Inhalants

Asthma sufferers have long relied on inhalers for relief from wheezing or coughing attacks. But as of Dec. 31, Primatene Mist -- the only available over-the-counter asthma inhaler -- was taken off shelves because of its adverse effect on the environment. Other inhalers are available, but these require a doctor's prescription. Some people with asthma aren't happy about the change, but lung doctors and asthma specialists agree that Primatene Mist wasn't the best option for patients anyway.

AeroShot Pure Energy, the inhalable caffeine product that went on sale last month, will be investigated by Food and Drug Administration officials concerned about whether it's safe for consumers. Breathable Foods, the company that makes the powder and the yellow and gray canisters it's delivered in, said in a statement that AeroShot is “a safe, effective product that complies with FDA regulations.” The buzzy item is being sold in convenience stores and other retailers in Massachusetts, New York and France as a $2.99 dietary supplement - a classification that the FDA also will investigate.

For months, parents in Diana del Pozo-Mora's Boyle Heights neighborhood had been hearing that children -- some as young as 11 and 12 -- had passed out at school after inhaling "whippets," small canisters of nitrous oxide. Recently, Del Pozo-Mora, the mother of three, was shocked when she saw an older boy buy a whippet canister from an ice cream truck parked outside a local elementary school.

A 4-year-old boy died after he was pulled from a burning home Thursday afternoon in an unincorporated neighborhood near Compton, officials said. Smoke and flames were shooting from the two-story structure by the time the first fire engine arrived in the 800 block of East Lennon Street, according to fire officials and witnesses. The boy's mother escaped the home from a second-floor balcony as flames quickly spread, Lt. Mike Rosson of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said.

The West Hollywood City Council has unanimously instructed City Atty. Michael Jenkins to draft legislation that would require any stores selling amyl and butyl nitrate inhalers to post health warnings about the chemicals. The two inhalants, which are normally sold as room deodorizers, are also known as "poppers," used often as sexual aids.

The first clinical trials using an inhaled form of insulin to treat diabetics have proved highly successful, paving the way for a greatly reduced reliance on painful and inconvenient injections of the life-saving hormone, scientists reported Tuesday. The key to the study is the development of a finely powdered form of insulin that is sucked through the mouth into the lungs, where it is rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream to control blood sugar levels.

Nancy Sander cares about the environment, particularly the quality of the air she breathes. But when the goal of protecting the ozone layer collides with her family's access to life-saving inhalant medications, she will abandon her environmental ideals in a heartbeat. Sander--and three of her four children--are caught in the middle of a public policy tug of war that is creating a state of high alarm among many of the 30 million Americans who have asthma, a potentially fatal respiratory ailment.

MannKind Corp., the company staking its future on inhaled insulin, said Thursday that its drug didn't cause adverse lung effects in the last studies for U.S. regulatory approval. MannKind shares rose 18 cents, or 6.2%, to $2.91 after the announcement. The Valencia-based company said its Afresa inhaler met its primary goals in its last two human trials.

Inhalers using chlorofluorocarbons to dispense the drug albuterol will be banned at the end of 2008, the Food and Drug Administration said. Chlorofluorocarbons, once widely used as aerosol propellants in a variety of products, have been removed from most use because they can damage the Earth's protective ozone layer. Their use with albuterol, which helps prevent wheezing, shortness of breath and troubled breathing caused by asthma, chronic bronchitis and emphysema, had been exempted.

A fine mist formed from a chemical common to lemon and orange juice that may be a radically different stop-smoking approach is being readied for a large-scale trial at UCLA sometime early next year. In a newly published study, researchers say preliminary testing of the mist-inhaler shows it has promise as a way to substitute the slightly irritating sting of citric acid for the so-called "taste" of tobacco.

