Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1518209
The industry organizations page of the Inhalation website provides descriptions and contact information for cross-industry organizations and groups that present educational conferences and workshops. 36 April 2024 Inhalation cascade inside the ASM. is target- ing happens partially through the cholesterol pathway and partially through cholesterol-independent pathways related to ASM's protein structure." Looking ahead, Zeki's team is planning Phase I and Phase II clinical trials, beginning with asthma, then investigating COPD. Airborne grass allergen levels could be more useful in managing hay fever LONDON, UNITED KING- DOM—Findings by researchers from King's College London and Imperial College London, pub- lished in e Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, show that measuring airborne grass allergen levels instead of pollen counts could be more useful for patients in man- aging hay fever, according to www. news-medical.net. Grass pollen is the most common hay fever trigger. In the United Kingdom, pollen grains are manually measured to find the daily pollen count. Many people with hay fever monitor peak pollen times to manage their symptoms. However, the study findings showed "grass allergen (Phl p 5) levels were more consistently associated with allergic respiratory symptoms than grass pollen counts," explained first author Elaine Fuertes, PhD, Impe- rial College London. e research- ers determined measuring allergen levels could be more accurate, as each pollen grain can release a different amount of allergen each day and allergens in the air are pri- marily responsible for causing hay fever symptoms. "High pollen season can be seri- ous for people who suffer with hay fever and can trigger severe asthma attacks in those who are allergic to grass pollen," said senior author Professor Stephen Till, King's Col- lege London. "Monitoring grass allergen instead of grass pollen… RESPIRATORY MEDICINE NEWS continued from page 8 could allow people with seri- ous allergies to be better prepared during the pollen season." Accord- ing to www.news-medical.net, there is no regular monitoring of aller- gen levels in the UK or elsewhere. ey also noted research is ongo- ing to determine whether regular measurement of allergen levels can become the standard in the UK and whether other factors such as tem- perature, wind, humidity and air pollutants influence the amount of allergen each pollen grain releases. E-cigarette use and asthma in adolescents COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS— e Texas A&M University School of Public Health has announced results of a study they published in Preventive Medicine, which suggests using e- cigarettes increases the risk of asthma in adolescents who have never smoked conventional tobacco products. e research team used data from the Youth Risk Behav- ior Surveillance System, a United States national health dataset set up by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to track the health behaviors and outcomes of children and youth. e analysis included data on more than 3,000 adolescents aged 13 to 17 in Texas and more than 32,000 adolescents in the US for comparison. e study identified an associ- ation between e-cigarette use and asthma in adolescents who had never smoked conventional tobacco products. e research- ers also found evidence that some demographic factors, behaviors related to substance use and the presence of depressive symptoms are associated with e-cigarette use. Adolescents who used conven- tional cigarettes, alcohol and other substances were more likely to use e-cigarettes, as were subjects with depression. Also, Hispanic adoles- cents in Texas were significantly less likely to have used e-cigarettes than their non-Hispanic White peers. "Increasing knowledge about the harmful effects of e-cigarette use, implementing stricter regulations, and promoting alternative coping mechanisms for mental health are potential interventions to miti- gate e-cigarette use," said Genny Carrillo, MD, ScD, co-author of the study. Reducing oxygen levels for children in ICUs can improve outcomes LONDON, UNITED KING- DOM—PharmaTimes Online reported results of a study con- ducted by researchers from Univer- sity College London (UCL), Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre and the Pae- diatric Critical Care Society Study Group. e study recruited 2,040 children, age newborn to 16 years, who required a mechani- cal ventilator and extra oxygen on admission to 15 National Health Service (NHS) pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) in England and Scotland. Patients randomly received oxygen to the standard target level or a reduced level. Results published in e Lan- cet showed children who received lower levels of oxygen were 6% more likely to have a better out- come in terms of survival or the number of days spent on instru- ments supporting their organs. PharmaTimes also explained that approximately 20,000 children in the UK are admitted to ICUs each year and about 75% of them will receive additional oxygen through a ventilator. erefore, if results if the study were scaled up across the NHS, the approach could save 50 lives annually, use of up to 6,000 ICU beds and £20M. CALENDAR Please visit the industry organi- zations page of the Inhalation website to find descriptions and contact information for cross- industry organizations and groups that present educational confer- ences and workshops. https://www.inhalationmag.com/ industry-organizations