorbidities. http://www.physorg.com/news166186706.html Medicine & Health Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:20:03 EST news166186706 The first findings from a one-of-a-kind, patient-driven effort to provide lung tissue for research might help doctors predict when patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) are becoming dangerously ill and also could point the way to interventions that could sustain them until life-saving transplants can be performed. http://www.physorg.com/news166162762.html Medicine & Health Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:20:53 EST news166162762 Tuberculosis (TB) is a difficult infection to treat and requires six months of multiple antibiotics to cure it. To combat the TB pandemic, a shorter and simpler drug treatment would be a huge advance since most TB occurs in resource-limited settings with poor public health infrastructures. http://www.physorg.com/news165584760.html Medicine & Health Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:20:01 EST news165584760 Stroke patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) who undergo treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) following their stroke may substantially reduce their risk of death, according to Spanish research to be published in the July 1 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. http://www.physorg.com/news165157875.html Medicine & Health Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:11:45 EST news165157875 Practicing certain tongue and pharyngeal exercises may reduce symptoms of mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), according to new research being published in the second issue for May of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. http://www.physorg.com/news160897537.html Medicine & Health Thu, 07 May 2009 06:47:13 EST news160897537 New research provides evidence for a link between vitamin D insufficiency and asthma severity. http://www.physorg.com/news159686149.html Medicine & Health Thu, 23 Apr 2009 06:16:35 EST news159686149 Patients with moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exhibit a disordered breathing-swallowing pattern that may account for their higher risk of aspiration pneumonia, according to new research from the University of Pittsburgh. http://www.physorg.com/news157280543.html Medicine & Health Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:03:08 EST news157280543 Diagnosing and treating obstructive sleep apnea may soon become much less expensive and arduous, thanks to new research showing that a simplified program using experienced nurses, home ambulatory diagnosis and auto-titrating continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines to titrate CPAP pressures is not inferior to the traditional model which relies on specialist physicians and sleep studies. http://www.physorg.com/news155559550.html Medicine & Health Fri, 06 Mar 2009 10:59:40 EST news155559550