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Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic lung disease with irreversible airflow limitation and a leading cause of death worldwide. Many studies have reported that the three major nutrients, namely protein, lipids, and glucose, along with nucleotide metabolites, are closely associated with COPD development and progression. They found levels of lipids are significantly changed in individuals with COPD. Various studies suggested that reversing abnormal lipid metabolism and administration of beneficial lipids might alleviate COPD effects and cardiopulmonary comorbidities. COPD patients have abnormal levels of amino acids and reduced synthesis capacity of antioxidant carnosine. Some studies suggested supplementation with amino...

Marijuana is 'as bad as smoking tobacco cigarettes,' an expert said

Research suggests that the gut microbiome plays a pivotal role in the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), paving the way for new therapeutic treatments. Key discoveries include the identification of distinct gut bacteria associated with COPD and the potential effectiveness of fecal microbiota transfer (FMT) as a COPD treatment. The study also demonstrated improved outcomes for COPD patients through nutritional interventions tailored to the microorganisms found in the gut. "The gut hosts the largest and most diverse microbiome in the body that, depending upon its composition, can either trigger or inhibit inflammation, including in the lung," said Professor...

A population-based cohort study of more than 10,000 persons using gabapentinoids found that their use was associated with an increased risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation. This study supports the warnings from regulatory agencies and highlights the importance of considering this potential risk when prescribing gabapentin and pregabalin to patients with COPD. Gabapentinoid drugs are anticonvulsant drugs indicated for the treatment of epilepsy and neuropathic pain. Despite limited indications, its prescription has surged across North America and Europe, which may partly stem from excessive off-label prescribing. However, these drugs have been reported to cause central nervous system depression,...

Severe gum disease has been linked to the progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, but an understanding remains unclear. Researchers report that bacteria associated with the gum disease promote COPD through the activation of two types of cells, γδ T cells and M2 macrophages, that are important to the immune system. "By enhancing periodontal therapy and targeting the inhibition of γδ T cells and M2 macrophages [we] may be able to help control the progression of COPD," said Boyu Tang, Ph.D. Periodontitis is a gum disease that results from the untreated buildup of plaque, a sticky film of...

A 12-week course of daily beetroot juice supplement for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) lowered blood pressure and improved how far patients could walk in six minutes in research. COPD includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema, causes breathing difficulties and severely limits people's capacity for physical activity. The new research tested a concentrated beetroot juice supplement that is high in nitrate against a beetroot juice placebo. Professor Nicholas Hopkinson said, "There is some evidence beetroot juice as a source of nitrate supplementation could be used by athletes. Higher levels of nitrate in the blood can increase the availability of...

The spike in interest in all things related to Matthew Perry includes a nearly five-minute excerpt of an interview with Bill Maher where the deceased actor talks about a near-death experience, his belief in God and the "math" that was involved to feed his drug habit. "I believe there is a higher power. I believe I have a very close relationship with him that's helped me a lot," Perry said on Real Time with Bill Maher in November 2022 while promoting his book, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing. "A lot of people did have you in the 'dead...

Sixties folk singer Donovan Leitch has been convicted of a charge of dangerous driving in Skibbereen, County Cork, with the offense taking place on 11 February after he attended a prerecording of the Tommy Tiernan Show. However, Leitch, aged 77, with an address at Castlemagner, Kanturk in County Cork had a charge of failing to provide an intoxilyzer sample to gardaí on the same occasion dismissed by Judge James McNulty at Skibbereen District Court. Judge McNulty said that the accepted the validity of evidence of respiratory consultant Professor Oisin O’Connell. Professor O’Connell, who carried out a series of tests on...

The evidence for keeping weed illegal keeps mounting — even as the laws get looser. A new, peer-reviewed study (on a significant data set of nearly 60,000 Canadians) has shown that adults who misuse pot have a 60% higher risk of experiencing their first heart attack, stroke, or other major cardiovascular event. In other words: Weed’s not a harmless vice. It’s a killer, like cigarettes. And unlike cigarettes, it literally drives people insane. A massive Danish study based on nearly 7 million health records drew a strong correlation between heavy cannabis use and increased risk of schizophrenia in young men....

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has delivered a recommendation to the Drug Enforcement Administration on marijuana policy, and Senate leaders hailed it Wednesday as a first step toward easing federal restrictions on the drug. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said Wednesday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that the agency has responded to President Joe Biden’s request “to provide a scheduling recommendation for marijuana to the DEA.” “We’ve worked to ensure that a scientific evaluation be completed and shared expeditiously,” he added. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement that HHS had recommended that...

