Research Activities, November 2012: Chronic Disease: Breathing retraining techniques may help adult asthma

Research Activities, November 2012: Chronic Disease: Breathing retraining techniques may help adult asthma

Chronic Disease

Breathing retraining techniques may help adult asthma Certain behavioral approaches to treat asthma may improve asthma symptoms or reduce use of quick-relief medication in motivated adults with poorly controlled asthma, concludes a new report. The evidence-based review from AHRQ’s Effective Health Care Program notes that asthma is a chronic condition of the airways characterized by the complex interaction of underlying inflammation, bronchial (airway) hyper-responsiveness, and airway obstruction. In 2009, the estimated prevalence of asthma in the United States was 8.2 percent, which represents 24.6 million adults and children. Poorly controlled asthma is associated with increased health care use, decreased quality of life, and significant activity limitations. In the United States, the projected annual cost (direct and indirect) of asthma in 2010 was estimated to be over $ 20 billion. Moderate evidence suggests that, for adults with poorly controlled asthma, hyperventilation-reduction breathing techniques can improve symptoms and may reduce reliever medication use over 6 to 12 months, with no known harmful effects compared to other breathing techniques. However, these techniques were not found to improve lung (pulmonary) function when compared to no intervention. Programs that included 5 or more hours of contact and that also offered interventions beyond breathing retraining or advice were more likely to be effective than no intervention. Patients considering these treatments should not alter asthma medication before discussing their options with their clinician. The report’s findings can be found in the research review Breathing Exercises and/or Retraining Techniques in the Treatment of Asthma: Comparative Effectiveness. To access this review and other materials that explore the effectiveness and risks of treatment options for various conditions, visit the Effective Health Care Program Web site at http://www.effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov.

Bacterial protein in house dust spurs asthma according to NIH study, October 15, 2012 News Release - National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Bacterial protein in house dust spurs asthma according to NIH study, October 15, 2012 News Release – National Institutes of Health (NIH)

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)

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For Immediate Release
Monday, October 15, 2012

Contact:
Robin Arnette
919-541-5143

Bacterial protein in house dust spurs asthma according to NIH study

A bacterial protein in common house dust may worsen allergic responses to indoor allergens, according to research conducted by the National Institutes of Health and Duke University. The finding is the first to document the presence of the protein flagellin in house dust, bolstering the link between allergic asthma and the environment.
Scientists from the NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and Duke University Medical Center published their findings in people and mice online Oct. 14 in the journal Nature Medicine.
“Most people with asthma have allergic asthma, resulting largely from allergic responses to inhaled substances,” said the paper’s corresponding author Donald Cook, Ph.D., an NIEHS scientist. His research team began the study to identify environmental factors that amplify the allergic responses. “Although flagellin is not an allergen, it can boost allergic responses to true allergens.”
After inhaling house dust, mice that were able to respond to flagellin displayed all of the common symptoms of allergic asthma, including more mucous production, airway obstruction, and airway inflammation. However, mice lacking a gene that detects the presence of flagellin had reduced levels of these symptoms.
“More work will be required to confirm our conclusions, but it’s possible that cleaning can reduce the amount of house dust in general, and flagellated bacteria in particular, to reduce the incidence of allergic asthma,” Cook said.
In addition to the mouse study, the research team also determined that people with asthma have higher levels of antibodies against flagellin in their blood than do non-asthmatic subjects, which provides more evidence of a link between environmental factors and allergic asthma in humans.
“More than 20 million Americans have asthma, with 4,000 deaths from the disease occurring each year,” added Darryl Zeldin, M.D., NIEHS scientific director and paper co-author. “All of these data suggest that flagellin in common house dust can promote allergic asthma by priming allergic responses to common indoor allergens.”
NIEHS supports research to understand the effects of the environment on human health and is part of NIH. For more information on environmental health topics, visit http://www.niehs.nih.gov. Subscribe to one or more of the NIEHS news lists (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/news/newslist/index.cfm) to stay current on NIEHS news, press releases, grant opportunities, training, events, and publications.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health ^®

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Reference: Wilson RH, Maruoka S, Whitehead GS, Foley JF, Flake GP, Sever ML, Zeldin DC, Kraft M, Garantziotis S, Nakano H, Cook DN. 2012. The Toll-like receptor 5 ligand flagellin promotes asthma by priming allergic responses to indoor allergens. Nat Med; doi:10.1038/nm.2920 [Online 14 October 2012].

