Tag: Press

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Discovery of taste receptors in the lungs could help people with asthma … – EurekAlert (press release)

Discovery of taste receptors in the lungs could help people with asthma …
EurekAlert (press release)
What they learned about the role of the receptors could revolutionize the treatment of asthma and other obstructive lung diseases. …
Lungs Can 'Taste' Dangerous Bacteria, Researchers SayWall Street Journal
Lung taste receptors may improve asthma treatmentThe Associated Press

all 61 news articles »

View full post on asthma – Google News

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Low VOC Paints May Still Cause Asthma and Allergies

Low VOC Paints May Still Cause Asthma and Allergies

According to Tom Lemt of the Pharos Project and the policy director of the Healthy Building Network, fumes from chemicals commonly used in water-based paints and solvents may be associated with substantially higher rates of asthma, stuffy noses and eczema. The Swedish/US joint study reported in Environmental Health News this week found that children sleeping in rooms with higher concentrations of propylene glycol and glycol ether compounds (PGEs) in the air were two to four times more likely to suffer symptoms.

Ironically, PGEs have been used more widely in cleaners and paints as manufacturers have sought to lower their VOCs (volatile organic compounds). PGEs are VOCs, but they emit at lower levels than the older, highly toxic oil solvent-based compounds. Pharos now identifies PGE compounds when they appear in paints and other products with links to this information and will watch the science for further information on the connections between asthma and chemicals in building products.

Given the lack of full disclosure of material contents in most paints and the still evolving science on other contributors to asthma, the most protective path is to choose paints with no VOCs. Paints that score 7 or higher in the Pharos VOC category have at least a manufacturer declaration that there are no VOCs (PGEs included) in the formula, including so-called “exempt VOCs.” And don’t forget the tints. Specify VOC free tints to make sure the PGEs and other VOCs that you kept out of the paint don’t sneak back in through the colorant.

The Pharos Project, a project of the Healthy Building Network, connects you to a network of building professionals and manufacturers committed to transparency as a core value on the path to sustainability. Pharos is not a certification or label, it is information: the critical health and environmental data about the manufacture, use, and end of life of building materials specified and used every day. All delivered in an easy to use web based tool. For more information go to www.pharosproject.net www.healthybuilding.net.

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Asthma Numbers Increase in Ontario Canada

Asthma Numbers Increase in Ontario Canada Says New Study

A new study in the American Journal of Epidemiology, led by Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre researcher and Respirologist, Dr. Andrea Gershon and The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) researcher, Dr. Teresa To, suggests that there has been a startling increase in the number of people living with asthma in Ontario since 1996.

Using a validated definition of asthma, all individuals with asthma living in Ontario were identified from health administrative databases for the province. Annual asthma prevalence, incidence and mortality rates were then estimated from 1996 to 2005. Drs. Gershon and To found that during this time, the number of individuals with asthma increased by 70.5%.

While the number of new adults who developed asthma was relatively stable, their analysis observed that the number of children who developed asthma during this time increased by about 30%.

“The overall increase in asthma rates in the province is largely due to the significant increase in the number of children who are developing asthma and people living longer with the disease,” says Dr. Gershon. “Such a dramatic increase, especially in children, is concerning. We need to do more research to determine why it is occurring and how it can be reversed.”

Says Dr. To, “The increase in asthma could be partly attributed to early recognition of the disease which is important as it will lead to better treatment and understanding of the disease.”

The authors indicate that the high burden of asthma could be mitigated by effective clinical and public health strategies to prevent and manage asthma in the population. This includes measures such as ensuring individuals with asthma receive asthma education, understand asthma triggers and symptoms and take asthma medications.

Dr. Gershon, who is also an Adjunct Scientist at SickKids and Assistant Professor with the Departments of Medicine and Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto, states, “We wanted to call attention to this issue because, to date, little has been known about asthma trends. We hope that this information will help health-care providers and policy makers prepare for the burden of asthma and optimize solutions for people with asthma accordingly.

“While the biggest increase of new asthma cases is observed in children, we must recall that they have long lives ahead of them,” says Dr. To, Senior Scientist in the Child Health Evaluative Sciences program at SickKids Research Institute and Professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Departments of Paediatrics, Health Policy, Management and Evaluation and Paediatrics and Institute for Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto.. “This means we have an increasing population of children and adults living longer with their asthma. Proper management of asthma is key to prevent the potentially huge burden on individuals, on families, on communities and on the health care system”.

