In the Press

Among industrialised countries, fine particle (PM2.5) and ozone levels in the Sydney metropolitan area of Australia are relatively low. Annual mean PM2.5 levels have historically remained below 8 μg/m3 while warm season (November–March) ozone levels occasionally exceed the Australian guideline value of 0.10 ppm (daily 1 h max).

A pair of new studies detail the role of aspirin in the treatment of COVID-19, one estimating lower rates of in-hospital death and pulmonary embolism in moderately ill patients, and the other showing that blood thinners didn't decrease the need for organ support in critically ill patients.

Globally, influenza activity remained low and decreased this period after a peak at the end of 2021.

Indiana University School of Medicine researchers have found that niacin limits Alzheimer's disease progression when used in models in the lab, a discovery that could potentially pave the way toward therapeutic approaches to the disease.

A University of Iowa neuroscience research team has identified a fundamental biochemical mechanism underlying memory storage and has linked this mechanism to cognitive deficits in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

An analysis of data from nearly 154 000 US veterans with SARS-CoV-2 infection provides a grim preliminary answer to the question: What are COVID-19’s long-term cardiovascular outcomes? The study, published in Nature Medicine by researchers at the Veterans Affairs (VA) St Louis Health Care System, found that in the year after recovering from the illness’s acute phase, patients had increased risks of an array of cardiovascular problems, including abnormal heart rhythms, heart muscle inflammation, blood clots, strokes, myocardial infarction, and heart failure. What’s more, the heightened risks were evident even among those who weren’t hospitalized with acute COVID-19.

The Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) Strategy Report provides clinicians with an annually updated evidence-based strategy for asthma management and prevention, which can be adapted for local circumstances (e.g., medication availability). This article summarizes key recommendations from GINA 2021, and the evidence underpinning recent changes.

Exposure to air pollution induces airway epithelial barrier dysfunction through several mechanisms including increased oxidative stress, exaggerated cytokine responses and impaired host defence, which contributes to development of asthma and COPD.

A California company says it can decipher almost all the DNA code of a days-old embryo created through in vitro fertilization (IVF)—a challenging feat because of the tiny volume of genetic material available for analysis.

Chronic inflammatory airway diseases, including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), are complex syndromes with diverse clinical symptoms due to multiple pathophysiological conditions. In this study, using common and shared risk factors for the exacerbation of asthma and COPD, we sought to clarify the exacerbation-prone phenotypes beyond disease labels, and to specifically investigate the role of the IL4RA gene polymorphism, which is related to type 2 inflammation, in these exacerbation-prone phenotypes.-