EDITORIAL

Abstract

I am pleased to announce that Dr Jeremy Brown has recently joined our team of Associate Editors. Dr Brown is Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Respiratory Research at the University College London and his main area of research is the molecular pathogenesis of infections due to Streptococcus pneumoniae and the mechanisms of lung innate immunity. His main clinical interests are infectious diseases affecting the lung, including pneumonia, bronchiectasis, tuberculosis and infections in the immuno-compromised host. We are looking forward to his contribution to the Journal. The Editorial Office team needs to expand due to the significant growth in the Journal and employing some extra staff is long overdue. We are pleased to welcome Dr Christel Norman back from maternity leave. She will be working part-time in the Editorial Office, providing valuable assistance in managing the Journal. We are equally delighted to welcome Ms Joyanne Kelly to the Editorial Office team. Joyanne has just submitted her PhD at The University of Western Australia in the field of applied cancer research. She will take over the Administrative Editor role from Dr Neil Misso, who has relinquished this part of his Editorial Office duties. Neil's assistance over the past year has been invaluable and we are pleased that he will continue to contribute his expertise to the Journal through editing accepted papers. The first highlight in this issue is the paper ‘Evaluation of the anti-inflammatory effect of infliximab in a mouse model of acute asthma’ by Dr Deveci and colleagues, showing that the anti-tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α mAb (infliximab) has a considerable anti-inflammatory effect on allergen-induced lung inflammation. This study emphasizes the potential for inhibition of TNF-α with infliximab as a therapeutic strategy. The second highlight in this issue, ‘Common functional polymorphisms in the cathepsin S promoter in Japanese subjects: Possible contribution to pulmonary emphysema’ by Dr Minematsu and colleagues, identifies novel functional polymorphisms in the cathepsin S gene, which has a possible association with pulmonary emphysema in the Japanese population. In ‘Procalcitonin is a valuable prognostic marker in ARDS caused by community-acquired pneumonia’, Dr Tseng and colleagues evaluate the role of procalcitonin in predicting the outcome of patients with ARDS caused by severe community-acquired pneumonia and confirmed it is a valuable biomarker for predicting mortality. The following two highlights in this issue present the results of literature meta-analyses. The meta-analysis performed by Dr Shi and colleagues in ‘Diagnostic value of carcinoembryonic antigen in malignant pleural effusion: A meta-analysis’ shows that carcinoembryonic antigen measurement is a useful tool in the diagnosis of malignant pleural effusions, and can assist in differentiating between malignant pleural mesothelioma and metastatic lung cancer. The second meta-analysis ‘Observational studies on the effect of dietary antioxidants on asthma: A meta-analysis’, undertaken by Professor Gao and colleagues, examines the association between dietary intake of the antioxidants vitamins C and E and β carotene, and the risk of asthma. The paper by Dr Hallani and colleagues ‘Enforced mouth breathing decreases lung function in mild asthmatics’ explores the impact of mouth versus nose breathing in a group of mild asthmatic subjects at rest. This study demonstrates that enforced oral breathing causes a decrease in lung function in these asthmatics, with some subjects initiating asthma symptoms. In ‘Arterial blood lactate is a useful guide to when rehabilitation should be instigated in COPD’, Dr Tanaka and colleagues evaluated the increase in lactate concentration during the early phase of exercise as an index for determining when to start pulmonary rehabilitation in COPD patients, as well as for determining muscle fatigue in the lower extremities of those patients undergoing rehabilitation. In the Short Communication ‘Neutrophil elastase activity in acute lung injury and respiratory distress syndrome’, Dr Hashimoto and colleagues investigate the role of neutrophil elastase in acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome, by treating patients with the selective neutrophil inhibitor sivelestat. Finally, the technical report by Dr Pinto and colleagues ‘Diagnosis of pulmonary aspiration—a mouse model using a starch granule test in bronchoalveolar lavage’ shows that the detection of starch granules in bronchoalveolar lavage may be a more specific way of diagnosing pulmonary aspiration in children than the less specific lipid-laden macrophages method, which is currently used in clinical practice. I hope you will enjoy this issue of Respirology.