Deadline Extended!
The ATS Foundation Research Program 2018-2019 Grant Cycle is open, and this year’s portfolio includes 15 unrestricted grants, as well as specific grant opportunities.
For more information on the current opportunities, please visit our portfolio. If you have questions about the grant program, eligibility, or application process, please refer to our FAQ. The deadline for letters of intent is 11:59 pm ET on June 19, 2018.
Low Neighborhood “Walkability” Linked with Childhood Asthma
Children living in neighborhoods that are not conducive to walking are more likely to develop asthma and continue to have this condition through later childhood, according to a new study published in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.
In “Associations Between Neighborhood Walkability and Incident and Ongoing Asthma in Children,” researchers from Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and the University of Toronto evaluated associations between home neighborhood walkability and both the incidence of asthma and its ongoing occurrence.
Although there have been studies of neighborhood walkability and chronic diseases in adults, this study is believed to be the first to look at the effect on childhood asthma.
Immunocompromised Patients with Sepsis May Face Higher Mortality at Hospitals Treating Small Numbers of Such Patients
Immunosuppressed patients with sepsis appear more likely to die if they are treated in a hospital caring for a relatively small number of these patients, according to new research published online in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.
Sepsis, a leading cause of death in U.S. hospitals, occurs when the body produces an out-of-control inflammatory response to infection. In “Hospital Volume of Immunosuppressed Sepsis Patients and Sepsis Mortality,” Jared A. Greenberg, MD, MSc, and coauthors analyzed the medical records of 350,183 patients with sepsis at 60 U.S. hospitals.
The study found that at hospitals seeing fewer than 225 immunosuppressed patients with sepsis each year, patients were 38 percent more likely to die while hospitalized, compared to 21 percent at hospitals that saw 225 or more of these patients yearly.
Senate Provides Increase for VA Research Program
Last week, the Senate Military Construction/VA Appropriations Subcommittee passed its version of the FY19 Mil/Con/VA spending bill, which provided $779 million (+$57 million) for the VA Medical and Prosthetics Research program.
The House Military Construction/VA Appropriations Subcommittee passed its version of the bill earlier this summer, providing $732 million (+$10 million) for the VA research program.
Both House and Senate bills await consideration by the full chambers, which is expected later this summer.
President Trump’s proposed budget had zeroed out funding for the CDC Office of Smoking and Health.
ATS Participates in United Nations Hearing on TB and Meeting with U.S. Mission to the UN
On June 4, ATS Past President Philip Hopewell, MD, attended a United Nations General Assembly hearing for civil society and non-governmental organizations on tuberculosis. The hearing was in preparation for the first-ever UN High-Level Meeting on TB on Sept. 26, 2018.
Following the hearing, UN member states began negotiations on the outcome of a declaration for the September high-level meeting. On June 6, ATS staff participated in a meeting of U.S.-based TB stakeholders and representatives of the U.S. Mission to the UN to advocate for priorities in the declaration, including commitments of sustained funding from all countries, robust accountability mechanisms, and accelerated research and development funding into new TB diagnostic, treatment, and prevention tools.
