Lungs News and Research

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Childhood body composition may play a role in future respiratory health

How well we breathe as adults may depend on the amount of fat mass and lean body mass, or muscle, we have as children, according to new research published online in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

16 Jan 2019

TGF-beta signaling pathway in uterine cells protects against cancer

Two new mouse models of uterine cancer shed light on how this disease - the most common gynecological cancer in the U.S. - happens.

16 Jan 2019

Lupus Research Alliance announces research awards to accelerate development of new therapies

Can "borrowed" drugs for treating other diseases protect the skin in patients with lupus? Can researchers coax the body to weed out harmful immune cells that drive tissue destruction in lupus? Those are just two of the innovative approaches for lupus therapies recognized by the Lupus Research Alliance with the latest round of its Target Identification in Lupus grants.

11 Jan 2019

Neuropeptide Y may hold key to exacerbating severe influenza

Severe influenza virus infection is characterized by a strong inflammatory response and profuse viral replication in lungs. These viruses, such as the notorious avian flu, have a high rate of death and to date there are no effective treatments.

10 Jan 2019

New bacteria discovered in the blood of human patients

Two new species of bacteria have been found in the blood of patients in China.

10 Jan 2019

Penn Highlands becomes first in region to offer bronchoscopic lung volume reduction

Penn Highlands Healthcare is the first medical facility in the region to offer bronchoscopic lung volume reduction using the first lung valve approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for helping emphysema patients breathe easier without major surgery.

9 Jan 2019

Scientists explore bacterial immunity to better understand infectious disease

Patients with cystic fibrosis are often infected by pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterium that infects the lungs and prevents breathing, often causing death.

8 Jan 2019

Inhalable mRNA offers hope for patients with lung disease

Scientists have reported the success of an inhalable mRNA therapy that can induce the production of a target protein in the lungs of mice.

4 Jan 2019

Breath analyser could soon help detect cancer

UK researchers have developed a new breath analyser device called the Breath Biopsy device. This could help diagnose cancer.

3 Jan 2019

Study reveals link between air pollution and employee productivity

Economists from the National University of Singapore have completed an extensive study which reveals that exposure to air pollution over several weeks is not just unhealthy, it can also reduce employee productivity.

3 Jan 2019

Rockefeller scientists uncover genetic mutation responsible for tuberculosis vulnerability

If you live in the United States, you are unlikely to come into contact with the microbe that causes tuberculosis. Your odds of encountering the microbe are so low, in fact, that risk factors for the disease can easily go unnoticed: If you happened to carry a gene that predisposed you to tuberculosis, you likely wouldn't know.

2 Jan 2019

Study uncovers how tumors backfire on neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Some patients with breast cancer receive chemotherapy before the tumor is removed with surgery. This approach, called 'neoadjuvant' therapy, helps to reduce the size of the tumor to facilitate breast-conserving surgery, and can even eradicate the tumor, leaving few or no cancerous cells for the surgeon to remove.

2 Jan 2019

Novel lung-inspired design converts water into fuel

Scientists at Stanford University have designed an electrocatalytic mechanism that works like a mammalian lung to convert water into fuel. Their research, published December 20 in the journal Joule, could help existing clean energy technologies run more efficiently.

27 Dec 2018

Yale researchers use arthritis medication to treat patient with disfiguring sarcoidosis

An all-Yale team of researchers successfully treated a patient with disfiguring sarcoidosis, a chronic disease that can affect multiple organs, with a drug approved for rheumatoid arthritis.

26 Dec 2018

Lupus Research Alliance announces 2018 recipients of the Distinguished Innovator Award

The Lupus Research Alliance is proud to announce the 2018 recipients of the Dr. William E. Paul Distinguished Innovator Award in Lupus and Autoimmunity: Nir Hacohen, PhD and Vijay Kuchroo, DVM, PhD. Dr. Hacohen is seeking better ways to treat lupus kidney disease, the major cause of illness and death among patients with lupus.

21 Dec 2018

Scientists discover new biomarkers for early detection of cystic fibrosis

Scientists at McMaster University have discovered several new biomarkers from a single drop of blood that could allow earlier and more definitive detection of cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease which strikes both children and adults, causing chronic problems with the digestive system and the lungs.

20 Dec 2018

Choking deaths pose serious threat to the wellbeing of people with disability

Speech Pathology Australia welcomes the Victorian Disability Services Commissioner’s report, “A review of disability service provision to people who have died 2017-18”, tabled in the Victorian Parliament yesterday, 19 December.

20 Dec 2018

Researchers identify link between mucus in the small airways and pulmonary fibrosis

A team of investigators led by members of the University of Colorado School of Medicine faculty at CU Anschutz Medical Campus has identified a connection between mucus in the small airways and pulmonary fibrosis.

18 Dec 2018

A promising, effective vaccine for common respiratory disease

Skin vaccination using a microneedle patch that contains the inactivated respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and a compound that stimulates immune responses to the virus has been found to enhance protection against this serious disease and reduce inflammation in the body after exposure to the virus, according to a study led by Georgia State University.

18 Dec 2018

New study confirms geographic bias in lung allocation for transplant

Results of a medical records study of more than 7,000 patients awaiting a lung transplant in the United States affirm the basis of a court filing in 2017 that called the organ allocation system geographically "rigged" in some regions of the nation.

17 Dec 2018