Using GPS to track down asthma triggers

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin in Madison recently launched a study using Global Positioning System (GPS) devices to monitor where and when patients use their inhalers, a technology they hope will uncover unrecognized triggers of asthma symptoms.

Scientists have long known that environmental factors such as pollen, cigarette smoke, and air pollutants aggravate symptoms of asthma, such as wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath. But the leader of the study David Van Sickle, an epidemiologist at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health says it's likely there are unknown environmental culprits. Figuring out exactly when and where asthma attacks occur can help pinpoint these aggravators, he adds.

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Brain Researchers Open Door to Editing Memory

SUNY Downstate Medical Center neuroscientists have discovered that a single dose of an experimental drug delivered to areas of the brain critical for holding specific types of memory (like emotional associations or spatial knowledge) blocks the activity of a substance that the brain apparently needs to retain much of its learned information. If enhanced, the substance could help ward off dementias and other memory problems, but raises huge ethical issues.

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