Cover Article
Hormone Replacement: A Risk Factor for Asthma?
Use of hormone replacement therapy may increase the risk of adult-onset asthma in women, according to research presented at CHEST 2000.

Selected Articles

• FEV1 Independently Predicts Mortality in Men and Women
• Are Cigarette Makers Trying to Conceal Secondhand Smoke?
• Oral Steroid Beats Inhaled Drug for Severe Acute Asthma in Kids
• Acute Bronchitis and URI: The Same Condition?
• Conference News Update: CHEST 2000
• Silent Reservoirs for Pertussis Infection
• Literature Monitor

Cover Article
Major Changes Made to ACLS Guidelines
Major changes have been made to the recommendations for advanced cardiac life support. One important change: Practitioners must now confirm tube position by using both primary (clinical examination) and secondary (technologic) methods of confirmation.

Selected Articles

• OTC Asthma Inhalers Are Safe and Effective, but Often Misused
• Does Global Warming Promote Ragweed Allergies?
• Nature, Nurture, and the Risk of Cancer
• Choosing the Right Antibiotic for Acute Bacterial Rhinosinusitis
• What Makes Nicotine So Addictive?
• Literature Monitor

Cover Article
New Approaches to Help Patients Stop Smoking
What can physicians really do to help their patients quit smoking? More than they may think, a new evidence-based guideline suggests.

Selected Articles

• Should Asthma Be Treated With a Macrolide or NSAID?
• Cardiac Syndrome May Be a Factor in SIDS
• Severe, Chronic Sinusitis May Warrant Middle Turbinate Resection
• Managing Respiratory Tract Infections in Children: New Guidelines
• Conference News Update: 11th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health
• Literature Monitor

Cover Article
Air Pollution Is Lower, but More Progress Is Needed
There's good news about air pollution: It has substantially decreased over the past few decades. The bad news is that levels of invisible air pollutants, especially ozone, are still unacceptably high in many urban areas and have become quite bad even in regions without a reputation for air pollution.

Selected Articles

• Inhaled Steroids Save Lives
• Is Regular Use of a ß-Agonist Safe in Asthma Patients?
• Does Sleep Apnea Cause Cluster Headaches?
• Anxiety and Depression Are Common in Patients with Chronic Lung Disease
• Guidelines for Prescribing Newer Asthma Drugs During Pregnancy
• OK to Spray: Nasal Steroids Do Not Increase Cataract Risk
• Literature Monitor
  

Cover Article
New CDC Recommendations for Managing Pneumonia
Increasing rates of pneumococcal resistance pose a challenge for physicians who treat patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). How is resistance defined in patients with CAP? What are the best empiric antimicrobial regimens for the treatment of outpatients and hospitalized patients with CAP? To address these and other questions, the CDC has issued new recommendations for the management of CAP.

Selected Articles

• Elderly Patients With Asthma Are Often Undertreated
• Important Changes to CDC's Flu Recommendation
• How Smoking Causes Lung Cancer: New Evidence
• Can Handwashing Increase the Risk of Transmitting Infections?
• The War on Asthma: A Call for Government Action
• Literature Monitor
  

Cover Article
Sleep Apnea and Hypertension: New Support for a Link
Snoring has been linked to hypertension in several small studies, but it has not been clear whether the association is causal or coincidental. Two new studies indicate that sleep apnea is an independent predictor of systemic hypertension in middle-aged and older persons.

Selected Articles

• Tobacco Smoke Causes Chronic Effects in Kids With Asthma
• Strategies for Reducing Indoor Allergens
• Allergic Rhinitis May Impair Cognition
• Why Asthma Is More Severe in Black Children
• Can We Eliminate TB From the United States?
• Prednisone-Related Growth Impairment Persists in Children With CF
• Literature Monitor

Cover Article
Airway pH Plays Unsuspected Role in Asthma Physiology
In patients with asthma, the pH of airway vapor condensate is substantially lower than normal. This airway acidity appears to accelerate human eosinophil necrosis and to cause the conversion of endogenous nitrite to nitric oxide. But why does this occur, and what implications does it have for the treatment of asthma?

