On the cover for Volume 8#4 is a story about how COPD is the forgotten
disease and the various research projects going on.
John Leaman, is the editor of the quarterly newsletter, Respiratory News & Views. John is from the New York City area and is himself, a person with chronic lung problems. John asks an important question, Is COPD bigger than asthma, and hence deserving the quantity of research dollars currently spent on asthma?
David Canfield, executive director of the National Lung Health Education Campaign, wants to stimulate pharmaceutical research on COPD to show that the COPD market is bigger than the asthma market, and very deserving of research money. It is estimated that 15 million people have early stages of COPD. With healthcare systems under pressure to reduce costs, every aspect of COPD treatment options will have to be justified.
Promising is the following story told on CNN which caught the eye of Lawrence Brown of Fairview, North Carolina.
For the first time, researchers have reversed emphysema in lab animals using a derivative of vitamin A. It is the first promise of a non-surgical treatment of the chronic, debilitating disease that destroys the air sacs of the lung.
Doctors from Georgetown University treated rats with retinoic acid, a form of vitamin A. The damaged air sacs in the lings of rats were restored to normal size and number. The research is published in the May issue of Nature Medicine.
De. Claude Lenfant, director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute says, "this is the first time that anyone has identified a means of reversing emphysema. It represents the first step in improving our understanding of the role of retinoic acid and similar agents" in this type of research. Dr. Lenfant cautions, "a great deal more basic research is needed before we can even begin to think about applying this to humans."
From India, comes the news that a miracle cure for asthma has been found. However, you can only receive the cure on one day in June outside the Goud family house in Hyderabad. Hundreds of thousand of asthma sufferers make the pilgrimage every year. Five brothers know the secret formula they claim they received from a Hindu saint 162 years ago, which consists of swallowing one inch live sardines, whose mouths are stuffed with secret herbs from the Himalayas.
After eating the fish, the patients begin a strict 45-day diet of 25 different foods, including lamb, old rice, white sugar, dried mango, spinach and clarified butter, and staying away from deep-fried food. The treatment must be repeated at least once within two years. Does it work? Some say it does, some say no and some say it can't hurt. I think we need more research!
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