To your health

CO used as therapy

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have demonstrated that low-dose carbon monoxide given along with oxygen therapy markedly inhibits oxygen-induced damage to lung cells. The findings, reported in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, have significant implications for the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), study authors say.

ARDS is a life-threatening medical condition marked by shortness of breath and oxygen starvation. It can afflict people who have lung disease or those with normal lungs if they have severe trauma or infection. As many as 30 to 40 percent of those with severe ARDS die.

Treatment primarily involves putting patients on ventilators and giving them almost pure oxygen (95 percent oxygen and 5 percent carbon dioxide). But recent animal studies have shown that prolonged exposure to an elevated level of oxygen can cause long-term lung injury that resembles ARDS.

Based on previous findings that low-dose carbon monoxide (CO) has potent anti-inflammatory effects in a number of tissues, the researchers cultured lung cells from mice in a medium with a high concentration of oxygen, with and without low levels of CO, then watched for the induced toxicity. The presence of CO inhibited the destruction of lung cells and cell suicide. More than half of the lung cells incubated without CO died within 72 hours — compared to about 25 percent of the CO-treated cells.

Although high concentrations of carbon monoxide are toxic, it has already been shown that CO can be therapeutic at very low concentrations.

Pillars reduce snoring

A new, minimally invasive procedure from Baylor College of Medicine can reduce snoring. Called the nonsurgical pillar, it is done in the office, said Dr. Mas Takashima, assistant professor of otolaryngology at Baylor.

Snoring is usually caused when soft tissue in the throat vibrates as a person breathes while sleeping. Vibrations happen either near the back of the tongue, the area around the tonsils or the soft palate. Most often, the latter, which includes the uvula, is to blame.

Three small, firm, string-like structures, or pillars, are implanted into the soft palate.

"The three pillars, which are less than an inch long, are inserted using a large needle-like device," Takashima said. "The pillars help stabilize the soft tissue and stop vibrations. Since no tissue is surgically removed, discomfort is minimal."