Dr. Thomas Illig, head of the working group Molecular Epidemiology at the GSF National Research Centre for Environment and Health in Neuherberg, near Munich, has also been involved in this large-scale study. The team examined over 300,000 genetic marker in thousands of asthmatic children and compared their data with those of healthy controls.
Many of the 9 million children in this country who have asthma need more than just pencils and notepads when they return to the classroom each fall. According to U-M pediatric allergy specialists, these children require easy access to their inhalers and other medications, and the awareness of teacher and school officials about their condition.
Asthma affects 300 million people worldwide and, according to World Health Organization, it killed 255 000 people in 2005. Asthma attacks are caused by an acute inflammatory reaction in the airways, a reaction that is largely due to actions of LTC4 synthase (an enzyme which catalyzes a synthesis process). For this reason asthma medicines often aim to block the downstream effects of LTC4 synthase.
Giving patients a short course of corticosteroids after they have been discharged from hospital for an asthma attack reduces the chances of a relapse, a Cochrane Systematic Review has found. Giving the steroids also reduces their use of inhalers. The benefit lasts for about three weeks.
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.
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. Furthermore, a lack of these nutrients may also lead to lower lung function.
Patients who experience severe breathing conditions such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema will benefit from PharmaCare coverage for the medication tiotropium, also known as Spiriva, announced Health Minister George Abbott.
A gene that is strongly associated with a risk of developing childhood onset asthma is identified in new research published online today in Nature.
A sequence of breathing and relaxation exercises known as the Papworth method has been shown to reduce asthma symptoms by a third by the first randomised controlled trial to investigate the technique, which is published online ahead of print in Thorax.
Researchers at the University of Dundee, who last year identified the gene that causes eczema and associated forms of asthma, have now discovered that defects on the same gene can drastically affect the day-to-day management of asthma in millions of children and young adults.