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Article: Pitt professor's invention may warn of asthma attack
- Article from:
- Tribune-Review/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
- Article date:
- August 22, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2007 Tribune-Review/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Days before the muscles around asthmatics' airways tighten, their
breath carries a tell-tale sign that an asthma attack is imminent --
and a University of Pittsburgh professor's invention seeks to catch
that clue in time to save lives.
An inexpensive inhaler-sized device, yet to be manufactured, could
measure levels of nitric oxide -- a gas that increases in the breath
of people whose airways are becoming inflamed -- and could help stop
an asthma attack before it starts.
"Eventually people would be able to buy it in the pharmacy, like
you would buy a pregnancy test or a glucose sensor," said Alexander
Star, the University of Pittsburgh chemistry professor who invented a
laboratory version ...