Latest Spirometry Stories

Using computed tomography (CT), researchers have identified two types of structural changes in the lungs of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) that are associated with frequent exacerbations, or episodes when symptoms suddenly worsen. Their findings are published online in the journal Radiology.COPD can damage both the airways and the air sacs of the lungs, and is a leading cause of death and illness worldwide. The two main structural abnormalities seen in COPD are...

Psychosocial stress appears to enhance the lung-damaging effects of traffic-related pollution (TRP) in children, according to new research from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles.The results will appear online ahead of the print edition of the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine."This is the first study demonstrating that growing up in a stressful household was associated with larger...

OR AKIVA, Israel, June 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Deep Breeze [http://www.deepbreeze.com ], The leader in Vibration Response Imaging (VRI(TM)) technology, will showcase its new lung imaging systems embedded with the O-Plan application, at the WCLC [http://www.2011worldlungcancer.org ] (The 14th World Conference on Lung Cancer) annual meeting in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, which will take place on July 3-7, 2011 at the RAI Conference Center (booth 2312). Deep Breeze's...

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Asthma is a common chronic respiratory condition characterized clinically by an excessive tendency toward reversible airway narrowing. Scientists believe that the airway narrowing induced by allergen exposure in patients with asthma may in itself be a sufficient stimulus for the development of airway remodeling, and that such remodeling is not solely dependent on induced recruitment of airway eosinophils which trigger airway remodeling as well.To test this hypothesis, we...

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Pearl Therapeutics Inc. presented detailed efficacy and safety results today from the Company's phase 2b study of PT003 (GFF MDI) in patients with moderate-to-very severe COPD during a late-breaker poster session at the annual meeting of the American Thoracic Society (ATS). PT003 is a proprietary fixed-dose combination of glycopyrrolate (GP), a long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA), and formoterol fumarate (FF), an established,...

(Ivanhoe Newswire) "“ Contrary to previous research, a new study shows children with cystic fibrosis (CF) who have poor lung function early in life are more likely also to have poor lung function in adolescence, regardless of whether they are exposed to a common infection caused by the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa in early childhood."We have shown that infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa alone does not explain differences in lung function in early childhood that persist later in...

The six-minute walking distance test (6MWD), a test that measures a patient's ability to tolerate exercise and physical activity, is an effective tool for understanding disease severity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to a three-year global study of patients with COPD sponsored by drug manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline.The study will be presented at the ATS 2011 International Conference in Denver."We found that baseline 6MWD was predictive of hospital...

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Pirfenidone reduces the rate of decline of lung function in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis- a condition that affects hundreds of thousands os people worldwide and will eventually kill four out of five people.In this study, patients were either given pirfenidone of a placebo for a minimum of 72 weeks. The researchers assessed the change in percentage predicted forced vital capacity (FVC) at week 72.The study showed an 8.4% decline in mean FVC in the...

'Healthy' smokers experience changes in the gene expression of their lungs similar to that suffered by smokers who have developed Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). This is the conclusion of a new study, led by Catalan researchers, which confirms the crucial role that smoking plays in causing these alterations."Our objective was to analyse the expression of a range of genes in the pulmonary tissue samples of patients with COPD, whether smokers or not, and people who had...

(Ivanhoe Newswire) "“ A simple exercise, individually tailored to each cystic fibrosis (CF) patient's preference and lifestyle, can heal improve lung function and overall fitness, according to a Johns Hopkins Children's Center Study.Frequent lung infections, breathing problems and decreased lung function are the hallmark symptoms of CF, a genetic disorder marked by a disruption in the body's ability to transport chloride in and out of cells that leads to the buildup of thick mucus in the...