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Most doctors tell asthma patients to stick to a regimen when taking medicine that helps control this disease. Asthma is a chronic and sometimes life-threatening lung disease that affects people around the world. There is no cure, but there are treatments. And now, global treatment guidelines for asthma could change as a result of a study led by a researcher at the University of Texas Medical Branch. Most adults who have mild or moderate asthma are told to use their inhalers twice daily, even if they don't have symptoms. The medicine in those compressed-air inhalers are corticosteroids, which open a person's airways and decrease mucus so it's easier to breathe. Inhaled corticosteroids are the most common and the most effective form of therapy for asthma sufferers. In an asthma attack, the airways of the lungs become inflamed and swollen. That can be triggered by a wide range of factors, some genetic, some environmental. Dust, air pollution or smoke can set off an asthma attack. Falling autumn leaves and other seasonal changes that put fine debris in the air can also trigger an attack. Frank Grizzaffi knows this routine well. “There was a regime that I was supposed to follow, it was two puffs in the morning and two puffs in the evening,” Grizzaffi said. That was before Grizzaffi participated in a study that involved ten academic centers and more than 300 adults with mild to moderate asthma. Doctors evaluated the patients and determined the lowest possible dose of medication that would control their asthma. Dr. William Calhoun led the study. | 
