Respiratory Disease
Hundreds of millions of people suffer every day from chronic respiratory diseases. According to the latest WHO estimates (2007), currently 300 million people have asthma, 210 million people have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) while millions have allergic rhinitis and other often-underdiagnosed chronic respiratory diseases.
Chronic respiratory diseases are chronic diseases of the airways and other structures of the lung. Some of the most common are asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), respiratory allergies, occupational lung diseases and pulmonary hypertension.
The most important risk factors for preventable chronic respiratory diseases are:
- Tobacco smoking
- Indoor air pollution
- Outdoor pollution
- Allergens
- Occupational risks and vulnerability
Information courtesy of World Health Organisation.
This disease is being researched in the following projects:
Research Projects
- Application of a closed-loop oxygen control system with an apnoea/hypoventilation detector and an advanced control algorithm in management of infants receiving oxygen.
- Bronchoscopic studies of inflammation and vascularity
- Cochrane review: Nasal intermittent positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV) versus nasal continuous positive airway pressure (NCPAP) for preterm neonates after extubation.
- Cochrane review: Bolus surfactant therapy for meconium aspiration
- Cochrane review: High frequency oscillatory ventilation versus conventional ventilation for infants with severe pulmonary dysfunction born at or near term.
- Cochrane review: Lung lavage for meconium aspiration syndrome in newborn infants.
- Cochrane review: Methylxanthine treatment for apnoea in preterm infants.
- Cochrane review: Prophylactic methylxanthine for prevention of apnoea in preterm infants.
- Cochrane review: Surfactant via brief tracheal catheterisation for prevention of morbidity and mortality in preterm infants with or at risk of respiratory distress syndrome.
- Discovering the Patterns of Lung Function Using a Custom Expert Knowledge Acquisition System
- Epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT)
- Flow Dependence of Anatomical Dead Space & Relationship to Spirometry
- Flow Dependence of Anatomical Dead Space: Effect of Lung Volume & Bronchodilation
- Measurement of regional distribution of tidal ventilation as an aid in setting positive end-expiratory pressure during CMV
- Mechanisms of epithelial injury and surfactant dysfunction in meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS)
- Relationship of real-time changes in oxygen saturation with changes in fraction of inspired oxygen in infants receiving oxygen.
- The effect of smoking cessation on the airways
- Evaluation of dilute surfactant lavage in ventilated infants with MAS
- Investigation of minimally-invasive surfactant therapy in preterm infants on continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)
- Bushfires, Smoke, and People: assessing the risks and benefits from planned burning on the urban-rural interface