April 23, 2007 -- A stomach bacterium that causes ulcers and is linked to stomach cancer may make asthma less likely.
That news appears in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
The bacterium is called Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). It is associated with ulcers and increased risk of stomach cancer.
H. pylori is found worldwide, but it's more common in developing countries, note Yu Chen, PhD, MPH, and Martin Blaser, MD.
by Erwin W. Gelfand, MD
Patients with severe and refractory asthma suffer from numerous complications, fatal disease, and utilize a large proportion of healthcare resources. Treatment options are certainly limited, and it is unclear what underlies their refractoriness to conventional therapy. Whether they are "resistant" to therapy with glucocorticoids or the pathophysiologic pathways involved in their disease are not sensitive to glucocorticoids is unclear at present.
Some phenotypic differences in patients with refractory asthma have emerged, such as a greater involvement of neutrophils, but the relevance of these data are not clear. Among the candidates identified as perhaps playing a role in refractory asthma is tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), a pleiotropic inflammatory cytokine that is expressed in mast cells[1] and is present in higher concentrations in bronchoalveolar fluid from patients with asthma, particularly in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid from patients with more severe asthma.[2]
Scientists have identified a gene that could lead to a breakthrough in the treatment of asthma, with tablets replacing steroid inhalers.
As a result of work carried out at Dundee University, researchers believe that drugs currently used to treat diabetes could be adapted to control acute asthma attacks.
Until now asthma treatments have been dominated by steroid therapies which can often have serious side effects.
Newswise — Children in this country suffer from asthma more than any other chronic illness, and new research finds African-American children with the condition have a greater risk than others of experiencing severe symptoms that escalate into an emergency.
Previous research has shown that in comparison with white and Hispanic children, African-Americans have a higher rate of asthma, are hospitalized more and face more disability due to the condition. Because of this, “we suspected they might also exhibit relatively more severe asthma symptoms at the time of hospitalization,” said Yu Bai, a doctoral candidate at Pennsylvania State University.
Bai and his colleagues analyzed the records of 7,726 white, African-American and Hispanic children up to age 19 who were admitted to Pennsylvania hospitals in 2001 for asthma symptoms. The researchers then examined how the physician reported the severity of the children’s condition and ranked them either as “emergency” or “non-emergency” admissions.
Researchers have long noted that many asthma sufferers also have atopic dermatitis -- often called eczema -- a chronic disease of the skin that can leave it red, raw, scaly, tender, oozy and excruciatingly itchy. But scientists are looking at whether such ravaging of the skin creates the conditions that can trigger asthma.British scientists reported last spring in the journal Nature Genetics that people who suffer from both eczema and asthma carry the same gene mutation and concluded that in some cases eczema may actually lead to asthma.
A new technique for preserving grapes for mass-market wine may prevent the drink causing allergies, a study says. Spanish researchers found using ozone to keep grapes fresh for wine was 90% as effective as sulphur dioxide, which is currently used by producers.
Sulphur dioxide is often linked to allergies such as asthma and migraines, the journal Chemical and Industry said.
But experts said there were other properties in wine that could trigger allergic reactions.
Researchers have long noted that many asthma sufferers also have atopic dermatitis — often called eczema — a chronic disease of the skin that can leave it red, raw, scaly, tender, oozy and excruciatingly itchy. But scientists are looking at whether such ravaging of the skin creates the conditions that can trigger asthma.
Last spring in the journal Nature Genetics, British scientists reported that people who suffer from both eczema and asthma carry the same gene mutation and concluded that eczema may actually lead to asthma in some cases.
Until now, it had largely been assumed that dander, dust mites, pollen and other allergens that can cause asthma enter the body through the respiratory system. But the researchers said they now believe that they can also enter the body through tiny breaks in the skin’s surface — something that occurs in patients with eczema.
Background: Maternal diet during pregnancy might be one of the factors that influences fetal immune responses associated with childhood allergy. Objective: We analyzed the association between maternal diet during the last 4 wk of pregnancy and allergic sensitization and eczema in the offspring at 2 y of age.
Design: Data from 2641 children at 2 y of age were analyzed within a German prospective birth cohort study (LISA). Maternal diet during the last 4 wk of pregnancy was assessed with a semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire, which was administered shortly after childbirth.
Purpose of review: There is evidence for an association between asthma and air pollutants, including ozone, NO2 and particulate matter. Since these pollutants are ubiquitous in the urban atmosphere and typically correlated with each other it has been difficult to ascertain the specific sources of air pollution responsible for the observed effects.
Similarly, uncertainty in determining a causal agent, or multiple agents, has complicated efforts to identify the mechanisms involved in pollution-mediated asthma events and whether air pollution may cause asthma as well as exacerbate preexisting cases.
Allergic reactions to hair dyes are reaching new heights as more and more young people become preoccupied with altering their outward appearance, according to a recent study by the British Medical Journal this week.It has long been questioned whether the benefits of PPD outweigh the drawbacks, with the agent already banned in Germany, France and Sweden due to the problems it was causing.
