oondi | Free Articles. Write for Cash.

The authors say a simple, noninvasive test might enable doctors to screen for genetic predispositions to serious lung disease before it develops, providing a window of opportunity to take preventive measures and minimize risk. The finding, which is scheduled for presentation Monday at the American Thoracic Society conference in New Orleans, comes from researchers at the U.S. National In...

"Using our model, we are beginning to answer that question, and it looks like infection does precede inflammation," study author Dr. David Stoltz, an assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Iowa, said in a news release from the school. "The importance of that finding is that it could dictate what types of therapy we might use. Knowing that infection is first suggests t...

The China Labour Bulletin (CLB) said some pneumoconiosis victims receive small sums that cover their medical costs for a few years, but many get nothing at all for the incurable disease. "Pneumoconiosis is the number-one occupational disease in China, accounting for around 90 percent of all cases," CLB said, adding that many victims cannot even manage to get an official diagnosis. Breathi...

In a new study, they say they’ve found that smoke exposure leads to changes in how genes operate in female mice. This, in turn, appears to affect the body’s processing of estrogen, which could contribute to lung cancer in non-smoking women as well as smokers. "Previous work has suggested that estrogen may play a role in lung cancer, but no one has shown that smoke can actually accel...

Some hospitals are promoting lung cancer screening with a special X-ray called a CT scan. And some advocacy groups encourage current or former smokers to get tested. However, there’s no convincing evidence that such tests save lives, and no doctors group recommends routinely screening smokers who don’t have symptoms of lung cancer. Government researchers are studying whether the scans coul...

Researchers say the findings point to a significant downside of using the tests -- chest X-rays or spiral CT scans -- to try to detect lung cancer early. In recent years, CT scans, in particular, have been promoted by some hospitals and advocacy groups for lung cancer screening, even though studies have not yet shown whether such screening saves lives. "The most important thing right now ...

They tested four so-called targeted therapies in patients with specific biomarkers -- mutations that the drugs were designed to counteract. After eight weeks, 46 percent of the patients on the trial had their tumors grow more slowly or shrink, compared with about 30 percent of usual lung cancer patients. The best results were seen with Nexavar, known generically as sorafenib, sold by Onyx...

A new report from the American Lung Association paints a grim picture of how environmental factors, biological factors, cultural attitudes and biases in the health-care system conspire to make this deadly disease even deadlier among members of this minority group. "Despite lower smoking rates, African-Americans are more likely to develop and die from lung cancer than whites. African-Amer...

Working with cotton exposes people to dust and endotoxin, a substance produced by bacteria that can trigger inflammation in the airways. It’s known that workers in the industry have increased rates of breathing problems, including chronic cough and chronic bronchitis -- persistent inflammation in the lungs that causes symptoms like breathlessness and wheezing. However, it has been unclear whe...

Researchers measured the lung function of about 92 percent of the almost 14,000 New York City firefighters and emergency medical services (EMS) workers who responded to Ground Zero in the wake of the terrorist attacks. In the year after their exposure to such pollutants as burning jet fuel and pulverized building materials, firefighters and EMS workers experienced a steep drop in averag...