(Press-News.org) MAYWOOD, Ill. -- A Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine study includes some unexpected findings about the immune systems of smoke-inhalation patients.
Contrary to expectations, patients who died from their injuries had lower inflammatory responses in their lungs than patients who survived.
"Perhaps a better understanding of this early pulmonary immune dysfunction will allow for therapies that further improve outcomes in burn care," researchers reported.
The study is published in the January/February issue of the Journal of Burn Care & Research. First author of the study is Christopher S. Davis, MD, MPH, a research resident in Loyola's Burn & Shock Trauma Institute. Corresponding author is Elizabeth J. Kovacs, PhD, director of research of the Burn & Shock Trauma Institute.
Researchers followed 60 burn patients in Loyola's Burn Center. As expected, patients with the worst combined burn and smoke-inhalation injuries required more time on the ventilator, in the intensive care unit and in the hospital. They also were more likely to die, although this finding fell just short of being statistically significant.
Also according to expectations, patients who died were older and had larger injuries than patients who survived.
But the immune system findings were unexpected. Researchers measured concentrations of 28 immune system modulators in fluid collected from the lungs of patients within 14 hours of burn and smoke-inhalation injuries.
These modulators are proteins produced by leukocytes (white blood cells) and other cells, including those that line the airway. Some of the modulators recruit leukocytes to areas of tissue damage or activate them to begin the repair process that follows tissue injury.
Based on studies conducted at Loyola and other centers, researchers had expected to find higher concentrations of modulators in patients who died, because sicker patients tend to have more active inflammatory responses. But researchers found just the opposite: patients who died had lower concentrations of these modulators in their lungs.
Why do some patients mount robust immune responses in the lungs while others do not? The reason may be due to age, genetics, differences in patients' underlying health conditions or anything that might disrupt the balance between too much and too little inflammation, Davis said.
Survival of burn patients has significantly improved since the 1950s, due to advancements such as better wound care and improved prevention and treatment of infections. But progress has somewhat stalled in the last 10 years.
The immune response to injury "remains incompletely understood and additional effort is required to further improve survival of the burn-injured patient," researchers wrote.
The study was presented at the 2011 meeting of the American Burn Association, where it won the 2011 Carl A. Moyer Resident Award for the best study submitted by a resident physician.
Other co-authors of the study are Richard L. Gamelli, MD, FACS, director of the Burn & Shock Trauma Institute; Joslyn M. Albright, MD, chief resident in the Department of Surgery; Stewart R. Carter, MD, research resident; Luis Ramirez, BA, laboratory technician; and Hajwa Kim, MA, MS. All are from Loyola except Kim, who is at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
The study was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, International Association of Fire Fighters and the Dr. Ralph and Marian C. Falk Medical Research Trust.
Loyola's Burn Center is one of the busiest in the Midwest, treating more than 600 patients annually in the hospital, and another 3,500 patients each year in its clinic. It is one of only two centers in Illinois that have received verification by the American Burn Association.
The study is among the results of research over the last several years conducted in Loyola's Burn Center and Burn & Shock Trauma Institute, which is investigating the lung's response to burn and inhalation injuries.
INFORMATION: END
Confidence in the Long Island economy is up compared to the national economy according to the 18th Annual Economic Survey and Opinion Poll conducted by Albrecht, Viggiano, Zureck & Company, P.C. (AVZ) in partnership with Long Island Business News and the Townsend School of Business at Dowling College. Nearly half of the survey respondents indicated that revenue had increased. A panel of Long Island business leaders will discuss the survey findings as HIA-LI, the recognized voice for business on Long Island, hosts the Long Island Economic Summit, Thursday, January 26, ...
"The overactive bladder syndrome has become an accepted way to simplify a complex array of symptoms and leads people to believe that an overactive bladder is an independent disease in itself. However, the truth is not as simple as this, as there are usually several factors at work explaining the symptoms. This is also one of the reasons why so called overactive bladder medications often do not bring the hoped result," says Kari Tikkinen, MD, PhD, from the HUCS Department of Urology.
