Antibiotic for Asthma Sufferers | Medical News and Health Information

Reported May 25, 2011
Antibiotic for Asthma Sufferers

(Ivanhoe Newswire) — People with severe asthma are more likely to have antibodies against the disease-causing bacteria Chlamydia pneumoniae than the general population and in some cases antibiotic treatment can greatly improve symptoms.

“We conclude that a subset of severe asthmatics harbor infectious C. pneumoniae in their lungs, resulting in antibody production and increased asthma severity,” Eduard Drizik of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, was quoted as saying.

Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease, whose causes are not completely understood, affecting over 300 million people worldwide, including almost 24 million American children and adults. There is no cure for asthma and the disease is managed by controlling disease symptoms. The recognition that asthma pathogenesis involves chronic inflammation has led to a flurry of studies exploring the prevalence of various infectious organisms in the asthmatic condition.

Having previously demonstrated an increased prevalence of C. pneumoniae in the lungs of children and adults with asthma, the researchers conducted a study designed to determine if the presence of Chlamydia-specific antibodies could predict asthma severity and if these antibody-positive patients would benefit from treatment with antibiotics.

“The data revealed a statistically significant link between Chlamydia-specific IgE antibody production and the severity of asthma,” says Drizik. “Of the asthma patients analyzed, 55% had Chlamydia-specific IgE antibodies in their lungs compared to 12% of blood donor controls.”

In addition, patients who were treated on the basis of asthma severity with antibiotics had significant improvements in asthma symptoms and some even experienced a complete abolition of these symptoms.

“Physicians should therefore fully explore the involvement of microbes in difficult to treat asthma cases, since there might be a cure for some types of asthma after all,” said Drizik.

SOURCE: 111th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, May 23, 2011

Antibiotic for Asthma Sufferers | Medical News and Health Information

Asthma Attack: The "Heat" is On | Medical News and Health Information

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Asthma Attack: The “Heat” is On | Medical News and Health Information

Asthma Attack: The “Heat” is On — Research Summary

BACKGROUND: Asthma is a chronic lung disease that inflames and narrows the airways. It causes recurring periods of wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath and coughing. The inflammation can be trigged by a number of internal and external factors, but the exact cause is not known. The airways then swell and fill with mucus, making it difficult to breathe. Because asthma causes resistance, or obstruction, to exhaled air, it is called an obstructive lung disease.

 

Asthma is one of the most common and most costly diseases in the world, and presently, it has no cure. More than 20 million American have asthma, and managing asthma costs as much as $ 18 billion each year. In the U.S. each year, asthma attacks result in almost 10 million outpatient visits and 2 million emergency room visits. It also accounts for 500,000 hospitalizations and 4,000 deaths each year.

 

TREATMENTS: Treatments for asthma can be divided into long-term control and quick-relief medications. There are two major groups of medications used in controlling asthma: anti-inflammatories and bronchodilators. Anti-inflammatories reduce the number of inflammatory cells in the airways and prevent blood vessels from leaking fluid into the airway tissues. Bronchodilators work by increasing the diameter of the air passages and easing the flow of gases to and from the lungs. Regular follow-up visits (at least every six months) are important to maintain asthma control and to reassess medication requirements.

 

 

BRONCHIAL THERMOPLASTY:

 

Bronchial thermoplasty is the first device-based asthma treatment approved by the FDA. It’s performed through the working channel of a standard flexible bronchoscope that is passed through a patient’s nose or mouth, into their lungs. The tip of the small catheter is expanded to contract the walls of targeted airways. The thermal energy is then delivered to the airway walls to reduce the presence of excess airway smooth muscle that narrows the airways in patients with asthma. By decreasing the ability of the airways to constrict, this new treatment has been shown to help patients with severe asthma gain substantially better control over their disease.

 

According to a study in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the patients treated with bronchial thermoplasty saw their quality of life improve. They saw a 32-percent drop in asthma attacks, an 84-percent reduction in emergency room visits for respiratory symptoms, a 73-percent drop in hospitalizations for respiratory symptoms and a 66-percent reduction in days lost from work or school or other daily activities due to asthma. Doctors stressed that this device does not cure asthma, but it helps improve the patient’s quality of life. There’s little risk since there is no incision, but patients may suffer from worse asthma symptoms the days immediately following the procedure. (Source: American Journal of respiratory and Critical medicine) MORE

Asthma Attack: The “Heat” is On — Research Summary | Medical News and Health Information

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Asthma Attack: The “Heat” is On — In Depth Doctor’s Interview | Medical News and Health Information

Medical Office Welcome Letter Sample Asthma And Joining The Army?

