In children, vitamin D supplementation may reduce asthma exacerbations triggered by acute respiratory infection, Polish researchers report online February 21 in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
Recurrent respiratory tract infections (RRTIs) are common clinical conditions in individuals with alterations of the immune function. A prospective open pilot study in a cohort of patients with RRTIs has been performed to assess whether sublingual immunization with a polyvalent bacterial vaccine could exert an immunomodulatory effect on the antigen‐specific immunological responses and have an impact on the clinical outcome.
Seventeen patients with RRTIs were recruited. An oral polyvalent bacterial preparation (Bactek®) was administered to all patients daily for 6 months. Immunological assessment was performed at baseline and at the end of immunization. Immunological measurements included: T cell‐specific proliferations of CD3+CD4+ and CD3+CD8+ to Bactek® antigens, total immuno...
Is pot smoking as damaging to the lungs as tobacco?
It would take just a small change in DNA to create a mutation of the 2009 H1N1 "swine flu" virus that could spread more easily, concluded US scientists in a recent PLoS ONE paper where they also showed that their method could be used to monitor the evolution of H1N1, particularly that part of its DNA that determines how well the virus binds to the respiratory tract and potentially result in a more widespread pandemic with more deaths...
Lung cancer is the commonest cause of cancer‐related mortality and non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for 80% of all lung cancer. The prognosis of NSCLC remains poor across all stages, despite advances in staging techniques and treatments.
The findings of recent high‐throughput mRNA microarray studies have shown potential in refining current NSCLC diagnosis, classification, prognosis and treatment paradigms. Emerging microarray studies of microRNA, DNA copy number and methylation profiles are also providing novel insights into the biology of NSCLC. Currently there are several challenges, such as the reproducibility and cost of microarray platforms that will need to be addressed prior to the implementation of these genomic technologies to routine thoracic oncology pra...