Archive for pulmonology
Mermaid Caitlyn and her mer-doctor face interstitial lung disease
Our daughter Caitlyn’s first year-and-a-half of life was a puzzle. She was getting sicker and sicker and no one near our home in New York could figure her out. After a period of unexplained rashes and weight loss, our pediatrician’s office said to us, “Something’s wrong and we don’t know what it is. Put her ... Read More
What you need to know about vaping to keep children safe
Could your child be vaping? A growing number of middle and high school students today are using vaping products, also called e-cigarettes, JUULs, or dabs (used for vaping marijuana) among other names. Signs and symptoms of vaping can be difficult for parents to notice, but talking with your kids about vaping and monitoring for concerning signs ... Read More
Seeking a way to keep organs young
The wear and tear of life takes a cumulative toll on our bodies. Our organs gradually stiffen through fibrosis, which is a process that deposits tough collagen in our body tissue. Fibrosis happens little by little, each time we experience illness or injury. Eventually, this causes our health to decline. “As we age, we typically accumulate ... Read More
Building a body, one organ chip at a time
They don’t look like much sitting in your hand. A few pieces of clear plastic, each smaller than an Altoids tin, with channels visible inside and holes for plugging tubing into them. But fill them with cells and treat those cells the right way, and they turn into something amazing: tiny hearts, lungs, guts, kidneys. ... Read More
Drug-testing alternative: a lung on a chip
Combining microfabrication techniques from the computer industry with modern tissue engineering, a team at Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering has created a device that mimics the function of a human lung. This living “lung-on-a-chip,” which incorporates human lung and blood-vessel cells, reproduces the all-important interface between the lung’s tiny ... Read More