New research suggests that different treatments may be needed for chronic asthma, depending on whether it results from allergies or lung infections. Previous studies have shown that certain lung infections such as Mycoplasma pneumoniae can linger on and contribute to a person later experiencing symptoms of asthma.
Researchers have now identified a particular gene that influences how severe a M. pneumoniae infection may be, which in turn suggests that a different strategy might be needed for treating asthma resulting from this and similar lung infections rather than allergies.
“What this shows is that infectious asthma might have a different mechanism than allergic asthma. Most people think asthma is asthma, but it may be multifaceted,” said Dr. Robert Hardy, an infectious disease specialist at UT Southwestern.
In a surprise finding, scientists have discovered that histamine, the inflammatory compound released during allergic reactions that causes runny nose, watery eyes, and wheezing, can be produced in large amounts in the lung by neutrophils, the white blood cells that are the major component of pus.
Pus, a fluid found in infected tissue, is produced as a result of inflammation.
The study in mice is the first to show that lung neutrophils can produce histamine in significant quantities, according to principal investigator George Caughey, MD, chief of pulmonary/critical care medicine at the San Francisco VA Medical Center.
BOSTON, Jan. 15 -- Aspirin may reduce the risk of new-onset asthma in adult males, according to a retrospective analysis of a longitudinal study of thousands of physicians.
MIAMI -- Harmful algal blooms known as red tides release toxins that can leave people with asthma gasping still harder for air, reported researchers here. After spending just 60 minutes on a beach where a Florida red tide was present, teens and adults with asthma had small but significant decreases in standard measures of pulmonary function, reported Lora E. Fleming, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.
"In the normal population, inhaled aerosolized red tide toxins can lead to eye irritation, rhinorrhea, nonproductive cough, and wheezing," Dr. Fleming and colleagues reported in the January issue of Chest.
By David H. Broide, MD, ChB
Asthma is a very common airway disease affecting approximately 20 million individuals in the United States. For many patients with persistent asthma, asthma is well controlled with a regular controller medication, such as an inhaled corticosteroid, and an as-needed beta2-agonist inhaler for symptom relief.[1] Nevertheless, each year in the United States, there are still approximately 10 million acute attacks of asthma, 2 million asthma urgent care visits, 400,000 asthma hospitalizations, and 4000-5000 asthma deaths, underscoring the fact that asthma is still not well controlled in a large number of asthmatics.[2] Patients with severe asthma use a significant fraction of the $6.2 billion in annual direct cost expenditure on asthma in the United States.[3] The development of novel therapeutic options for these asthmatics would be a significant advance.
By Dale T. Umetsu, MD, PhD
Allergic asthma is an immunologic disease that is caused by adaptive immune responses to environmental allergens. Asthma is thus characterized by the presence of allergen-specific immunoglobulin (Ig)E, which is produced during adaptive immune response and by the presence of allergen-specific CD4+ Th2 cells producing interleukin (IL)-4, IL-5, and IL-13.[1] Th2 cells are also generated during adaptive immune responses, and are thought to play a central role in orchestrating the inflammation in asthma, because IL-4 causes isotype switch to IgE; IL-5 enhances the growth and differentiation of eosinophils; and IL-13 causes airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) -- a cardinal feature of asthma.[2] The development of these adaptive immune responses with IgE and Th2 cells reflects allergen sensitization, which is a significant risk factor for the development of asthma.
Asthma UK and the Royal Society of Medicine are offering people with asthma a unique opportunity to influence the future of asthma research.
GA²LEN welcomes the vote of the European Parliament on the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) on 30 November that acknowledges allergic diseases as major chronic diseases to be addressed in European research during the coming 7 years (2007 - 2013).
GENEVA, Switzerland, Dec. 15 -- A common cold virus can be deadly for lung-transplant recipients, reported researchers here. Two of 11 recipients infected with human rhinoviruses developed progressive respiratory and graft dysfunction leading to their deaths, reported Laurent Kaiser, M.D., of the University Hospital of Geneva, and colleagues.
The findings flout conventional wisdom holding that human rhinoviruses only infect the upper respiratory tract, the investigators wrote in the second December issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.A recent report by the EU-backed Network of Excellence GA2LEN, Global Allergy and Asthma European Network, highlights new suspected linkages between diet and allergies, particularly in children. Experts suggest that there has been a fundamental shift in European diets over the past twenty to forty years exposing children and adults alike to greater risks of allergies. Such findings by the nutrition network are indicators of the fresh research the network can contribute to this complex field.
According to experts, fully one third of children and approximately half of the European population will be allergic to one thing or another by 2015. It is widely accepted that an unfortunate combination of hereditary and environmental factors contribute to the development of allergies and asthma. However, a sharp increase in the number of cases has lead researchers to believe that something more than genetics is at play.