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NIH statement on World Asthma Day 2012 - May 1, 2012, April 30, 2012 News Release - National Institutes of Health (NIH)

NIH statement on World Asthma Day 2012 – May 1, 2012, April 30, 2012 News Release – National Institutes of Health (NIH)

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

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For Immediate Release

Monday, April 30, 2012

Contact:

NIAID Office of Communications

301-402-1663

NHLBI Office of Communications

301-496-4236

NIEHS Office of Communications

919-541-0073

NICHD Office of Communications

301-496-5133

NIH statement on World Asthma Day 2012 – May 1, 2012

Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,
Susan B. Shurin, M.D., Acting Director, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute,
Linda S. Birnbaum, Ph.D., Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences,
Alan E. Guttmacher, M.D., Director, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

On World Asthma Day 2012, we at the National Institutes of Health stand with the Global Initiative for Asthma to renew our dedication to improving the quality of life for the millions of people living with asthma.

Asthma affects more than 230 million people worldwide, including more than 25 million people in the United States. There is no way to prevent, or to cure, asthma. Existing treatments focus on preventing or controlling disease symptoms, such as wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath and coughing. Despite these efforts, each year more than half of children and one-third of adults with asthma in the United States miss school or work because of the disease, approximately 17 million people require medical attention because of an asthma episode, and more than 3,000 asthma-related deaths occur.

Four NIH institutes — the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID); the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI); the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS); and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) — support basic and clinical research to understand the causes of asthma and the factors that contribute to its progression. Although each institute has a different focus, we all work together to help develop effective prevention and treatment strategies for the disease.

In March 2012, NIH, together with the Merck Childhood Asthma Network Inc., and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, published a report that for the first time promotes standardization across asthma clinical studies. Asthma Outcomes in Clinical Research: Report of the Asthma Outcomes Workshop establishes common measures and data-collection methods to enable researchers to compare their results more efficiently. This standardization promises to enhance asthma clinical research and lead to improvements in the quality of asthma care.

In August 2011, NIH held a workshop, The Early Life Origins of Asthma: Strategies for Primary Prevention. Asthma typically begins early in childhood, and the goal of the workshop was to identify specific factors that may predict a person’s risk of developing asthma during the first 1,000 days of life. Such factors include environmental exposures, genetics and events that occur in pregnancy and early infancy. Workshop attendees concluded that understanding the early risk factors for asthma may provide an opportunity to prevent asthma before it begins.

NIH remains committed to working with individuals, families and health care professionals to reduce the worldwide burden of asthma. We commend our investigators who continue to make significant progress in asthma research, and we thank the people who have participated in NIH-sponsored asthma clinical studies, as well as to the nongovernmental organizations that provide support for those affected by this disease. We all share the hope that further research will uncover the causes of asthma so that the disease can one day be effectively prevented.

NIAID supports studies of the immune system’s role in the development of asthma and evaluates new approaches to treat and prevent the disease. NHLBI funds a broad asthma research portfolio — including studies on risk factors, mechanisms that influence disease severity, and identifying novel therapies — and the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program, which translates research into clinical practice to improve asthma control and quality of life. NIEHS supports research to understand how exposures to environmental agents trigger asthma, and how we can better prevent, diagnose and treat such exposures. NICHD conducts and supports research on all stages of human development, including research directed to those early life stages when chronic diseases such as asthma might be prevented.

NIAID conducts and supports research — at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide — to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID Web site at http://www.niaid.nih.gov/.

Part of the National Institutes of Health, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) plans, conducts, and supports research related to the causes, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of heart, blood vessel, lung, and blood diseases; and sleep disorders. The Institute also administers national health education campaigns on women and heart disease, healthy weight for children, and other topics. NHLBI press releases and other materials are available online at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/.

The NIEHS supports research to understand the effects of the environment on human health and is part of NIH. For more information on environmental health topics, visit http://www.niehs.nih.gov/. Subscribe to one or more of the NIEHS news lists (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/news/releases/newslist/index.cfm) to stay current on NIEHS news, press releases, grant opportunities, training, events, and publications.

About the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD):

The NICHD sponsors research on development, before and after birth; maternal, child, and family health; reproductive biology and population issues; and medical rehabilitation. For more information, visit the Institute’s Web site at http://www.nichd.nih.gov/. NICHD support was provided through the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act program, which seeks to improve pediatric therapeutics through preclinical and clinical drug trials that lead to drug labeling changes.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov/.

NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health

NIH statement on World Asthma Day 2012 – May 1, 2012, April 30, 2012 News Release – National Institutes of Health (NIH)