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MARIJUANA SMOKE CAUSES CELL INJURY

Smoking marijuana, one of the most commonly abused substances in the U.S., causes oxidative stress than can contribute to serious cell injury and lung dysfunction. Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine showed that brief exposure to marijuana cigarette smoke stimulated the formation of reactive oxygen species in a cell line that led to cell injury, DNA damage, and ultimately to malignant transformation. The study appears in the June American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology.

ASTHMA SEVERITY UNDER-ESTIMATED BY PHYSICIANS

A study of 108 physicians at the University of Iowa based on the most recent national asthma guidelines showed that the majority of doctors questioned, including experts in the field, demonstrated poor understanding of asthma severity, resulting in patient under- treatment. The research points out that even asthma subspecialty doctors diagnosed the right disease stage in only 63 percent of their patients. This resulted in under-treatment as determined by pulmonary function tests, which were called for in the guidelines. The article appears in the June issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

NORMAL LUNG GROWTH IN UNDER 3-YEAR-OLD TRANSPLANT PATIENTS

The first report to document in detail the physiologic development of immature lungs transplanted into immature human recipients less than 3 years of age suggests that normal lung growth has taken place in these children. The research at Washington University School of Medicine showed that seven boys and seven girls, all lung transplant recipients and less than 3 years of age, had increases in lung functional capacity in their lungs comparable to that of normal children The study appears in the June issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

For the complete text of the articles, see the ATS Journal Online Website at www.atsjournals.org. To request complimentary journalist access to the site, or to be put on a mailing list for a monthly ATS Media Memo and Â鶹´«Ã½ Briefs, please contact Lori Atkins at (212) 315-6442, by fax at (212) 315-6455, or by e-mail: [email protected].

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