Despite its effectiveness, pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is underused and under-prescribed. The expert panel charged with developing guidance for practitioners is hopeful that the latest Clinical Practice Guideline from the American Thoracic Society will change that. Posted online, the panel issued a "strong recommendation" for PR in adults with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD. In addition, strong recommendations that are based upon moderate or high-quality evidence lay the groundwork for developing health care performance measures, which are used to determine clinicians' adherence to specific recommendations (such as referrals of suitable patients to PR). In the U.S., an estimated 30...

The manufacturer that recently shut down, Akorn Operating Company LLC, had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2020. It was the only company to make certain albuterol products used for continuous nebulizer treatment. It’s a staple in children’s hospitals, but had been out of stock since last fall. Without that particular form of the product, hospitals have had to scramble to find alternatives.

A study concludes that the use of portable home air purifiers can improve markers of cardiovascular health in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. People suffering from COPD often experience shortness of breath, chest tightness and chronic cough. Cardiovascular diseases commonly accompany COPD. The new research is a secondary study of the CLEAN AIR study. The CLEAN AIR study found that people with COPD experienced improved symptoms after using portable air purifiers indoors. First, researchers had trained technicians take air samples of indoor particulate matter of varying sizes. These indoor air pollutants are composed of such things as...

The average person will take more than 600 million breaths over the course of their life. Every breath stretches the lungs' tissues with each inhale and relaxes them with each exhale. The mere motions of breathing are known to influence vital functions of the lungs, the production of air-exchange-enhancing fluid on their inner surfaces, and maintenance of healthy tissue structure. Now, new research has revealed that this constant pattern of stretching and relaxing does even more—it generates immune responses against invading viruses. The research team discovered that applying mechanical forces that mimic breathing motions suppresses influenza virus replication by activating...

Democratic senators are putting pressure on the Biden administration to use its authority to deschedule cannabis, as a Senate proposal to legalize marijuana faces an uphill battle. Democrats press Biden to use ‘existing authority’ to take step toward marijuana legalization Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and others on Wednesday sent a letter calling on the Biden administration to “use its existing authority to (i) deschedule cannabis and (ii) issue pardons to all individuals convicted of nonviolent cannabis-related offenses.”

@RandPaulDemocrats control the House, Senate and White House and we still can’t get cannabis banking reform bills passed. This should be a complete no brainer, as so many states have legalized now and we need business to operate. I would go much further and end the federal war on a plant entirely, but at LEAST let legal business operate as legal business. It probably doesn’t help that the two Democrat leaders are almost as old as the movie Reefer Madness, and clearly gave it two thumbs up when they watched it. The war on cannabis is among the many dumb...

A new study has found that people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) experience cardiac autonomic dysfunction, meaning that the heart's ability to speed up during exercise and recover afterwards is limited, regardless of disease severity. "Although it is a respiratory disease, COPD also affects other systems of the body," commented Laura Delgado, predoctoral researcher at ISGlobal. "Its effect on the cardiovascular and muscular system has been extensively studied, but its effect on the autonomic nervous system has received less attention." The study assessed participants' ability to increase their heart rate during exercise (chronotropic response, CR) and return to baseline...

Research led by the Centenary Institute and University of Technology Sydney (UTS) has identified a small RNA molecule called microRNA-21 as a therapeutic target and its inhibition as a potential treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). An inflammatory lung disease that makes it hard to breathe, COPD is often caused by smoking tobacco products or inhaling air pollution. It is the third most common cause of death in the world. In the pre-clinical study, the researchers found elevated levels of microRNA-21 in experimental COPD models involving mice. Use of a microRNA-21 inhibitor (antagomir-21) as a therapeutic treatment was shown...

Introduction The ongoing push to legalize recreational marijuana in all fifty states is a very clever juke move on the part of the progressive left. It certainly looks like an expansion of personal liberty, but it doesn’t smell that way at all. Liberty smells like crisp mountain air, right next to a glacier-fed lake. Legalized pot smells like something sweet and sticky coming out of that particularly seedy basement apartment, with the only redeeming feature being the fact that it is strong enough to overcome the smell of urine on the landing. Okay, I thought of another advantage. Since the...

81 million vote getter Joe Biden was received by a small crowd of about two dozen enthusiastic supporters, mostly college students, who gathered to greet him as he arrived for a speech at The Ohio State University in the liberal enclave of Columbus, Ohio. Biden Struggles to Breathe Through His Face Mask as He Delivers Remarks on Affordable Care Act (VIDEO) By Cristina Laila Published March 23, 2021 at 7:25pm 56 Comments Share Tweet Gab Share Telegram Telegram P Share Email 81 million vote getter Joe Biden was received by a small crowd of about two dozen enthusiastic supporters, mostly...