A large number of the world's 300 million people with asthma -- as many as 40% -- don't respond to the inhalers their doctors prescribe to improve lung function.  But doctors don't know how to predict which patients will benefit from glucocorticoid therapy (steroid inhalers) and which ones won't. But researchers at the Harvard Medical School have now located a genetic variation that may some day help physicians figure it out. The team's results, published Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine, used a genome-wide analysis of 118 trios (consisting of a child and his or her parents)

You've decided to help your health and the environment by riding your bike to work. Good for you! Sorry to have to deliver the bad news: you may be inhaling more soot. The amount might be more than twice as much as urban pedestrians, says a pilot study presented Sunday at the European Respiratory Society's Annual Congress . The study involved five cyclists who regularly biked to work and five pedestrians from London. They ranged in age from 18 to 40 and were healthy nonsmokers.

Inhaling a concentrated cloud of insulin through the nose twice a day appears to slow — and in some cases reverse — symptoms of memory loss in people with early signs of Alzheimer's disease, a new pilot study has found. The study involved only 104 people and is considered very preliminary. But it suggests that a safe, simple and cheap measure that boosts flagging metabolism in key areas of the brain could hold off or possibly derail the progression of the devastating neurological disorder in its early stages.

This post has been corrected. See note at bottom for details. Hey kids, coal power production and consumption are actually quite safe. In fact, coal power is, when you come right down to it, solar power. And one company, Peabody Energy, even wants to give free inhalers to families who live within 200 miles of a coal plant. Such are the statements made on a hoax website, CoalCares.org . The site is fairly convincing, promising to send custom asthma inhalers emblazoned with the likenesses of Dora the Explorer, Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber.

Asthma pills appear to work just as well as inhaled steroids at relieving asthma symptoms in real-life settings, researchers have found, apparently because people prefer swallowing a pill to sticking something up their nose. In one clinical trial, asthma sufferers who took as a first-line therapy the oral medications Singulair or Accolate , each a brand of leukotriene-receptor antagonists, reported as much symptom relief on a quality-of-life survey at two months as those who used an inhaled glucocorticoid, according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Mannkind Corp., the Valencia biotech firm, announced that it would lay off 41% of its workforce and focus on receiving regulatory approval for its long-delayed insulin inhaler being developed for people with diabetes. The company said it told 179 employees Thursday that they would be laid off by mid-April, reducing its workforce to 257 employees, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In a phone call with industry analysts Thursday, billionaire founder and Chief Executive Alfred Mann said the company would retain the staffing needed to "support the path to approval" for the drug, named Afrezza, which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declined to approve last month.

Despite lingering concerns about safety, a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended approval of the first inhaled insulin, a drug that could make life easier for millions of people with diabetes. Exubera could reduce or eliminate the need for insulin injections to control blood-sugar levels, a grueling ritual for diabetics. The drug, to be marketed by Pfizer Inc., is a powder that patients breathe through a 6-inch inhaler. Despite the potential benefits, some members of the advisory panel raised questions about how the drug would affect patients suffering from respiratory infections or exposed to secondhand smoke.

Smokers who want to quit but crave nicotine and miss fidgeting with cigarettes may get a new source of help--a smokeless nicotine inhaler they can puff on any time. A federal advisory committee recommended approval of the Nicotrol inhaler Friday as the fourth alternative source of nicotine for people trying to give up smoking. The current options are nicotine patches, chewing gum or nasal spray.

MannKind Corp. divulged that the Food and Drug Administration has asked for more testing of its key, long-delayed product ? an insulin inhaler for people with diabetes. The Valencia biotech firm said in a statement that Afrezza will require two new clinical trials before U.S. regulators again consider approving the device. Trading of MannKind shares was halted on the Nasdaq exchange before the announcement Wednesday morning. But in after-hours trading, the stock fell more than 40% to $5.25.

Hexavalent chromium. The term sounds high-tech and slightly ominous to those unfamiliar with it -- and apparently few people are familiar with it. Hexavelent chromium is currently piquing online readers' curiosity. The highly publicized specter of potentially toxic water can do that. So here are some basics.... Hexavelent chromium is, quite obviously, a form of the element chromium. The heavy metal is more commonly called chromium 6 and it's used in the production of stainless steel, pigments and protective coatings.