Replacement of lung parenchyma with fibrous tissue is termed as fibrosis of the lung. It usually occurs due to a reparative or a reactive process.

Causes of pulmonary fibrosis are

Infections

• Tuberculosis

• Pyogenic infections like lung abcess or lobar pneumonia
• Fungal infections of the lung

Pneumoconiosis

Results from breathing in coal dust

Hypersensitivity Reactions

• Diffuse fibrosing aleveolitis
• Farmer’s lung

Collagen Diseases

• SLE
• Systemic sclerosis

Tumours

Drugs

Pulmonary fibrosis can be caused by many drugs

• Busulfan
• Bleomycin
• Nitrofurantoin
• Hydralazine

Other Causes

• Aspiration pneumonitis
• Sarcodosis
• Xanthomatosis
• Histiocytosis
• Mitral stenosis

1. Trauma

2. Tuberculosis

3. Tumors

4. Acute Hemorrhagic Pancreatitis

5. Bleeding Disorders like Hemophilia

6. Coxsackie B virus infection

Unilateral Pleural Effusion

1. Trauma

2. Acute Pancreatitis

3. Pulmonary Infarction

4. Rupture of Esophagus

5. Dissecting aneurysm of aorta  with leakage into pleural space

6. Infections

7. Pleural Metastasis

8. Tumors of lung

9. Pleural metastasis

10 Rheumatoid diseases, SLE

7. Penetrating chest wounds

8.

A recent metanalysis has shown that testosterone supplements in patients with heart failure improved the breathing and exercise.

The study which analyzed four randomized clinical trials of patients with moderate to severe heart failure, has been published in Circulation: Heart Failure

According to authors, low testosterone is an independent predictor of reduced exercise capacity and poor clinical outcomes in patients with heart failure  and they undertook the study to determine if testosterone therapy improves exercise capacity in patients with stable chronic HF.

For this the authors searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science and Cochrane CENTRAL databases between the years 1980 to 2010 and included  randomized trials reporting the effects of testosterone on exercise capacity in heart failure patients.

The four studies included 198 patients, 84% of whom were men, with an average age of 67. One study found similar improvements in women, who were taking lower doses of testosterone than men.

Patients were given commercial testosterone supplements by injection, patch or gel.

Based on the analysis of these studies, it was found that those who received supplemental testosterone scored 50% better in a 6-minute walking test than those receiving placebo.

Heart failure as measured by the New York Heart Association classification system improved one to two grades in 35% of treated patients compared to 9.8% of those who did not receive the supplements.

A gain in muscle and skeletal endurance was also noted.

No significant adverse events were reported

Large clinical trials are needed to confirm the findings, authors noted and if the findings are confirmed, testosterone could become primary therapy in heart failure.

Source: Circulation: Heart Failure  Published online before print April 17, 2012, doi: 10.1161/​CIRCHEARTFAILURE.111.965632

Synthetic progestin drospirenone containing oral contraceptives may carry a higher risk for venous thromboembolism than pills with other types of progestins.

This announcement was made today by the US Food and Drug Administration announced today.

FDA is adding information about the studies to the labels of drospirenone containing birth control pills. The labels would report that some epidemiologic studies reported as high as a three-fold increase in the risk of blood clots for drospirenone containing products when compared to products containing levonorgestrel or some other progestins, whereas other epidemiological studies found no additional risk of blood clots with drospirenone containing products.

The labels also will include a summary of the previously released results of an FDA-funded study of the blood clot risk.

It is unclear whether the increased risk seen for blood clots in some of the epidemiologic studies is actually due to drospirenone-containing birth control pill but the conclusion based on available data mentions that the risk may be higher for these pills.

Source : Announcement on FDA website

US Food and Drug Administration has approved breath test that screens for H Pylori[Organism that casues gastric ulcers] in children aged between 3 years to 17 years.

In addition to causing gastric ulcer, H pylori is also increases person’s risk of gastric cancer and a certain form of lymphoma. The BreathTek UBT test tests for H pylori was approved for adults in 1996.

It is estimated that more than two-thirds of the world’s population is infected with the H. pylori.

The test is produced by Otsuka America Pharmaceutical.

The BreathTek UBT detects urease associated with H. pylori in the human stomach.

Brentuximab vedotin is an antibody-drug conjugate approved to treat anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) and Hodgkin lymphoma. The drug was approved in August by FDA.

Antibody drug conjugate consists of an antibody linked to a payload drug. This kind of mechanism helps to deliver the drug to targeted cells like cancer cells.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning about the lymphoma drug brentuximab (Adcetris, Seattle Genetics).

This warning comes after two new cases of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy a rare but serious brain infection.

A new Boxed Warning highlighting this risk has been added to the drug label.

In addition, a new Contraindication warning was added against use of Adcetris with the cancer drug bleomycin due to increased risk of lung toxicity.

Brentuximab was approved by the FDA in August 2011 for the treatment of Hodgkin’s lymphoma and systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma.

Healthcare professionals should suspend brentuximab dosing if PML is suspected, and discontinue the drug therapy if a diagnosis of PML is confirmed, according to the FDA.

Source: FDA site

iHealth Labs has announced the iHealth Smart GlucoMeter, a blood glucose system that can be connected to with dongle to iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch with an attached dongle.
Almost similar to Sanofi/AgaMatrix’s iBGStar, it consists of a test strip reader that gets attached the devices mentioned above and the process of glucose testing can be carried with standard strips.
There is also an application along with which can store the data and create charts up of previous 30 days.

All the announced products will also use iHealth’s iHealth Cloud Service to instantly and securely back-up and store their results in the cloud.

Image Credit: Engadget

VCAM1 gene is the gene responsible for encoding Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule 1 which as the name suggests functions as a cell adhesion molecule VACM is a cell surface sialoglycoprotein, a type I membrane protein that is a member of the Ig superfamily.

The VCAM-1 gene is expressed on both large and small blood vessels only after the endothelial cells are stimulated by cytokines.  It contains six or seven immunoglobulin domains, It is alternatively spliced  to encode different isoforms in humans.

The VCAM-1 protein is responsible for mediation of the adhesion of lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophils, and basophils to vascular endothelium.

It also functions in leukocyte-endothelial cell signal transduction and is thought to play a role in  atherosclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis development.

VCAM-1 is a potential target for developing drugs.