Advanced imaging with CT shows that people who cook with biomass fuels like wood are at risk of suffering considerable damage to their lungs from breathing in dangerous concentrations of pollutants and bacterial toxins, according to a new study. Source
Lung-on-chip provides new insight on body’s response to early tuberculosis infection
Scientists have developed a lung-on-chip model to study how the body responds to early tuberculosis (TB) infection. Source
What do slight arm movements reveal about our breathing and health?
Special activity trackers can be used to fairly accurately determine the respiratory rate of people while they sleep. In the future, activity trackers could be used to detect the early stages of a disease, as a person’s respiratory rate can indicate signs of an undetected medical problem. Source
T-cell abnormalities in severe COVID-19 cases
Researchers performed a genetic analysis of T cells from lung tissue of COVID-19 patients. They found abnormalities that resulted in T cell overreaction that may cause severe pneumonia. Source
Three reasons why COVID-19 can cause silent hypoxia
To crack the mystery of what causes silent hypoxia, a condition when oxygen levels in the body are abnormally low, biomedical engineers used computer modeling to test out three different scenarios that help explain how and why the lungs stop providing oxygen to the bloodstream. Source
Understanding lung infections in patients with cystic fibrosis
For young people with cystic fibrosis, lung infection with Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA, is common and is treated with antibiotics in the hope that this will prevent a decline in lung function. However there has recently been debate over the role S. aureus plays in CF lung disease. Researchers have used a new model of CF lungs which could be used to make better decisions about future use of antibiotics. Source
Early treatment with lorlatinib improves survival in some lung cancer patients
A new study finds that an FDA-approved medication improved survival and prevented metastasis when used as first-line therapy in lung cancer patients with alterations in the ALK gene. Lorlatinib dramatically reduced spread of cancer to the brain, a significant danger in ALK-positive patients. Source
Web searches for insomnia surged at height of COVID-19 stay-at-home orders
A study found a significant increase in the number of online search queries for ‘insomnia’ between April and May 2020, when governments across the U.S. and around the world implemented stay-at-home orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Source
Study reveals how smoking worsens COVID-19 infection in the airways
Researchers using a model of airway tissue created from human stem cells have pinpointed how smoking cigarettes causes more severe infection by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in the airways of the lungs. Source
Worms reveal why melatonin promotes sleep
Melatonin is used as a dietary supplement to promote sleep and get over jet lag, but nobody really understands how it works in the brain. Now, researchers show that melatonin helps worms sleep, too, and they suspect they’ve identified what it does in us. Source