Pulmonology

A study of students undertaken by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center found that the majority of children with asthma also had allergic rhinitis, popularly known as hay fever. The symptoms of hay fever include a runny nose, sneezing, congestion, and sinus pressure, and it can worsen asthma.

Jessica Stern, M.D., an assistant professor in the department of Pediatrics and the division of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, led the study, which showed that children who had both asthma and hay fever had lower asthma outcomes. The study’s findings were reported in the Journal of Asthma.

This study examined data from three NIH-funded studies including 1,029 Rochester schoolchildren with asthma (directed by Jill Halterman, M.D., professor in the department of Pediatrics). The studies’ major purpose was to see if giving children preventative asthma drugs at school improved their asthma symptoms. While the majority of children in these studies had better asthma symptoms after receiving their drugs, a subset of children did not. This encouraged the researchers to investigate additional health issues that may have prevented the youngsters from receiving a complete therapeutic response.

“Through our study, we found that many of the children who did not report improved symptoms had allergic rhinitis in addition to asthma, and these children had more asthma symptoms, used their rescue medication more, and missed more school days compared to those without allergic rhinitis,” said Stern.

This study examined data from three NIH-funded studies including 1,029 Rochester schoolchildren with asthma (directed by Jill Halterman, M.D., professor in the department of Pediatrics). The studies’ major purpose was to see if giving children preventative asthma drugs at school improved their asthma symptoms. While the majority of children in these studies had better asthma symptoms after receiving their drugs, a subset of children did not. This encouraged the researchers to investigate additional health issues that may have prevented the youngsters from receiving a complete therapeutic response.

Importantly, less than half of the children with hay fever were receiving proper treatment for their symptoms, including nasal sprays and recommended anti-histamines; nor had they been seen by asthma or allergy specialists.

“This is critical because it highlights gaps in care and needed treatments, which may contribute to the disparities in asthma outcomes that we see in children who primarily identify as Black or Latino, or are from low resourced communities,” said Stern. “These findings also encourage a focus on contributing environmental factors and the social determinants of health for these children. The burden of allergic disease is often under-recognized and undertreated in historically marginalized populations, and we have an opportunity and obligation to address this to improve outcomes.”

Dr. Stern will be continuing this work to understand the multiple influences in a child’s life that impact their asthma. She has grant funding from the Robert A. Winn Diversity in Clinical Trials Career Development Award, NHLBI, and the URMC Quality Institute.

“We are working to create a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary approach to overcome structural obstacles to equitable care for children with asthma. This will involve collaboration with caregivers and patients to plan systems of care that work for them. We understand that families are the experts, and we have to listen to what they think,” said Stern.

Also Read: Balanced meal timing may enhance brain health: Study

Mitohormesis describes the fact that mild stress to a cell’s mitochondria can induce a series of responses that actually increase the cell’s health and viability. Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which can finally result in fatality in old or susceptible persons, is brought on by several respiratory infections, such as influenza or COVID-19, which severely stress cells and organs.

“Novel therapeutic strategies to address ARDS, instead of fighting the infectious agent, could try to elicit the tolerance of the host organism towards the inflammatory challenge by boosting its natural adaptive stress responses,” says Professor Johan Auwerx at EPFL’s School of Life Sciences. In a new study, Adrienne Mottis at EPFL and her colleagues have shown that one such strategy can exploit a biological phenomenon known as “mitohormesis”.

The primary energy-harvesting organelles of the cell, mitochondria, are continually watched by the cell’s “surveillance” systems. This ongoing quality monitoring can trigger adaptive compensating reactions referred to as “mitochondrial stress responses” if the mitochondria malfunction or are under stress.

“A mild level of mitochondrial stress can therefore be beneficial overall for the cell and the organism since the positive effect of these stress responses can overcome the negative effect of the initial stressor,” says Mottis who led the study. This idea is borne by previous studies showing that eliciting mitohormesis can extend lifespan by counteracting the effects of age-related or metabolic disorders.

Also Read: Portugal Health Minister resigns after pregnant Indian tourist dies during transfer

Because mitochondria are descended from bacteria, antibiotics may be used on them. To combat a variety of infections, including acne, cholera, plague, malaria, and syphilis, the researchers examined various antibiotics that could stress mitochondria and discovered novel molecules in the tetracycline family. Tetracyclines are a class of antibiotics that blocks the synthesis of mitochondrial proteins.

