Asthma

Asthma is a chronic lung disease that inflames and narrows the airways. Asthma causes recurring periods of wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and coughing. 

The coughing often occurs at night or early in the morning.

Asthma affects people of all ages, but it most often starts during childhood. In the United States, more than 25 million people are known to have asthma. About 7 million of these people are children.

Pathology

To understand asthma, it helps to know how the airways work. The airways are tubes that carry air into and out of your lungs. People who have asthma have inflamed airways. The inflammation makes the airways swollen and very sensitive. The airways tend to react strongly to certain inhaled substances.

When the airways react, the muscles around them tighten. This narrows the airways, causing less air to flow into the lungs. The swelling also can worsen, making the airways even narrower. Cells in the airways might make more mucus than usual. Mucus is a sticky, thick liquid that can further narrow the airways.

This chain reaction can result in asthma symptoms. Symptoms can happen each time the airways are inflamed.

Types of Asthma

Allergic asthma or non-allergic asthma, some of the most common include:

•Substances that cause allergies (allergens) such as dust mites, pollens, molds, pet dander, and even cockroach droppings. In many people with asthma, the same substances that cause allergy symptoms can also trigger an asthma episode. These allergens may be things that you inhale, such as pollen or dust, or things that you eat, such as shellfish. It is best to avoid or limit your exposure to known allergens in order to prevent asthma symptoms.

•Irritants in the air, including smoke from cigarettes, wood fires, or charcoal grills. Also, strong fumes or odors like household sprays, paint, gasoline, perfumes, and scented soaps. Although people are not actually allergic to these particles, they can aggravate inflamed, sensitive airways. Today most people are aware that smoking can lead to cancer and heart disease. What you may not be aware of, though, is that smoking is also a risk factor for asthma in children, and a common trigger of asthma symptoms for all ages. It may seem obvious that people with asthma should not smoke, but they should also avoid the smoke from others' cigarettes. This "secondhand" smoke, or "passive smoking," can trigger asthma symptoms in people with the disease. Studies have shown a clear link between secondhand smoke and asthma, especially in young people. Passive smoking worsens asthma in children and teens and may cause up to 26,000 new cases of asthma each year. 

•Respiratory infections such as colds, flu, sore throats, and sinus infections. These are the number one asthma trigger in children. 

•Exercise and other activities that make you breathe harder. Exercises especially in cold air is a frequent asthma trigger. 

A form of asthma called exercise-induced asthma is triggered by physical activity. Symptoms of this kind of asthma may not appear until after several minutes of sustained exercise. (When symptoms appear sooner than this, it usually means that the person needs to adjust his or her treatment.) The kind of physical activities that can bring on asthma symptoms include not only exercise, but also laughing, crying, holding one's breath, and hyperventilating (rapid, shallow breathing). The symptoms of exercise-induced asthma usually go away within a few hours. With proper treatment, a child with exercise-induced asthma does not need to limit his or her overall physical activity. 

•Weather such as dry wind, cold air, or sudden changes in weather can sometimes bring on an asthma episode. 

•Expressing strong emotions like anger, fear or excitement. When you experience strong emotions, your breathing changes -- even if you don’t have asthma. 

When a person with asthma laughs, yells, or cries hard, natural airway changes may cause wheezing or other asthma symptoms. 

•Some medications like aspirin can also be related to episodes in adults who are sensitive to aspirin. Irritants in the environment can also bring on an asthma episode. These irritants may include paint fumes, smog, aerosol sprays and even perfume.

Common asthma symptoms include:

•Coughing, especially at night

•Wheezing

•Shortness of breath

•Chest tightness, pain, or pressure

Still, not every person with asthma has the same symptoms in the same way. 

Some people with asthma may go for extended periods without having any symptoms, interrupted by periodic worsening of their symptoms called asthma attacks.

Others might have asthma symptoms every day. In addition, some people may only have asthma during exercise, or asthma with viral infections like colds.

Mild asthma attacks are generally more common. Usually, the airways open up within a few minutes to a few hours. Severe attacks are less common but last longer and require immediate medical help. It is important to recognize and treat even mild asthma symptoms to help you prevent severe episodes and keep asthma under better control.

Treatmen with Stem Cells

In October 2/2014, Dra Tracy Heng, from the School of Biomedical Sciences, used human mesenchymal cells from bone marrow, umbilical cord and fat tissue as a therapy for asthma in mice. 

She found that injection of these cells led to a major reduction in asthma symptoms, including the production of factors that trigger airway constriction. 

This effect was long lasting, even after the human stem cells were no longer detected in the lungs. This was because these cells triggered a significant increase in alveolar macrophages, cells crucial to maintaining healthy lungs.

The research study is important because it found that injecting human mesenchymal stem cells can provide a long lasting, one-off therapy for asthma, a disease that affects over 2 million Australians. As mesenchymal stem cells are adult and not embryo derived, there are no ethical constraints to their use in therapy.

Stem cell therapy is autologous, we offer a therapy with stem cells from fatty graft or bone narrow to suppress inflammation and stabilize the progression of this chronic disease (Asthma) in a 80%, with Nebulized Pure PRP may offer asthma sufferers a complete 100% of treatment with stem cells.

When normal injury occurs , platelets are stimulated to release growth factors, cytokines and other immune system components in what is called the inflammatory phase of healing. In the lungs, platelets can adhere to injured or inflamed endothelial cells where they start the healing process. It is believed that by increasing the number of platelets in the lungs through this method, it is possible to decrease inflammation and accelerate the healing process in the lungs. Platelets are vehicles for the delivery of growth factors (PDGF, TGF-ß, IGF, EGF, VEGF) that induce proliferation of fibroblasts, osteoblasts and endothelial cells, promoting and accelerating healing of hard and soft tissues.

A treatment that can reduce the symptoms of asthma, improve the quality of life of the patient, and prevent acute and severe illness, and save lives.