The article on overactive bladder syndrome, which was co-written by Tikkinen, who currently ...
Are you someone who easily recognises everyone you've ever met? Or maybe you struggle, even with familiar faces? It is already known that we are better at recognising faces from our own race but researchers have only recently questioned how we assimilate the information we use to recognise people.
New research by the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus has shown that when it comes to recognising people the Malaysian Chinese have adapted their facial recognition techniques to cope with living in a multicultural environment.
The study 'You Look Familiar: How Malaysian ...
MAYWOOD, Ill. -- A study about how wearing contact lenses affects glaucoma measurements has been named the top presentation at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine's annual St. Albert's Day research symposium.
First author of the study is Marie Brenner, a fourth-year student at Stritch School of Medicine.
Brenner and colleagues studied the effects of contact lens wear on retinal nerve fiber layer measurements, which ophthalmologists use to diagnose and manage glaucoma. The researchers found that in patients with lower refractive errors, better quality ...
The following highlights summarize research papers that have been recently
published in Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans (JGR-C), Journal of
Geophysical Research-Planets (JGR-E), Journal of Geophysical Research-
Biogeosciences (JGR-G), and Geophysical Research Letters (GRL).
In this release:
Variability of North Atlantic heat transport observed from instrument data
Methane exceeds nitrous oxide in rivers' contribution to warming
Waste recycling primary source of energy in deep ocean
Record Arctic ozone depletion could occur again
Traveling supraglacial ...
Affiliate Boosters will be giving away GBP1,000 in cold hard cash at the London Affiliate Conference 2012. All affiliates attending the LAC are eligible to win. There will be 2 draws with a GBP500 prize each and to be in for a chance of winning. Affiliates can enter by dropping off a business card at the Affiliate Boosters booth, stand 115 and 116 at some point throughout the 2 days.
The two drawings will take place at 15:45 on Friday, 27th of January, and at 16:15 on Saturday, 28th of January at the Affiliate Boosters stand.
Head of Affiliate Boosters, Lawrence ...
The University of Arizona's Catalina Sky Survey keeps a watchful eye on asteroids that might cross the Earth's path. A byproduct of that effort is the largest database compiling the brightnesses of 200 million objects in the universe, including supernovae and stars torn up by super-massive black holes.
The night sky is filled with objects such as asteroids that dash across the sky and others – such as exploding stars and variable stars – that flash, dim, and brighten. Studying such phenomena can help astronomers better understand the evolution of stars, massive black ...
Devoted to making sure the Israel car rental experience is a positive one, Avis Israel has recently provided an option to rent an iPad 2 with unlimited Wi-Fi connectivity and included GPS for $16 a day to all rental car customers. Soon to be available throughout Israel, the new service is immediately available at the following central branches: Ben Gurion Airport, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
The iPad 2 is a tablet computer designed, developed and marketed by Apple. It serves primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, ...
A key protein potentially involved in regulating breast cancer progression has been identified by researchers at Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y. Led by professor Costel Darie, the team worked to identify the binding partner of Tumor Differentiating Factor (TDF), a pituitary hormone that had previously been shown to reduce cancer progression in breast cancer cells.
Earlier studies had shown that breast cancer cells treated with TDF lost their cancerous characteristics and began acting like normal mammary cells, suggesting that TDF had tumor-suppressing capabilities. ...
During a marketing presentation in early 2011, an attendee asked Dr. Joe Webb, "Does a plumber need a Web site?" This question inspired an unconventional new business book, written with "co-conspirator" Richard Romano, about a handful of interesting and motivated characters facing small-business sales and marketing challenges. A year and a half's worth of conversations with graphic communications professionals and small business owners across the country and around the world answered the question, and led to the book's title "Does a Plumber Need ...
