Doctoral student wins prize for asthma innovation

PRETORIA – A young doctoral student has shown that South Africa's at the forefront of medical innovation.
A PhD student at the University of Pretoria's Faculty of Health Sciences, Moses Kebalepile's won a top international prize for developing an early warning system for asthma sufferers, which he's named the Asthma Grid.
The student believes the invention could revolutionise the self-management of asthma.
"I think the ecosystem of innovation and technology in the country is evolving, but we're not evolving rapidly enough. Innovation and technology is the substance of our economic development. And I just want to encourage structures out there to perhaps identify these ideas at an early stage and maybe invest in supporting them earlier," he said.....

Read more here: enca.com

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Why is asthma worse in black patients?

African Americans may be less responsive to asthma treatment and more likely to die from the condition, in part, because they have a unique type of airway inflammation, according to a study. The study is one of the largest and most diverse trials conducted in the U.S. on race and asthma, with 26 percent of the patients self-identifying as African American. Researchers found that black patients were more likely to exhibit eosinophilic airway inflammation than whites, despite taking comparable doses of asthma medication, such as inhaled corticosteroids.....

Read more here: sciencedaily.com

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Unique type of airway inflammation could make African Americans less responsive to asthma treatment

African Americans may be less responsive to asthma treatment and more likely to die from the condition, in part, because they have a unique type of airway inflammation, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine.
Airway inflammation is a key component of asthma, and innovations in treatment are becoming more personalized based on the specific type of airway inflammation in a patient, says Dr. Sharmilee Nyenhuis, assistant professor of medicine at UIC and corresponding author on the study.....

Read more here: news-medical.net