In a new consensus statement, the American College of Chest Physicians offers guidance on the diagnosis and treatment of work-related asthma (WRA), a chronic respiratory condition that includes occupational asthma and work-exacerbated asthma (WEA) and affects as many as 25 percent of adults with asthma. Published as a supplement to the September issue of CHEST, the consensus statement, updated from 1995, places new emphasis on
Body
What effects do new drugs have on the human body – particularly at cellular level? Can doctors administer them without risk, or do they have toxic side effects? Pharmaceutical companies carry out a variety of toxicity tests on new drugs in order to answer such questions. Cell cultures form the basis for these tests: The researchers place isolated cells in small plastic dishes, add a nutrient solution and place the dishes in an incubator heated to 37 degrees Celsius. To provide an ideal breeding ground for the cells, the dishes are made of insulating polystyrene.
Humans aren't the only ones who like fatty foods - bearded vultures do, too. A study by Antoni Margalida from the Bearded Vulture Study and Protection Group in El Pont de Suert, Spain, has found that the bearded vulture will discard less energy-dense bones and choose only the bones containing the highest fat content both for its consumption and delivery to its young. His findings¹ will be published this week in the Springer journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.
The lighter an aircraft is, the less fuel it consumes. Given the need to cut carbon dioxide emissions, this is a key aspect of materials research. Aircraft manufacturers are therefore pinning their hopes on particularly lightweight construction materials. These include not only lightweight metals, but also fiber composite plastics, particularly carbon-fiber reinforced plastics (CFRPs). Whenever two CFRP components have to be joined together, this has so far been accomplished primarily by riveting.
Australian researchers and a pathology company have joined forces to develop a world-first computerised system which may reveal a way to predict premature birth with greater accuracy.
The University of Melbourne, the University of Newcastle and Symbion Pathology are combining expertise in medical research, engineering and pathology to develop a computer program to predict women at risk of a premature birth.
A discovery by Australian scientists could help clinicians decide which women with breast cancer will make good candidates for anti-oestrogen therapies, such as tamoxifen, and which will not.
Over 12,000 Australian women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, roughly 70% of which will have cancers treatable with tamoxifen. Unfortunately, 30% or more of these women may not respond well to such anti-hormone therapy long-term.
Should surgeons be bare below the elbows and tie less or are new UK dress rules for doctors compromising their professional image without sufficient evidence that hospital-acquired infections will be reduced?
That's the question posed by urology consultant Mr Adam Jones from the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading, UK, in the September issue of BJU International.
Scientists of the Instituto de Nutrición y Tecnología de los Alimentos (Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology) of the University of Granada (UGR, Spain) have been doing research into the positive effects of Mediterranean diet's ingredients on health.
Nashville, TN (Sept 8, 2008) – A nationwide survey found a sizable gap exists between patients and healthcare professionals when it comes to understanding and discussing pain. To address this discrepancy, a new coalition of leading pain management organizations has formed to improve how patients and healthcare professionals communicate with each other.
An athlete's ability to sweat may do more than keep the body cool. It also may prevent the development of exercise-induced asthma (EIA), a common respiratory condition among trained athletes. New research appearing in the September issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), shows that athletes with EIA produce less sweat, tears, and saliva than those who do not have breathing problems.
A new analysis reveals that fewer than half of older patients successfully treated for colorectal cancer receive the recommended screening schedule to detect any recurrence of cancer. The study, appearing in the October 15, 2008 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, indicates poor compliance to recommended monitoring of colorectal cancer survivors could affect survival.
Regular use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as aspirin and ibuprofen, may reduce serum levels of the prostate biomarker, PSA (prostate specific antigen), and hence may alter the detection of prostate cancer in individuals who take these medications. That is the conclusion of a new study in the October 15, 2008 issue of CANCER, a peer reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – In the face of a growing obesity epidemic in the United States, researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center have new study results that indicate that how much fat a person has is not as important as where that fat is located when assessing risk for cardiovascular events and metabolic disease.
Common painkillers like aspirin and ibuprofen appear to lower a man's PSA level, the blood biomarker widely used by physicians to help gauge whether a man is at risk of prostate cancer.
But the authors of the study, which appears online Sept. 8 in the journal Cancer, caution that men shouldn't take the painkillers in an effort to prevent prostate cancer just yet.
Colonies of hospital superbugs can make poisons similar to those found in rattlesnake venom to attack our bodies' natural defences, scientists heard today (Monday 8 September 2008) at the Society for General Microbiology's Autumn meeting being held this week at Trinity College, Dublin.
The toxins are manufactured by communities of the hospital superbug Pseudomonas aeruginosa called biofilms, which are up to a thousand times more resistant to antibiotics than free-floating single bacterial cells.