Selected Articles

• AAP Renews Effort to Reduce SIDS Rate
• Circadian Rhythms: Timing of Treatment Affects Rhinitis
• Wine Found To Be A Common Culprit in Alcohol-Induced Asthma
• Does Acetaminophen Contribute to Asthma Morbidity?
• Does Dieting Improve Asthma Control?
• Literature Monitor

Cover Article
End-Of-Life Care: What Is the Physician's Role?
Report Provides Core Principles for Providing Palliative Care
Care for the dying has long been inadequate. However, a new set of 11 core principles, adopted by a number of major medical organizations, can help physicians ensure that they deliver quality care to dying patients.

Selected Articles

• Asthma/Allergy Epidemic: Is Cleanliness the Culprit?
• Penicillin for Acute Sore Throat: for How Long?
• Pneumonococcal Vaccination Reduces Mortality and Costs in Elderly
• Daytime Sleepiness Doubles the Risk of Death in Elderly Women
• Conference News Update:
  56th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology
• Literature Monitor

Cover Article
The Air in There: Targeting Indoor Asthma Triggers
A new analysis on the pathogenetic role of various indoor substances has identified only one substance--the lowly dust mite--as the household allergen clearly capable of causing a first episode of asthma in those who are genetically at risk. However, a number of other agents can cause an asthma attack in persons who already have the disease. This article provides a report card on putative asthma triggers.

Selected Articles

• Rhinitis and Sleep Complications: What's the Connection?
• Pneumonia Protocol Reduces Hospital Bed-Days, Costs
• Inhaled Steroids Linked to Drop in Asthma Deaths
• Do Allergy Shots Work? Yes--for at Least Some Patients
• Does Lung Cancer Screening Save Lives?
• Literature Monitor

Cover Article
Lung Disease Increases Osteoporosis Risk in Men
The risk of osteoporosis is markedly higher in men with chronic lung disease than in men without such disease, and corticosteroid use is not the only culprit--lung disease itself appears to confer a marked increase in risk.

Selected Articles

• Is Lung Damage in Asthma Irreversible?
• Advisories for Prescribing New Influenza Drugs
• Childhood Immunization Recommendations Updated for 2000
• Conference News Update:
  The 72nd Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association
• Literature Monitor

Cover Article
Fungal Sinusitis Treatment: A Life-Long Commitment
Physicians can expect to spend a lot of time with any patient who develops fungal sinusitis. "When I take on a fungal suniusitis patient, I expect to be married to that patient for the rest of my professional life," said Frederick Kuhn, MD.

Selected Articles

• Targeting COPD in the Primary Care Setting
• Update on Pulmonary Diseases: New Terms, New Thinking
• Conference News Update:
  13th Annual North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference
• Catching the Genetic Drift of the Flu Bug
• Literature Monitor

Cover Article
Cellular Memory Links Asthma and Allergy
Early immune responses to allergens may determine who develops allergies or asthma later in life. In fact, new evidence suggests that these two diseases may be even more closely related than has been thought.

Selected Articles

• Dietary Antioxidants Improve Lung Function
• New Pediatric Asthma Guidelines Released
• Bugs and Plugs: Lung Damage in CF
• Only High-Risk Children Require TB Skin Test
• Conference News Update: European Respiratory Society
• Literature Monitor

Cover Article
Asthma Is Misdiagnosed and Undertreated in the Elderly
A study done by the Cardiovascular Health Study Research Group indicated that asthma diagnosis and treatment in elderly patients are clearly less than adequate. Data showed that only 50% of these patients are being diagnosed properly and only 30% of diagnosed patients are being treated properly.

Selected Articles

• Is Aspiration Pneumonia Epidemic in Elderly Americans?
• Berlin Questionnaire Found to Be Effective in Specifying Risk for Sleep Apnea
• Poverty, Youth, and Minority Ethnicity Raise Risk of Asthma Hospitalizations
• Breast Milk and Allergies: Prophylaxis or Risk?
• Conference News Update
• Literature Monitor