VOLUNTEERS are needed for a new Southampton-based asthma study which will test the 50-year-old theories of a Russian scientist.

Dr Anne Bruton, based at the University of Southampton, has been granted a Department of Health post-doctoral research fellowship for three years.

Her research will focus on investigations into the physiological basis for Buteyko breathing training and its effectiveness as complementary therapy for patients with asthma.

The aim of the research programme is to test Professor Konstantin Buteyko's theory that his breathing techniques raise carbon dioxide levels.

Professor Buteyko was a Russian physiologist who, in 1952, theorised that over-breathing was the root cause of asthma.

Some support for this came from a recent study of 219 asthma patients, which found that a significant proportion had abnormal breathing.

Although Buteyko's breathing techniques - slower, shallower and through the nose rather than mouth - were used widely in the 1950s, they received little attention outside Russia.

The technique is now being taught to asthma patients across the world, although in the UK it is not generally available on the NHS.

Now Dr Bruton, of Southampton University's school of health professions and rehabilitation sciences, wants to use local people to put the system to the test.

Anyone interested in taking part can contact Dr Bruton on 023 8059 5283.