Pulmonology and Respiratory Research

Pulmonary medicine concerns about causes, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of diseases affecting lungs. Pulmonary medicine deals with many diseases and conditions, including interstitial lung disease, lung cancer, lung transplants, occupational lung disease, sarcoidosis of lungs, SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome), asthma, pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary tuberculosis and cystic fibrosis. Pulmonology concerns with anatomy, physiology, and pathology of the lungs.

Critical care medicine treats patients in ICU and CCU, Critical care medicine includes chest physicians, surgeons, anesthesiologists, critical care nurses, pediatricians, pharmacists/pharmacologists.

Sleep medicine deals with human aspects of sleep, integrates various disciplines involved in sleep medicine like neurology, clinical neurophysiology, pulmonology, cardiology, psychology, psychiatry, sleep technology, pediatrics and neurosurgery.

COPD refers to chronic inflammatory lung disease causing difficulty in breathing. Symptoms include cough, wheezing and sputum production. COPD is mainly caused by long term exposure of irritating gases or particulate matter, most often from cigarette smoke. COPD individuals are at increased risk of developing heart disease, lung cancer. Emphysema and chronic bronchitis are most common conditions seen in COPD.

Asthma is a long-term lung disease causing inflammation and narrows airways in lungs. Asthma causes constant periods of wheezing, coughing and shortness of breath. Coughing often occurs at night or early in the morning.

Smoking is a practice attributing to a substance burned and resulting smoke breathed in to lungs and absorbed into bloodstream. Most commonly the substance is dried leaves of tobacco plant rolled into a round cylinder called a "cigarette". Smoking is mostly practiced as a route of administration for recreational drug use, dried plant leaves vaporizes and delivers active substances into lungs where they are rapidly absorbed into blood stream to reach bodily tissue.

Lung cancer or pulmonary carcinoma is the carcinoma of lung, is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of lung. If left untreated, it spreads beyond the lung by process of metastasis into nearby tissues. Most cancers that start in lung derive from epithelial cells. The major types are small-cell lung carcinoma and non-small-cell lung carcinoma.

Lung cell biology studies from underlying innate immune response of alveolar unit to inhaled toxicants, signaling pathways in alveolar unit and their involvement in innate immune response.

Thoracic surgery involves surgical treatment for conditions affecting organs inside thorax (chest) generally treatment for conditions of heart and lung diseases. Cardiac surgery (involving heart and great vessels) and thoracic surgery (involving lungs) are separate surgical specialties.

Lung transplantation is a surgical procedure in which diseased lungs are partially or totally replaced by lungs from a donor. Donor's lungs can be retrieved from a living donor or a deceased donor. A living donor can only donate one lung lobe. Lung transplants carry certain associated risks although they can also extend life expectancy and enhance quality of life for end-stage pulmonary patients.

Advanced lung disease comprises a group of chronic lung diseases which limit patients daily activities. They include reduced gas exchange and functional reserve, dyspnea with reduced quality of life. These diseases tend to associate with depression and anxiety. Common conditions in advanced lung disease include pulmonary fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pulmonary arterial hypertension and cystic fibrosis.

Cell therapy is transplantation of human or animal cells to replace or repair damaged tissue. Purpose of cell therapy is to introduce cells into body that will grow and replace damaged tissue. Cell therapy has long been used by alternative medicine practitioners who have claimed great benefits.

Acute respiratory tract infections are most common illnesses in childhood, comprising as many as 50% of all illnesses in children less than 5 years old. Multiple factors decide frequency and nature of these illnesses. They include host factors, environmental factors and infecting agents.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a hereditary disorder which affects mostly lungs but also pancreas, liver, kidneys and intestine. Long-term complications include difficulty in breathing and coughing up sputum because of frequent lung infections. Symptoms include sinus clubbing of finger and toes, infections, poor growth, fatty stool and infertility in males.

Tuberculosis is a prevalent, and in many cases fatal infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacterium species, generally Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It typically attacks lungs and can also affect other parts of the body. About one in ten latent infections eventually progresses to dynamic disease, if left untreated, kills more than 50% of those infected. Respiratory disease is a term in which pathological conditions affecting upper respiratory tract, bronchioles, alveoli trachea, pleura and pleural cavity, and nerves and muscles of breathing are affected.

Invasive fungal infections are significant health problems in immunocompromised patients. Clinical manifestations vary and range from colonization in allergic bronchopulmonary disease, to active infection. Many factors influence virulence and pathogenic capacity of microorganisms, such as enzymes like extracellular phospholipases, lipases, proteinases etc.