Asthma and joining the Army? – medical office welcome letter sample

I have diagnosed with asthma when they are young but we have done with my doctor and the results of spirometry spirometry for “normal spirometry and my doctor wrote me a letter and said:” In my opinion, Sam No not about asthma. When I think of my local offices of the Army Forces Careers (AFCO) for being accepted you?

It would be for someone who knows, extraordinary / a specialist in the military or someone who has been in my situation, but all comments welcome.

Thanks in advance

Cardiac Disorder: More Common Than We Thought? | Medical News and Health Information

Cardiac Disorder: More Common Than We Thought? | Medical News and Health Information: “Reported July 20, 2011

Cardiac Disorder: More Common Than We Thought?

(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Stress cardiomyopathy (a transient form of acute heart failure triggered by stressful events) appears to have clinical characteristics that are broader than reported previously, including younger patients, men, and patients without an identifiable stressful trigger, according to this study.

Stress cardiomyopathy (SC) primarily affects postmenopausal women and is characterized by acute, profound, but reversible left ventricular (LV) dysfunction in the absence of significant coronary artery disease.

Ingo Eitel, M.D., of the University of Leipzig, Germany, and colleagues conducted a study to comprehensively define the clinical spectrum of SC and to examine the usefulness of a set of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) criteria that might aid in diagnostic decision making in suspected SC. The 256 patients with SC were assessed at the time of presentation at the centers as well as 1 to 6 months after the acute event.

Patients with SC were an average age of 69 years old; 89 percent were women. Eighty-one percent of patients were postmenopausal women, 8 percent were 50 years of age or younger; men accounted for 11 percent of cases. In 71 percent of patients, a significant stressful event less than 48 hours before presentation could be identified; triggering conditions were emotional stress in 30 percent of patients, and physical stress in 41 percent. Upon presentation at the care center, electrocardiograms (ECGs) showed abnormalities in 87 percent of patients. Coronary angiography showed healthy coronary arteries in 193 patients (75 percent). CMR imaging detected ballooning patterns [a certain appearance of the heart muscle] with moderate to severe reduction of LV function in all patients and 4 distinct patterns of regional ventricular ballooning.

‘Stress cardiomyopathy was accurately identified by CMR using specific criteria: a typical pattern of LV dysfunction, myocardial edema [swelling], absence of significant necrosis [cell or tissue death]/fibrosis [formation of excess fibrous connective tissue], and markers for myocardial inflammation. Follow-up CMR imaging showed complete normalization of LV ejection fraction [a measure of how well the left ventricle of the heart pumps with each contraction] and inflammatory markers in the absence of significant fibrosis in all patients,’ the authors were quoted as saying.

The authors add that CMR imaging may provide incremental diagnostic information and could allow for verifying all relevant functional and tissue changes and therefore might contribute to the establishment of or rule out the diagnosis of SC at the time of acute clinical presentation. ‘The combination of typical regional wall motion abnormalities, the presence of reversible myocardial injury, and the absence of significant irreversible tissue injury may serve as a very useful set of diagnostic criteria and should be prospectively tested.’

SOURCE: JAMA, published online July 20, 2011

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Study Examines Sports-Related Sudden Death | Medical News and Health Information

Study Examines Sports-Related Sudden Death | Medical News and Health Information

Study Examines Sports-Related Sudden Death 

(Ivanhoe Newswire) –Screening programs before participation in sports have been used for many years for young athletes and it has been suggested that screening programs might also be advisable in the general population. In a recent study in France, researchers have added to the debate by describing the incidence of sports-related sudden death by specific sports as well as age and sex.
The study included a population of about 35 million people.  Sports-related sudden death was defined as death occurring during or within one hour of cessation of the sports activity.  Calculation of sports-related sudden death only included cases during moderate and vigorous activities, and was assessed by sex, age, and three of the most frequent sports among women in France (jogging, cycling, and swimming).
 “Compared with men, we found a lower incidence of sports-related sudden death in women and differences by age and sport. Strategies for community screening prior to participation in recreational sports activities should consider both the types of sports to be undertaken and the sex of participants,” Eloi Marijon, M.D., of the Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, and colleagues, were quoted as saying.
For more information, go to: http://media.jamanetwork.com/news-item/also-appearing-in-this-issue-of-jama-18/
SOURCE: JAMA, August 2013