52 tetracyclines were examined by the researchers, and they chose unique compounds like 9-test-butyldoxycycline (9-TB) because they are very effective at inducing mitohormesis even at low dosages and have no antibiotic action, meaning they do not affect the host’s microbiota. When tested on mice, the chemicals led to moderate mitochondrial stress and advantageous mitohormetic responses that increased the mice’s tolerance to influenza virus infection.

The research demonstrates that 9-TB, without changing the microbiota, can help mice develop a resistance to influenza infection by lessening the degree of tissue damage and inflammation. The scientists add, “These results provide novel therapeutic options by targeting mitochondria and mitohormesis to combat inflammatory challenges and infections.”

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is still responsible for the world’s biggest infectious illness, TB, which affects around 25% of the world’s population. Drug-resistant strains have made infections difficult to cure, but University of Oklahoma professor Helen Zgurskaya is leading research into new, possibly beneficial treatment approaches to the illness.

The study’s findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research looked into how recently identified novel inhibitors destroy the disease. The corresponding author of the publication “Proton transfer activity of the reconstituted MmpL3 is controlled by substrate mimics and inhibitors” is Zgurskaya, a George Lynn Cross Research Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences.

“This is one of the scariest infectious diseases affecting billions of people worldwide,” said Zgurskaya. “Like many other bacterial infections, it is becoming more resistant to antibiotics. Currently, the treatment requires a combination of antibiotics taken by patients for six months, but now imagine that the disease does not respond to the treatment. We are out of therapeutic options for this infection, and we need new drugs.”

Casey Stevens, Ph.D., postdoctoral research associate Svitlana Babii, and research assistant professor Jitender Mehla led the study of the MmpL3 transporter and its analogues, which are crucial in the physiology of Mycobacterium TB and antimycobacterial drug development. These transporters are essential for the formation of the bacterial outer membrane, which is required for bacterial growth and drug resistance. Researchers effectively isolated and reconstituted MmpL3 and its analogues into artificial membranes in this investigation. They also created a set of substrate mimics and inhibitors that are particular to these transporters and studied their activities and characteristics.

Researchers discovered that all reconstituted proteins promote proton translocation across membranes, however MmpL3 analogues varied significantly in their reactions to pH and interactions with substrate mimics and indole-2-carboxamide inhibitors.

Tobacco smoking is one of the primary causes of cancer worldwide, in addition to having other negative health consequences. As a result, every year on May 31st, World No-Tobacco Day is observed to raise awareness about the issue.

Cigarette smoking is the most popular type of tobacco use in the world, and it is a highly addictive habit with long-term negative health consequences. Cigarettes include substances that make this addiction much more difficult to overcome. If you’re addicted to smoking, don’t panic; quitting isn’t difficult. So, here are a few suggestions for eliminating this harmful habit.

Find your reason and quit tobacco

You need to find a powerful personal reason that will help you get motivated to quit smoking. After the reason has been chosen simply quit the habit of cold turkey, meaning don’t reduce the number of cigarettes you smoke rather just end it altogether in a go.

Be occupied initially

After you have broken the loop by quitting smoking, you should keep yourself constantly occupied with something or the other because that will give your brain lesser opportunity to think about smoking.

Try snacking or chewing gums

When a person is a smoker they are not just hooked on the nicotine but also on the habit of constantly having something in their mouth. So this can be tackled by trying to eat fruits or chewing gum which will keep your mouth and brain occupied.

Consume ample amounts of water

Water in large quantities is required by the body daily. When a person has quit smoking water helps in getting rid of the toxins from your body.

Start exercising

Exercise is known to reduce nicotine withdrawal symptoms and cravings. It also helps you cope with stress and have more energy by boosting your mood. So get some fresh air and go for a jog or if you don’t feel up to it, go for a long walk.

Avoid drinking and other triggers

It’s harder to adhere to your no-smoking goal when you drink. Similarly, if you often smoke when you drink coffee, switch to tea for a few weeks. Tobacco urges are usually associated to the places or situations in which you smoked. Hence, identify your triggers and try to avoid them.

Also Read: Risk of cancer in men may be connected to male infertility: Study

Keep on trying

A lot of individuals try many times before they are actually able to give up cigarettes for good. So if you do light up a cigarette in a moment of weakness then don’t feel discouraged. Instead think about what led to your relapse and try again.
Please note that the tips given here are just general information and in no way is it a substitute for qualified medical advice.

Do Follow Medically Speaking on Instagram