Respiratory News
A study in Thorax found eating more than four portions of cured and processed meat per week – such as sausage, ham and salami – could worsen asthma symptoms. Researchers found nitrate, a preservative found in the meat, may irritate the airways.
It’s official, you need to get moving. Physi- cians in Brazil found that people with COPD who led sedentary lifestyles – characterized by much sitting and little physical exercise – had higher mortality rates than those who were more active.
Canada’s McMaster University research- ers have discovered an effective combination therapy has the potential to change medical practice for the treatment of the drug resis- tant infections which the World Health Or- ganization (WHO) identified as “of critical priority” for their threat to human health. The scientists, published in the journal, Nature Microbiology, discovered the an- ti-fungal medication, pentamidine, disrupts the cell surface of Gram-negative bacteria, even the most resistant. Pentamidine, when used with other antibiotics, was found to be particularly effective against two of the three pathogens which the WHO has identified as having the most critical priority for develop- ment of new antibiotics.
Believe it or not, a component of the skin mucus secreted by South Indian frogs can kill the H1 variety of influenza viruses, researchers from Emory Vaccine Center and the Rajiv Gandhi Center for Biotechnology in India have discovered.
The risk for osteoporosis of the hip was 1.5 times higher in post-menopausal women with chronic lung disorders than in their counterparts who did not have those condi- tions. The findings were published October 2016 in Endocrine. Ask your doctor about getting a bone density test. The National Osteoporosis Foundation also recommends testing for people who break a bone after age 50. Be sure you’re following a healthy diet with an adequate intake of calcium and vitamin D.
Science Daily reports doctors and researchers in South- ampton, London, England, have de- veloped a novel way of using a swab test which can rapidly diagnose flu and other viral infections in people with severe respira- tory conditions, resulting in shorter courses of antibiotics and less time in the hospital.
Researchers from the University of Virginia School of Medicine have found that the hormone hepcidin, responsible for controlling iron metabolism, helps fight off a severe form of bacterial pneumonia. Hepcidin is produced in the liver and limits the spread of the bacteria by hiding the iron in the blood that the bacteria need to survive and grow. There is already a drug in devel- opment that mimics the function of hepcidin and could be used to decrease the iron levels in the blood of pneumonia patients who lack hepcidin.