An international consortium of respiratory scientists has highlighted the key role inflammation plays in asthma and offered a new approach to predict and prevent these attacks. The study by the ORACLE2 consortium, published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, was led by research clinician Simon ... READ MORE
News for Respiratory Medicine
First new treatment for asthma attacks in 50 years
An injection given during some asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) attacks is more effective than the current treatment of steroid tablets, reducing the need for further treatment by 30 percent. The findings, published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, could be ... READ MORE
Study increases understanding of lung microbiome in severe asthma patients
Respiratory researchers in Oxford have discovered a link between potentially pathogenic bacteria and airways inflammation in severe asthma. The team, who are supported by the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), used long-read genome sequencing on sputum and nasal lavage samples from ... READ MORE
New bronchoscopy capability expands capacity for respiratory and vaccine trials
The NIHR Oxford Clinical Research Facility (EMCRF) has expanded its capability to undertake research bronchoscopies and welcomed its first volunteers as part of the Oxford Airways Study, which is supported by the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, to help understand the causes of ... READ MORE
New insight into immune-pathology in COVID-19 lungs
A study by Oxford researchers has provided new insights into how immune cells interact in the lungs of patients with severe COVID-19. In a damaged lung with a massive cell infiltrate, as seen with severe COVID-19 infection, it can be difficult to determine which cells are involved in ... READ MORE
Blood clots during COVID-19 may cause ongoing cognitive problems
High levels of two proteins at the time of COVID-19 have been found in patients who later experienced cognitive problems, including ‘brain fog'. The findings give a major clue as to one cause of their symptoms: blood clots. Researchers from the University of Oxford looked at blood tests from ... READ MORE
Oxford researcher investigates genetic mechanisms of rare forms of asthma
An Oxford researcher has been awarded funding to expand her cutting edge research into the genetic mechanisms of rare and severe forms of asthma. Dr Anastasia Fries, NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow in Respiratory Medicine, was awarded a three-year MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship worth ... READ MORE
Oxford researchers to study why asthma is worse in women
A University of Oxford team has been awarded a grant to study one of the major unsolved questions about asthma – why women are more likely to have it than men and why they are twice as likely to die from it. Bioinformatician Dr Emanuele Marchi has received £98,000 from the national charity ... READ MORE
New computational technique reveals changes to lung function after COVID-19 infection
A study led by Oxford researchers has found that prior COVID-19 infection is associated with more uneven inflation of the lungs during normal breathing. There was also an association between hospitalisation with COVID-19 and smaller lung volumes, and admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) was ... READ MORE
Lung function device wins top chemistry Prize
A team who developed a novel device to measure lung function were among several Oxford researchers to receive prestigious prizes from the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). The Molecular Flow Sensor Team - a multidisciplinary collaboration between chemists, physiologists, computer modellers and ... READ MORE
OUH agrees long COVID research collaboration with Polarean
Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) and the medical imaging technology company, Polarean Imaging plc, have entered into a research collaboration to study the long-term effects of COVID-19 in patients who are still experiencing breathlessness months after infection. Polarean produce an ... READ MORE
Oxford BRC researchers named NIHR Senior Investigators
Seven Oxford academics, six of them supported by the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), have been named National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Senior Investigators in recognition of their outstanding leadership in research. The NIHR describes its Senior ... READ MORE
People with long COVID after hospitalisation face limited recovery after one year
People who were hospitalised with COVID-19 and continued to experience symptoms five months later show limited further recovery one year after hospital discharge, according to the latest results of a major national study looking at the long-term health impacts of COVID-19 on hospitalised ... READ MORE
Second study confirms benefits of budesonide in early stages of COVID-19
A UK-wide clinical study has confirmed the findings of an earlier Oxford BRC-supported study showing that the early treatment with the inhaled asthma medication budesonide speeds up recovery from COVID-19 and reduces the risk of hospitalisation and death. The latest study – part of the PRINCIPLE ... READ MORE
Study confirms longer-term lung damage after COVID-19
A study by Oxford and Sheffield researchers using a cutting-edge method of imaging has identified persistent damage to the lungs of COVID-19 patients at least three months after they were discharged from hospital, and for some patients even longer. This damage was not detected by routine CT ... READ MORE
Azithromycin not effective against COVID-19, trial confirms
A clinical trial by University of Oxford researchers has confirmed that the antibiotic azithromycin has no clinical benefit in people with moderate COVID-19. The ATOMIC2 trial, which was supported by the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), was established to investigate if a common ... READ MORE
National study looks at long-term lung damage from COVID-19
A new national study involving researchers from Oxford will investigate the long-term effects of lung inflammation and scarring from COVID-19. The study, launched with £2 million of funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), aims to develop treatment strategies and prevent ... READ MORE
Risk of severe COVID-19 from asthma and other respiratory diseases may be only modestly increased, new analysis suggests
An analysis of 8.3 million health care records in England shows that people with asthma have only a small increased risk of developing severe Covid-19. The study, led by University of Oxford researchers, examined routine patient data collected between January and April 2020 to generate risk ... READ MORE
Seven in ten patients hospitalised with COVID-19 not fully recovered five months after discharge
A majority of survivors who left hospital following COVID-19 had not fully recovered five months after discharge and continued to experience negative impacts on their physical and mental health, as well as their ability to work, according to results released by a major national study into the ... READ MORE
Drug trial that could improve respiratory recovery from COVID-19 under way
A clinical trial has begun to test whether the drug Almitrine can help people who are seriously ill with COVID-19 recover from the disease. Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of three centres taking part in the trial. Patients suffering from COVID-19 pneumonia often ... READ MORE