Cethromycin achieves all endpoints in second pivotal Phase III Trial for treatment for pneumonia

Advanced Life Sciences Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADLS), today announced positive results from Trial CL-05, the second of two pivotal phase III clinical trials designed to assess the safety and effectiveness of cethromycin, a novel once-a-day oral antibiotic for the treatment of mild-to-moderate community acquired pneumonia (CAP), the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. The primary efficacy endpoint of statistical non-inferiority in the clinical cure rate at the test-of-cure visit was achieved. The study results showed that cethromycin cured 94.0% of patients with CAP, compared to Biaxin (clarithromycin), a current standard of care treatment for CAP, which cured 93.8% of studied patients in the per protocol population. In the modified intent to treat population, cethromycin cured 83.1% of patients and Biaxin cured 81.1%. Cethromycin also demonstrated favorable safety results, with reported side effects similar to or less than those seen with Biaxin.

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Pollution from Marine Vessels Linked to Heart and Lung Disease

Annual mortalities from ship emissions could increase by 40 percent by 2012
Pollution from marine shipping causes approximately 60,000 premature cardiopulmonary and lung cancer deaths around the world each year, according to a report scheduled to appear in the Dec. 15 issue of Environmental Science and Technology, the journal of the American Chemical Society.
The report benchmarks for the first time the number of annual deaths caused globally by pollution from marine vessels, with coastal regions in Asia and Europe the most affected.
Conducted by James Corbett of University of Delaware and James Winebrake from Rochester Institute of Technology, the study correlates the global distribution of particulate matterblack carbon, sulfur, nitrogen and organic particlesreleased from ships smoke stacks with heart disease and lung cancer mortalities in adults. The results indicate that approximately 60,000 people die prematurely around the world each year from shipping-related emissions. Under current regulation, and with the expected growth in shipping activity, Corbett and Winebrake estimate the annual mortalities from ship emissions could increase by 40 percent by 2012.
Corbett and Winebrakes results come in the midst of current discussions by the International Maritime Organization to regulate emissions from ships.
This study will help inform policymakers about some of the health impacts associated with ship emissions and the long range transport of those emissions to population centers, says Winebrake, chair of RITs Department of Science, Technology and Society/Public Policy. We now have a benchmark by which we can begin to evaluate the benefits of emission reduction policies.
Annual deaths related to shipping emissions in Europe are estimated at 26,710, while the mortality rate is 19,870 in East Asia and 9,950 in South Asia. North America has approximately 5,000 premature deaths, concentrated mostly in the Gulf Coast region, the West Coast and the Northeast, while the eastern coast of South America has 790 mortalities.
Ships run on residual oil, which has sulfur content thousands of times greater than on-road diesel fuel. Residual oil is a byproduct of the refinery process and tends to be much dirtier than other petroleum products, Winebrake says.
We needed to know what the benefits are of cleaning up this fuel, he explains. Now we can evaluate the human health impacts of policies to require low-sulfur fuels for the shipping industry or that require ships to put emissions control technology on their vessels. Our study will help inform this policy debate.
Up until recently, researchers had little information with which to work; emissions data for marine vessels had to be linked with data tracking the movement of these vessels around the world. In their report, Corbett and Winebrake mapped marine pollution concentrations over the oceans and on land, estimating global and regional mortalities from ship emissions by integrating global ship inventories, atmospheric models and health impacts analyses.
The focus on long-term exposure to particulate matter in this study does not extend to impacts on children or other related health issues such as respiratory disease, asthma, hospital emissions and the economic impact of missed workdays and lost productivity.
Our work will help people decide at what scale action should be taken, says Corbett, associate professor of marine policy at University of Delaware. We want our analysis to enable richer dialogue among stakeholders about how to improve the environment and economic performance of our freight systems.
This study was supported in part by the Oak Foundation, the German Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren and by the German Aerospace Center within the Young Investigators Group SeaKLIM.

Statins reduce loss of function, keeping old lungs young - even in smokers

Statins are known to be good for lowering cholesterol and maybe even fighting dementia, and now they have another reported benefit: they appear to slow decline in lung function in the elderly even in those who smoke. According to researchers in Boston, it may be statins anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that help achieve this effect.

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Encouraging Results Reported on Airway Bypass Procedure

Airway Bypass Study Featured in Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery

Mountain View, CA, October 9, 2007 - Broncus Technologies, Inc., a medical device company investigating the airway bypass procedure for the treatment of emphysema, today announced that the results of its open-label Exhale Drug-Eluting Stent feasibility study have been published in the October issue of the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. Positive results include a statistically significant reduction in the amount of air trapped in the lungs and an improvement in breathing for patients at six months after the
airway bypass procedure.

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Ozone shuts down early immune response in lungs and body

DURHAM, N.C. As policy makers debate what levels of ozone in the air are safe for humans to breathe, studies in mice are revealing that the inhaled pollutant impairs the bodys first line of defense, making it more susceptible to subsequent foreign invaders, such as bacteria.

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Updated GOLD report presents new understandings in diagnosis, treatment and prevention of COPD

The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) has released new standards for the diagnosis, management and prevention of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The latest recommendations emphasize the importance of proper diagnosis, assessment of the diseases severity, and the need for a better understanding of co-morbidities to improve treatment of disease.

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Leveraging learning for artificial respiration

Research could lead to better, more cost-efficient ventilators

MIT researchers have found that the body’s innate ability to adapt to recurring stimuli could be leveraged to design more effective and less costly artificial respirators. The new approach could minimize the need for the induced sedation or paralysis currently necessary for some patients on mechanical ventilation.

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Nuclear Medicine Approach Can Be First Choice for Excluding Pulmonary Embolism in Young Women

Young women at risk of having a pulmonary embolisma potential life-threatening blockage in a lung arteryshould first undergo a ventilation/perfusion lung scan (V/Q scan) rather than a CT (computed tomography) angiogram, conclude authors in a paper published in the September Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

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Radiation and drug combo helps boost efficacy of lung cancer treatment

Combining radiation therapy with a drug that helps destroy blood vessels nourishing malignant tumors has been shown in mice to be significantly more effective in treating lung cancer than either approach alone, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

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Molecular Pathway may Predict Chemotherapy Effectiveness

A common molecular pathway could help physicians predict which lung cancer patients will benefit from chemotherapy drugs, according to new research from a multidisciplinary team at the University of Cincinnati (UC).

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