TUESDAY, Aug. 19 (HealthDay News) -- The use of silver-coated endotracheal tubes reduced the risk of pneumonia among intensive-care patients on ventilators, a U.S. study found.

Ventilator-associated pneumonia can lead to longer hospital stays, increased costs, and infection with antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Currently, no single prevention strategy eliminates ventilator-associated pneumonia, according to background information in the study.

MONDAY, Aug. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Recently discovered so-called free radicals that are attached to small particles of air pollution could cause lung damage and perhaps even lung cancer, researchers report.

If confirmed through further research, the finding could help to explain why nonsmokers develop tobacco-related diseases like lung cancer, said lead researcher H. Barry Dellinger, the Patrick F. Taylor Chair of environmental chemistry at Louisiana State University.

FRIDAY, Aug. 15 (HealthDay News) -- A new drug therapy may help cut down on the lung function loss experienced by patients with moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a new study says.

According to the second August issue of American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, a combination of salmeterol, a β-agonist, and fluticasone propiniate, an inhaled cortical steroid, proved a successful therapy in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted in 42 countries.

FRIDAY, Aug. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Boys may be more likely to have childhood asthma than girls, but they are also more likely to grow out of it, a new study says.

The report, published in the second August issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, found that boys also have fewer asthma occurrences in the post-pubertal years.

TUESDAY, Aug. 12 (HealthDay News) -- Preliminary research has produced promising findings regarding a possible alternative treatment for people with a common type of lung cancer.

The new combination of chemotherapy drugs could eventually become another option for people with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, which is very difficult to treat, the Japanese researchers suggest.

Even if it works, however, the treatment isn't likely to add many months to the lives of patients. And the study only represents the second in three necessary stages of research.

FRIDAY, Aug. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Taking creatine doesn't improve exercise outcomes in people who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a U.K. study reports.

Creatine is a popular nutritional supplement used to enhance athletic performance and muscle strength. This study included 100 COPD patients who received either creatine or a placebo during a seven-week pulmonary rehabilitation program.

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, July 31 (HealthDay News) -- Flu vaccine may not protect older people from pneumonia once they get the disease, researchers report.

Older, frail adults are more susceptible to getting the flu, even if they have been vaccinated, and once getting the flu, they are more susceptible to such complications as pneumonia. It had been thought that flu vaccine would prevent flu -- and pneumonia -- across all groups of seniors, but this benefit appears to be largely confined to younger, healthier seniors.

(HealthDay News) -- Deep breathing techniques are a great way to fight stress and anxiety, and help you relax.

Here are basic steps to deep breathing, courtesy of the American Academy of Family Physicians:

* Lie on your back, on a flat surface.
* Place one hand on your stomach just above your belly button, and the other hand on your chest.
* Inhale slowly, making sure that your stomach rises a bit.
* Hold your breath for a second.
* Slowly exhale, letting your stomach sink back down.

THURSDAY, July 24 (HealthDay News) -- In experiments with mice, U.S. researchers have discovered why viral infections have more severe consequences in smokers than in nonsmokers. For example, smokers with influenza are more likely to die than nonsmokers with influenza.

The Yale University School of Medicine team found that a combination of cigarette smoke and compounds that mimic viral components caused more severe airway damage in a mouse model of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) than the compounds that mimic viral components alone.

yBy Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, July 22 (HealthDay News) -- In 2006, 57 percent of all tuberculosis cases in the United State were among foreign-born individuals and, as time passes, that population is under increased threat from the disease, a new study warns.

Between 1993 and 2006, the total number of cases of TB in the United States decreased by 45 percent -- from more than 25,000 to less than 14,000. However, that decline occurred primarily among people born in the United States, note researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.