Although children born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy are known to be at increased risk of developing asthma, ?few studies have investigated the role of active cigarette smoking on asthma onset during adolescence?, the researchers explain in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Research performed at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis sheds light on the mechanisms that contribute to liver disease in alpha-1-AT deficiency patients. People with alpha-1-deficiency have a genetic mutation that can lead to emphysema at an early age and to liver damage. Using an experimental mouse model of the disorder, the researchers investigated the effects of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug on liver injury.
Research led by King’s scientists, and published online in the journal Nature, sheds new light on the development of the immune cells which are critical in fighting infection and some tumours. It may also provide clues to the mystery of why autoimmune diseases in women often go into remission during pregnancy.
Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have developed a unique anti-sickling agent that may one day be effective in treating sickle cell disease, a painful and debilitating genetic blood disorder that affects approximately 80,000 Americans.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today announced the designation of the week after Thanksgiving as National Influenza Vaccination Week. This year, National Influenza Vaccination Week will run from November 27 to December 3. This event is designed to raise awareness of the importance of continuing influenza (flu) vaccination, as well as foster greater use of flu vaccine through the months of November, December and beyond.
A new study led by a scientist at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI) is the first to conclude that Chlamydia trachomatis is evolving at a rate faster than scientists first thought or imagined. Chlamydia trachomatis is a bacterium that is the leading cause of sexually transmitted diseases and the second leading cause of blindness worldwide.
World Diabetes Day on 14 November concludes a year-long worldwide campaign to address diabetes in disadvantaged communities and vulnerable groups.
The messages for Food Safety Week this year are aimed at young people leaving home. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing, Christopher Pyne, said research consistently showed that young people, especially young men, had the worst knowledge of safe food handling.
The latest medical and clinical research on treatment and diagnosis of asthma will be made available free of charge to doctors, pharmacists and other professionals who deal with asthma patients, via a new handbook.
Normal aging of breast tissue lessens breast cancer risk, reports a new study by Mayo Clinic Cancer Center researchers published in the Nov. 15 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.