New clues found to better treat severe asthma

Up to 10 percent of the millions of people who have asthma in the U.S. don’t respond well to the standard treatment of corticosteroids.
In fact, the medication can sometimes make their breathing symptoms worse and potentially lead to other complications.
Now researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Health Sciences and UPMC say they have found a molecular mechanism that contributes to these poor responses to corticosteriods, which may open the way to better treatments and a better understanding of what causes severe asthma.....

Read more here: post-gazette.com

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Tots dead from ‘asthma attacks’ investigated as homicide: cops

Two sibling tots died a short time apart Monday morning after they were found not breathing in their Bronx home — and police have opened a homicide investigation, law-enforcement sources told The Post.
An autopsy showed that Olivia Gee, 2, died of blunt-force trauma, according to multiple sources.
“It looks like this girl was punched in the stomach. It’s a homicide investigation,” a law-enforcement source said.
An autopsy on her brother, Micha Gee, 3, will be conducted Tuesday, sources said.....

Read more here: nypost.com

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Increasing BMI causally linked to asthma, not hay fever

Tea Skaaby, Ph.D., from the Center for Health in Denmark, and colleagues examined the causal effect of BMI on asthma, hay fever, and allergic sensitization. Data were included for 490,497 and 162,124 participants in observational and genetic analyses, respectively. Using 26 BMI-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms, the authors created a genetic risk score (GRS).....

Read more here: medicalxpress.com