The study was supported by The Asthma Plan of Action, The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care. The results of the study are published in the September 2010 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

About Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre is inventing the future of health care for the one million patients the hospital cares for each year through the dedication of its more than 10,000 staff and volunteers. An internationally recognized leader in research and education and a full affiliation with the University of Toronto distinguishes Sunnybrook as one of Canada’s premier academic health sciences centres. Sunnybrook specializes in caring for Canada’s war veterans, high-risk pregnancies, critically-ill newborns, adults and the elderly, and treating and preventing cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurological and psychiatric disorders, orthopaedic and arthritic conditions and traumatic injuries.

About The Hospital for Sick Children
The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) is recognized as one of the world’s foremost paediatric health-care institutions and is Canada’s leading centre dedicated to advancing children’s health through the integration of patient care, research and education. Founded in 1875 and affiliated with the University of Toronto, SickKids is one of Canada’s most research-intensive hospitals and has generated discoveries that have helped children globally. Its mission is to provide the best in complex and specialized family-centred care; pioneer scientific and clinical advancements; share expertise; foster an academic environment that nurtures health-care professionals; and champion an accessible, comprehensive and sustainable child health system. SickKids is proud of its vision of Healthier Children. A Better World.? For more information, please visit www.sickkids.ca.

Media Contacts:
Laura Bristow / Communications & Stakeholder Relations / Sunnybrook
Suzanne Gold / Media Relations / SickKids / 416-813-7654 suzanne.gold@sickkids.ca

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Childhood Asthma and Antibiotic use Link?

Research team investigates whether antibiotic use triggers childhood asthma and allergies

Study looks at how intestinal bacteria changes in newborns after babies take antibiotics, and whether changes trigger certain medical conditions

A cross-Canada team of medical researchers suspects that giving antibiotics to infants in their first year of life may be the underlying trigger that causes asthma and allergies to develop later in childhood.

The researchers, from five Canadian universities, are conducting a major, $2.5-million study on how intestinal bacteria changes in newborns after the babies take antibiotics, and whether those changes trigger certain medical conditions in children. The researchers include microbiologists, epidemiologists and immunologists.

Anita Kozyrskyj, who is co-lead investigator in this new federally funded study, demonstrated in a pilot study that infants who receive antibiotics by three months of age have changes in their microbiota.

“The number of different kinds of bacteria is less,” says Kozyrskyj, a researcher in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta.

“Now the question is: does antibiotic use early in life change the microbiota in the intestines of children? And are these changes associated with the development of asthma and allergies in children? We are hoping to specifically pinpoint which ‘bad’ bacteria it is that is causing asthma.”

Everyone has “good” intestinal bacteria, known as microbiota, to help absorb nutrients and protect against harmful bacteria. No one is born with this; it develops throughout the first year of life. Normal development of the microbiota can be affected by various factors such as caesarean-section delivery and infant diet and medication use. By one year of age, more than 50 per cent of Canadian infants will receive an antibiotic prescription.

Studies have shown that antibiotics affect the microbiota. As well, composition of microbiota in children who have allergies is different than the microbiotia in children who don’t suffer from allergies, as demonstrated by previous research studies.

Her research will zero in on antibiotic use in the first year of life and will be conducted through a research group called SyMBIOTA, or Synergy in Microbiota Research. The SyMBIOTA team includes researchers Piush Mandhane, Dean Befus, Radha Chari and Catherine Field.

Her colleagues from the University of Toronto, co-principal investigator James Scott and researcher David Guttman, will look at the composition of microbiota from fecal samples from children aged three months and at one year; this will involve about 2,500 babies from across the Prairies and the West Coast. By extracting DNA from these samples, researchers will be able to identify the bacteria that are present in microbiota.

Tatiana Celemin’s four-month-old baby, Sara, is taking part in the research study. Celemin’s son has asthma and that is one of the key reasons the family wanted to get involved with the study—to help researchers find out more about the condition.

“Even if it doesn’t have an impact on Sara, I think it’s important for the medical research to be there to hopefully impact future generations of children.”

This research is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the AllerGen Network Centres of Excellence.

Kozyrskyj, an epidemiologist, is an associate professor of pediatrics at the U of A, and the Women and Children’s Health Research Institute research chair in maternal-child health and the environment.