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IN BRIEF

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-14 11:30

Indoor pollutants affect the elderly

Exposure to certain common indoor air pollutants may impair older adults' lung function, a small study suggests.

Researchers say the findings raise concerns that the chemicals, known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), might exacerbate lung or heart disease symptoms in older adults. VOCs are chemicals emitted from a range of products, including paints, varnishes, household cleaning agents, glue, inks and building materials. Because concentrations of the chemicals are up to five times higher indoors than outdoors, VOCs are generally considered indoor air pollutants.

But while studies have linked on-the-job exposure to VOCs to respiratory effects, it has been unclear what effects lower, everyday exposures might have on the general population - particularly among elderly people.

For the new study, published in the European Respiratory Journal, South Korean researchers tested lung function in 161 adults older than 60 who were living at home but spent their days at one of three elder-care centers.

Vitamins 'no answer to preeclampsia'

Large amounts of vitamins C and E do not prevent preeclampsia, blood pressure problems in pregnant women, researchers reported on Wednesday.

In fact, results from the 4-1/2-year test of nearly 5,000 women found those taking very high doses of the two vitamins were 10 percent more likely to develop high blood pressure during pregnancy than volunteers taking placebo pills.

"There's no way anyone could justify treating patients with these drugs" during pregnancy, Dr James Roberts of the University of Pittsburgh, who led the study, said in a telephone interview. "Clearly vitamins C and E are not an answer to the problem."

Preeclampsia is a condition that can occur during pregnancy that involves high blood pressure and excess protein in the urine. While the blood pressure increases may not be huge, preeclampsia if left untreated can lead to severe and sometimes fatal complications for the woman and baby.

The study was reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Dog at home ups asthma risk in kids

For children at higher-than-average risk of asthma, having a dog around the house may increase the chances of developing the lung disease, a new study suggests.

The study, which followed 380 children at increased risk of asthma due to family history, found that those exposed to relatively high levels of dog allergen at the age of 7 were more likely to have asthma.

In contrast, there was no relationship between cat-allergen exposure and a child's risk of asthma, according to findings published in the journal Pediatric Allergy and Immunology.

Exactly why dogs were related to a higher risk of asthma, while cats were not, is not entirely clear. But one factor may be endotoxin, a substance produced by bacteria that is known to trigger inflammation in the airways, explains lead researcher Dr Chris Carlsten, of the Vancouver General Hospital in British Columbia, Canada.

Carlsten and his colleagues found that children exposed to dog allergen at home were not at increased risk of developing an immune-system sensitization to dog allergen itself.

Multiple sclerosis more likely in smoker

Smoking may increase the risk of multiple sclerosis (MS) in people who have other risk factors for the neurological disorder, researchers say.

The findings suggest that smokers who have high levels of a protein that protects against the Epstein-Barr virus, a common herpes virus, were twice as likely as non-smokers to get MS, the researchers wrote in the online edition of the journal Neurology.

Previous studies have suggested that smoking and the virus-fighting protein were independent risk factors and this research looked at how they may be associated with each other, Claire Simon of Harvard University says.

"We found that the association was stronger in people who reported smoking compared with people who did not report smoking," Simon says.

Studying the potential risk factors simultaneously might provide clues about why some people get MS and others do not, Simon says.

MS is an incurable condition that affects more than 1 million people worldwide. The disease can cause mild symptoms in some people and permanent disability in others.