EDITORIAL

Abstract

Respirology is continuing the process of renewing its Editorial Board as several Editorial Board members completed their terms of office in April this year. I am pleased to welcome Dr Patrick Gerard Moral who represents the Philippine College of Chest Physicians. More new members will be announced in the next issue of Respirology. For the fourth year, Respirology is proud to publish a series of reviews from the Presidents of the major international respiratory societies. We start a new series in this issue with Prof. Norbert Berend our APSR President and his review entitled ‘Mechanisms of Airway Hyperresponsiveness in Asthma’ with Dr Salome and Dr King as co-authors. This comprehensive review details the mechanisms of airway hyperresponsiveness in asthmatic patients and discusses the clinical implication of the most recent advances in this field and represents a major reference work on the topic of airway reactivity. The first highlight in this issue is the paper ‘Airway stenting for the treatment of laryngotracheal stenosis secondary to thyroid cancer’ by Dr Tsutsui and colleagues. This retrospective study investigates airway stenting in the palliation of thyroid cancer and discusses the best stents to manage this condition. This study is unique as very few centres in the world have such extensive experience in managing the challenging problem of tracheal obstruction secondary to thyroid cancer. The second highlight in this issue, ‘Recombinant human erythropoietin reduces epithelial cell apoptosis and attenuates bleomycin-induced pneumonitis in mice’ by Dr Yoshimi and colleagues, investigates the protective role of erythropoietin in mice and discusses its potential clinical use in prevention of lung injury in particular in acute diseases. The potential for this to be used in the clinic deserves further evaluation. Another study of anti-oxidant protection in lung injury is that of Dr Tajami and colleagues ‘Preventive effects of edaravone, a free radical scavenger, on lipopolysaccharide-induced lung injury in mice’, in which they show that acute lung injury could be prevented by a free-radical scavenger in this rodent model. Clinical implications are also discussed. The paper ‘Trends in asthma prevalence and severity in Omani schoolchildren: Comparison between ISAAC phases I and III’ by Dr Al-Rawas and colleagues presents the results from two cross-sectional studies in Omani children conducted 6 years apart revealing an important underdiagnosis and under treatment of asthma in Omani children. Implications of these findings are discussed. In ‘Bosentan therapy in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension: The relationship between improvements in 6 minute walk distance and quality of life’, Dr Strange and colleagues conclude from the results of a large study that Bosentan improved six-minute walk test and quality of life in pulmonary arterial hypertension patients and discuss the importance of considering improvement of quality of life in these patients in therapy. The paper ‘Association between angiotensin-converting enzyme gene polymorphisms and exercise performance in patients with COPD’ by Dr Zang and colleagues investigates the effect of the polymorphism of the gene for the angiotensin-converting enzyme on skeletal muscle exercise performance in patients with COPD. Finally, the technical report ‘A competency-based test of bronchoscopic knowledge using the Essential Bronchoscopist: An initial concept study’ by Dr Davoudi and colleagues investigates the relevance and usefulness of the competency-based test of bronchoscopic knowledge the Essential Bronchoscopist as a complementary educational tool for bronchoscopists of different background and countries and conclude on the usefulness of this tool. I hope you enjoy this issue of Respirology.