Systemic Sclerosis-associated Interstitial Lung Disease Focus of Latest Clinical Practice Guideline

In patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), a rare connective tissue disease, interstitial lung disease contributes to 35 percent of deaths. Published recently in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the latest American Thoracic Society Clinical Practice Guideline makes a number of recommendations. One recommendation expands antifibrotic treatment to all patients with systemic sclerosis associated with ILD (SSc-ILD), not just those with progressive disease.
Watch the explainer video.

Computer model predicts who needs lung cancer screening

A machine learning model equipped with only data on people’s age, smoking duration and the number of cigarettes smoked per day can predict lung cancer risk and identify who needs lung cancer screening, according to a new study publishing October 3rd in the open access journal PLOS Medicine by Thomas Callender of University College London, UK, and colleagues.

Researchers discover disease-causing stem cells in lungs of cystic fibrosis patients

Two nationally recognized experts in cloning and stem cell science from the University of Houston, Wa Xian and Frank McKeon, are reporting that five lung stem cell variants dominate the lungs of patients with advanced cystic fibrosis (CF), and that these variants drive key aspects of CF pathology including inflammation, fibrosis and mucin secretion.

Chronic Alcohol Use May Increase Risk for SARS-CoV2 Infection, Study Suggests

A newly published animal study found that chronic alcohol consumption may create conditions in the body that can facilitate infection by SARS-CoV2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease. The study, published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research, found that chronic alcohol use increased the levels of an enzyme that helps the virus enter the cells and, therefore, may increase the risk for COVID-19.

Screening teens for vaping history key to diagnosing lung disease during pandemic

The severity of a lung disease associated with e-cigarettes in teens decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic, but hospitalizations from the disease continued to mount, according to a study of more than three dozen patients by UT Southwestern researchers published in Pediatric Pulmonology.

Research reveals how a potentially fatal COVID-19 complication damages lung tissue

Mechanisms involved in the rapid, severe progression of fibrosis in the lung tissues of COVID-19 patients, a potentially fatal complication of the virus that damages and scars the lungs, have been uncovered by researchers led by UTHealth Houston.

Physicians urged to consider fungal infections as possible cause for lung inflammation

UC Davis Health infectious diseases expert George Thompson warns of the rising threat and apparent spread of disease-causing fungi outside their traditional hot spots. Fungal lung infections are commonly misdiagnosed, leading to delays in treatment and increase in antimicrobial resistance in the community.

Lung capacity tests found to be accurate precursor of co-morbidities

One of the largest studies to investigate whether Preserved Ratio Impaired Spirometry (PRISm), an understudied low lung function state, is an early predictor of co-morbidities has found it is strongly associated with an increased risk of death. The analysis, led by University of Bristol researchers and published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, evaluated results of lung spirometry tests in over 350,000 UK adults and followed them up over 12 years.

Focus on “Growing Stronger” for Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Month in September

September is Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Month, presented by the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (PFF) as a way to drive awareness of pulmonary fibrosis (PF), a debilitating, incurable lung disease. Learn more about the numerous endeavors intended to rejuvenate the fight against PF throughout September.

Researchers reverse emphysema in mice by injecting blood vessel wall cells

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian in New York have discovered that injecting mice with pulmonary endothelial cells—the cells that line the walls of blood vessels in the lung—can reverse the symptoms of emphysema. The study, which will be published July 21 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), may lead to new treatments for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an inflammatory lung disease associated with smoking that is thought to be the third leading cause of death worldwide.

University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Leads Groundbreaking Trial for COVID -19 Treatment

University of Miami Miller School of Medicine researchers led a unique and groundbreaking randomized controlled trial showing umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cell infusions safely reduce risk of death and quicken time to recovery for the severest COVID-19 patients, according to results published in STEM CELLS Translational Medicine in January 2021.

Lung Ultrasounds Could Help Determine COVID-19 Outcome

Researchers have developed a method using ultrasound imaging to score a patient’s lung health, which may help predict if a patient with COVID-19 will worsen. Using 14 points in the lungs, they looked for abnormalities and assigned each spot a score out of 3 based on its severity. Adding up all the points, the researchers found the total lung ultrasound score was higher for those who had a worsening outcome of COVID-19. Umberto Sabatini’s presentation will be a part of the 179th ASA Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America.

Healthy Lung Month: Know these pulmonary fibrosis risk factors

October is Healthy Lung Month, an apt time to educate the public about the importance of protecting our lungs against mold, airborne pollutants and smoking – which put hundreds of thousands of Americans at higher risk for pulmonary fibrosis (PF).

Ultrasound Technique Offers More Precise, Quantified Assessments of Lung Health

Researchers have developed a technique that uses ultrasound to provide non-invasive assessments of pulmonary fibrosis and pulmonary edema. The technique has been shown to both quantify lung scarring and detect lung fluid in rats. A study on pulmonary edema in humans is under way.

Plant-Based Spray Could be Used in N95 Masks and Energy Devices

Engineers have invented a way to spray extremely thin wires made of a plant-based material that could be used in N95 mask filters, devices that harvest energy for electricity, and potentially the creation of human organs. The method involves spraying methylcellulose, a renewable plastic material derived from plant cellulose, on 3D-printed and other objects ranging from electronics to plants, according to a Rutgers-led study in the journal Materials Horizons.

Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Month Highlights Realities of Rare Disease

September’s Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Month shares crucial realities and insights about the rare disease, its symptoms and helpful resources provided by the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation to educate the public about this devastating disease which impacts over 200,000 Americans.

Severely Damaged Human Lungs Can Now Be Successfully Recovered

A multidisciplinary team from Columbia Engineering and Vanderbilt University has now demonstrated that severely injured donor lungs that have been declined for transplant can be recovered outside the body by a system that uses cross-circulation of whole blood between the donor lung and an animal host. For the first time, a severely injured human lung that failed to recover using the standard clinical EVLP was successfully recovered during 24 hours on the team’s cross-circulation platform.

Ribs evolved for movement first, then co-opted for breathing

A major transformation in vertebrate evolution took place when breathing shifted from being driven by head and throat muscles—like in fish and frogs—to the torso—like in reptiles and mammals. But what caused the shift? A new study posits that the intermediate step was locomotion—the mechanics follow the same pattern as inhalation and exhalation.

ATS Publishes New Guidance on COVID-19 Management

An American Thoracic Society-led international task force has released a guidance document to help clinicians manage COVID-19 patients in the face of a worldwide pandemic and minimal empirical evidence to guide treatment. The new guidance – “COVID-19: Interim Guidance on Management Pending Empirical Evidence”– is published as an open access document on the American Thoracic Society’s website.